HelicopterLife

Transcription

HelicopterLife

HELICOPTER
LIFE
W
INTER
2009 / £3.99
www.helicopterlife.c
100 years of
Mountain
HELICOPTER LIFEis the
HIGH LIFE
Winter 2009
HELICOPTER
LIFE
COVER STORY
Show & Tell Guide
Aviation shows and conferences.
4
The Editor’s Letter
5
Aerial Forum
6 & 10
Reg Austin on the 1960s helicopter amalgamation
Letters to the Editor
Flying Crackers
Cyprus Police
Alan Norris
reports on changes
made to the Cyprus
police over the
years, and how they
have evolved into
both a police and a
fire fighting helicopter organisation
7, 11, 15
8, 9
12
Delivering a R44 through Europe
Pippa Jannsen
writes about flying
with Martin Rutty
and his sales team
through Europe,
when they deliver a
helicopter sold in
the United
Kingdom to Cuneo
in the Alps
18
RAeSWomen in Aviation & Aerospace
Clare Walker on forming a new group
22
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Sikorsky S92 Simulator
38
Georgina Hunter-Jones
visits the Flight Safety simulator at Farnborough
and experiences what it is like to fly a S92
Royal Netherlands SAR
40
Arjan Dijksterhuis
goes to the beach at Katwijk to see the Dutch
equivalent of the RNLI in action
New Technology
16
TCL Handling’s new helicopter lifting device and
engineering tool
HeliTech Duxford 24
Helicopter Life
went to the latest helicopter
show at Duxford saw how
the helicopter world is
dealing with the recession
and all the problems
caused by reduced sales.
Plus, Prof Marmont’s fuel
100 Years of
Mountain Rescue 32
Leslie Symons
marks the 100 years of
Mountain Rescue flying,
with this history of the
service and how it has
changed and evolved
and how important it has
become to us all
SAR-H Bid
Nicky Smith and the Soteria bid
46
Air America
48
Ralph Arnesen
writes about his experience of flying from
Laos for the Air
America group as part
of the Vietnam War
North Midlands Heli
Support Unit
54
visited and flew with
the North Midlands
Police Helicopter
Supoprt Unit, saw how
well the helicopter
works for the unit and
the reaction of the
criminal fraternity
Helicopters Past
62
Book Reviews
63
Accident Reports
64
House & Helicopter
66
3
S HOW
& T ELL
G UIDE
21 February - 23 February 2010
HAI HELIExPO 2010
Houston, Texas
Contact Helicopter Association International
1635 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Telephone: (703) 683-4646 Fax: (703) 683-4745
heliexpo@rotor.com
8 April - 11 April 2010
AERO FRIEDRICHSHAFEN
Friedrichshafen, Germany
http://www.aero-expo.com
Contact: www.aero-expo.com/aero-en/visitors
20 May - 22 May 2010
HELI RUSSIA 2010
Crocus Centre, Moscow
Contact olga Sheveleva, Int. Sales Manager
Telephone: +7 495 958 94 90
email olga@helirussia.ru http://www.helirussia.ru
25 May - 27 May 2010
HELI TECH BRASIL 2010
Anhembi Park Exhibition Centre, San Paolo Brazil.
helitech@reedexpo.co.uk
http://www.helitechevents.com/brasil/
28 May - 30 May 2010
AEROExPO EUROPE 2010
Pribram Airfiled, Prague
Contact the Aero Expo team
Telephone: +44 (0) 2085493917
email: alex@avbuyer.com www.expo.aero
19 July - 25 July 2010
FARNBOROUGH IINTERNATIONAL
AIRSHOW
Farnborough Airfield, UK
Contact Farnborough Airshow Team
Telephone: +44(0) 1252 532800
Email: enquiries@farnborough.com
5 october - 7 october 2010
HELITECH EUROPE 2010
Cascais, Portugal
Telephone: +44 20 8271 2134
http://www.helitecheurope.com/
4
HELICOPTER
LIFE
WINTER 2009
HON. EDITORIAL BOARD
Captain Eric Brown, CBE, RN
The Lord Glenarthur, DL
Jennifer Murray
Michael J. H. Smith
Wing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOT
editor@helicopterlife.com
CREATIVE DIRECTORS
art@helicopterlife.com
COPY EDITORS
Evangeline Hunter-Jones, JP
John Wilson
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Ralph Arnesen, Reg Austin, Arjan Dijksterhuis
Pippa Jannsen, Leslie Symons, Tony Marmont,
Alan Norris, Pim de Rhodes, Tom Thorsen, Ken
Wallis, Clare Walker, Ian Williamson
CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHY
Ralph Arnesen, Reg Austin, Arjan Dijksterhuis,
Leslie Symons, Alan Norris, Martin Rutty, Pim de
Rhodes, Ron van der Toolen, Ian Williamson
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Dave Smith ATPL(H)IR, Nicky Smith,
CopterCovers
ADVERTISING
Telephone: +44-(0)20-7430-2384
advertising@helicopterlife.com
SUBSCRIPTIONS
Go to our website or turn to page 54
subscriptions@helicopterlife.com
WEBSITE
www.helicopterlife.com
COVER PHOTOGRAPH
By Professor Leslie Symons
Rescuer on a longline below the helicopter
with belay to casualty - Switzerland
HELICoPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd.
59 Great ormond Street
London, WC1N-3Hz.
Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2009.
ISSN 1743-1042.
All rights reserved. opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the publishers, the Editor or any of the editorial
staff. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form whatever,
is strictly prohibited without specific written permission of
the Editor.
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
T HE E DITOR
PhotograPh
courtesy of
North MidlaNds Police
N
ext year sees 100 years since
the first mountain crossing by
an aeroplane, which led to the
next hundred years of mountain rescue by air. Professor Leslie Symons,
author of the story, says that this
seems relatively trivial compared to
the first aerial crossing of the English
Channel, at least to the British; but is
that true?
To me, mountains, with their high
peaks and frighteningly indiscriminate weather patterns, with their
potential for immediate change, seem
much less inviting than the mellow,
welcoming sea. However, to some
pilots even a flat, calm sea seems like
a siren’s lure that is simply waiting to
pull them in to a watery death. In
truth, a lot of our fears and strengths
come from what we are used to compared to what we do not know. Thus,
coming from a relatively flat island I
have spent far more time over water
than in the mountains; hence I am
more used to the variations of the
deep than to those of the high, but
does that make the history of mountain rescue any less compelling than
that of the first sea crossers? Is mountain rescue less important than
Lindbergh Atlantic Crossing? And,
would either of these things seem
trivial compared to flying an open
cockpit bi-plane at night, with no
lights and no seat belts while dropping bombs over enemy territory?
The Night Witches (whose real
name was Stalin’s Falcons) were one
of three squadrons of Russian women
pilots in WW11. The Night Witches
flew 1928 wood and canvas
Polikarpov Po-2 bi-planes at night,
regardless of the weather, and
dropped bombs on the German front
lines. As the small aircraft could
carry only two bombs at a time this
meant multiple missions. The terrified
Germans made up stories of the girls
being given special drugs to allow
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
them to fly open cockpit planes in all
conditions and, because the women
cut the engines before diving silently
into the attack, suggested that they
must arrive on broomsticks.
The girls themselves were determined to fight for their newly ‘liberated’ country. Led by pre-war aviator
Marina Roskova, a famous pilot and
navigator often referred to as the
Russian Amelia Earhart, they forced
the authorities to allow them to fly.
The girls were always fearful of
being shot down and caught by the
Germans, and they carried pistols in
their aircraft. These had seven bullets,
six for the enemy.
Although they are clearly not
Night, or even day Witches, Clare
Walker writes about the newly
formed RAeS Women in Aviation and
Aerospace group and their recent
conference. She points out that,
despite women having been in aviation since its inception, they still
make up only a small percentage of
the flying and engineering staff of
most companies. This, she underlines,
is very different from Air Traffic
Control, where there are almost equal
numbers of men and women. Why,
she asks.
HeliTech showed that corporate
helicopter flying is still down,
although EMS and police flying continues unabated. Mervyn King,
Governor of the Bank of England,
explaining that we are now seeing the
banking world more clearly, said that
“Regulators who had criticised banks’
lending policies in 2006 or 2007
would have had a massively difficult
task persuading politicians to back
them. They would have been seen to
be arguing against success.”
The same can be seen in the helicopter world.
Anyone suggesting that pre-purchasing (the practice of putting a
deposit on a helicopter before it is
S
L ETTER
built, preparatory to selling it on at a
marked up price) was immoral, or at
the very least unwise in the boom
times, would have been laughed at or
avoided. Now, during a recession,
such advice is regarded as sage and
practical wisdom.
Even before the recession, it was
clear that changes were needed in the
helicopter industry, mostly in terms of
noise and emission reduction. Now
this is even more the case, as users of
helicopters look for lower costs and
ideologues look for sustainable fuels.
one of these is Professor Tony
Marmont, the owner of a Squirrel helicopter and a keen advocate of sustainable fuels. on page 30 he explains
his system of using air and water to
produce fuel, and he also stresses its
importance, pointing out that if we
continue to guzzle energy in the present way, we will run out of fuel by
2013. only three years away!
Inevitably there will be counter
arguments, but it seems sensible to
examine all the options for fuel creation in an attempt to keep flying.
5
A ERIAL F ORUM
A Bit of Nostalgia
Reg Austin writes about the competition between the Westland
Westminster, Fairey Rotodyne and Bristol Type 194 after the
amalgamation of the British Helicopter Industry in 1960
I
was interested to see the photo of the Westminster in the
recent issue.
PhotograPh
courtesy
reg austiN
Your correspondent referred to the competition that was
held after the amalgamation of the British Helicopter industry in 1960, between the Westland Westminster, the Fairey
Rotodyne and the Bristol Type 194. A decision had to be
made as to which of these three types should be continued
under the Westland banner.
I took part in the small working group that advised the
Board in the matter. The group concluded that the Bristol
194 (with the proposed name "Baron") was the preferred
aircraft with its superior economics and cruise speed
(200kt). The Rotodyne came next and the Westminster last.
The Baron was also seen as presenting fewer risks in development than the first two.
I understood that HM Government were advised by the
Westland Board that they were prepared to proceed with
either of the first two, and would fund half of the development costs of the Baron, but would expect the Government
to fully fund the Rotodyne.
The Government chose to continue with the Rotodyne
because public money had already been invested in it.
Sadly it was cancelled only six months later, leaving the
UK with no heavier-lift helicopter than the Bristol
Belvedere, with its nominal 6000lb under-slung load.
Those aircraft were regularly vastly overloaded in operations, as seen in photographs of them carrying, for example,
the complete Wessex from Borneo to the mainland.
As the Baron was never completed, as far as I am aware, no
pictures of it have ever been published. I do, however, have
an early publicity model of it, and I attach a photo.
I also have a General arrangement drawing of the civil version, of which a scanned-in copy is attached.
The drawing, however, shows the definitive design, in
which a canard foreplane was added, and the main wing
was moved a little aft to give better ground and flight stability than the early model configuration would have had. In
1953, Bristol flew the Type 173, the first tandem-rotor helicopter with wings, and so accumulated knowledge of that
configuration.
The twin-engined Type 173 was destined for service with
BEA, but the Korean War caused the Government of the
day to demand priority in the production of RR Avon
engines. Development of the Bristol Janus 800 shp freepower turbine engine ceased and left the 173 without production engines. It was therefore abandoned, because the
temporary installation of 550 shp Alvis piston engines did
not give it adequate engine-failed capability.
The model and the drawing show the 52-passenger civil
6
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter2009
L ETTERS
TO THE
E DITOR
59 Great ormond Street, London WC1N-3Hz, England.
Telephone: 020-7430-2384, Email: editor@helicopterlife.com.
Please include your name, and email or phone.
Flying Without Wings
Dear Georgina,
It is always a joy to receive
Helicopter Life and I was
interested indeed to read in the
latest edition of your Flying
Without Wings, in a
Gyroplane.
I do not think you were really
flying without wings because
the term ‘Gyroplane’ infers a
‘turning wing’. As such it
could also be applied to a helicopter.
I deplore the loss of the original and technically correct
generic term for that class of
aircraft. From the time that
Juan de la Cierva had made
such a successful rotarywinged aircraft they were
‘Autogyros’ implying ‘self
turning’.
In the FAI, if one achieves a
World Record with such an
aircraft it is in the E-3 Class as
an ‘Autogyro’.
Spelled with an ‘i’ rather that a
‘y’ as Autogiro, that is the
trade name adopted by the
Cierva derivatives.
‘Gyrocopter’ was a trade name
adopted by Igor Bensen for his
powered DIY designs, which
followed on from his
‘Gyroglider’, which owed
much to Raoul Hafner’s WW-2
‘Rotachute’, examples of which
Dr Benson had access to.
I have never had an explanation for the dropping of the
original and only correct
generic term for the type of
aircraft, in the form of the
MT-03 that you enjoyed and is
increasingly popular.
I have been flying autogyros
for the past 50 years, in my
over 72 years as a pilot. I have
flown all sorts of aircraft, piston and jet, although none
Letters continue
on page 11 and 15
with more than ten engines. I am completely convinced that the little autogyro
has unique qualities as a member of the
‘family of aircraft.’
It was good, in 1975, to take off from
Lydd and to ‘run out of land’ (but not out
of fuel) in a non-stop flight to Wick. In
1988, I actually flew some 740 ‘air
miles’ at 97 mph and still had quite a bit
of fuel left over.
In 1985, I established the 100 km Closed
Circuit Speed Record at 118 mph and
that and the distance flights were
achieved using an FAA certified Franklin
24-120 aero engine of only 60hp.
Anyway, in short, I think you did fly with
wings, even if they were only gliding
round in auto-rotation. Keep up the good
work.
PS I did once fly a huge Russian Kamov,
only in the hover, in Sweden, in the Cold
War.
Yours sincerely,
Ken Wallis
Editor’s note:
For anyone who does not know, the title
Flying Without Wings comes from a song
performed by Westlife and originally
released in 1999. The lyrics were written
by Wayne Hector.
Sognefjorden Helicopter Club
courtesy of
robiN dabrowa
Good evening Georgina,
I am the CEo of a small helicopter club
in Western Norway, not far from
Sognefjorden. We do not have a helicopter of our own, but rent an Enstrom 280C
during summer.
We certainly would appreciate a visit
from readers of Helicopter Life magazine. See our web-site:
http://home.online.no/~astgj/index.cfm
(see also House and Helicopter)
Keep up the good work!
Best regards,
PhotograPhs
Tom Thorsen
CEO of Sogn Helicopter Club
Continued on page 11
HELICOPTER LIFE,Winter 2009
7
F LYING
Helicopter Cash Heist
Swedish police have arrested suspects after thieves raided a cash storage unit for ATMs near Stockholm
in September. The thieves made their
approach to the facility and the first
leg of their escape using a stolen
helicopter. Authorities suspect the
group of bandits may include as
many as ten participants. one of
those arrested is one of the 552
licensed helicopter pilots in Sweden.
The gang landed a helicopter on the
roof of the cash storage facility,
gained access through a window, and
apparently used explosives to gain
access to the cash. They then loaded
the helicopter with their booty and
departed, leaving no one wounded.
The helicopter was found about 15
miles away. The first responders to
the heist were not equipped to confront heavily armed criminals, and
the thieves were able to get away
before properly equipped authorities
arrived. Critics have been asking
why the police did not use their own
helicopter in the operation.
operations for the offshore oil
and gas industry in the North
Sea, Southern North Sea and
the Irish Sea, and further
development of the company’s
presence in the air ambulance
sector. It also signals Bond’s
entry into the Renewable
Energy Industry, with the
UK’s first helicopter support
contract of its kind, which
requires it to fly engineers out
to the world’s largest offshore
wind farm from January 2010.
Bond’s helicopter fleet will be
expanded by the introduction of
nine new aircraft, with a total
value of circa £50m, to service
these new long-term contracts.
The aircraft consist of four
EC135T2is, four AS365N3s,
and EC225. All of these will be
delivered by the end of 2009 or
in early 2010, bringing the company’s UK fleet to 40 twinengine helicopters.
The 80 new jobs have been created across the Bond Group,
and provide an addition to its
existing workforce of 379. The
roles include primarily pilots
and engineers, but also additional ground and admin staff.
The SRT team
srt helicoPters aNd boNd helicoPters
8
PhotograPhs by
Following an extensive evaluation, and an
on-site visit from representatives from the
Department of Homeland Security,
Department of State, and Department of
Immigration and Customs, we achieved a
significant milestone in flight training.
We see the M-1 Visa approval as a significant accomplishment and a validation of
our training programme.”
The SRT training focuses on total pilot
training, as opposed to the standard CFI
training goal of many flight schools. As a
result, SRT focuses on the quality and not
the quantity of training hours. “We start
with the Rotor Wing Private rating and
SRT Helicopters M- then move to a Fixed Wing Private rating.
Because of the way we structure our cur1Visa
SRT Helicopters became the
riculum, we can move a student through
PVT F/W Instrument, Comm R/W
Eighty New Jobs at Bond first non-141 flight training
school in the U.S. to be
Bond Aviation Group has secured
Instrument, CFI R/W, CFII R/W and
five new long-term contracts worth a approved for the M-1 Visa
Comm F/W ratings (in that order) in less
Student & Exchange Visitor
total of £153m. The contracts, all
time, and at a lower cost to the student.
Programme.
five to seven years in duration, will
And, most important, we believe we proAccording to Christian Gadbois, duce a stronger, more marketable pilot in
commence in late 2009 or early
President and CEo of SRT
2010, and will see Bond introduce
the process.”
nine new aircraft and create a further Helicopters, “SRT has worked
Gadbois has been involved with training
hard to distinguish our training
80 new jobs across the company.
for more than twenty years, and is curfrom that of all other flight
Winning the contracts will mean an
rently a voting member of the HAI
schools in the country.
increase in Bond’s crew change
Training Committee.
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
F LYING
C RACKERS
thank you Barcelona,” yelled Bonhomme after letting out
a loud shout of joy when he heard, on his cockpit radio,
the news that he had won the title. “It’s been a huge
amount of pressure. It’s just a question of how you deal
with it at the right time,” he said. “I thought I’d better get
my skates on and that worked.” Second place went to
defending champion Hannes Arch of Austria, and third to
Australia’s Matt Hall, the best result ever for a rookie. The
15 competing pilots earn points in each of the six races,
and the final ranks are determined by the aggregate score.
Bonhomme took three victories and three second places in
the series, even though his Edge 540 plane had not been
as fast as Arch’s for most of the season.
That s the way to do it
bottoM PhotograPh gerbeN
vaN
beck : toP PhotograPh georgiNa huNter-JoNes
It’s not only the aircraft that needs fuel on a long
cross-country. When the crew of a Canadian Forces
CH-146 Griffon helicopter stopped at Kenora airport,
they discovered that although the helicopter could be
fuelled the crew could not. The cupboard was bare.
The crew was on its way from the garrison at
Canadian Forces Base Edmonton to Thunder Bay,
ont., a distance of 900 nautical miles, and the men
needed to eat! The only way to fuel the pilot and crew
was to land at a vacant ball diamond, across the street
from an A&W in a nearby town. Then, once man and
machine were satisfied, our faithful boys were on
their way again, all thanks to A&W Food Services.
Aerial Dog Walking
Ever wanted to do a tandem parachute jump? You can
even take the dog!
Military police dog Fasco accompanied his handler Sgt
Chris Lalonde, a parachute jumpmaster, out the back of a
US military helicopter in Missouri. They jumped at 12,500
feet and reached speeds of 129 mph. The dog enjoyed
every minute. Whether the man did is not recorded.
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Paul Bonhomme wins
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Congratulations to Paul Bonhomme
Paul Bonhomme, who, incidentally, taught the editor
of Helicopter Life to fly tail-draggers back in some
distant past era at White Waltham, UK, won this
year’s Red Bull Air Race World Championship in
Barcelona, Spain. There was a record crowd of
800,000 spectators. Bonhomme, who is a British pilot,
was placed second in both 2007 and 2008. “Fantastic,
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
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9
. version of the Baron, but a military ver- Returning to the Westminster, it was the other closed down automatically, to
sion was also planned. It had a rear ramp,
and a sliding door and winch in the forward fuselage. The undercarriage mounted larger wheels with low-pressure tyres.
The military version had the
option of flying without the
wings attached, in which case
the cruise speed was limited
to 160kt. The fuel of both versions was carried in the inner
wings (i.e., inboard of the
undercarriage), and drop
tanks for extended range or
other stores could be fitted to
the stub wings of the military
aircraft. Had the development
of this aircraft actually proceeded, one wonders if the
British Army would now be
well equipped with helicopters in Afghanistan?
10
powered by two Napier Eland singleshaft turbines - not a sensible choice for
a helicopter. one day, hovering at White
Waltham airfield, one engine failed, and
prevent surging as the compressor lost
speed. Fortunately, no one was seriously
hurt, but the aircraft was not worth
repairing. All a little bit of nostalgia!
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
M
ORE
L ETTERS
continued from page 6
Keeping Salt water at Bay
Dear Georgina
We have on deck of our ship, the
Cdt. Fourcault, a Bell 206
JetRanger. The problem in having
a helicopter on the deck of a ship
is the saltwater, so my first
thought last year, was to build a
big container to store the JetRanger.
The container dimensions would
have been so big that the whole
deck of the ship would have needed to be rebuilt, including the funnels.
Now, this idea gave me lots of
problems, mainly the weight,
which is very important for the
ship’s stability, because it would
have been 6, 7 meters above
sealevel and secondly the look and
third, not to forget, the amount
wind the object would catch. Then
also moving the helicopter into the
hangar gives more problems when
TO THE
the sea is slightly rough or rough.
So I looked for more options like
tents and covers. My eyes were
caught by the Aircovers advert in
Helicopter Life.
I looked at the website and
thought ok, but what happens at
sea is no comparison with the
backyard kind of thing a normal
helicopter would be in. Here we
have storms with 60 mile gusting
winds rocking and moving and
almost pressure-water-showers
from salt water. Sun, snow, cold,
hot, moist and dry, we get it all.
So, now my precious light metal
expensive helicopter is there to be
protected against this all.
So, I’ve seen the site with nice
people, promising al kind of good
things. I didn't know what to do.
Finally, I called with John
(Pattinson, the MD) and talked
about the problem. He was very
convincing about the covers which
EDITOR
could take all these kind of weather, storms, difference in temp etc.
so I finally bought them.
Delivered just before we left for a
dive-expedition for The National
Geographic to Greece we then
took the puzzle of covers and
started to cover-up the helicopter,
with no knowledge of the
sequence in which to put it on.
But this worked quite well. The
JetRanger was covered in a way
that we could hardly believe.
Perfect fit and very tight. This
very tight was very important as
soon we where about to hit a
storm on the Bisqua Bay (North
East of Spain) which we were not
expecting. Eight meters of waves
and winds up to 50 knots per hour.
The waves hit the deck and water
was sprayed over the helicopter on
and on for several hours. I was
really very happy not to have lost
continued on page 15
Cyprus Police
W
T
ORDS
12
PHOTOGRAPHS
The Cyprus Police
Air Wing was
established in
August 1990
BY
A LAN N ORRIS
the Greek police, on the mainland,
could just as effectively be transferred
to the island, and it also recognised the
need for their own independent SAR.
The Cyprus Police Air Wing was established in August 1990 following the
purchase of a helicopter, and a multiengine turboprop airplane.
originally formed as the Cyprus Air
Wing, it attained unit status in 2008,
and is now called the Cyprus Police Air
operations Unit. As such, it is a division of the Police Headquarters, based
in Nicosia. The unit initially used a Bell
412SP helicopter and one fixed wing
aircraft, a turboprop Brittan-Norman
Islander BN-2T. Seven years later a
second helicopter, a Bell 412EP, was
added to the fleet. All these aircraft are
based in a secure area of Larnaca
International airport.
The island covers an area of 9251
square kilometres, and the primary mission of the unit is the control of the territorial area of the republic of Cyprus
out to 19.3 kilometres off the Cyprus
coast. The main part of this role is the
support of the police across the entire
PhotograPhs alaN Norris
he island of Cyprus is the third
largest
island
in
the
Mediterranean, and the coast
of Lebanon, Syria, and Israel lies to
the east, Egypt to the south, Turkey to
the north and Greece to the west. The
Cyprus Police Air operations Unit
carries out a broad range of police
roles as well as search and rescue and
fire fighting.
Following independence from the
British in 1960, the task of Search
and Rescue in the surrounding area
was undertaken by the Royal Air
Force, with No. 84 Squadron based at
Akrotiri on the island. In 1995, however, the Republic of Cyprus declared
to the International Civil Aviation
organization (ICAo) and the
International Maritime organization
that the Flight Information Region
(FIR) around the island, covering an
area of 176,000 square kilometres,
would be the official Search and
Rescue Region, and the responsibility, of the Republic of Cyprus.
The Cyprus Government recognised that the use of helicopters by
AND
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
The waters of
Lefkara Dam are
ideal to take on
another load of
water
PhotograPh
by
alaN Norris
spectrum of the law enforcement environment, from missing
person searches and highway patrol to special operations with
the drug squad. Since January 2008, the Greek side of the
island has been part of the European Community. As one of the
25 states of Europe, and with the easternmost border in
Europe, Cyprus faces the problem of illegal immigration,
which means that providing frontier patrols, on the high seas,
is an important role of the Cyprus Police Air Wing patrol. For
this they use their Brittan-Norman Islander BN-T2 aircraft.
Their secondary mission is SAR, and the unit will always
respond to an SAR call received from the Rescue Coordination
Centre at Larnaca first, even if it is involved in police work at
the time. The unit has flown over 16,000 hours and carried out
over 1266 missions since 1990.
As if all that was not enough for any unit to undertake, since
2000 they have had a third mission: fire-fighting across the
island. Due to the extremely high summer temperatures, fire is
a constant hazard on the island in July and August, and the unit
is equipped with fire suppression Bambi buckets.
The unit consists of eight pilots on the helicopters and six on
the Islander, plus crew chiefs and rescue swimmers, who also
act as hoist operators when required. The unit is on 24-hour
call, but the crews are not based at Larnaca overnight. They
operate a 12-hour shift pattern, with the first crews on call from
0700 to 1400, and the second shift from 1400 to 2100, but
there is always a standby crew on call at one hour’s notice,
from their homes at night.
Both helicopters are equipped for Instrument Flight Rules
(IFR) and carry the same basic equipment: weather and search
radar, marine and police radio, loud hailer, Night Sun and
FLIR 2000. Both helicopters are also fitted with a hoist, the
412SP model mounted internally and the 412EP externally.
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
13
The helicopter has a
crew of four
by
Dusty, sandy conditions reduce visibility
and make flying difficult
HELICOPTER LIFEWinter 2009
alaN Norris
14
Since 1990 the use
of helicopters for
firefighting has
increased
PhotograPhs
The Britain Norman BN-2T Islander aircraft always
flies with a crew of three: pilot, co-pilot and
observer/radio operator, while the helicopter crew consists of the pilot, co-pilot, rescue swimmer and hoist
operator. The helicopter hoist operator is also the crew
chief in charge of the cabin, and the rescue swimmer is
the person who goes down on the winch. The unit has
always operated on the basis that a four man crew is the
most suitable configuration, as they prefer to have two
sets of eyes in front and two at the back, for maximum
safety. The unit has always been happy to follow any
good SAR practices from around the world, and it has
adopted a mix of rescue styles modelled on the principles of the United States Coast Guard and the Royal Air
Force SAR.
In 2001 the unit introduced Night Vision Goggles
(NVG) in the SAR and fire-fighting roles. These are
used only during serious incidents, and typically at the
water pick-up point during fire fighting, as there is usually enough light generated by the fire at the scene. In
the SAR role, the helicopters do not have auto-hovering,
and the NVG goggles used during night operations have
greatly increased their safety margin. In 2000 the unit
placed an order for four more Bell 412 helicopters, but
these were embargoed by the American State
Department because the use of NVG equipment was
seen as “militarising the aircraft”.
Since 1990 the use of helicopters in the fire-fighting
role has increased, and in 2005 the Cypriot Government
placed an order for two new Mil Mi-172 helicopters
manufactured by the Kazan Helicopter Company. At a
combined cost of approximately €15 million the new
helicopters were to be tasked for fire suppression. The
new helicopters were scheduled for delivery to Larnaca
airport in April 2007. However the delivery of the
Russian helicopters was halted at the last minute by the
Agriculture Minister, to enable the details of the contract
to be renegotiated. Difficulties arose from installing
auto-hover-specific software into the aircrafts’ systems,
as the software is produced in the United States, and was
not then available for sales in Cyprus. The contract
alteration sought to remove the software temporarily from
the specification, with a view to retrofitting it later. After
lengthy negotiations, the contract was finally cancelled,
despite four pilots and engineers having been trained on the
type at the Kazan Helicopter plant.
In 2007 the Cypriot Government opened a new tender for
two medium range helicopters, with an option on a third, to
be used purely for SAR. In December 2008 the Ministry of
Defence of Cyprus placed an order for three AW139 medium twin-engine helicopters, which will be used to perform
search and rescue and utility-EMS duties, covering the
Cyprus Flight Information Region (FIR). This was followed
ten days later by the Ministry of Justice of Cyprus placing an
order for two AW139 medium twin-engine helicopters,
which will be used to perform law enforcement and search
and rescue operations. The police also hope to build a hangar
large enough to house the new and existing helicopters when
they arrive. Construction started at the end of 2008.
Currently both the Bell helicopters have undergone their
five-year maintenance checks with Patria osterman in
Stockholm, Sweden, and this will see the Cyprus Police Air
operations Unit operating the type well into 2015, and
alongside the new AW139 in all their tasks and roles.
M
ORE
L ETTERS
TO THE
EDITOR
Pim’s JetRanger in
Copter Covers
waterproof dress
the Helicopter at all. I was not concerned about the
water getting into and underneath the covers yet. A day
later, when the weather had changed, I took the freshwater to rinse the covered helicopter. I was not prepared
to take the covers off the covers yet because we had to
sail for another eight days before getting into Greek
waters. Finally in Greece I took off the covers to
inspect the water damage or corrosion........
NoNE, nothing, no proof of any water droplet getting
inside the covers at all.
Amazing and awesome covers that's all I need to say
about this. really.
Thanks for letting me express my feelings about what I
think is a very good and affordable product, just like
Helicopter Life itself.
Best wishes,
Pim de Rhoodes
letters continue on page 17
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www.cymapetroleum.co.uk
N EW
T ECHNOLOGY
T
ony Hancock, the MD of TLC Handling has a new
helilifting machine under development. It will, he
says, we ready in 8 months, and is a result of working with his current machine and the customers that use it.
Hancock says, “I realised over the last 10 years that there
are certain areas we cannot cover with the present
machine.” He says he is aiming “to make the new machine
more hangar friendly, so it can now go sideways and still
have the same APU.”
The new machine has four main changes.
Firstly, it has the same basic helicopter handling character
and moves under the helicopter in the same way, but now
the wheels can be changed to carry the helicopter in a sideways or forwards direction.
Secondly, so you don’t forget in which way you are travelling, there is a wheel on the console which always shows
the direction of travel.
Thirdly, the lifting device can be lowered down onto aircraft stands so that the skids can be removed.
Fourthly, he is planning to introduce maintenance platforms, which will allow engineers to walk around the helicopters at every level and do maintenance. The last stage
has various options, some of which will allow power outlets and storage spaces for tools.
The new machine is smaller and more compact than the
previous machine, it is controlled by an umbilical cord with
a control box which fits across the shoulders
Hancock says that this is something completely new in the
market place, an all-in-one for the hangar.
16
“This is going to hit the market place in a way that they
can use this machine in replacement of various other
machines, so it will reduce the number of implements filling up the hangar and give more overall space.”
He says the reason he became aware of the need for such a
machine was that he works with many different operators
in many different countries across the world, all of whom
have their own ways of working, but all of whom still have
the same basic sets of demands to which they adhere.
He found that in the world of maintenance the standard
equipment has not changed for twenty years.
He said, “very often operators have to hire-in lifting gear,
but with this machine you can take all the equipment off
the frame it is will still be mobile.”
He points out, moreover, that although this looks like a
four wheel machine with all the extra stresses that entails,
in this machine he has built in a ‘pivot knuckle’, which
effectively keeps the three wheel approach. This means that
no matter what the land underneath the machine does the
aircraft stays in-line with the handling unit, which takes out
the stresses of moving over, for example, bumpy ground.
Add to this the extra big clamps and the effect is of a twowheel carrying platform that nullifies any twisting potential, while still reducing the effort the controller needs to
put into the machine.
There has been a lot of interest in the machine but until it
is completely finished and ready for the market place TLC
Handling will not have a price. However, Tony says, “it
will definitely be value for money.”
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
PhotograPhs georgiNa huNter-JoNes
TLC Handling s New
Helicopter Lifter
M
ORE
L ETTERS
Searching for a Mystery Lady Helicopter Pilot
Hi Georgina,
My name is Ken Smith, I worked for Carson
Helicopters, PA. for the last 15 years, and am now
retired. I know you have nothing else to do, so am
taking the chance you might help me find out who I
met back in the 60s!
I was a flight engineer on the Navy P3 orion, stationed a Brunswick, Maine. I was in my 20s at the
time. I worked part time at a boat yard to supplement
my pay, when not on deployment.
A lady, with greying hair, would come to the boat yard
with two little girls off and on during the summer of
‘67. They would visit while I painted boat bottoms.
At the end of the summer I was given their address
(London) and was told to stop by should I ever get
there in my travels.
A few months later we had a flight in to London for
R&R from Rota, Spain. We stayed at the Douglas
House I remember. I called the operator for the lady’s
phone number and was told it was the Duke of
TO THE
Edinburgh’s house?! ( I later found out they were renting from him.)
A fellow crew member and I visited them for a couple
hours, and in the course of conversation she mentioned she was the first licensed female helicopter
pilot. I believe she said in the U.S., she also said her
husband worked for Time Life and was in Sweden. I
believe the servants were mostly Swedish.
I lost the name and address years ago and am really
curious as to what ( famous?) lady I met. I remember
the two girls crying when we left. They seemed
secluded and lonely, in Maine and London. I wasn't
aware of the Whirly Girls and WASP back then and it
has been very exciting research. The planes those
young ladies flew! If you have any inkling as to who
this might have been I would really appreciate your
input.
I talked to Ann Shaw Carter's daughters (2) and they
don't remember Living in London, or being in Maine.
Thank you,
Ken Smith
AMHC USN Ret.
Come and fly our wonderful
Schweizer 300CBi
We offer PPL training, type conversions and
Commercial training via our various training providers
Want to know why we feel this is the best piston trainer in
the world? Well here are just a few reasons:
1 40 years of airframe development,
over 60,000 pilots trained, over 4
million training hours logged, over
12 million auto-rotations over 20
million hours flown
2 Pilot and instructor have their own
set of controls, no ‘shared stick’
3 Great power and carrying ability, up
to 600lbs cabin weight with great
power reserves
4 Purpose built for the training role
and used by twenty three air forces
around the world as their basic trainer
EDITOR
5 Fully articulated three bladed rotor
system giving greater stability, which
allows students to progress faster
6 Modern fuel injected engine based on
proven design
7 Spacious cockpit, in the correct
configuration has enough room and
power to carry three people
8 Start over speed limiter to protect against
engine damage
9 Four point
harness
10 Great price!!
Price List from 1st July 2009
(Flights from Southend Airport)
Trial Lessons
TOTAL (INC VAT)
30 minute trial lesson
Rochester Flight
(35 minutes each way, 70 minutes total)
£147.00
£187.00
£280.00
£315.00
Prices listed above are the total price for trial lessons and no additional
charges apply such as landing fees.
Dual Training (wet) with pilot Lee Burling*
Per 1 hour Hobbs
£276.00
Solo Hire (wet)
Solo hire per 1 hour Hobbs
£242.00
Other Charges
Landings
Circuits
£20.87
£18.40
*Lee Burling is a Helicopter
Flight Instructor qualified
to train under both the
UK (JAR) and US (FAA)
certification. Lee trains
on the Schweizer 300CBi
from Southend Airport.
Tel: 01702 456330
Iris Aviation Ltd. 7th Floor, Maitland House, Warrior Square, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 2JN, United Kingdom
mail@irisaviation.co.uk
www.irisaviation.co.uk
Flight to Cuneo
I
PIPPA JANNSEN PHOTOGRAPHS
t is sometimes surprising how
much of an impact luck, both
good and bad, has on general aviation. I was very lucky to be offered
a second delivery flight by Martin
Rutty of Fly-Q.co.uk, but the beginning of the trip was dogged by
some of the worst luck I had yet
encountered.
The plan was simple: Simon
Lichtenstein, ziggy Latiff and I
would set off from Herefordshire and
fly G-STAA, an R44, to its new
home in Cuneo, Italy. However,
right from the off, nothing went to
plan. Marginal weather meant that
Martin and ziggy, who were flying
an R22 down from Aberdeen to meet
us, were delayed by several hours,
by which time the weather in
Herefordshire had also closed in. We
18
BY
M ARTIN R UTTY
retired to the local Pub to plan for
the following day’s assault. That was
the first day gone. Distance travelled:
0 miles.
In the morning we tried again. ziggy,
Simon and I took off early and flew
towards the first obstacle of the day,
the Malvern Hills. If the weather
closed in here, we would be hard
pressed to get through, and so we
were hoping to find the hills clear of
cloud. The weather forecasts had
looked quite encouraging, but our
bad luck had yet to change. Fifteen
minutes into the flight, just as I was
getting my eye back in after a spell
without flying, the clouds began to
look menacing and visibility
dropped. We put down in a field just
short of the Malverns, and settled
down to wait. Simon had a short chat
with the very understanding farmer,
who looked sagely at the sky and
agreed that we wouldn’t be going
anywhere for a while. I suspect that,
over the course of a career, most helicopter pilots must become well
acquainted with farmers and their
larger, flatter fields.
An hour later, the sky was looking
little better and, to make matters
worse, Simon seemed on the verge
of revisiting his breakfast. Clearly,
he was in no state to make the long
trip to Italy. By the end of another
half hour of idle conversation, the
clouds had lifted and we started the
engine. As we were preparing to take
off, discussing over the intercom the
best way out of the field, I realised
that there was a problem with my
headset. The noise-cancelling box
PhotograPhs MartiN rutty
BY
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
had stopped working, and I could barely hear what Simon
and ziggy were saying. It was just one more irritation in a
day that was starting to look like an essay on the causes of
frustration. Lifting carefully from the field, we turned our
tails and headed for home, taking a meandering course to
avoid the few patches of cloud still clinging to the
landscape.
once back at Martin’s house, I sorted the problem with my
headset (dead batteries are the most useless items on
earth!) and we kept a wary eye on both the weather and
Simon’s health. Though the weather gradually improved,
Simon was still unsure of his own fitness for a long journey. For the second day in a row we decided to abandon
the attempt – a decision that unfortunately meant that
ziggy would miss the trip, as he had to go back to work.
Sometimes there are definite advantages to long university
holidays! During the afternoon, which was (typically)
beautiful and sunny, ziggy and Simon took the R22 and
went for a short hop to Shobdon, for fuel. They then flew
for a while over Herefordshire so that ziggy could at least
fly a little, so that his weekend would not have been completely wasted. Meanwhile, Martin dropped me in Ludlow
to visit the Castle and amble around the town. Though the
weather was now good, and the town was very pretty, the
castle remained disappointingly shut because of a private
event. ziggy took a train back to London, and the rest of us
retired to bed, hoping that our luck would change in the
morning. That was the second day gone. Distance travelled: 50 miles, in a circle!
The third day dawned, misty but promising. However, the
weekend was nearly over and the plan would have to
change. Simon had to go back to his patients the following
day, so it would be Martin and I who would make the trip.
Martin had a business meeting at Veritair at the lovely
Cardiff Heliport, so Simon, Martin and I, along with one of
Martin’s business associates, took the R44 and flew to
Cardiff. Simon would take one of Martin’s R22s from
Cardiff in order to get home, while Martin and I flew on
towards Italy.
I waited on the tarmac at the heliport, content to fiddle with
the aircraft and read the handbook. If you’ve never visited
Cardiff Heliport, you should! It is right on the coast, so the
views are wonderful, but it’s still very convenient for the
city centre. There are always plenty of friendly helicopter
enthusiasts there.
Martin conducted his meeting and took a potential helicopter owner for a test flight in a Bell 407. The sound of the
turbines starting up not fifty yards from where I stood was
electrifying, and raised a big grin on my face even though I
wasn’t going with them. I sincerely hope to have the
chance to fly a turbine-engine helicopter in the future. To
make things even more interesting, the gentleman who was
looking at the Bell announced that he would be flying to
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Pippa Jannsen
Cuneo for a business meeting on Monday, and if we
were there in time, we could hitch a lift home that
night on his private jet. It was an amazing coincidence,
but I assure you I am not making this up!
Spurred into action by this news, and with Martin as
happy as a schoolboy at the prospect of a private jet
ride, we took off from Cardiff and made for Lydd. The
weather was splendid, and we made good time. It
seemed our luck had finally turned. I was glad that I
had had a short time to get used to the aircraft the day
before, as it had several unique quirks, the trickiest of
which was a very lazy manifold pressure gauge. This
made it difficult to be entirely sure how much power
we were using. Martin said that over the Alps this
would matter, since we had to pull enough power to
clear the mountains, whilst also being very careful not
to cook the engine!
We reached Lydd at lunchtime, refuelled, filed a new
flight plan and ate the world’s quickest lunch. Another
R44 landed just behind us, carrying four Belgians,
who told us that they had flown over to Lydd for a
Mountain flying
presented totally
new challenges
19
coffee, and would then be going straight back again.
Lydd airport must make incredible coffee for it to be
worth such a trip! Lydd is one of Martin’s favourite airfields in the UK. The service was quick and friendly, and
the AVGAS was around 30p per litre cheaper, which
saved us a significant amount of money on our long trip
abroad. It was well worth landing at Lydd for that reason
alone!
Taking off from Lydd, we flew out across the Channel.
The weather could not have been more different from the
last time I had flown over to France. Visibility was perfect, and the cargo ships below looked like tiny models
on the flat blue sea. We were going well, with a slight
tailwind pushing us along, and the coast of France was
soon in sight. We were around halfway across the water
when we heard the call that every pilot dreads – Mayday.
A light aircraft had suffered an engine failure and was
ditching into the channel. The pilot was as cool as a
cucumber, at least over the radio, and I wondered
whether I would have been as in control as he sounded.
After the call, there was an ominous silence: presumably
the pilot was too busy bringing down his aeroplane to
respond to Lydd ATC. Martin contacted ATC and offered
to assist with the downed airman. At their request, we
called the distressed aircraft several times, checking that
it wasn’t just a lost signal. There was no answer. We
looked around us, but the Channel is a big area, and we
couldn’t find him. We had no choice but to keep going,
and hope the pilot was all right. It was very unnerving to
be so starkly reminded of the dangers of aviation whilst
we were in the air. I had never heard a Mayday call
before. We heard later that the pilot had ditched, and had
then sat on the wing of his aeroplane until it sank. He
was quickly rescued and, apart from minor hypothermia
from the cold water, he was fine (though presumably
rather cross at leaving his aeroplane on the bottom of the
Channel!).
We pressed on across France in clear blue skies. There
was plenty of traffic and plenty of chatter over the radio,
20
though most of it was rather perplexing. English may be
the international aviation language, but it seems that no
one has told the French! We stayed well clear of the
mess of control zones, danger areas and heli-lanes
around Paris, and headed southwest. We were cruising at
100 knots, although the tailwind made our groundspeed
slightly higher, and we got all the way to Dijon on one
tank of fuel. We landed at Dijon Darois, a smaller airfield outside the city with a gliding and aerobatic club.
There was a light aircraft flying some dazzling aerobatics over the field as we refuelled the helicopter. It was
hair-raising, but wonderful to watch. Dijon Darois is
another airfield that I would thoroughly recommend for
its great people, lack of landing fees, late opening hours
and quick service. We didn’t have to wait long for fuel,
and still had enough time in hand to carry on and make
for Cuneo that evening. Despite this, we elected to stay
overnight in Dijon. We had flown a long way, and decided that it was pointless to push on over the Alps, the
most hazardous part of the journey, whilst we were tired
and the light was fading. Instead, we put the helicopter
to bed for the night and went into Dijon itself for a welcome shower and dinner. That was the end of day three.
Distance travelled: 600 miles.
In the morning, I phoned in a flight plan to a helpful
French Air Traffic Controller, whilst Martin emptied two
bottles of oil into the engine to help keep it cool for the
high altitude work ahead. It was already shaping up to be
a hot day, and the weather forecast was good until the
evening, when bands of thunderstorms were due to pop
up like a rash all over France. We hoped to be well clear
of the area before then. Flying southwest towards the
Alps, we passed through several danger zones, all of
which were fortunately inactive. For a while we shared
the airspace with a French Air Force Mirage, a beautiful
Skaters on the
frozen canal in
Holland
Inset: Martin Rutty
PhotograPh MartiN rutty
We cleared
one ridge at
8,700ft amsl
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Mountain flying
presented totally
new challenges
Inset: Pippa in R44
looking aircraft that disappeared rapidly into the distance. The helicopter was pleasant and smooth to fly,
though the forward trim made the cyclic quite heavy, and
the manifold pressure gauge was still being a bit flighty.
As we approached the Alpine foothills the landscape
began to rise up to meet us, and there was one active
danger zone. To avoid it, by passing underneath, we had
to descend to only a few hundred feet. Soon, however,
we were skimming over stunning blue lakes and green
hills, which quickly gave way to enormous rocky slopes.
The Alps were incredible. I had never seen them so close
before, and I had never flown so high before, clearing
one ridge at 8,700 feet AMSL, although only a couple of
hundred feet above the ground. The air was clear with
only a little turbulence off the mountains, the helicopter
ran well, and we had a little power in hand if we needed
it for an emergency. In fact, due to our concerns about
the manifold pressure gauge, we probably used much
less power than we could have done. Both our Radio and
GPS failed at different points, which was slightly disconcerting as this was the one place where we were the most
likely to need help. At least there was very little traffic to
worry about, and any aircraft we saw were far below us,
in the valleys. I found that I loved mountain flying: it
presents completely new challenges and situations. of
course, there are a dozen reasons why it is dangerous,
but it is also very interesting, and the scenery is fantastic.
Martin talked a lot about “mitigating the risks” by selecting the best route, sticking to populated areas, keeping
the time you are vulnerable to an absolute minimum, and
so on. I learned an awful lot about flying, none of which
I would ever have discovered whilst flying circuits.
We landed in Cuneo at about 11.40 local time, landing
first at the airport to sort out the required customs paperwork. We soon took off again and flew a few miles
down the road to a private site owned by Fulvio, the
Italian helicopter and car dealer who had bought the
R44. Martin and Fulvio filled out the paperwork, and we
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
cleared all our gear out of the helicopter. We ate lunch at
a small roadside cafe, thankful to have a native speaker
with us, as neither Martin nor I spoke any Italian!
We made it back to the airport in plenty of time, and
spent some time looking round the lovely Hawker 700
private jet that would be our ticket home. We could hardly believe our luck, since our original plan had involved
a two-hour car drive and then RyanAir back to Stansted,
followed by another three-hour car drive!! The two jet
pilots, Reg and Richard, were lovely guys, and we talked
a lot about the differences between the helicopter and
fixed-wing worlds, whilst we waited for the great and
the good to finish their business meeting in Cuneo. It
was fantastic to get straight on the jet with the owner and
his friends and fly home, rather than waiting around at
check in and security, as we would on an ordinary flight.
It must be nice to be a VIP all the time!
We landed at Bristol Filton in less than two hours and
said our goodbyes, thanking the owner for his help. My
mother picked us up and we drove north, looking for a
field where Simon, who was bringing an R22 to pick up
Martin, could land. We found a large space that had just
been cut for hay, with plenty of room between the
wrapped bales for the R22 to land. With the farmer’s
permission, we placed the car in the field and flashed the
lights to guide Simon in. Martin jumped in beside him,
somehow managing to squash his bags into the space
under his seat, and they took straight off again. I
watched as Martin and Simon disappeared into the blue,
still fantastically happy from the trip, and hoping that it
wouldn’t be long before I would have such a great experience again. By the end of the journey, our luck had certainly turned around. I suppose you have to have some
bad luck before you really appreciate the good luck. Day
four, and the trip, was over. Distance travelled: 550
miles, and then home.
If you would like to accompany Martin on any of his
trips, then you can contact him at www.Fly-Q.co.uk,
www.Veritair.com or by email martin@fly-q.co.uk.
Home in a
Hawker 700
private jet
21
RAeS Women in Aviation
and Aerospace Conference
T
he Royal Aeronautical Society’s
Women in Aviation and
Aerospace Conference attracted
more than 100 delegates to hear a wide
range of speakers across different job
functions and sectors of the industry.
The conference, sponsored by Airbus
UK, also provided the launch pad for
the Society’s new group, Women in
Aviation and Aerospace, and of the
group’s report into The Future for
Women in Aviation and Aerospace.
Keynote speaker Chris Browne,
Managing Director of Thomson
Airways, the UK’s third biggest airline,
gave an inspiring address that charted a
career that has made her the highestranking woman in aviation today. She
recalled how two important stepping
stones in her career both coincided with
major international events that had a
huge knock-on effect on the airline
industry – the Iraq War and the terrorist
attacks of 9/11.
"Do not wait for disasters to sort out
your business," she advised. In fact
disasters were a good time to make
tough decisions such as the merger of
two airlines which she masterminded
shortly after 9/11.
She urged delegates to fight for what
was right and to work hard. There had
been times when she was not welcome
as the only senior woman in the business and had thought of giving up. But
she had stayed and succeeded.
Clare Walker, chair of RAeS WIA&A
Committee, told delegates that the
group had already implemented a number of the recommendations it had
made to the Society. But she acknowledged the group had only just begun its
work on its two key remits: to increase
the number
of women in aviation and aerospace
and to encourage more women to join
the Society and play a greater role in its
activities.
A key plank of its strategy was to set
up a database of inspiring role
22
models whose example would help
inspire young women to consider aviation and aerospace as a worthwhile and
challenging career.
Marissa Dineen, UK leader of the GE
Women’s Network, told the conference
that is wasn’t until the Chief Executive
of GE read an article in the Wall Street
Journal, which pointed out that GE had
no senior women amongst its top 180
personnel, that the network came into
being in 1997. As a result, the company
now has quite a few women at very
senior levels within GE.
The network had three focuses: connecting women with each other; helping them to understand career paths;
and publicising the achievements of
successful GE women to inspire others.
"our mission is to empower women
and give them the confidence so they
can grow both professionally and personally," she said.
Round-the-world record-setting pilot
Polly Vacher tackled the conference’s
key theme of networking from her
experience of persuading multi-national
companies to support her during her
historic flights during which she raised
hundreds of thousands of pounds for
the RIAT Flying Scholarships for the
Disabled.
Polly told delegates that the first lesson
she learnt was to delegate,
enlisting the support of four other
members of the British Women Pilots’
Association to help her with raising
funds, publicity and organising her
flights. "Another lesson I learnt was
that companies don’t sponsor you out
of the kindness of their hearts – they
want something back," she said.
Katherine Bennett, Director of
Communications and Government
Affairs at Airbus UK, told the conference that 13% of graduates being
employed by Airbus were female and
the company had set itself a target of
20%. Women bring a different perspective, are quick to try new things and are
an important group of opinion formers
on key issues such as aviation and the
environment.
"There are great opportunities for
women in our industry because of the
pace of technological development and
a change in the way things are being
done," she said.
Nicky Smith, the first women helicopter pilot in the RAF and the first to
command an operational squadron, told
delegates that, if you want something
badly enough, you have to be single
minded about achieving it.
"You never fail until you stop trying,"
she said. "For two decades I worked
with men in a highly misogynist environment, but I loved it. You have to
believe in yourself and not let your
gender stop you from succeeding."
Nicky enthralled her audience with stories from her time as a Search and
Rescue pilot flying the Sea King helicopter from several UK bases as well
as the Falkland Islands. She described
the highs experienced after a successful
rescue and the lows of searching for the
remains of lost colleagues.
The conference finished with an intensive session on networking with 20 top
tips from Elizabeth Donnelly, Skills
Project Manager at ADS, formerly the
Society of British Aerospace
Companies, followed by a Speed
Networking session.
The task of meeting and greeting as
many delegates as possible continued
over a glass of wine at the Networking
Reception sponsored by aviation law
firm, Gates and Partners.
The conference was voted a great success with more than half of all
delegates completing the delegate feedback forms and 91% of respondents rating the conference four or five out of
five.
FoR MoRE INFoRMATIoN:
Clare Walker, Chair, RAeS Women in
Aviation and Aerospace Committee
E-mail: clarewalker2@btconnect.com
HELICOPTER LIFE
,Winter 2009
Duxford Helicopters
HeliTech defys the recession and is busier and
more vibrant than ever
Words and Photographs
by Georgina Hunter-Jones
H
eliTech 2009, contrary to the prevailing mood in
the country, was extremely upbeat and full of new
ideas and inventions. It seemed as though the
recession had given companies, both big and small, a
chance to think again, and to look at new ways of using and
promoting helicopters. This was true both for small compa-
nies like HeliAir, which are investing in new technology,
and for larger companies like PremiAir, who are finding
different investors for their market. There were also new
and improved creations like the TLC new helilifter, and
more attempts to improve the ‘green’ effect of fuel consumption, as in Tony Marmont’s ideas about synthetic fuel.
Shoots the Grouse
Robinson R44 with
the new digital
Sagem console, as in
the inset
HeliAir
HeliAir director Luca Lapegna said,
“HeliAir is now diversifying. We want
to keep the friendly and fun style of the
Mike Smith era, whilst growing and
starting a new utility division with our
police helicopter and a base in Italy.”
Luca is testing the police copter, a
specially made Robinson model, in
Tuscany. They have been working with
the fire service, and in one series of
tests they discovered that, although the
fire brigade had thought the fire had
gone out, when the helicopter flew
above using its thermal camera it was
able to detect hot spots, so they knew
there was more work to be done.
The Police Copter cost 1 million US
dollars, but it can be hired from HeliAir
for £650 an hour, including the use of a
pilot.
HeliAir are also trialing, in one of
their R44s, the new digital console
made by Sagem. The whole unit is
lighter than the original panel and can
easily be slotted on to the previous
looms. It is currently FAA approved,
and at HeliTech they were expecting
imminent EASA approval. There are
two interchangeable screens, which
include a GPS and an all-terrain screen.
26
on one screen there is an aircraft
engine monitoring system, which
gives maximum speeds, times etc.
This can be set for the number of
hours between checks, and it will do
snap shots of 10 frames per second,
which give a good profile, and allow
an engineer to tell not just that the
machine has had an overspeed, but
by how much, and also how much
damage has been done.
TCAS is also an optional extra
and, if desired, it is possible to have
a camera screen with infra-red for
night VFR.
As well as switches on the screen
itself, the screens are navigable from
a roller switch on the cyclic. one
benefit of the screen is that it weighs
13lbs less than a standard R44 IFR
analogue panel.
The unit costs 60,000 US dollars
to supply and install plus VAT, and it
will also be an option for the R66.
have been encouraging, as the general
optimism improves.”
Throughout the summer PremiAir
had benefited from their new global
helicopter venture with AIG, which is
now named Aurion (from the Greek, it
means a breeze in the morning air).
Regular British customers of PremiAir
were able to use the New York company’s helicopters and vice versa, which
has proved very satisfactory for everybody.
As McRobert said, “2009 has been a
proving ground for Aurion, and now in
2010 we will be adding new mem-
PremiAir
Group Managing Director, David
McRobert, said, “it is a very bad time
for the whole charter area (in helicopters), and like others we are suffering. However, the last few weeks
HELICOPTER LIFE
,Winter 2009
Cleaning pure
leisure
The recession
has brought out
new purchasers
bers.” They are looking towards European cities and the
Middle East, and also to extend in the USA.
In sales, McRobert noted, the market had flipped from a
seller’s to a buyer’s market. Like other companies, they were
finding that the off-shore, EMS and Police markets were
doing best. However, there was also the surprise emergence of
first-time buyers in the second-hand market: people who had
never had an interest in helicopters before were suddenly
looking for that type of transport, although whether because of
poor infrastructure, or for some other reason, he was not sure.
And interestingly, perhaps because of the newness of such
people to the market, they had some unusual requirements: for
example, specifying the height of the entrance to the helicopter, and the size of the seating.
For the first year since the lottery landing system started,
Battersea Heliport has not needed a slot system this year.
A buyer’s
market
However, since the year is not yet complete,
McRobert said that “it will be interesting to see what
will be the total number of movements at the heliport
this year.”
There are, McRobert said, “some big unknowns at
the moment. The recession has certainly knocked the
helicopter market, but the big question is how quickly will it recover.” Moreover, he continued, “what we
need from the industry is quieter and less polluting
helicopters. our industry needs to change.”
These are strong words coming from a company
that is in an unusually good position to help force
through changes, using as they do a variety of manufacturers, and having a lot of force in the marketplace, thanks to their buying and selling power. It will
be interesting to see where all this leads, or if it is just
words.
TLC Handling
Tony Hancock, the MD of TLC Handling, has a new
helilifting machine under development. The latest
version was on display at the show, and he says that
the final version will be ready in eight months, which
Also for
sale at the
show
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
27
Lynn Tilton was not
at the show but her
machines were
The S76D is the most comprehenis a result of working both with his
sive
upgrade in the history of the S76
current machine, and with a variety
of customers in different countries. (which has, after all, been flying
since 1977). It will have composite
(See New Technology page 16)
blades (in comparison the S76C has
titanium blades). The 76D will also
Textron Bell Helicopters
At Helitech Neil Marshall announced have a new cockpit.
Load lifting will increase by
that the Bell 429 has now been given
EASA certification. The 429 has 1000lbs, and the range by 400 nm.
already been given certification by The external noise profile will
Transport Canada Civil Aviation and decrease by 88.1 decibels, and the
engines, PW210s, will have 7,500
the US FAA.
Bell believe that the 429 will do hours to maturity. The 76D will be
well in European markets, because it able to fly at 170kts, and rearward at
was designed with a lot of customer 35 kts. It will have a maximum gross
input, and has great flexibility in its weight of 11,700 lbs. In the future
huge cabin space. They are mainly there will also be energy-attenuating
looking at the EMS, off-shore, VIP seats, and type 4 egress windows for
and police markets.
28
Neil Marshall
announcing Bell 429
EASA certification
Sikorsky
Marc Poland VP of Sikorsky Global
Helicopters provided an overview of
the company’s current position. He
talked about the Schweizer S434, the
Sikorsky S76 evolution, the S92
advances and the H92 Canadian
Maritime helicopter.
The first S434s have now been
produced. Compared to the earlier
versions, they have an improved
drive system and landing gear,
increased fuel capacity and four
rotor-blades. The operational ability
has also been improved.
greater safety. It will have a two-speed
rotor system for noise reduction, which
will be achieved by gearing, and by the
reduction of rpm in the cruise.
The S92 has been delivered to one
hundred customers in twenty-one different countries. As Poland said, “they tend
to be countries with oil.”
The machine has done 175,000 flight
hours, which has given them plenty of
time to think about improvements. The
priorities in these, which will be coming
in 2010, are gearbox durability and rotor
ice protection.
They are also doing flight testing for
Category A capabilities, and the gross
weight is destined to increase to 27,000
lbs in 2010. They will be adding an
automated IFR rig approach to the deck,
with a 50 foot decision height, which
will decrease the pilot’s workload, and
is in line with the general emphasis on
reducing pilot stress.
Icing is a big topic in the off-shore
market, particularly in the North Sea
and Canada, so rotor icing protection is
very important, particularly when looking at the weak links, such at the tail
rotor and the main rotor cables.
The areas in which the main rotor
gearbox will be improved are the oil
pump drive and the oil passages.
Sikorsky feel that this will make their
helicopter absolutely the best one in the
SAR(H) competition in the UK.
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Corporate Bell
for sale
Eurocopter
Eurocopter is a big player in the SAR(H) competition, with
their EC225. They are also improving their support centre
in Aberdeen with a new simulator for the oil and gas market, and they have increased the size of the oxford-based
company they bought from MacAlpine, now known as
Eurocopter UK.
Markus Steinke, Eurocopter UK CEo, stressed that
Eurocopter “makes a vital contribution to the UK and its
government through the EMS market (of which they have
70%) and the police (75%) and the oil and gas market
(80%).”
At HeliTech the Eurocopter stand was decorated by the
Hermes designed Eurocopter EC135 (see last issue of
Helicopter Life), which was, as David Lewis said, “a symbol of their partnership.” There will be more work to come
in collaboration with Hermes.
Like the other companies, Eurocopter agreed that the
corporate part of the market was most affected by the recession. While the EMS and police markets are relatively unaffected, or even doing better, the corporate market is quiet
and is not expected to recover until 2011.
Eurocopter UK do, though, have their first windfarm helicopter, which is used for the cleaning and maintenance of
turbines when the weather is too rough to take the boats out
to them. Cleaning the upper part of the turbines is generally easier by helicopter.
Eurocopter UK have recently sold an EC135 to the West
Midlands Police, whose last helicopter was fire bombed in
an arson attack. In the past the government used to pay 40%
of the initial purchase price of police helicopters, but with
the current level of debt this is no longer possible, and the
funds must now be raised by other methods.
BLR Aerospace
Dave Marone was at HeliTech marketing the FastFin system created by BLR aerospace. This system, which effectively cuts down the drag on the tail of older helicopters
(before the shape was standard) by re-sculpting the fin,
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
reduces the amount of energy needed by the helicopter
and hence improves fuel consumption.
As Dave Marone says, “this is possibly the most
underutilized technical device for legacy helicopters.”
He says that as well as reducing costs there are two
inherent benefits of the system: it increases yaw stability and it optimizes yaw control. It will also help reduce
tail rotor shudder.
HeliTech 2009 was a really interesting show, with a
lot of new inventions, and companies going out of their
way to think of ways to improve the helicopter market. it
is true that there were a lot of helicopters for sale, but
there were also buyers! It is said that it takes problems to
find solutions. This appears to be true in the helicopter
market just as much as anywhere else in life.
Utilities are faring better than corporations in
the current climate
29
30
become increasingly available until 100%
market penetration is achieved.
To power AFS fuel production, the AFS
scheme will, at its best, be an integrated
system, in which the fuel producer owns his
own wind turbines or some other renewable
energy source, which will help the economics of AFS production, by utilising the support mechanisms available for renewable
electricity in the UK, and thus avoid expensive national grid connections.
Although Professor Marmont’s scheme is
unique in the UK, there are other similar
ones across the world. These include the
Los Alamos Laboratory, which helped to
develop the first nuclear weapons! It operates a scheme called ‘Green Freedom’. The
US Navy has also developed a very similar
system, which involves recovering carbon
dioxide from seawater, and it enables aircraft carriers to make fuel for their on-board
planes while at sea. A brilliant idea.
It seems then that there are plenty of
ideas to work on in this field, and plenty of
people who are willing to do so. But something still holds us back. What exactly is it?
Could it be that some corporate interests are
at work here? or is it simple lethargy and
fear of change?
courtesy of
react with the hydrogen, make the fuel.
As the process is cyclical it will be selfsustaining.
Although Professor Marmont’s team
have completed the theoretical studies
they still need funding: first, to build a 5litre a day demonstration module, and
then, hopefully, from there into commercial-sized units.
For transport in general, and aviation in
particular, the AFS method offers many
advantages. First, the fuel requires no
change to storage or distribution networks,
nor modifications to engines, because it will
work with current machines.
Second, the raw materials required are in
abundant supply, so unlimited amounts of
the fuel can be made without needing an oil
company.
Third, if the process is driven by renewable energy, then the process is carbon neutral, which is good for the environment. If it
is used as a complete replacement for aviation fuel, this could mean that aviation no
longer contributes to the carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere.
Professor Marmont estimates that, if
funding is found, AFS fuels could be on the
market in two years. Thereafter, AFS will
diagraMs
P
rofessor Tony Marmont is worried.
He is walking around Helitech and,
unlike the other delegates, he knows
that this cannot last, that if we go on living
the way we do and (predicting that the
developing countries will increase their
use of fossil fuels in line with ours) we
will have run out of fuel by 2013.
2013!
That is almost tomorrow!
But there is a way to help the situation.
That way is synthetic fuel. However, its
development needs both time and
money, and that is what Professor
Marmont needs to find.
For the last two years Professor
Marmont has been leading a team examining the feasibility of using carbon dioxide
from the air to make hydrocarbon fuels, via
the Fischer-Tropsch reaction. This method
is called ‘air fuel synthesis’ (AFS).
The most important step is finding a way
to capture Co2 from the air. The hydrogen
required is easily obtained from the condensation of water, followed by electrolysis to
separate the water into hydrogen and oxygen. Convert the carbon dioxide and hydrogen into carbon monoxide and water; and
then, by allowing the carbon monoxide to
toNy MarMoNt
Professor Tony Marmont and a new way
to sustainable fuel via AFS (air fuel
s
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Mountain Aviation
a century of adventure, tragedy and life
- s
ing
by Professor Leslie Symons
32
A
fter the excitement generated by the 100th anniversary
of the first aerial crossing of
the English channel, the first aeroplane flight over a mountain pass
may not seem very important, at
least in the UK, but it turned out to
be a more hazardous undertaking
that also cost the life of the pilot.
Flight over the mountains was, however, seen as a challenge in Europe
at that time, and the catalyst for a
serious attempt was the offer of a
prize of 70,000 Swiss francs for the
first crossing by a heavier-than-air
machine from Brig to Domodossola
– a necessary stage in linking
Switzerland and Italy.
In the late summer of 1910 a
number of pilots assembled with
their aircraft at Brig, at the foot of
the Simplon Pass. Among them was
Georges Chavez, a Peruvian by
birth, who had flown to record
heights near Paris. Unfortunately
bad weather prevented penetration
of the mountains, except by car. on
23 September, Chavez determined to
set off in his Blériot. His friends
tried to dissuade him in view of the
persistently high winds, but he was
adamant. Watched as he flew over
the pass, the hospice at the summit
and the village of Gondo, he made
good progress but, as he descended
to the prepared landing field at
Domodossola, the wings of the aircraft, possibly weakened by turbulence, folded and he crashed to the
ground. He died in hospital. on a
cold winter day, 25 January 1913,
the Simplon Pass route was flownwithout mishap by Jean Bielovucic.
In his Hanriot monoplane he flew
from Brig-Ried at about 10,000 feet
over the Simplon Pass to land after
35 minutes at Domodossola.
There had been aerial crossings
of the Alps ever since 1849, when
François Ardan flew a hydrogen balloon from Marseille across the
Maritime Alps to near Turin. He was
enveloped in thick cloud for over
two hours, and suffered severely
from the cold even before he
reached the mountains. But he continued resolutely, and was rewarded
by the sight of waterfalls glistening
in the moonlight, mirage effects on
the snows and the domination of the
Pictures courtesy of Leslie Symons
33
PhotograPhLesLie symons
Winter
clouds by Mont Blanc (first ascended in 1786).
Balloons, however, were at the mercy of the winds.
With an engine, winds still helped or hindered the flyer,
but they no longer exercised supreme control over route
and direction. Rather they became a force to be studied
and mastered. The power-weight ratios of the aeroplanes in the 1920s, coupled with route-finding problems, posed severe problems for the pioneers. In 1924,
Alan Cobham, on the outward leg to India, and carrying
Sir William Sefton Brancker, the Director of Civil
Aviation, to investigate future air routes, dared the
Taurus Mountains of Turkey in a single-engine De
Havilland DH50 biplane:
‘I threaded my way between them by means of a
pass … jagged mountainsides to left and right, disappearing into a ceiling of low cloud into which I could
not climb without the near certainty of hitting one of
them, I could not turn back either. There was not
enough lateral room for even the steepest turn, nor was
there any possibility of landing among the crags. I had
to press on … I was terrified. Again and again, as I
made my way down that winding ravine, I found
myself in an apparent cul-de-sac, heading straight for a
vertical rock-face with no possible way out. There
always was a way out; it appeared at the very last
minute … and I then had to fling the aircraft into a very
steep turn, squeezing through with just a few feet to
spare, and then needing to repeat this hair-raising performance only minutes later.’ (Cobham, A., A time to
fly, 1978, 87-8)
This flight and his return from Australia in 1926 led
to a knighthood for Cobham.
Inevitably the mountains have claimed all too many
victims, and much later these same Taurus Mountains
PhotograPhLesLie symons
Mountain rescue from a
cable car
34
were the scene of a major recovery operation. In 1959
helicopters were able to offer only very limited support
to mountain rescuers. The wreckage of an Avro Tudor
four-engine transport aircraft carrying secret equipment
to the Woomera rocket range in Australia, and twelve
men to handle it, disappeared in the Taurus range, and
was spotted only after six days, from a Handley Page
Hastings, on a snow-capped plateau at about 13,000 feet,
and close to the USSR border. The RAF Mountain
Rescue Team in Cyprus was then scrambled. During
WW2 the RAF had found it necessary to develop mountain rescue services, to deal with the many aircraft
wrecked on the mountains of north and west Britain. In
1954 a team was formed to meet the needs of the RAF
base in Cyprus. The Nicosia team was now flown to
Turkey, complete with its own Land Rovers. Crampons,
never needed in Cyprus, were hastily bought in from
London by Robert Lawrie, who had supplied several
Everest expeditions, and was flown out by Canberra jet.
A Turkish helicopter dropped photographs to the
climbers, but these were of no help in finding the route.
The only map they had was an aeronautical chart
on a scale of 1:1 million – not much help on a
mountain ascent!
The climb was complicated by bad weather and was
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
PhotograPhs leslie syMoNs
Paragliders descending at
Chamonix.
extremely arduous. A second party was brought up to
about 10,000 feet by helicopter, but it added to the shelter problems because of the lack of tents. Recently provided instruction on building igloos proved invaluable,
and a snow cave was dug. When the wreckage was
reached a simple burial service was held, and the secret
equipment was destroyed as far as possible, using iceaxes. Later, another team went up, lifted part of the way
by helicopter, to destroy the rest of the equipment with
explosives. This was accomplished but not without difficulty and danger, because the explosives expert failed to
reach the site and the climbers had only written instructions to follow! Well-earned decorations and special
leave were awarded to the personnel. (Summarised from
Whensoever, 50 years of the RAF Mountain Rescue
Service, F. Card, The Ernest Press, 1993)
Until the 1960s there were few helicopters with the
ceiling and lifting power to do more than play a supporting role in mountain rescue, although a steadily increasing number were working at moderate altitudes in the
mountains on such day-to-day work as transporting
building materials to mountain huts, and other relatively
inaccessible locations. As early as 1940 a Focke-Angelis
223, developed from the Focke-Wulf 61 demonstrated in
1938 inside the Deutschlandhalle in Berlin, by the
renowned woman test pilot Hannah Reitsch, flew communications missions in the Alps. It made an unscheduled landing at Passy airfield in the valley under Mont
Blanc, from where Joseph Thoret had made a study of
mountain flying in the 1920s. In 1947 the RAF made
tests in Mid-Wales of the capabilities of helicopters for
rescue work using two Sikorsky R6s, which were
renamed Hoverflies in RAF service, but these were conHELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
sidered unsuitable. Later, however, a succession of
Sikorsky designs became the mainstay of British
search and rescue units, and of similar services in
North America.
The wars in South-east Asia, especially the
American campaign in Vietnam, led to a rapid
increase in the number and capability of helicopters.
The Soviet Union also gave special attention to their
use, especially in its vast expanses of mountain and
forest in Siberia, Central Asia and the Caucasus. In
the 1960s, however, Aerospatiale left all behind in
terms of machines with the performance desirable for
work in the Alps. The Alouette III was able to fly to
the top of Mont Blanc (15,770 feet) with a complement of trained personnel – a mountain guide and a
trained doctor – and to bring down casualties. The
subsequent introduction of long-line winches made it
possible to lower rescuers to pick up climbers stranded on pinnacles and faces where no helicopter could
land. The French helicopter mountain rescue service
was described in Helicopter Life, Spring 2005.
The Swiss organisation makes an interesting contrast. Whereas the French aerial rescue service is
almost entirely the responsibility of the gendarmerie
– the Peleton de Haute Montagne – and the civil
security service, the Swiss system is essentially privately operated. After several decades of evolution,
in 1979 it was transformed into an independent foundation, which adheres to the principles of the Red
Cross, with which it has always been closely linked,
and assists in saving the life and health of anyone in
need of its services. It is non-profit making, and
relies on income from payment for its services, met
35
Mercy flights are constantly in
demand and are often so difficult
they become record-breaking
it was to be another twenty years
before the 29,035ft summit was
reached by New zealander Edmund
Hillary (knighted after the successful
ascent) and Sherpa Norgay Tenzing.
The 1933 flight was hazardous, and
the Westland biplanes had an
immense struggle to reach the altitude of the summit, and were nearly
dashed to pieces in the turbulence
The busiest slope
in Switzerland for
rescues is the
Matterhorn
associated with the jetstream –
although the meteorological implications of that encounter were not
appreciated until after WW2. Flight
Lieutenant David McIntyre held his
Westland grimly on course, and barely scraped over the summit, then saw
his observer slump in the cockpit
behind him – his oxygen tube having
become detached. Fortunately he
mainly from insurance, subscriptions
and donations. REGA (the name is a
combination of the initials of the
German and French words for aerial
rescue operations –
Rettungsflugwacht and Guard
Aerienne) has ten helicopter bases
distributed throughout Switzerland,
with three more operated by partner
organisations. of its own bases, those
at Gsteigwiller, near Interlaken in the
Bernese Alps, and Samedan, near St.
Moritz, are the two most involved in
mountain operations. In Canton
Valais (Wallis) special arrangements
have been made, and private firms,
Air-Glaciers and Air zermatt, are
responsible for rescue work. Between
them they cover incidents on the
Swiss slopes of Mont Blanc, and the
busiest of them all, the Matterhorn.
In recent years the most spectacular developments in mountain flying
have been, perhaps inevitably, in the
Himalaya and Karakoram ranges.
Again, the story begins with fixedwing aircraft, with the RAF making
the first flight over the summit of
Mount Everest in 1933. All attempts
to climb the mountain had failed, and
36
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
In the Everest region there
is a constant coming and
going of helicopters
regained consciousness as McIntyre dived for the plains.
In the Everest region nowadays there is a constant coming
and going of both fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Mercy
flights are constantly in demand. New heights of achievement
(literally) were reached in 1996, after a storm that led to multiple deaths on Everest. one climber who survived against all
odds was the American Beck Weathers: suffering from frightful frostbite injuries, he dragged himself to the camp on the
South Col after being left for dead on the ridge. Far too ill to
be taken down in the usual way to Base Camp, from where
Rescuer with
stretcher
, Winter 2009
HELICOPTER LIFE
helicopter rescue had become relatively normal
practice, only a record-breaking flight could save
him. Lieutenant Colonel Madan undertook the
rescue when the contract pilots refused to attempt
it because the casualty was at about 20,000 feet,
and the weather was still bad. The service ceiling
of Madan’s A350 was about 17,500 feet. only
because he understood completely the power
available to him in relation to the demands – he
even disembarked his co-pilot to save weight –
was he able to reach the necessary altitude. When
he planted his machine on the ice between the
many gaping crevasses he found another casualty
needing to be brought down. only one passenger
at a time could be taken, and Weathers nobly surrendered his place, but Madan courageously made
a second trip for him. Within hours both men
were being treated in hospital in Kathmandu. A
decade later, on 14 May 2005, a Eurocopter pilot,
Didier Descalle, put down a stripped helicopter of
the same type on the very summit of Everest,
heralding the possibilities for the future.
While helicopters and light aeroplanes perform
a multitude of commercial and life-saving tasks,
the mountain air also supports a vast and ever
increasing plethora of recreational activities, with
the return of passenger-carrying balloons, and a
variety of forms of gliding, parachuting and, perhaps most numerous of all in favoured areas,
paragliding. It is truly a case of ‘the sky’s the
limit.’
37
Flight Safety’s S92 Simulator
Flight Safety FTD
(Fixed training
device - right) and
simulator (left)
training devices
38
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
PhotograPh rogier westerhuis
In the simulator, he explains, it is possible to set up
210 different malfunctions that could really happen in
the helicopter. of course, it would not be possible to
demonstrate this on a practice sortie in a real helicopter,
for both safety and cost reasons. These failures include
engine failures, electric failures, hydraulics, APU failures and others, and they can be combined with worsening weather conditions, increasing wind, and so forth.
However, as David Sale says, “we do not try and load
up the students, the way they used to in the past; but
rather give them an understanding of the possible fail-
PhotograPh rogier westerhuis
F
or anyone not used to flying computer games,
adapting to flying the simulator is harder than you
might expect. David Sale, Program Manager
Sikorsky S92, finds that this is also true of teaching
older pilots to use the simulator, in comparison to
younger ones. “At first,” he says, “they can be quite
resistant, but after a few hours, when they realise how
useful it is, everything changes and they work with the
machine. The first two or three days in the simulator,”
he explains, “are the hardest, especially for pilots used
to visual flying.”
ures, and the best way to deal with them.”
Flight Safety started in 1951 in the USA. The founder
was a ‘farm boy’ who dreamt of flying, and who managed to save every penny he earned in order to train as a
pilot. He eventually got a job with Pan Am, but after
working there for a few years he noticed that, although
there were courses for basic training, there was very little
type or further skills training. This led him to set up
Flight Safety as a training company for corporate or proficiency training, which is what it remains today.
As Karen Smith, Product Marketing Representative,
says, “Training is our only business.”
Flight Safety set up its base in Farnborough five years
ago, and now has 14 simulators, including the Sikorsky
S92, which has been on site for two years.
At present the S92 is the only helicopter type at
Farnborough, although there are other types in the Vero
Beach office in Florida.
The team runs introductory courses on the S92 every
month, and revalidation courses every week. To be eligible to attend a course on the simulator, a pilot must have
a minimum of 500 hours and a CPL with an IR, or a
frozen ATPL. The S92 course lasts for four weeks: two
weeks ground school and two weeks on the simulator.
This consists of 40 hours in the simulator and 11 hours in
the cockpit trainer, as in the FTD (fixed training devices)
pictured.
The simulator itself runs 20 hours a day, stopping only
between 2am and 6am, for maintenance checks. The simulator is level D, which is the highest category, and is
The simulator is
Level D
, Winter 2009
HELICOPTER LIFE
necessary for initial training. They also have classroom backup with FTDs, which is like a digital cockpit but without the exterior visuals. David Sale points
out that these classroom sessions are very helpful for
pilots, and allow them to view their mistakes with
printouts from the simulator, and to examine, in a
relaxed and positive atmosphere, where they made
mistakes, and how to correct them.
Companies that are changing aircraft will send
their pilots to Flight Safety for type ratings on the
simulator, after which the pilot must do six take off
and landings on the real machine, and is then qualified to fly the new type. However, when a pilot is
converted to a new type, for example when S61
pilots are converted to the S92, the CAA insists that
they should not go back on to the previous type until
they have done at least 50 hours on the new machine.
This is to avoid confusion between types, and is the
result of past experiences.
After an initial briefing I flew the S92 simulator,
and I can attest that for a visual pilot it does indeed
take a while to get to used to the graphics; and also,
at least for me, used to small single engine helicopters, the weight of the controls. How to ‘weight’ the
controls, David Sale explains, is one of the difficulties of simulator building, and there is much research
on the subject. He said that the S92 was, however,
very accurate in its feel.
We taxied out from Farnborough and, using the
SAR (Search and Rescue) software, did a rescue sortie down to a 50-foot hover completely on automation. Use of the training equipment allows the pilot
to position the helicopter where he can see the
stranded boat, for example, and either hold it there or
move in carefully for a rescue.
We then started again at Aberdeen and attempted
to land on an oil rig—not easy—before returning to
the rather simpler landing on Aberdeen’s main runway. David Sale also demonstrated an automated
approach to the runway, which allows the pilot to
take the Sikorsky down to 50 feet and 60 knots using
the ILS (instrument landing system).
once I got used to flying something so much bigger, and using the instruments and the graphics properly, I could see what an excellent way this would be
to train. I even wondered if it would be possible to
introduce such a sophisticated level of training for ab
initio, and for smaller helicopters such as the basic
piston trainers. This would be very useful when putting pilots into extreme weather conditions, and
would show them just how hard it can be to survive
such conditions; something which might well reduce
accidents in the long term.
39
Queen Amongst Helicopters
S
ikorsky Global Helicopters has delivered a new
VIP S-76C++ helicopter to the Royal Travel
office for use by the Royal Household of the
United Kingdom. The queen is said to have noted that
the helicopter was a better form of transport than the
carriage on wet days.
Sikorsky has provided helicopters to support the
Royal Family since the early 1950’s, including the R4,
S-51, S-55, S-58, S-58T, S-76B and the S-76C+ helicopters. The new S76C++ helicopter entered service in
September.
“The new S76C++ helicopter will continue to provide the Royal Family with a high quality and efficient
helicopter travel service,” said Captain Christopher
Pittaway, Manager and Chief Pilot of The Queen’s
Helicopter Flight. “It most closely meets the mission
requirements by providing a quiet and comfortable
cabin environment, low carbon footprint and best value
for money. We have enjoyed excellent product support
from Sikorsky over many years and I look forward to a
continued relationship."
Carey Bond, President, Sikorsky Global Helicopters,
40
said: “The S-76C++ helicopter has distinguished itself by
its quality, safety, performance and style as an aircraft of
choice for VVIP transport. We are honored that the Royal
Family and so many others entrust their safety and comfort to us.”
The S-76C++ helicopter features engine, air vehicle,
interior and avionics upgrades. These include a more
powerful Turbomeca Arriel 2S2 Engine, an inlet barrier
filter to protect the engine against erosion and environmental contaminants, a new VIP interior, a new optional
Health and Usage Monitoring System and a quiet main
gearbox using Quiet zone™ technology that significantly reduces interior noise levels without any weight maintenance penalties.
The S-76C++ helicopter was initially certified by the
U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in January 2006.
More recently, it was certified for unconstrained operations in extreme snowy conditions. The European
Aviation Safety Agency certified the type design in July
2006, allowing for the export of the S-76C++ helicopter
to all European Union countries. Sikorsky is a subsidiary
of United Technologies Corp.
HELICOPTER LIFE
,Winter 2009
Royal Netherlands
Sea Rescue
by Arjan Dijksterhuis
42
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Demonstrated
PhotograPhs thoMas skaMlJic
D
unes, beach, sea, fine weather and helicopters were all ingredients of the fine
day well spent at the International
Search and Rescue Event 2009, which was held
at Katwijk, a village south-west of Amsterdam,
on Saturday the first of August. This event is
traditionally held on the first weekend of
August, and it is organized by the ‘Katwijkse
Reddings Brigade’ (the life brigade), which is
run by volunteers. Such life brigades are found
mostly along the coastline of the Netherlands,
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
but also at lakes where there are many swimmers. The life brigade has about 30,000 volunteer members, including young members, of
whom 5,000 are active lifeguards during the
summer holidays. Their primary task is to prevent accidents, by watching the bathers and
swimmers. Their second task is to take action if
an accident occurs on the beach or in the water.
The lifeguards are also trained to provide first
aid and resuscitation in the case of a cardiac
arrest or a near drowning. They also look after
43
lost children.
The KNRM, Koninklijke Nederlandse Redding
Maatschappij (Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution),
was also present. The KNRM is the Dutch equivalent of
the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, RNLI (see also
Helicopter Life Autumn 2006). The KNRM was established in 1824 as a maritime life-saving organisation, and
it has an impressive history with many high points,
although it also had some black days in the past.
Nowadays about 1100 professionally trained volunteers,
both male and female, undertake life-saving operations
using a variety of rigid inflatable lifeboats, and they are
on ten minutes standby, twenty-four hours a day, 365
days a year. Even at times when most people prefer to
44
SH-14D Lynx from
the Defence
Helicopter Command
PhotograPhs arJaN diJksterhuis
The KNRM is the
Dutch equivalent of
the Royal National
Lifeboat Association
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
PhotograPhs arJaN diJksterhuis
Sikorsky S-61 hired by
the Netherlands Oil
and GasExploration
and Production
Association
stay ashore because of the terrible weather, these
heroes risk their lives to save others! The lifeboats of
the KNRM operate under the wings of the Dutch Coast
Guard, but they do not belong to this government
agency. The Dutch Coast Guard operates two Dornier
Do-228-121 surveillance aircraft, which are flown by
pilots from both the Royal Netherlands Air Force and
the Royal Netherlands Navy. Both aircraft are civil registered, but they are managed by the Air Force, and Jet
Support carries out their maintenance. one of these
Dorniers made several fly-pasts along the beach, and it
was the only fixed wing participant of the day.
Several demonstrations took place on the beach, in
both the water and the air. A few helicopters were also
present. The participation of a German Navy SeaKing
was unfortunately cancelled prior to the event. An SH14D Lynx from the Defence Helicopter Command is a
regular participant in this event, and it was also the first
to arrive in the morning, at the temporary heliport that
had been created near the boulevard. The street lighting
poles in the parking lot, which is normally used by
tourists, were taken down in order to create a safe landing site. The opening act of the day saw parachutists
jumping out of the Lynx. A few young members of the
life brigade were hoisted on to the beach from the
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Lynx, in what was definitely their highlight of the day!
Several combined demonstrations were executed, both by
the lifeboats and personnel of the life brigade, and by the
KNRM. A Sikorsky S-61N Mk.II, which had been hired by
the Netherlands oil and Gas Exploration and Production
Association (NoGEPA), could also be seen. The Sikorsky
is based at De Kooy, which is close to Den Helder, and is
well placed to respond to offshore incidents. This helicopter
is also available for other search and rescue actions, and
was therefore a welcome participant.
A car accident was simulated at a nearby junction to
demonstrate, and to explain to the spectators, the work of
several services, such as the police, paramedics and firefighters, and how they co-operate at the scene of an accident. The casualty was seriously injured and needed the
assistance of one of the Mobile Medical Teams, which use
the EC.135 helicopter for their transportation. The MMT
was, fortunately for the spectators, available at the time of
the simulated accident, and the HEMS helicopter arrived on
the scene, and landed on the temporary helispot.
At the end of the day, many spectators returned to their
homes, hopefully having learned a lot that day about the
tasks and duties of the lifeguards. The next time they return
to the beach to sunbathe and swim, they will certainly have
a greater appreciation of this voluntary work.
45
Soteria s Search an
Rescue (SAR-H) Bid
N
icky Smith, a former RAF search and rescue pilot,
is now one of the main drivers in Soteria’s bid to
win the SAR-H contract in the United Kingdom.
The SAR-H contract is a Private Finance Initiative (PFI).
It starts in 2012 and the winner should be decided by the
beginning of December this year. Soteria is a group that
includes CHC, RBS and Thales, and they will use the
Sikorsky S92 as their SAR platform.
As Nicky Smith, Soteria’s Transition Manager, says,
“We feel we are uniquely placed to run the SAR-H
because we are already using the same machine (the S92)
alongside the AW139 on the Coastguard contract, and we
are learning what needs to be modified and changed.”
Soteria’s rival for the bid, The Air Knight Consortium,
is planning to use the Eurocopter EC225.
Search and rescue in the UK was formerly done by a
variety of army, RAF, navy and civilian (in the form of
CHC) operations, working from different bases around the
UK. However, the British government wanted to consolidate the service, and also to replace the aging Sea Kings
and Sikorsky S61s, which were used up to two years ago
by the MCA.
Several alternatives to the Sea King were mooted,
including the EC225, the Sikorsky S92 and the Agusta
46
Westland AW139. Smith said that she did not feel the
EC225 was the right platform for the job, mainly
because it has a small cabin like the AW139.
CHC have done trials with the AW139, have used it in
the coastguard service, and have discovered that it is just
not sufficiently spacious for the role. The SAR requirement is for two stretchered casualties and two seated
casualties, in addition to the crew and paramedics and,
although it is possible to fit these into the AW139, it is
not then possible to provide onboard care. This makes
the S92 a far better helicopter for the purpose, and it will
also be phased into coastguard use.
Smith explains that when she was in Cyprus flying
the Bell 412 on a SAR role, she discovered, from helping the paramedics load stretchers on to the helicopter,
how restrictive the smaller helicopters are, how much
you have to twist the stretcher to get it into the helicopter, and how uncomfortable such twisting is for the
patients. However, on the plus side, the AW139 has
much better single engine performance than the Sikorsky
S61 that it replaced, but the S92 also has better single
engine performance than the S61s and the Sea Kings.
Both newer aircraft have a stronger service record than
the Sea King, which has begun to suffer from many
Nicky decided that she needed some more civilian
experience and she left the RAF. She taught maths in
a school for a year and then jointed the Soteria team,
using her previous SAR and transition experience to
good effect.
As she explains, “At 38 you have the option to
leave (the RAF) with a pension and a lump sum, and
I felt I had done everything I wanted to do with the
service.”
Nicky is now part of the RAF volunteer reserve,
and she would like at some point to do some more
SAR flying. She says that, assuming they win the
bid, which they are on course to do, she will be
involved in the transition to the new solution and also
hopes to fly with the new service.
PhotograPhs
courtesy of
Nick sMith aNd soteria
Nicky Smith SAR
pilot and Soteria
Transition Manager
maintenance problems.
Nicky Smith herself had always wanted to be a SAR helicopter pilot. Her father was in the army, and from a young
age she would watch the army air corps pilots. She joined
the RAF because she felt that, unlike the other forces, it
was the “primary flying service.” With hindsight, she also
discovered that the RAF was the least misogynistic of the
forces.
It takes three years to train as a SAR pilot. Nicky she
started on the Sea King and was based at RAF Boulmer in
Northumberland, Lossiemouth and Valley. This, she said,
gave her a broad range of experience, from mountains to
long-range sea flying. From Valley they also covered
Northern Ireland.
After doing some ground tours, she was sent to command 84 Squadron in Cyprus, making her, at 33, the
youngest squadron commander.
While Nicky was in Cyprus, the service did something
that gave her invaluable experience for her current role in
the SAR-H bid: they changed helicopter platforms, switching from the decommissioned Wessex to the Bell 412
Griffen. They also changed from being completely government controlled to a commercial contract with FBH, a spinoff from Bristow Helicopters. They went from 60 military
personnel to 9 civilian engineers, and amalgamated two flying units (one RAF the other Army Air Corps). This move
towards private and commercial ownership has now
become general in the military as a way of reducing costs,
and it has also been done in the training sector, but theirs
was the original trial, and 84 Squadron was selected as the
first to change because it had no specific war role.
After a tour in Defence Procurement at Abbey Wood,
Sikorsky S92
on a job
There is also a move to use NVGs on the SAR helicopters. Most of the ex-service pilots, including
Nicky herself, have done plenty of NVG flying and
so the experience is readily available.
It seems likely that Soteria/CHC will indeed win
the contract because, as Smith says, “we provide the
lowest risk solution,” and “with us it will be evolution, not revolution.”
Agusta AW139
47
New Hire
Air America
The refuelling ramp.
There were 5 of us in a
small crack in the rocks
behind the aircraft when
the shells came down
Ralph Arnesen looks back
Long Theing, better
known as LS20 Alternate
When the customer discovered you
could get 80 troops in the machine we
were the main event in combat insertion
Most of the pilots had
been flying these mountains for 6 - 8 years and
did not need a map
B
ack in 1971 I was out of the
army after two tours in
Vietnam and unemployed. I
had spent the money I had saved to
keep the instructor job I had in
upstate New York. I figured the only
thing to do was to bite the bullet and
get a fixed wing licence, so I borrowed money from my father and
went down to Florida. After finishing
the multi-engine airplane, a call from
my father said that there was a
telegram asking if I wanted a job in
Southeast Asia. I was to call a number in Washington, D.C. To make a
long story short, I said yes, was told
to go to the University of Miami to
take a test, then up to Washington for
an interview that took all of five
minutes, and informed that I should
go home and wait. It took a number
of weeks before I was sent tickets.
The flight went from New York to
California, then to Anchorage before
final destination Taipei, Taiwan. By
the time the plane landed I had met
all of the other pilots and mechanics
50
that had been hired at the same time.
When we were inside the arrival
lounge a Chinese guy came around
and put a large VIP medallion on
each of us. We went through customs
and immigration like they weren’t
even there. With our luggage collected we stood outside the terminal
waiting for transport. Two or three
American cars and a small van with
Laura’s Nursery painted on the side,
for the luggage, came to pick us up.
We commented on the cover the CIA
was using. The door to the van was
opened and out jumped a rat, which
took off down the road. There was
an immediate riot as between 50 and
100 people chased the poor thing:
there was a bounty on rat tails. We
wondered what else was in store.
Taipei was an interesting city.
There are no patent agreements with
Taiwan so they can make anything
they want there. Some of the guys
tried their luck in cards against the
young ladies in the bars, and lost.
My friend Roger and I took a trip to
the local mineral baths in the mountains and came back refreshed.
The next stop was Bangkok,
Thailand to wait for a plane north to
Udorn. While we were waiting we
paid a visit to Patpong Road, where
Air America had its office over a
massage parlour. Across the street we
met some of the other employees
who had been in the same bar for a
few days, and looked the worse for
wear. I found out afterwards that one
of them had run out of money, and
had to throw his bag out the back
window, and skipped paying his bill.
Later, in 1984, he was the only one
of four crewmen to survive getting
shot down over Nicaragua in a C123.
We finally made it to Udorn and
were sent straight to Vientiane, Laos
to do the Bell 204/5 technical course.
Nights in Vientiane, a former French
colony, took us to The White Rose
Bar and Monty Bank’s Purple
Porpoise Bar on the Mekong River.
one night at the US Embassy club
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Living quarters
Most of the work was
resupplying the local
Meo troops
Roger and Biff introduced me to the American martini.
Roger and Biff had decided that it might be nice to pick up
a bottle of champagne and visit the North Vietnamese
embassy, a place that we were specifically told not to go
anywhere near. Common sense or pure drunkenness finally
put a stop to that little caper.
We finally got checked out on the aircraft and started
work. I thought I had seen a lot, but I was not prepared for
what these pilots could make an aircraft do. As a co-pilot, I
was told to sit on my hands and not touch anything. Most
of the captains had been flying in these mountains of Laos
for six to eight years and didn’t need a map. Even if you
had time to use a map, most of the time the weather was
such that the visibility was restricted due to rain, fog, or
smoke.
We worked out of Long Thieng, better known to us as
LS20 Alternate, a base that had changed hands many times
during the course of the war in Laos.
Notice from the photo that there is a large clump of rock
at the left end of the runway. Between the two lumps of
rock is the parking ramp and fuelling area for the helicopters. In the background is what was called Skyline Ridge.
These two places will have a place later in the article.
Most of the work was resupplying the local Meo troops,
and for a while we flew a lot to the Plain de Jars, a grass
plain surrounded by low hills. The huge stone jars, about
eight feet high, and made of stone not from that area, were
left by a people who left nothing else, so little is known
about them. However, the area was garrisoned by Thai
mercenaries with artillery support. one night, around
Christmas of 1973 I believe, the North Vietnamese came
from the east and took the whole place. It was a complete
rout. I had been sent to Saigon for a temporary assignment,
so I was not there.
We got pushed back to LS20A, and the NVA even held
Skyline Ridge for a while, but the B-52s lowered the
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Ex-Vietnam
pilot
I thought I had seen a lot,
but I was not prepared for
what these pilots could make
an aircraft do
51
ridgeline by a bit and pushed them back. So began a
new episode, the fight for the ridgeline. The Hueys
were used to resupply the troops on the ridge. There
were no landings: the aircraft took off from the parking
area and flew parallel to the ridgeline, and when abeam
the helipad the aircraft was lifted over, and a quick 270
degree pedal turn was made. The load was dropped and
after about 5 seconds the aircraft was off down the side
of the ridge. A few seconds later the first of a number
of mortar or recoilless rifle rounds would hit the area
where you had just been. As the pads were known as
the Romeo and Juliet pads, this mission was known as
Romeo and Juliet Roulette.
The NVA put an artillery spotter in the karst south of
20A, amid sharp limestone peaks, and made life even
more exciting by sending 130mm shells into the airfield. Caught one time on the ground while refuelling, I
was one of five in a very small fissure in the rock nearby. They did manage to hit the ammo dump and that
closed the runway for the fixed wing traffic, as there
was unexploded ordnance all over the place. on the
Sikorsky CH-34
Choctaw
The office at base!
52
PhotograPh
There was unexploded ordinance all over the place
bright side, there has never been a New Years Eve fireworks to match it.
After a short time in the CH-34, the forerunner to the
Wessex, with the 9-cylinder radial engine, I managed to
transition into the CH-47C. This was really big stuff, so
big that I imagined that they would never send it into a
combat zone. Wrong again. When the customer found out
that you could carry 80 or more local troops in this
machine we became the main event in a combat insertion.
A couple of Hueys would land some troops to secure the
pad, and then we would put the back wheels down, and
the front end hung over the side. This manoeuver required
that, as the troops departed, thrust was reduced and more
aft cyclic was used to keep the back wheels and the ramp
on the ground. With A-7s circling in front of us for air
support, it was a real show.
We had a mission one day to take an 8-inch artillery
piece to a forward site and try to hit this 130mm that was
causing so much damage. We picked up the crew and gun
and flew it to LS 5. As the crew set up the gun we went
ralPh arNeseN
A very hot sun once blew up a shell on the beach
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
back for a load of shells. our instructions were to
pick up the gun and crew at the end of the day. We
came back a little late. The gun was so hot that,
just before we arrived, a shell blew up in the
breach. The gun was now scrap metal. We picked
up the crew and left a million dollars worth of
scrap where it was.
The only hit that I took in Laos was when flying
3000 feet over the mountains. I heard a bang, and
at the same time the customer sitting in the observer’s seat flew back. I thought he had been hit. But
I saw his fingers slowly come around the corner
and finally the rest of him appeared. The captain,
who was flying the aircraft, had not reacted at all,
but it turned out that a bullet, AK47, had come
through the floor and hit his seat armour, and it
was still there. The captain found it after we landed, and later drilled a hole in it and wore it around
his neck on a gold chain for good luck. I heard
later that he was killed when the engine on the
gunship he was flying in British Guiana quit, and
he crashed in the jungle. So much for magic
charms.
There are many more stories to tell, too many
Hueys were
used to resupply troops on
the ridge
for one article, so I will save some for later. If you are interested there are other books on this interesting period of aviation
history. “Air America” by Christopher Robbins goes back to the
1930s, and includes Japan’s war with China and the start of the
“Flying Tigers.” “The Wings of Air America” is another book
with many photos of the aircraft that were used.
53
Patrolling the Nort
54
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Midlands
Skies
By Georgina Hunter-Jones
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
Photographs courtesy of North Midlands
Police and Georgina Hunter-Jones
55
Chief Pilot Andy
Mortimore doing his preflight checks in the hangar
The helimover
is vital
Power station
invaded by the
Climate Camp
W
56
Steve James from Nottinghamshire . Both are also trained
first aiders.
North Midlands police support unit originally flew a
Twin Squirrel, but in 2004 it changed to an EC135, which
has much better performance and range, and is more suitable for police duties, with better visibility and camera
suites. Andy Mortimore has been flying for the police
since 2000, and has been chief pilot at Ripley since 2005.
The operations manual used by police forces across the
country is the PAoM, the Police version of the Air
operations Manual, which lists the regulations for police
operations, and allows different, usually lower, limitations
than normal company AoCs. It has an appendix, the
PAoM2, which is written by the Chief Pilot of each force
and is applicable to their specific unit.
Whether or not police flying should be specific to the
local area is one of the great debates in police aviation.
Police support flying is currently a matter for each local
force: 40 of the 43 forces have access to aviation, and there
are 31 helicopters and 3 aeroplanes nationwide. Funding is
undertaken locally as part of the police budget. However,
it is expensive. In the past the government contributed up
to 40% of the initial purchase price of a helicopter, but this
is now being reviewed by the Home office. Police
accountants are looking for ways of ‘reducing the
spend,’ and helicopter flying accounts for a large part of
expenditure.
Since the majority of forces do not want to lose their
helicopter, especially since it has been shown to be so
effective, there is a move to budget the flying costs nationally, under a National Air Support Unit, as is done in much
of Europe.
However, there are some major differences from
hen I arrived at the North Midlands Police
Helicopter Support Unit, they had just had
news of an attack on the Liverpool police
helicopter at RAF Woodvale. The police had given
chase and apprehended three of the four suspects. In
this case no major damage was done and the villains
were caught, but this is part of a growing trend of
criminal destruction of helicopters. Here in the UK
there have been three incidents, including one where a
police helicopter was fire bombed, and in Brazil the
Rio de Janeiro police helicopter was shot down by
drug traffickers.
“The truth is,” explains Chief Pilot Andy
Mortimore, “it shows how effective the helicopter has
become at preventing and detecting crime, and how
much the criminals feel that that is so.”
This sentiment was echoed by Ian Worthington, a
police observer, who came close to being blinded by a
laser shone at the helicopter by (rather surprisingly) a
middle-aged woman.
Showing a film of the incident, he suggested that
although in this case the perpetrator was thought to be
stupid rather than criminal, the laser is a weapon used
by villains who want to destroy a helicopter.
Moreover, laser crime is on the increase and several
people have been jailed for shining a laser at a helicopter, which has a blinding effect on the crew.
The North Midlands unit was set up in 1998. It is a
combined force that covers both the Nottinghamshire
and the Derbyshire police. They carry a crew of three:
one pilot and two observers, both of whom are police
officers, one from each force. For example, flying with
me were Graham Fish from the Derbyshire force and
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
The majority of British
police helicopters are
better equipped than
those in Europe
Europe. one is that the majority of British police helicopters are better equipped than in Europe, and there are
more of them per head of population, particularly when
compared to smaller countries like Holland and Belgium.
The exception to this is Italy, where there are over 150
helicopters at the disposal of the Carabineri, who also
have their own training schools and are an adjunct to the
national military.
If there is a move to create a national police helicopter
body in the UK—and trials are currently being done with
six new ‘identical equipment fit’ Eurocopter EC135s—
this will mean call outs on the ‘nearest is first’ basis,
rather than by the local force. It has been mooted that this
might be a disadvantage, leading to competition between
forces. However, as long as the whole force remains government funded with one central call-out unit, there
should be none of the problems the USA has encountered
in EMS, with private firms competing for jobs.
Nonetheless, it is an angle to consider.
All the observers are constables, although a sergeant is
in charge of the unit, as Deputy to the Unit Executive
officer. Flying with the helicopter, however, is not considered a good career move for those interested in rising
through the ranks of the force.
Currently, police recruits to the helicopter unit do a
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
training course, which, depending on their background,
includes theory of flight, navigation and charts, as well
as safety and survival skills. They have a flight test and
a final interview with the Unit Executive officer. They
then join on twelve months probation.
As Graham Fish explains, “there is a selection process
on aptitude, and knowledge of maps, then later they will
have an aviation test. Quite a few will be ex-forces as
they tend to have the interest.”
As in other aspects of the police force, they are actively trying to promote the job to under-represented individuals, such as women and ethnic minorities.
They are assessed throughout the twelve months. As
Graham says, “it takes about a year to relax in the job.”
As Steve James explains, “every day is different and
you see different things depending on the angle of the
route, height and weather conditions.”
Recruits will be taught emergency escape drills, fire
fighting and what to do in the event of an accident, as
well as the camera work and searches related to the helicopter’s operations. They carry survival equipment and
learn how to use it. They will also have day and night
line-checks, and six and twelve-month checks. In the
early stages novices always fly in the company of an
experienced observer.
Helibase defences are now
being reinforced owing to the
attacks on the helicopters
How long observers stay with the helicopter depends
on the individual: Graham Fish had currently done five
years, Steve James four, and Steve Gripton, who was
overseeing the unit that day, had been with the helicopter
unit for ten years.
They explain that there used to be five-year tenure, but
it was decided that given the cost of equipping and training an air observer and for continuous operational effectiveness, tenure was withdrawn.
As the observers are police officers, there is a slight
complication with the CAA: whether they should be
classified as passengers or crew. Currently they are not
crew, which means that they are not liable to CAA
restrictions on the number of hours they work, which
would be unpopular with the Chief officers of the police
forces, who consider it restrictive. However, the CAA
currently regards the police as single pilot operation public transport, which increases some of the limitations on
what they can do. Such limitations would be reduced if
the observers became crew members.
The pilots, on the other hand, are not police officers
but civilians (although most are ex-service pilots, and
both Andy Mortimore and Eric Church, the night pilot,
are ex-Army Air Corps). Pilots at NMHSU were originally supplied by Police Aviation Services, then later by
PremiAir. In 2008, Specialist Aircrew won the contract
to supply the pilots for NMHSU and Greater Manchester
Police having previously supplied pilots to the West
Yorkshire force, using the Explorer. Police aviation is
operated under CAA regulations, not EASA, as they are
58
a one-off service, not part of general aviation.
The helicopter is generally used as support for ground
forces, and is called out to aid them. This is where they
differ, for example, from CCTV cameras, which are, of
course, always present, and not generally admired by middle-aged drivers!
We went out on four calls during the day and three durNorth Mids changed to
the EC135 in 2007/8
HELICOPTER LIFE
,Winter 2009
PhotoograPh georgiNa huNter-JoNes
The majority of the helicopter work is aiding
ground police forces
Police can carry out some
EMS and air ambulance
work
ing the night (I was not there for the full night shift,
which is generally busier than the day shift). our first
call was to aid the police in finding a miscreant who had
escaped out the back door of his house while the police
were entering at the front to arrest him. The observers
used all three cameras, as well as looking out visually.
There can be difficulties with the thermal imaging camera during the day at this time of year, as the trees are still
in full leaf and the leafage can block clear sight of the
picture. It was also obvious that at that time of day there
were lots of dog walkers and other people wandering
around, and it was hard to distinguish them from criminals on the camera. However, later in the evening, when
thermal cameras were used after dark, it was a revelation.
They are so much more effective at night, when people
who would otherwise be hidden show up clearly, marked
out by their own body heat. We saw, for example, a group
of boys who were allegedly trying to steal lead from a
roof, lit up as though they were little beacons, clearly visible to the helicopter, yet, positioned as they were on the
roof, completely hidden from the ground police.
The majority of the work done by the police helicopter is aiding the ground forces in searches for missing
people.
“It is,” points out Andy Mortimore, “a good thing to
use the helicopter even if the search is negative, as you
are still saving a large amount of officers wasting their
time on a fruitless search on the ground.”
As much of the work is done in the Peak District this
can involve looking for missing walkers, or riders who
have fallen off their horses, whose friends have been
alerted by the return of the horse alone.
The police can carry out EMS work to aid the EMS
helicopter, and can also do air ambulance work.
Although they are not allowed to carry a doctor to the
scene, they can undertake Casevac work, i.e., transporting patients to hospital. For a hospital to be recognized as
a trauma centre it must have a helipad, and be able to
transfer the patient from the helicopter to A and E in three
minutes or less. This usually means a rooftop helipad.
In the twelve months before my visit, the North
Midlands Helicopter Support unit had performed 11
casevacs, and 81 since the service started, and only four
of these patients had later died. Most involve road traffic
accidents.
As the flying is generally low level, one hazard facing
the police helicopter is wind turbines, which can be up to
125 metres high and yet have no lights at night: something that seems ironic in the extreme.
At the moment police aviation is in a period of reflection and possible change. A variety of helicopters are
used, although all are well regulated and must be twinengine, to allow them to do their work over towns and at
night. There is a move towards using NVGs, although the
problem would be the cost of converting the equipment
for use with goggles. However, the new machines currently coming through are all NVG compatible, and as
the majority of the pilots are ex-forces, they too will be
experienced in the use of the goggles. There is also a
decision to be made as to whether the helicopters should
remain under local units, or become part of the national
scheme. It is an exciting time to be in police aviation, and
it will be interesting to see what happens in the near
future. The hope is that the decisions will be dictated by
common sense rather than by financial necessity.
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
59
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HELICOPTER
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60
HELICOPTER LIFE
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61
Ghost of The Jolly Green Giant
SIKoRSKY MH-53 PAVE LoW 1V AT RAF MUSEUM CoSFoRD
PICTURES BY IAN
WILLIAMSoN
T
he first Jolly Green Giant to go on display in the UK has done so at
RAF Cosford. It was given by the US Air Force last year and flown
into Cosford by a C-17 Globemaster 111 last year .
The Sikorsky MH-53 Pave Low exhibition was opened in November this
year by The Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen Dalton
KCB, ADC, BSc, FRAeS, RAF.
The helicopter is one of only 41 MH-53Js used by
American Special operations Forces in the first Gulf War.
The main role of the helicopter was Combat Search and
Rescue in Iraq and Bosnia-Herzegovina as part of the
United Nations Task Force supplying not only military
62
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
B OOK
R EVIEW
Alan Bristow
Helicopter Pioneer: The Autobiography
by Alan Bristow
with Pat Malone
Pen & Sword Books £25
I
PhotograPhs courtesy of vestey brooks
was told that this book was a ripping good yarn, and it is. But, it
is more than that: it is smoothly
written (Pat Malone was a Daily
Mail journalist for many years) and it
actually covers the history of helicopter flying pretty much from its
inception to the modern day, as well
as the birth, growth and dispersal of
a major company and a celebrity line
up from old pilots like Douglas
Bader to modern heros like Freddie
Laker, the French surgeon and later
general Valerie Andre, via the royal
families of several nations. Alan
Bristow makes a good case for the
importance of knowing the right people and even, in the case of Prince
Philip, competing with them.
Bristow is a confident man, he
, Winter 2009
HELICOPTER LIFE
refers to himself as ‘arrogant,’ and
sometimes reading of his encounters
with his board at Bristow Helicopters
Ltd and later at Westland you can imagine his colleagues might also have used
that and stronger words to describe him.
However, he also appears to have been
an excellent pilot and a very successful
businessman. He has flown pretty much
everything from the Sikorsky R-4 to
modern day twin engine IFR helicopters
like the S76. He writes of his time as a
test pilot: “My record was six engine
failures in one day, none of which
caused injury.”
In business, he started Air Whaling
Ltd with one Hiller working for
Aristotle onassis, before designing a
harpoon, the patents for which he sold
for a million, just before it was disal-
lowed. A piece of excellent timing,
which occurs again and again in his
life, including when he and his
pilots, people and helicopters
escaped from Iran in 1979, just
before the siege of the American
embassy. Moving into oil he started
Bristow Helicopters Ltd, had global
vision, grew the company, amalgamated with other companies, was
taken over, dealt with unions, used
his might to change the design of the
Super Puma and finally resigned
over a point of principle. He then
moved on to Westland, got involved
in the political dispute and nearly
bought the company. Read it!
of his line of work, he says:
“Helicopters could be the best business, if only it weren’t for accidents.”
63
A CCIDENT
R EPORTS
Robinson R44 Clipper 11, G-CLPR
The student pilot was landing on a concrete apron in
front of some hangars. As the helicopter descended from
a low hover, it was seen to rock from left to right and
then to rotate quickly to the left. It lifted slightly in a
hose-low, right-skid low attitude and then rolled over on
to its right side. As parts of the rotor blade broke up, a
piece of debris was flung across the apron and seriously
injured a workman approximately 200 feet away. After
the accident, the airfield operator introduced new rules
restricting the use of the concrete apron near the hangars
to licensed pilots and more experienced students. Less
experienced students are required to land on the grass.
The pilot was 62 years old and had 302 hours, of which
53 were on type.
Rotorway Executive 162F, G-ESUS
Following a normal flight, the helicopter was manoeuvring prior to shut down on an area of concrete driveway. The right skid touched down on the concrete, while
the helicopter was still moving forwards and yawing left,
and the helicopter rolled over.
As the pilot moved the helicopter from his initial landing
place on the grass, he turned through some 45 degrees to
the left and then moved forward to land. The pilot
noticed some loss of rpm as he was landing, and to avoid
a heavy landing attempted to lift off again. The helicopter dropped down fairly rapidly from a height of about 2
feet, while yawing left, and the right skid contacted the
concrete surface. A roll to the right developed, which the
pilot was unable to control, and the helicopter rolled
over. Both pilot and passenger exited unharmed.
The pilot was 74 years old, and had 195 hours of flying,
all of which were on the Rotorway type.
Gazelle HT.Mk3, G-CBXT
The aircraft was en route from a private site near
Tamworth, Staffordshire, to a maintenance facility near
RNAS Yeovilton, Somerset. It had departed from
Baxterley at 8.45 am. There were three people on board,
one pilot and two passengers. Neither of the
passengers had aviation knowledge.
Radio communications were established with ATC at
Gloucestershire Airport at 09.23, as the helicopter
approached Honeybourne. The pilot informed ATC of his
current position, routing and destination. They instructed
him to report south-east abeam the airfield, which the
pilot acknowledged. At 0938 hours the ATC attempted to
contact G-CBXT as they had not received a position
report; there was no reply. ATC continued to try and call
64
the helicopter for the next 15 minutes, and telephoned
neighbouring airfields to see whether contact had been
made with them; it had not. At 0955 hrs ATC contacted
the Distress and Diversion centre and overdue action was
initiated.
The burned and smouldering wreckage of a helicopter
was discovered by a horse rider at 1145 hrs on Langley
Hill, 7 nm north-east of Gloucestershire Airport. This
was later confirmed to be G-CBXT. All three occupants
had been fatally injured. It appears that the pilot inadvertently entered IMC and subsequently impacted the hillside. The pilot was 55 years old and had 305 hours, of
which 122 were on type.
Robinson R22 Beta, G-TTHC
The helicopter was being flown by a student pilot in the
circuit on a solo consolidation exercise. The weather conditions were good, though conducive to carburettor icing.
During the downwind leg, the main rotor blades struck
and severed the tail cone and the helicopter fell vertically
into a field, fatally injuring the pilot. The investigation
established that it is probable that, following the pretake-off magneto checks, the ignition switch was set at
the L (left) magneto position. The left magneto then
failed, causing the engine to stop. The rotor rpm decayed
and the rotor disc tilted rearwards, allowing the blade to
strike the tail cone. The pilot was 54 years old, and had
75 hours, all of which were on type.
MD 369E, N502SL
In october 2009, a McDonnell Douglas 369E helicopter, N502SL, registered to South Carolina Law
Enforcement Division, was landed hard at the
Fairfield County Airport (FDW), Winnsboro, South
Carolina. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed
at the time. The flight had originated from FDW about
5 minutes before the accident.
The CFI stated that they were conducting training
manoeuvres at FDW and briefed the procedures to
perform in the event of an anti-torque failure while in
a hover. They initiated a hover and prepared to perform a simulation of a stuck right anti-torque pedal.
He stated they performed the procedure and landed
the helicopter, which then became airborne again and
started yawing to the right very rapidly. He resumed
the control of the helicopter and rolled the throttle to
idle, which slowed the yawing motion. The helicopter
landed hard and rolled onto its left side.
The student, who is rotorcraft rated, stated that they
had initially departed from the South Carolina Law
HELICOPTER LIFE
,Winter 2009
A CCIDENT
Enforcement Division (SLED) headquarters and flew
to FDW, where they performed 2 hovering autorotations. They then hovertaxied to an area where they
planned to perform stuck pedal procedures while in a
hover. He relinquished the controls to the CFI, who
first briefed him on the proper recovery procedures.
The CFI initiated the procedure, and he began the corrective action procedures, with the CFI following
through on the flight controls. The helicopter landed,
then began an uncommanded right yaw and became
airborne. The CFI took the controls and the student
confirmed the CFI’s account that the helicopter landed
hard and rolled onto its left side. The helicopter was
substantially damaged and the certified flight instructor (CFI) and pilot-rated student were not injured.
MD 500N, N521HD
In october 2009, the McDonnell Douglas Helicopter
500N, N521HB, main rotor contacted the helicopter's
tail boom while landing during a practice autorotation
at Los Alamitos Army Airfield, Los Alamitos,
California. The Huntington Beach Police Department
operated the helicopter as a public-use training flight.
The certified flight instructor and the pilot under
instruction were not injured, but the helicopter was
substantially damaged. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed. The flight originated at Huntington
Beach Police Department helicopter pad.
The certified flight instructor stated in the NTSB Pilot
Accident Report that he and the pilot he was instructing were practicing emergency procedures, in particular, power recovery autorotations. He said that at 700
feet agl he rolled the throttle off and entered the
autorotation. At 50 feet agl he rolled the throttle on
late, realized the ground was rapidly approaching, and
decided to perform a running landing. The pilot
reported that he had inadvertently applied partial
throttle, which did not allow the engine to regain full
power. With the throttle positioned at 25%, the rotor
rpm decayed, and when the helicopter contacted the
ground, a rotor blade struck the tail boom. He shut
down the helicopter and confirmed the damage to the
tail boom. The pilot stated that the helicopter and
engine had no mechanical failures or malfunctions
during the flight.
Robinson R44 N3038W
IIn october 2009, a Robinson R44 helicopter was substantially damaged during a forced landing near La
Belle, Florida. The commercial-rated pilot and two
passengers sustained minor injuries, and one passenHELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009
R EPORTS
ger sustained a serious injury. VMC prevailed.
According to the pilot, the flight was a personal
sightseeing flight with a friend, and two acquaintances of that friend. The helicopter was based at a
local airport, and flew to a private farm in Punta
Gorda, Florida to pick up the passengers. The helicopter departed the farm about 1730. None of the
helicopter's doors were installed for the flight, and
the majority of the flight was conducted at or below
300 feet agl. After approximately 30 minutes, while
in cruise flight at approximately 60 knots and 150
feet agl, the pilot heard a "light tapping" sound and
then "a horn went off." The pilot did not observe any
other problems or annunciations with the helicopter.
The helicopter began to lose altitude, and the pilot
"immediately proceeded into an auto-rotation toward
a pasture." The tail of the helicopter struck trees, and
the pilot reported that he "lost anti-torque pedal" at
that point, but continued the auto-rotation to the
ground. The helicopter then spun approximately 180
degrees to the right in the horizontal plane, and then
rolled onto its left side. When the motion stopped,
the engine was not running, and the pilot switched
off the fuel and the master switch. The pilot and two
passengers exited the helicopter, but the remaining
passenger decided to remain in the helicopter until
assistance arrived, due to his injuries. The pilot contacted assistance via 911 on his mobile phone, but
the quality of the connection precluded successful
communication of the accident situation and location. He then called an acquaintance of his who was
familiar with the local area.
The acquaintance drove to the accident location, and
then led law enforcement personnel to the site. A
helicopter was dispatched to transport the injured
passenger, but it arrived approximately two hours
after the accident. The injured passenger was airlifted from the accident site approximately three hours
after the accident.
According to the FAA inspector who responded to
the accident scene, the helicopter sustained damage
to the tail boom, the main rotor system, and the
fuselage. Control rods and other components of the
main rotor control system were bent or otherwise
damaged. one of the drive belts, which mechanically connected the engine output sheave to the rotor
input sheave, was broken, and the remaining three
belts had come off at least one of the sheaves. The
landing skids did not exhibit any significant damage.
65
H OUSE
&
H ELICOPTER
Sogon Helikopterklubb, Norway
by Astrid Gjerde and Tom Thorsen
photos
T
roN
vaN der
tooleN
Welcome!
by
66
person at the club, i.e. Astrid’s campsite: Jostedal Camping.
That’s exactly what Anja W and Mikel from Holland did this
summer, and Anja S (another niece of ours) and family did last
year. They must have enjoyed their stay because they are all
coming back this Christmas. Unfortunately, they will then be
able to aviate only via the computer (which is coupled to our
Flight Link helicopter controls). The simulation doesn’t provide
the greatest of realism, but it is possible to grasp what is going
on, even during engine or tail-rotor failures. And the throttle is
all manual, just like the one on the Shark.
Because of the diversity of our members, who range from students to teachers, from managers to lorry drivers and farmers,
and from novices to seasoned pilots, our website is relatively
comprehensive. Some of the main subjects of our homepage are
security and environmental issues. on these pages there may be
a few controversial statements, to provide food for debate.
on our homepage http://home.online.no/~astgj you will find
tips and links about flying in Norway, and you will be guided
towards any maps and info you may need. our website also
contains information on where to go
Thor-Steinar
and what to see while you’re in Sogn.
Enstrom
If you are planning on coming by helowner
icopter, please do. But unfortunately
we cannot provide either jet fuel or
100LL. The nearest airport is ENSG
(see our website for more info).
Some power lines cross the valley of
Jostedalen, and sometimes the winds
can be rather tricky in our area,
because of the high mountains and
the glaciers all around. But don’t let
this scare you off. Visit us in
Jostedalen or at our homepage.
PhotograPhs
he common denominator for the members of Sogn
Helicopter Club (SH) is perhaps the joy of flying helicopters. In this respect we totally support the statement
at the front page of every HL magazine: Helicopter life is the
High life. Flying across Jostedalsbreen, Breheimen and
Jotunheimen National Parks certainly supports this motto. The
range of relief in our region is intriguing; ranging from
Sognefjorden at sea level to the glacier Jostedalsbreen at 2000m.
Sogn County is nearly 19.000 km and has rather more than
100.000 inhabitants. Sognefjorden is in the midst of our
region, and it extends more than 200 km inland from the coast.
Together with the glaciers and high mountains, this fjord and
many others create effective barriers to transportation, except
by helicopter. That’s a great incentive to go flying rather than
driving!
SH is a young club with free membership, and it is open to helicopter enthusiasts of all nationalities and ages. However,
youngsters must obtain permission to join from one of their
parents. As of mid-october 2009 there are only 24 members, 6
of whom are under 18. Being so few, we all feel
like family, and in fact some of us are. Marthe,
for instance, the club’s Vice Chair, is our niece.
Apart from our relatives, Tom’s helicopter
instructor has joined us, as has of course ThorSteinar, the owner of LN-oIL (the Enstrom we
rent every summer).
The previous registration of his 280C Shark was
G-PALS. He bought the helicopter from
Manchester and his ties to Barton are still very
much alive. Every year Thor-Steinar takes his
check ride at Manchester Helicopter Centre. He
also uses TK Helicopter Services (just south of
Liverpool) for maintenance, as did the former
owner.
To be a member of SH, people have to meet in
Ron van der Toolen
HELICOPTER LIFE
, Winter 2009

HelicopterLife

Transcription

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