Military pilot lands helicopter on a expressway to ask for directions

A Kazakhstani military helicopter brought a convoy of trucks to a halt when the pilot landed in the middle of the road to ask for directions.

The soviet-designed Mi-8 gunship, estimated to be worth $14 million, appeared quite out of place sitting in the middle of a highway in Kazakhstan.

A number of perplexed truck drivers making their way through the snow could be heard on the convoy radio questioning the pilot’s motives when a small figure jumped out and jogged toward the closest vehicle.

Much to the driver’s surprise, the military officer saluted him and shook his hand before asking where he was.
Happy with the intelligence he had gathered, the man shook his fist in the air and jogged back to share the information with his fellow officers.

“They were lost,” the truck driver relayed to his colleagues.

“He came to ask which way to Aktobe,” he added, giggling at the idea the technologically advanced helicopter had managed to get lost.

“How the hell can you get lost in the steppe?” another driver asked on the radio, according to RT.

The Kazakhstan Ministry of Defence issued a statement claiming the incident was a “planned visual orienteering exercise” when footage of the incident started circulating online.

The statement said trainee pilots had been intentionally sent out without an idea of their location and were challenged to determine where they were by “by means of human survey”.