Web Exclusive: Amazing Landings

(CBS)  It was almost "Mission: Impossible" to rescue a missing hiker, yet somehow Terry Mercer, a pilot with the Utah Department of Public Safety, was able to land a 37-foot-long helicopter, not just once, but nearly a dozen times on a narrow pinnacle of a mountain.

Mercer told CBS News the helicopter was "very user-friendly." He said, "You can put it just about anywhere you want to."

And that "anywhere" was the top of Red Mountain in Southern Utah. Mercer called the rescue "an adrenaline rush."

Mercer's flying skills were called into action when Jim Williamson, a 49-year-old biology teacher fell into a narrow slot in a canyon. But after Williamson called 9-1-1 for help from his cell phone, search and rescue teams were deployed -- including Mercer's helicopter.

Williamson lay injured for days without food or water, but he was finally located. That's when Mercer was called in to assist from the air.

During the rescue effort, Mercer landed on the small butte to airlift rescue workers and Williamson out a total of 11 times. Mercer had only a foot of skid room in front and a few feet behind the helicopter.

Mercer told CBS News, "It was an exciting landing because you are looking into so much space as you land, and you know you don't have a lot of room for error."

Williamson, of Salt Lake City, was hospitalized and is now in fair condition at a Utah hospital.

For more with Mercer, watch the interview below:


Watch CBS Videos Online

[SkirtLifter]

Pines, cones, and mushrooms (muscaria or cyanescens).

OK...this is a cool story. One guy gets his life saved and another gets his adrenaline fix! A win win.

[rondivoo]

...what is wrong with you?