Patent ID: 8226138

Claim:
An apparatus for securing rescue operations performed by helihoisting, the apparatus comprising: a hook having first attachment means to a cable of a helicopter; second attachment means for a load; third attachment means for a belay lanyard housed in a downward-facing aperture; and a control mechanism designed to trigger automatic release of the belay lanyard that has remained attached when tensioning by traction of the helicopter cable exceeds a predetermined threshold, the control mechanism including: a mobile pawl mounted pivotally on the hook between the closed and released positions of said aperture to respectively maintain the lanyard in the hook and to release the latter therefrom, and a latch submitted to the action of a polarisation spring to latch said pawl in the closed position in the absence of tension on the first attachment means, and to unlatch said pawl when the force exerted on the first attachment means exceeds that of the polarisation spring, wherein the second attachment means for the load are formed by a hole arranged in the pawl, the hook comprising a curved oblong aperture centred on a pivoting spindle of the pawl.