Man flies 3,000 miles to Alaska for ultra-rare abandoned helicopter you seldom see in the sky

This man decided to fly 3,000 miles to Alaska for an ultra-rare abandoned helicopter you seldom see in the sky, all for a single look inside a dusty hangar.

He landed in Anchorage at 8:00pm, and had exactly 24 hours before his return flight, so he had to move fast.

The helicopter was an FH1100, a model so uncommon that you rarely see one flying anymore, if ever.

It had reportedly been sitting untouched for around 20 years, and the inspection quickly turned into an expensive reality check.

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Man flew 3,000 miles to Alaska for an ultra-rare abandoned helicopter

A YouTuber decided to travel from St. Louis, Missouri, to Anchorage, Alaska, to inspect a helicopter in person, saying he had been hunting for it for ages.

The helicopter of his dreams was the FH1100, a little turbine helicopter that you never see flying in the skies anymore.

When he finally arrived in Alaska, the hangar doors opened to a little helicopter coated in dust, with old paint and an interior that looked like it hadn’t been touched in decades.

Almost immediately, he realized the condition was worse than the photos had suggested.

He started making notes of what would need replacing and what looked questionable, because turning something like this into a flyable helicopter seemed to be an increasingly long and expensive road.

With his dad alongside him, he checked what he could without tearing the helicopter apart.

The back rotor could move and didn’t feel excessively loose, which was a small win, but a lot of parts felt stiff, and he was careful not to force anything to move and cause further expensive damage.

He also noticed signs of past wear and repairs in the cabin area, including drilled cracks in the window and door sections.

Even so, he kept pushing through the inspection because the biggest question was whether the core parts were usable and whether he could get it back in the air for the first time in a long time.

You never see the FH1100 in the sky

There were a few bright spots during his inspection: the main rotor blades were stored under a cover and appeared to be in decent shape, which is good because these could be the most expensive parts to repair.

The cockpit also looked like a time capsule, with vintage gauges, warning panels, and radios that looked straight out of another era.

It was the kind of retro detail that made the helicopter feel special, even while the missing parts list kept growing.

He then walked through the mechanical layout of the abandoned helicopter, pointing out the engine area, hydraulics, and gearbox system, along with years of grease and fluid built up across the helicopter.

That mess looked ugly, but it wasn’t the biggest danger – corrosion was.

He looked closely for it and was clearly relieved to find very little, calling that a major positive because corrosion can destroy the whole helicopter structure.

The next step was checking the engine internals with a borescope.

Inside, he saw a mixed picture, with dust, signs of wear, possible weird debris, and marks that raised questions.

It wasn’t an instant no, but it was not a ‘clean’ yes either.

With only a couple of hours left before his flight, just 24 hours later, he said he wanted a more experienced opinion on what he was seeing before making a final call.

Still, he described the FH1100 as a gem in its own right and hinted that price talks would decide whether this ultra-rare abandoned helicopter ever returns to the sky, and whether he’ll be in the cockpit.

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