And can you get a radio-telephone link from the lead helicopter?
The pilot of the lead helicopter informed me of this, but then at the last minute he ignored the order.
The lead helicopter came past twice more, and intermittently, throughout the afternoon, they could hear the search continuing.
So, twenty miles ahead there was still nothing to be concerned about, at least according to the captain flying his lead helicopter.
"I'll put down on the east corner, near the water," the pilot of the lead helicopter announced over the radio.
He was in the lead helicopter, staring down through the clear desert air at the roof of the truck.
The lead helicopter slews off to the side, making good its escape.
The nose gun of the lead helicopter fired steadily from five hundred feet above.
There were six of them, including a captain in the lead helicopter and a medical technician in the second.
Abruptly the lead helicopter started streaming black smoke from the tail rotor.