UH1 down, 1 survivor found dead over 2 miles from the scene of a crash, blue skies and a perfectly clear day..what caused this fatality in the middle of the nowhere, why was he so far from the crash site where no other bodies were found, why was he armed with two weapons yet had no ammo..we take you inside the critical moments, wind back the clock in a sequence of events to reveal the anatomy.. of a dayz disaster...
Hetstaine arrives on a beach in the Kamenka area armed with a silenced M9 pistol and a can of beans. From many sightings which will be revealed with witness testimony we know he was heading up North and away from the dangerous coastal areas. A veteran of the last 9 months of the Charnarus madness ensured that he should have a higher than expected chance to make it well inland and survive for at least a few days unhindered. Investigation shows otherwise and that in fact... he never lasted an hour.
Shots ring out near Hetsaine as he approaches Kamenka proper ...from chat logs we can place people in the area and from witness testimony we can extract the stories.. STFU was lurking in Kamenka and had shot three other new spawns in the region in the last fifteen minutes..we see this part of tale through his eyes..
STFU - I saw this guy, typically running flat out but unusually staying to the trees, bushes and rocks, straight away i knew he was looking ahead, he knew where he was going, not just the flat out straight run of a standard new spawn. Instead of popping him from a distance i waited for him to close. i wanted to be sure of the kill.. Just when i thought i had him, about 200 metres away he broke to my right for the trees and i zipped a shot over his shoulder. He must have seen me i thought. He zigged and zagged then dove behind a rock where i could not spot him. I kept my AK74 Kob on the rock then all of sudden wood splintered around me , he had crawled to a nearby bush and was on his knees shooting at me , i moved back behind the house i was using for cover and when i looked out again he was a blur in the northern treeline, moving fast and keeping the trees between him and me. He was so quick i don't think the zeds even knew he was there..
Somewhere between Kamenka and Zelenogorsk Hetstaine has picked up a rifle, a bolt action Lee Enfield , a highly accurate weapon when in the hands of a skilled user. We take up the story here with RabbitpausE..
RabbitpausE - I had just finished fixing a UH1 'Huey' and was in the Zelenogorsk shops sorting out my gear when i felt goospimples come over me.. i turned around and there was this guy with a half blue half white face , a rifle pointed and looking directly at me through the shop door, i could feel the intensity of his stare through his mirrored aviator glasses i thought Rabbit..you are dead... he had really caught me with my pants down. We stared at each other for about 5 seconds, non moving. I thought about winchester on my back but i never would have been able to get it in my hands in time. A low voice then said ' place your weapons down' ..there was no thinking otherwise, if you would have heard it you would have dropped your weapons too. I dropped first my Winchester and then my Revolver. He then told me to drop my pack and any remaining ammo and lay down, which i did. He moved in and frisked me and then said ' get to da choppa and lay down near it at the front' His words were like those of man on borrowed time, serious but weirdly soothing. The huey was in the carpark so we moved out and i lay down in front of it. He never said another word, just jumped in the Huey , started it up and skimmed her off low over the shops towards Green Mountain. I sat up and just let out a large breathe..i did not even go back into the shops for about 30 seconds... in case he came back.
... by 1.20 pm Hetstaine is armed and airborne and heading in a North- Easterly direction. Further confirmation of his heading comes when Sharpshoota and L33tL00ta are flown over at 1.21 pm whilst driving slowly through Pogorevka.
L33t - The chopper was on us before we even knew it was there, only about 50 feet up and going hell for leather. By the time we got out and had our MI16s on target he was out range, dude was moving man.
The Bell uh1 Iriquois (huey) is a very capable military machine and a devastating gun platform if one has the experience, from records we have dug through on his multitude of journeys around Chernarus we can see that Hetstaine has more than enough hours up his sleeve...
HatchetVictim of Elektro backs this up by saying..
HatchetVictim - I once ventured as far out of Elektro as the top of sniper hill when i heard the unmistakable noise of a chopper inbound, i instantly started running back for the firestation hoping to get to the top so i could take it out with my Makerov. The chopper came right at me once i hit open ground, getting closer and closer until i could not hear anything except those big blades beating the air, i turned and it was on me taking up my whole world and then, missing me by inches, he soared up majestically and performed a perfect loop. It was such a feat that i forgot all about shooting it, he came back down and dropped in on me at a sideways angle like an angel was pushing him, before i knew it he was at my level, hovering just above the ground and looking at me, i jumped in without even knowing why..he said ' Hi mak man..you headed to Berezino ' it was not a question..it was a statement. I said..' Uh... uhm ..Elektro ? ' He said..'incorrect' and then we shot up, pivoted and headed inland. He dropped me near a heli wreck at the back of Berezino and said ' You will find guns and ammo there as well as a change of clothes..go and clean up the filth from around Berezino and look after your fellow survivors' ..i did not even get the chance to say goodbye or thanks as he was already up and disappearing over a hill.
Changed my life man.
Poor flying ability seems to rule itself out.
Hetstaine is now spotted heading in towards Stary Sobor by SpanKmyBUCKET and BieberFanSwag4lifeyolo.
Spank - Yeah man, he just cruised in yo liek a boss and kept his distance, hoverin' out of range and movin' all round pivotin' and stuff so we could not get a clear shot, we don't know if he saw us but he was definitely sus of the area..he booked it sorta towards the NW airfield.
Puff and Daddy are looting a heli wreck just South West of Stary when they hear a chopper approach..
Daddy - we heard it come in from the direction of Stary and he pulled up and hovered about 350-400 feet up, directly above us for a few seconds, then he dipped and moved off slowly in a North Westerly direction, we knew there was another heli wreck that way because we had intended to investigate it next. I remember Puff saying ..hurry up..lets go smoke that dude ! I grabbed the rest of our gear and we loaded up and lifted off.
..Hetstaine has lowered to 50 feet above the distant wreck and turns as he hears the other chopper approach. Suddenly his chopper is lit up with flashes as Puff opens up with the side mounted machine gun scoring hits, Hetstaine immediately powers on and rises up, heading straight for the other machine causing it to evade and slide away. Daddy is also an experienced pilot and has the advantage of another set of eyes and hitting power by the way of the two side mounted M240's. Hetstaine is in serious trouble.
Hetstaine has used his manouver to gain height and has now turned that into speed leaving Puff and Daddy barely visible, but the chopper has taken damage, the instrument panel is a mess, the front screen is shattered and Hetstaine can smell fuel, it must be leaking. From the crash investigation it was found the fuel tank had been ruptured in several places by bullets prior to impact. Puff and Daddy confirm this - When we came across the other Huey hovering above the heli wreck we opened fire noticing several hits, as he flashed barely under us while we violenty sideslipped a smell of raw fuel was noticable.
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Puff and Daddy have gained in a wild chase across open fields were they have zoomed up and then 'tree hopped' across some small forestry...they are now close enough to engage again, more hits are observed...
Puff - He kept climbing and was sideslipping every now and then which was throwing our aim off, he made sure he was trying to stay in our weapon blind spots and if we got too close he would soar up and then pivot down into us causing us to evade and nearly lose him several times in the trees below. If Daddy wasn't such a veteran pilot i have no doubt that he would have easily escaped us. As it was Daddy was struggling but showed he was able to match his manouvers and keep him in sight although he did manage to put distance on us quite a few times.
Hetsaines chopper is hurting, he has taken more rounds than he thinks the Huey should be capable of but she is still up and fighting. After diving over the top of a hill he stops and turns and then starts to lift, as soon Daddy's huey appears he heads under it , possibly hoping to get enough speed to finally put good his escape into one of the many valleys between the hills on the other side, but it is not to be , Puff lets fly and the engine seizes -
Puff- As he came at us Daddy turned and i got a good burst in, we saw him start going down, his rotors slowing, and then a chute popped directly under.
Hetstaines chute opens and the chopper dives away, he hits the ground running just on the edge of the forest and darts into the treeline.
Daddy- We saw him hit the ground and then lost him in the trees, immediately we started taking hits and heard the gunfire from below. Puff was shouting, i can't see him! Get us out of here ! I dived away and heard a few metallic noises indicating we were still taking hits.
Daddy - We started to exit the area, noticing we were just West of Sovnovka, i did not want to risk taking a fatal hit in the middle of that treacherous terrain especially as we were so low.
Puff and Daddy have exited the area, Hetsaine is down but safe, this is where the battle would normally have ended, but things are heated in the cockpit..
Daddy - Puff wanted to go back and finish him off, i said don't worry man, we got his chopper..Puff was angry which was unusual, he would not let the matter drop, he was extremely insistent so i agreed to go back and do a flyby of the area.
Still at least a kilometre away from the crash and we started to take hits again -Transcript (some garbled)..
Puff - What the effff ??!! Thats him !!It has to be him !!
Daddy- Here ? He can't have run that far already ?
Puff - he must have been following us the (garbled) ..where is he??
Daddy- more hits (garbled) there goes the window !
Puff- I see him ! i see him !..your 3 o clock ! Behind the trees!
Daddy- I cant (garbled)
Puff - get higher he is still hitting us !!
Daddy- (garbled) this !
The Huey piled on some height and moved away keeping broadside to Hetstaines approximate position.
It seems that Hetstaine had followed the Huey the moment he had hit the ground and made good time covering the distance, but had he made the wrong choice in going into combat against it with only a Lee Enfield slow firing bolt action rifle and an M9 suppressed pistol ?
Daddy- we moved away keeping a visual and watching him dart from tree to tree working closer too us, Puff was nearly out of ammo so he was just firing short bursts. We took another hit and then he stopped shooting. Keeping our distance we just watched, he moved away still flitting from tree to tree, then a quick mad sprint across a small patch of open ground, Puffs bullets danced all aorund him but no hits. I thought he must be out of ammo so moved the Huey in closer , then closer still..we were nearly above the tree he was using for cover when a fusilage of bullets slammed into us, these were definitely smaller calibre though but enough to make me sideslip away.
From the heli transcript..
Puff- He is shooting at us with a (garbled) pistol !! who the hell does he think he is !!??!
After a second volley of bullets zip by the chopper all goes silent from the ground, Daddy spots Hetstaine run further into the woods and dive behind a large rock.
Daddy moves the Huey in never taking his eyes of the rock, keeping Puff broadside to it, the Huey is only 50 feet up above and 100 feet distant from Hetstaine's rock...
Hetstaine leans out from behind his rock and Puff has his gun trained right on him, a flurry of bullets and it is over. When his body was found it was determined that at that stage he had no bullets left and was possibly trying to bluff the chopper to get out range. Investigators are unsure whether the bullet wound in Hetstaines leg was what caused him to take cover and stop running or if it was sustained in the last fatal burst.
Puff- I saw him kneel up from behind the rock and could see the intensity of his stare, for a second i held my fire, he had his pistol pointed at us but was not firing, i have no doubt that had he had any remaining ammo he would have been giving us all of it. I put the sight right on the lowest part of him i could see which was the upper half of his chest and fired. When i stopped firing he was gone. Simple as that. It was over.
Daddy- Like Puff said..one burst and it was finished, hell of a fight, we had to put down shortly after and carry out some repairs. We counted over 25 hits on the outside of the Huey, plus we had an array of broken instruments and most of our glass had been shattered. Puff was never the same after that shootout, he just sort of crawled inside of himself.
By recreating these scenes, speaking to eyewitnesses and retracing steps we have had an insight into that fateful afternoon. Hetstaine had put himself into a dangerous situation with an experienced chopper crew, allowing himself to be stationary within a short range of them and had not moved, even as they closed. With his fuel leaking his chance of outlasting them in the air had taken a fateful dive, he was relying on his aerial skills trumping in the fight but had found an adversary who also was a master of his machine. He had no gunner so could only evade and not retaliate. Once on the ground he had a chance of escape but was seemingly blinded with a burning desire to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. He had limited ammo and could not sustain the fight indefinitely and was out of range of any true cover like barns or buildings. All of these factors combined in yet another dead survivor under a tree miles from anywhere.