HELICOPTER LIFE · Helicopter Life who, with th e Copy Editor, will be d oing an abseil for ... Michael J. H. Smith Wing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF ... whales, seals and much else

HELICOPTER

LIFEROYAL ASCOT BACK AT H OME

HELICOPTER LIFEis the HIGH LIFE

H2006

A UTUMN 2006 / £3.99

www.helicopterlife.com

RNLIRescue

STANLEY H ILLER JR (1924-2006)VOLANTE FLYING CAR

H ELIEXPO IN D ALLAS TXN EW O RLEANS AFTER KATRINA

LIFEHELICOPTER AUTUMN 2006

HELICOPTER LIFE,Autumn 2006 3DonÕt fly without your Pooleys ! www.pooleys.com

Royal Ascot’snew Home 32Georgina Hunter-Jones on how thereturn to Ascothas managed tobe on time and onbudget, and hears mixed reportsabout the stadium.

Lifeboat Rescue Exercise 40GeorginaHunter-Jones isdropped out of aSea King, alongwith RNLItrainees and isimpressed by theprofessionalismof the RAF SARRNLI teamwork.

Weston-Super-Helidays 2006 60Alan Norris, oneof the founders ofthe helidays,looks at how theyhave changedover the years andphotographs thoseat this year’sbeach-heldextravaganza.

AeroExpo 2006 60

Helicopter Friendly Landing Sites 61

Book Review 62Helicopter Life reviews Faces of Exploration byJoanna Vestey; her encounters and photographs of fifty extraordinary pioneers.

Accident Reports 63

House & Helicopter 66

COVER STORY

Show & Tell Guide 4On aviation shows and conferences.

The Editor’s Letter 5

Guest Columnist 6Captain Robin Renton on aviation’s future path.

Letters to the Editor 7

Flying Crackers 8, 9

The Russian Connection 12Neil Harrison travels with the Russian Mil Mi-8 re-supplying Russian bases on Antarctica.

Farnborough Fair 16Georgina Hunter-Jones examines how the mood of the 2006 airshow has changed.

On Track with Flymap 20Georgina Hunter-Jones is impressed by one of the most recent gadgets to come onto the market.

Bikes behind the Dykes 22ArjanDijksterhuisreports on aerialfilming, HEMSand VIP helicop-ters during theMoto Grand Prixwhich was heldin Assen in theNetherlands.

MD 500 D Test Flight 26Georgina Hunter-Jones pays a visit to Biggin HillHelicopterswhere Capt BillLowry demon-strates all the‘Sunnyside Up’aspects of theMD 500D.Proving it nomere egg beater!

9 September - 10 September 2006

LYDD AiRSHOW

Lydd Airport

Lydd, Romney Marsh

Kent, TN29 9QL

Tel: +44 (0)1797-322-207

Fax: +44 (0)1797-322-208

[email protected]

www.lyddairshow.co.uk

16 September - 17 September 2006

SHOREHAM AiRSHOW 2006

Contact: RAFA Airshow Office

Terminal Building

Shoreham Airport

West Sussex, BN43 5FF

Tel: +44 (0)1273-441-545

[email protected]

www.shorehamsirshow.com

23 September - 25 September 2006HELi JET SHOW CANNES

Palais des Festivals & des Congres

Cannes, France

Tel: +33 (0)4-9390-4185

Fax: +33 (0)4-9390-4189

[email protected]

14 November - 15 November 2006HELi-pOWER 2006

Olympia Conference Centre

London, England

Contact: Hervé Bavazzano (Exhibitions)

Tel: +44 (0)1628-606-980

[email protected]

www.shephard.co.uk/heli-power

5 December - 7 December 2006DuBAi HELiSHOW 2006

East Hall, Dubai Airport Expo

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Mediac Communications & Exhibitions L.L.C.

P.O. Box: 5196, Dubai, U.A.E.

Tel: +9714-269-2004

Fax: +9714-269-1296

[email protected]

www.dubaihelishow.com

HELICOPTER LIFE, Autumn 2006

SHOW & T ELL

G UIDE


end of the week it was easier to get

in, but by then the trains, which start-

ed the week comfortable and on time,

fell back to their usual schedule:

wrong type of sun maybe.

Above the vagaries of time-tables

is the 46th Russian Mils trip to East

Antarctica to supply their bases (Mils

on wheels?) Through the years some

of the Mi-8s had been ferried from St

Petersburg to Cape Town before join-

ing the boat to Antarctica. Neil

Harrison went with them and his

story shows the amazing toughness

and versatility of these elderly

machines, and their pilots.

As part of the RNLI training pro-

gramme we spent a day with the RAF

Search and Rescue and the RNLI,

practising winching out of a Sea

King. The RNLI is currently trying to

raise money for its training pro-

gramme which costs £20,000 a year

per life-boat station. It also was a

bonus training for the Editor of

Helicopter Life who, with the Copy

Editor, will be doing an abseil for

charity from Guy’s Hospital on 23rd

September 2006. Anyone wishing to

come and watch please do so.

The sudden jump in popularity

of helicopter flying seems to

have left the supplying world

behind. Suddenly there are neither

enough helicopters to fill all the com-

mercial jobs nor enough pilots. Or at

least, and here is the rub, there are

plenty of low time, piston trained

pilots but not nearly enough turbine

rated, instrument trained, high time

pilots. So much is this the case, that

aviation companies are finally awak-

ening to the realisation that they will

either have to pay for the training of

their pilots or import them from other

countries in the EU (the Polish pilot).

This kind of thing has not happened

since Bristow Helicopters gave up

doing scholarships.

Given that there is now an increase

in manufacturing, is there a chance of

the advent of a helicopter-powering-

fuel which actually improves rather

than destroys the environment? Of

course, the event which really gets

Research and Development depart-

ments going is war, hence the pro-

duction of 100 Cayuse (forerunner of

the MD500 on which we have a test

flight) a month during the Vietnam

War and Israel’s interest in the X-

Hawk flying car, on display at

Farnborough. But during war-time,

interest in reducing emissions dies

off: a conundrum.

Farnborough certainly gave indi-

cations that Bell has increased its

manufacturing; with three large

pavilions on the hill dominating the

show (as much as helicopters can in a

principally fixed wing show) and

their distributors claiming that Bell

now leads Eurocopter in the number

of sales.

There were, however, a few little

problems with Farnborough, not least

the scrum to get through security as

every bag and every camera had to be

checked for terrorist weapons. By the

5

HELICOPTER LiFE is published quarterly

by FlyFizzi Ltd.

59 Great Ormond Street

London, WC1N-3Hz.

Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2006.

ISSN 1743-1042.

All rights reserved. Opinions expressed

herein are not necessarily those of the pub-

lishers, 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.

COVER pHOTOGRApHBy Hilaire Dubourcq

AUTUMN 2006

EDiTOR-iN-CHiEF / piLOTGeorgina [email protected]

CREATiVE DiRECTORHilaire [email protected]

COpY EDiTOREvangeline Hunter-Jones, JP

CONTRiBuTiNG EDiTORSArjan Dijksterhuis, Neil HarrisonAlan Norris, Capt Robin Renton

CONTRiBuTED pHOTOGRApHYArjan Dijksterhuis, FlymapNeil Harrison, Tony LowryValentin Mykitenko, Alan NorrisSt Petersburg Aviation RepairCompany

SpECiAL THANKS TOBiggin Hill Helicopters, Capt BillLowry, Louise Wilkinson

ADVERTiSiNGTelephone: (44) [email protected]

SuBSCRipTiONSGo to our website or turn to page [email protected]

WEBSiTEwww.helicopterlife.com

HON. EDiTORiAL BOARDCaptain Eric Brown, CBE, RN

The Lord Glenarthur, DL

Jennifer MurrayMichael J. H. SmithWing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF

LIFEHELICOPTER T HE EDITOR ÕS LETTER


Irecently met Georgina at EBACE

and had the pleasure of giving her

and several others a lift back from

Geneva in our Sikorsky 76C+. I was

very pleasantly surprised when she

subsequently asked me to write a

small piece for this publication, espe-

cially as I would be following the

narratives of rather more distin-

guished and famous aviation person-

alities.

I am now surprised to find

that I have now been involved

in aviation in a career (for

want of a better word) for over

30 years, one that has taken me

to many corners of the globe.

The opportunity to travel and

see the world from such a

unique perspective is one of

the powerful attractions of

being a helicopter pilot.

During my time in the Royal

Navy in the late 1960s &

1970s, the Wessex 5 and Sea King

were seen to be state of the art: how

times have moved on!

I joined Bristow Helicopters in

1975 and went to Aberdeen to fly the

S61N. In those days there was still an

air of pioneering about North Sea

operations. No immersion suits in the

mid 1970s, just a ‘floater’ jacket

more use in keeping hypothermia at

bay when riding a motorbike to work

than saving one’s life if unfortunate

enough to ditch in the freezing grey

Services), a relatively small but inno-

vative company, full of interesting

and larger than life characters.

BEAS, as well as operations in North

Africa and aerial work business in the

UK, had set up the first offshore-

based unit, working from a semi-sub-

mersible in the Piper/Claymore field

in the North Sea. We flew a Bell 212,

which was hangared in a corrugated

iron structure at the side of the

helideck and landed the heli-

copter on (or rather in) a

device rather like a large skip

that was then winched into the

hangar. On one memorable

occasion the CAA sent out an

inspection team in an S61,

which on landing blew the

doors off the hangar and into

the sea. Not an auspicious

start! BEAS was taken over by

Bristows and became Bristow

Offshore, which at the height

of the Brent Field construction period

in the 1980s had five Bell 212s oper-

ating from the Treasure Finder semi-

submersible, transporting hundreds

of men (it was only men offshore

then) every day and incorporating a

24 hour SAR service. It was a most

impressive and efficient undertaking

and one with which I am proud to

have had a part.

Short spells in Morocco and Dubai

with Bell 212s were followed by my

(Continued on Page 10)

waters. We navigated out to the East

Shetland Basin by means of Decca,

taking readings from the three

decometers and plotting pencil fixes

on a chart: no fancy GPS positioning

for us!

I then flew the S61N in Greenland

for 6 months, operating on semi-

scheduled passenger flights up and

down the west coast. What truly

spectacular sights there are in this

majestic ice-covered land. On a good

summer’s day the atmosphere is crys-

tal clear, the view of icebergs and

mountains goes on forever and there

are often polar bear, musk ox,

whales, seals and much else besides

along the routes. The weather could

often be less than perfect, of course,

and conditions there could change

very rapidly, making for a challeng-

ing environment.

On return to the UK, I joined

BEAS (British Executive Air

6

G UEST C OLUMNIST

Bull Market forHelicopters

Captain Robin Renton, Chief Pilot at AirHarrods, on the way the corporate andcommercial market is improving fornew pilots

ÒWhere does the futurelie for the commercial helicopter business?

And what can the youngpilot look

forward to?Ó

59 Great Ormond Street, London WC1N-3Hz, England.

Telephone: 020-7430-2384, Fax: 020-7430-2384, Email: [email protected]

Please include your name, address, home and daytime phone numbers.


General Aviation is starting to

come under attack both from noise

lobbies and from those who feel

that our emissions are affecting the

environment. Below is a letter from

a reader who wishes to express his

feelings on the noise issue. if any-

one would like to write in response

or with their opinions Helicopter

Life would be happy to publish

their letters.

This letter was a response to the

Evening Standard on Friday 26th

May 2006 in which the editor was

quoted as saying she did not believe

that helicopter movements over

London added to the overall noise:

Dear Georgina,

I read to my horror that you consid-

er: “There’s really not a noise issue

here. Single-engine helicopters can

only fly along the Thames. It’s the

larger helicopters operated by police

and corporations that go over central

London. I don’t think it has added to

the noise people on the ground hear.”

Don’t you? Which bit of cloud-

cuckoo land do you inhabit. It is cer-

tainly not true that helicopters only

fly along the Thames as anyone who

lives north of the King’s Road can

tell you. Every garden in Chelsea is

subjected to noise from North/South

flying helicopters. I pity the poor

people in Battersea but they are not

alone. Huge aeroplanes carrying

hundreds of people fly over continu-

ously in a comparative whisper but

someone has designed quietness

(feathering etc.) into its engine

because of the appalling noise they

used to have (You’re probably too

young to remember the Pratt &

Whitney ‘Wasp’ in a Harvard). One

little t*sser in a private toy today

can ruin the peace and quiet of a

whole city and get away with it and

apparently nobody can do anything

about it. I am pretty sure that some-

one could design a quieter helicopter

their final report to the Aviation

Fuels Committee.

Both the Fisher Tropsch methods,

where Sasol produces fuel from low

grade coal, and GTL technology

producing synthetic fuel from gas,

can be used to produce potentially

cleaner burning and more thermally

stable fuel which may have implica-

tions for newer as new turbines are

becoming smaller and hotter. The

thermal stability of the fuel itself

allows it to be used as a coolant for

high-temperature components in

new-generation jet.

As conventional petroleum feed

stocks become more scarce, other

countries have started looking at

their indigenous resources afresh

with a view to converting them into

viable new fuels. In the US for

example, the first waste coal-to-

clean fuels complex has is near com-

pletion in the anthracite fields of

Pennsylvania, which would turn

waste coal into zero-sulfur diesel

fuel or jet fuel.

Best Wishes,

Tim Rogers

Executive VP International -

Clean Diesel Technologies, Inc

Dear Georgina,

In the Editor’s Letter of your last

edition of Helicopter Life you ask

about the EC directive 55/2001 and

85/2001. Both directives refer to

transactions in goods and the meas-

urement instruments used in that

trade. It has nothing to do with avia-

tion and should not affect us except

when we buy our food (unless you

work in cargo when you might have

to convert kg to lbs.)

Best regards,Malvina Nicca

but it would, no doubt, cost money.

This isn’t the capital’s latest noise

problem - its been going on for

years. Until more people complain...

nothing is going to change. But

don’t, ever, say: ‘There’s really not a

noise issue,’ again and think you’ll

get away with it.

Robin de Beaumont

Manufacturers do need to keep

reducing the decibel levels but I do

think that having a second heliport

in London might well diversify what-

ever noise there is and appease our

non-flying readers. Ed.

Dear Georgina,

Further to your article on the use of

alternative fuel feed stocks for air-

craft. For the past seven years, air-

craft flying from Johannesburg

International Airport (JIA) have used

a semi-synthetic blend of 50% jet

fuel from coal produced at a Sasol

Ltd coal-to-liquids refinery, and

50% derived from traditional crude

oil refining.

The situation arose in 2001 when

fire temporarily halted fuel produc-

tion at Natref, which was at that

time the main supplier of aviation

fuel to JIA.

To avert a shortage of fuel at the

busiest airport in Africa. Sasol was

given permission by the Aviation

Fuels Committee and MoD to blend

its coal-derived jet fuel with conven-

tion jet fuel and semi synthetic jet

fuel was introduced.

Since that time Sasol have moved

on and are now in progress to quali-

fy its fully synthetic jet fuel, by

completing aircraft engine turbine

testing in conjunction with the US

Navy. They will soon be forwarding

7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR


Travelling pilots Needed

According to The Wall Street Journal

American pilots are deserting the

cash-starved, morale-depressed, pen-

sion-gutting US carriers and landing

high-paying jobs in Singapore, Hong

Kong and Dubai. Former U.S.

Airways pilot Brian Murray, who

now works for Emirates Airlines,

says it’s like returning to the Golden

Age of aviation. He said that pilots

are “treated with respect in this part

of the world. We’re driven to work.

We’re put in four and five-star hotels,

on the concierge floors. Captains are

treated as vice presidents of the

organization.” And there’s no short-

age of well paid freelance work.

pilot’s first solo at 91 years old

Cliff Garl fulfilled a lifetime dream

and probably has set a record. The

ninety one year-old US pilot soloed

for the first time over Arlington

Airport earlier this year. “You go into

a nursing home and you’ll see people

a lot younger than he just sitting

there,” Garl’s 75-year-old instructor

Joe Bennett told The Seattle Times. “I

actually don't know of anybody, even

in their 80s, who's soloed.”

Apparently the FAA don’t have

records of any student pilots over the

age of 90 and showed only fifty-odd

in their 80s. As might be expected,

the medical was Garl’s biggest obsta-

cle: luckily he is in good health.

This helicopter was on display in

the Residentsplatz in Salzburg,

Austria as part of the 200th

Anniversary Celebrations of the clas-

sical composer Wolfgang Amadeus

Mozart.

Created by Italian artist Paolo Pivi,

and entitled ‘Upside Down

Helicopter In A Public Place’, it fea-

tures a fullsize and complete four

tonne Westland Wessex aircraft from

the reserve collection of The

Helicopter Museum at Weston-

Super-Mare in Somerset.

John Ninomiya is a pilot; of small

helium balloons. These he gathers

together in a large bunch, then he

straps himself underneath, and takes

off. To ascend, he drops sand or water

ballast; to descend, the balloons are

cut away or popped, one by one.

“Even after you’ve done it many

times before, there’s still something a

bit unreal to it,” Ninomiya says. “You

wonder: Am I really doing this?” (Or

why?)

pilot and Helicopter Shortage

As oil prices surge, so rig operators in

the North Sea are ramping up produc-

tion, and running up against a short-

age of helicopters and pilots. Bristow

Helicopters, based in Aberdeen, has

ten new helicopters on order and is

having to turn down business: “It is

an industry-wide problem. It is not

just a question of getting the physical

airframe; we've got to get the crew to

fly them and the engineers to main-

tain them. It takes up to two years to

get a new aircraft delivered, and five

years or more to train pilots from

scratch,” said Bristow Manager,

Mike Duncan.

Bell will be tolling in indiaAs the global economy grows so does

the demand for helicopters. Bell

Helicopter plans to open a pilot train-

ing facility in India next year and will

also start to offer fractional owner-

ship plans there. “We expect the

Indian market for helicopters to grow

to $4.3 billion over the next 20 years,

with 40 percent of the demand from

the civilian sector,” Bob Fitzpatrick,

Bell’s senior vice president for busi-

ness development. Of the 120 heli-

copters now flying in India, 70 of

them are Bell products. “This figure

will grow to 81 aircraft by the first

quarter of 2007, and we want to be

aggressive in India as it is going to be

a big market,” Fitzpatrick said.

India’s Army Aviation Corps is ready

to buy 197 helicopters, and Bell

Helicopter is competing with

Eurocopter for the contract.

The Windy Defence

The USA Department of Defense and

Department of Homeland Security, is

threatening development of wind tur-

bine projects, which were selected by

President Bush as likely to become

one of the main power-producers in

the U.S. The DOD is currently study-

ing whether wind turbines interfere

FLYINGC

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Modern Day Montgolfier

‘Hubschraubflugzeug’Mozart’s


stopped off on their way North

as part of the annual Heli Air

Scotland rally. Jennifer Murray

and Colin have asked John

Pattinson to make the world’s

lightest helicopter covers from

a silicone elastomer based fab-

ric that John previously used in

airships. The covers will be

carried by Jennifer and Colin

in their Bell 407 helicopter on their

Pole to Pole expedition .

9

FLYING C RACKERS

Copter CoversCopter Covers opened their new

workshop and

design studio on

29 June 2006 at

Malt Kiln near

Shrewsbury in

S h r o p s h i r e .

Several helicop-

ters flew in and

Colin Bodill cut

the ribbon dedi-

cating the new

studio. Pictured

here are the Heli

Air R44s that

with defence and homeland security

radar systems, this means the FAA is

no longer routinely signing off on

windmill farm applications as posing

no threat to air navigation and thus

are delaying the whole movement.

The pilot SnakeAs Monty Coles set up his Piper

Cherokee to land at Gallipolis, Ohio,

a four-and-a-half foot black snake

slithered out of the instrument panel.

He knocked it to the floor (where the

reptile landed under the rudder ped-

als) then grabbed the snake behind

the head and held on while he called

the tower: as the snake wrapped itself

around his arm and began reaching

for anything else it could grab. “I told

them I had one hand full of snake and

the other hand full of plane. They

cleared me straight in number one.”

He said, “25 years ago my instructor

told me to always fly the plane first!”

Coles let the snake loose after taking

photos! The snake is assumed to be a

black rat snake (a non-venomous

constrictor), and ironically is nick-

named the pilot snake (from the mis-

taken belief that they led rattlesnakes

to safe sites to make their den).

Solo Heli-flight at Fourteen A fourteen year old California boy

has become the youngest African-

American person to fly an interna-

tional round trip in a helicopter.

Jonathan Strickland landed a

Robinson R44 at Compton Airport in

California in July after completing a

15-hour return trip from Boundary

Bay Airport, in Delta, British

Columbia. On his way to BC, he

became the youngest African-

American person to fly a helicopter

solo and to do so internationally.

Fourteen is the legal age to fly alone

in Canada (aside from age, there are

other requirements). While in the

USA Srickland was accompanied by

a fully qualified instructor.

The UK Ministry of Defence

(MOD), in conjunction the

British Horse Society are giv-

ing away sets of high visibility cloth-

ing to horse riders as part of a joint

campaign to encourage riders to be

both aware of and to be seen by low

flying helicopters! There is also a

MOD free-phone low-flying

helpline, which can provide horse

riders with useful information on low

flying activity before going riding.

to

p: a

la

nn

or

ris

; M

idd

le:

Co

ur

te

sy

of

Co

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er

Co

ve

rs

Canaries on Horseback?

10 HELICOPTER LIFE, Autumn 2006

(Continued from Page 10)

final tour, Bristow Caribbean based

at Galeota in Trinidad. Two years in

Trinidad were great fun: very diffi-

cult at times to get constructive or

timely action when required, but,

boy, can they party! If you haven’t

been to the Carnival in the Mardi

Gras season, you really should try it

some day. I had been lucky (some

might say foolish) enough to be Chief

Pilot of the various North Sea and

overseas Bristow operations and look

back with pleasure, considering

myself fortunate to have worked for

such a vibrant company and with

some truly great characters, both

pilots and engineers.

I was then lured into the corporate

market to fly a Dauphin 365N for

Peter de Savary, a high profile

and wonderfully colourful

character. This was the first

EFIS equipped Dauphin in the

country and I had three enor-

mously enjoyable and varied

years with this venture. These

were also the days of the

Americas Cup challenge proj-

ects, very controversial in

many ways, but full of innova-

tion, enthusiasm and brilliant

schemes and ideas. Every project was

carried out to the highest standard

and it taught me the value of striving

for the ultimate quality in service and

performance.

Demands from the family to share

in some of the adventures, among

other things, led me to join Shell and

move to the Far East to fly the S61N

in Brunei. We lived the life of the ex-

patriate for eight years, with all the

benefits that come with it. The S61N,

although quite long in the tooth by

the 1990s, was still proving to be an

effective machine for transporting

daily workers to and from the off-

shore rigs off the coast of Borneo.

The S92 is now coming in as a

never been plugged. In recent years

the offshore oil support helicopter

companies have addressed the gap in

remuneration, which has gone some

way to attracting staff, but unfortu-

nately the problem still exists in the

onshore environment.

The future appears bright for the

new generation of helicopter pilots.

Increasing interest from companies

and wealthy individuals in acquiring

modern helicopters that can be relied

upon to transport them in comfort

and safety in nearly all weather con-

ditions, means that our business

appears to have a healthy outlook.

One cause of concern lies with

structured continuation training of

relatively inexperienced pilots.

Larger companies such as Bristow

and Bond have the ability to

nurture co-pilots and bring

them up to command standard

through a well defined line

training program, but this is

not necessarily an option with

smaller organizations. It is all

too easy for a young pilot

familiar with the R22 to make

the leap to a small twin with-

out much support and guid-

ance, at the same time as possibly

having additional operational respon-

sibilities thrust upon him or her. This

is something that the CAA and the

BHAB must now address, and indeed

they are beginning to do so.

The advent of EASA is bringing

major changes to aviation in this

country and it is vital that we all

remain abreast of proposed changes

to legislation and react to consulta-

tion documents before new rules are

thrust upon us in our ignorance. I

would recommend membership of

the British Helicopter Advisory

Board (BHAB) to all in our industry

because it is the most effective voice

for the protection and promotion of

helicopter flying in the UK.

replacement and will do well if it has

a career to rival its predecessor.

At the end of the 1990s I returned

to the UK to take up my present job

flying with Air Harrods. We are very

fortunate to be able to fly the latest

types of twin engine helicopters and

are increasingly able to show, togeth-

er with the other corporate and char-

ter companies operating similar

types, that the modern helicopter pro-

vides not only convenience, but also

low cabin noise level, reliability and

speed in nearly all weather condi-

tions. Stepping out of an executive jet

into a modern helicopter does not

now necessarily entail a significant

downgrading in comfort for the pas-

sengers, as it once did.

So there is a brief sketch of the

wanderings of an average helicopter

pilot in the commercial market over

the past 3 decades: more interesting

than commuting to the City, one

might say. Where does the future lie

for the commercial helicopter busi-

ness in the future and what can a

young pilot look forward to? One

major problem facing us is a lack of

suitably qualified and experienced

pilots and engineers to take over

positions of responsibility when the

present incumbents retire. This short-

fall has been creeping up for some

time and one significant factor was

the transfer of relatively large num-

bers to the fixed wing operators in the

1980s, where pay and conditions

were so much better. This hole has

G UEST C OLUMNIST

ÒIt is all too usual for ayoung pilot familiar withthe R22 to make theleap to a small twinwithout support and

guidanceÓ

11


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Each year the Arctic and

Antarctic Institute in St

Petersburg conduct a

re-supply voyage from

Russia to their stations in

Antarctica. The return journey,

aboard the Icebreaker/

Expedition Vessel Akademik

Fedorov, is generally of sever-

al months duration. The Mi-8

helicopter is extensively used

for ice reconnaissance and

cargo transport, and is a vital

link in provisioning the bases and

changing crews who have ‘over win-

tered,’ spending a year working on

the polar ice stations.

In recent years the St Petersburg

Aviation Repair Company ‘SPARC’

has been given the task of supplying

a pair of Mi-8 helicopters along with

a crew of four pilots, two flight

engineers, three mechanics, and

a base operator. It has earned a

solid reputation for its experi-

ence in polar flying. The Mils

are flown with two pilots and a

flight engineer at all times.

The 2001 voyage, the 46th

Russian Antarctic Expedition,

was to East Antarctica, the

quadrant of the continent liter-

ally due south of South Africa and

extending around the coast beyond


The Russian ConnectionThe use of the Mil Mi-8 helicopter and ice-breakers to re-supply the Russian bases onEast AntarcticaBY NEILHARRISON

icebreaker / Expedition Vessel Akademik Fedorov


90 degrees east, virtually below

Australia. The stations of

Novolazarevskaya, Molodezhnaya,

Progress, and Mirny (the current cap-

ital of Russian Antarctic operations)

were re-supplied throughout an eight

week period.

The Fedorov departed Cape Town

on 3rd April, at the very end of the

summer season in Antarctica. This

was due in part to the need for sea ice

to become thick enough to unload

heavy tracked vehicles for transfer to

the station at Mirny. The US

Icebreaker Nathaniel B. Palmer was

in port at Cape Town at the same

time, but on its way home. A US offi-

cer made the comment that the

Russians were the only ones heading

to Antarctica when everyone else had

been long gone, though he did have

to acknowledge that there were no

other people more experienced in ice

navigation than the Russians.

The number one Mi-8 was

embarked in St Petersburg fully pre-

pared at SPARC's base on the edge of

Pulkovo airport. The second reserve

aircraft was flown in from Freetown,

Sierra Leone after working for a two

year period in Africa, as the Fedorov

passed down the West African coast.

The flight crews joined the vessel in

Cape Town for the Antarctic

sector only, flying back to

Russia immediately after-

wards by commercial airliner

to return to work.

It has not been unknown

for a Mi-8 to be ferried all

the way from St Petersburg

to Cape Town for the voy-

age, making a somewhat

lengthy beginning to an

Antarctic operation.

After eleven days plough-

ing south across the Southern

Ocean, our arrival at the ice

shelf adjacent to Novolazarevskaya

station marked the beginning of the

aviation activity. The reserve Mil,

chained to the helideck, was swapped

for the hangared number one

AS350. Unusually, Sergei is now fly-

ing a corporate helicopter, AS355,

out of St Petersburg: a long way from

his polar beginnings.

Crew transfer flights precede the

main cargo operation at

Novolazarevskaya, involving a shut-

tle of 30 minutes flying in each direc-

tion. For Chief Pilot Igor zakutilin,

this is the longest flight time to a sta-

tion; all of the others are within short

range of the ship. Navigation is visu-

al and by day only. Flights over

water, or more accurately sea ice, are

prohibited at night. Sergei has his

own personal Garmin GPS, which is

useful but soon fails, leaving a tradi-

tional Astro Compass for location

finding from the sun if posi-

tion is lost. In these far lati-

tudes a compass is of no

value, of course.

A constant eye on the

weather is maintained, the

ship receiving regular satel-

lite images and station

reports in lieu of traditional

Met, interpreted by the ves-

sel’s own meteorologists.

Antarctica has one of the

most aggressive weather sys-

tems on the planet and

change can be rapid. Wind

limits for the Mil are 25 m/s for nor-

mal flight and 15 m/s when carrying

sling loads. When landing away from

the ship a smoke bomb is typically

dropped to assess wind strength and

machine, which

was then rigged;

eight men to a

rotor blade in

conjunction with

the one of

Fedorov's cranes.

Not the simplest

of jobs in an air

temperature well

into the minus

twenties.

The Russian

helicopter team

are by no means

strangers to Antarctica's cold, of

course. Experience in their own

Arctic ‘backyard’ together with that

on the Northern Sea Route stretching

right across the top of Russia, has

provided a firm foundation for

Antarctic operations. All the pilots

are used to operating from ships:

Captain Sergei Ivanov has previously

worked on the Nuclear Icebreaker

Arktika, the first ship ever to reach

the North Pole back in 1977.

The helicopters themselves are

very much ‘bred’ for the cold: heated

main and tail rotor blades are a stan-

dard feature on the Mi-8 along with

the majority of other Russian

machines. There was much talk of the

types other nations operated in

Antarctica. The consensus of course

was that the Mi-8 was the better

machine for its capacity and reliabil-

ity, surpassing the S76, B212, and

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Mil Mi-8 on board the Fedorov on its way to Antarctica


direction. Before subsequent start-up

and lifting, a flare will be fired sky-

wards for the same reason. At all

times the flying is extremely careful-

ly considered; although there is a

reserve helicopter and crew, this is no

place to get into any kind of trouble.

When landing on uneven and boulder

strewn surfaces the flight

engineer physically jumped

out of the Mil from a low

hover, on a long headset cord

to watch the tail.

Many times the weather

halts progress, sometimes for

days. This is inevitable with

the late timing of the re-sup-

ply. The mechanics carry on

their duties as normal in the

hangar and the pilots wait,

making the best of what a

cabin on a polar ship can

offer. Meals are high in fat to

sustain a crew working in the cold,

and not ideal for being cabin bound.

For the pilots fishing is a popular pas-

time when stopped at a station. Two

links of anchor chain tied to a rope

are thrown over the side of the ship to

make a hole in the sea ice. Catching

‘ice fish’ is easy and soon

they are enthusiastically salt-

ed to be eaten later with beer.

Soon the weather

improves and flying can

begin once more. The Mil is

crammed full of anything

from sides of pork, vodka,

beer, cigarettes, pickled

cucumbers, and potatoes;

station food for a year. It's

amazing how much food you

can get through those giant

rear cargo doors.

Sometimes scientists are

transported away to drill sea ice cores

for climate research. The lab team

explain that this is rather difficult to

do under a hovering Mil, barely

touching the ice with its tyres in case

it fractures.

Between stations, paperwork can

be caught up on and Antarctica

gating the ship are taken with an

equal amount of seriousness.

The following days, after unload-

ing the tractors, are filled by flying

sling-loads weighing up to 3000 kg.

Fedorov unloads her holds onto the

sea ice, for the Mil to transfer in a

constant flow for the three minutes

flying time to Mirny.

Soon the new crew is in

place and the station is provi-

sioned. Igor performs a final

bridge-height fast fly-past of

the ship, before landing-on

and de-rigging the Mil for

the last time. A ship-wide

vodka-fuelled party begins

as we turn to leave; flares are

raided from the helicopters

to fire in concert with those

from the station itself, now

on its own for the winter.

During the course of the

voyage the aviation team completed

over 50 hours of flying, efficiently

and safely in the face of challenging

financial circumstances.

The Russian Antarctic programme

is now a shadow of its size in Soviet

times. It is impressive how practical-

ly and effectively the

Russians operate with mini-

mal resources compared to

those of other nations.

Two months after leaving

Cape Town for Antarctica,

Sergei, Igor, and the other

pilots will be back in Russia

doing summer ‘heli-fishing’

tours around the Kola

Peninsula north of St

Petersburg. Such trips are

very much a high end tourist

experience: the best wilder-

ness fishing Europe has to

offer, but bring in much needed for-

eign exchange. They also mean our

Russian helicopter men can combine

working with the fishing they so

dearly love.

No better way to get to the other

bank without getting your feet wet

than by helicopter: Mi-8 helicopter!

enjoyed from the ship’s rail. We

arrive at the final destination of

Mirny, after backing and ramming

repeatedly through fields of multi-

year-fast ice.

The flying begins with a recon-

naissance flight to determine the best

route in. It soon becomes apparent,

however, that the ice at the station is

not thick enough to deposit the trac-

tor cargo. There is some consterna-

tion, before Igor departs with the

Captain and Expedition leader in the

Mil to locate a suitable ‘ramped’ ice-

berg, on which to leave the tractors,

before driving them off when the ice

has thickened.

One is located, then a team is sent

by helicopter to spend the afternoon

drilling the sea ice and taking depth

soundings along the route. This

ensures that there is no risk of

grounding. Both aviating and navi-

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Mil Mi-8 over the Russian Molodezhnaya Station

Fedorov crew posing in front of the Mil Mi-8 helicopter

By the time the 2006

Farnborough started, Israel

was involved in a war in

the Middle East, so per-

haps it is no surprise that one of

the newest products on show

was an Israeli designed flying

car, capable of lifting eleven

fully armed combat troops (plus

one pilot) out of an urban war

zone: the X-Hawk.

The X-Hawk is the creation

of Urban Aeronautics in combi-

nation with Bell Helicopter

Textron, and is still in the pre-flying

mock-up stage. Bell and Urban say

that the technology is Fancraft, and

that two technological breakthroughs

have formed the basis of Fancraft:

adaptable ducts which permit high-

speed operations of up to 140

knots and a unique vane control

systems (VCS) for lateral con-

trol stability and performance

against gusting winds.

Preliminary specifications

indicate that the X-Hawk will

have a length of 26 feet 6 inch-

es, a height of 13 feet 8 inches,

and a width of 11 feet and 5

inches. The empty weight will

be 3,700 lbs and the max weight

6,700 lbs, which allows carriage of


Farnborough FairWhile the Airbus 380 dominated the highskies, Bell Helicopters was in the lower,

sharper limelightBY GEORGINA HUNTER -JONES

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Bell showing a preproduction mockup of the X-Hawk

1,300 lbs of fuel and a payload of 1,700 lbs. Using two

CTS800 engines, it will create 2,460 shp, have a range of

330 nm and an endurance of 2 hours.

The machine works using variable inlet vanes, louvres

and variable pitch rotors. The vanes are placed above

each of the counter-rotating fore and aft shrouded rotors,

which work in time with the vanes placed below the

rotors. Variable inlet louvres in front of the forward

rotor’s shroud and

behind the aft rotor are

opened automatically

to reduce drag over the

top of the shroud in for-

ward flight, which

increases the X-Hawk’s

speed potential. The

rotors have a constant

speed, 1800 rpm

reduced from 6000 rpm

at the engine output.

Flying controls will be

fly-by-wire, and there

will be a free-wheel

unit in case of engine failure.

As well as its war-time usage, Urban Aeronautics are

positing that the X-Hawk could be used for EMS work,

and suggest the price range will be that of the EC145,

around US$6 million.

The design is the work of aerospace engineer Dr Rafi

Yoeli, who created and hovered a smaller model, the

CityHawk, which could take two people and had eight,

two-stroke piston engines. It was underpowered, but

showed that the experiment could work, hence Dr Yoeli’s

commitment to the larger model. Needing more funding,

Dr Yoeli presented the idea to Bell last July, and in

August 2005 the two companies signed a ‘memorandum

of understanding’ to co-operate on development of the

project. The third member of the research team will be

Penn State University. Dr Yoeli hopes the project will be

flying in 10 or 15 years. His original inspiration for the

design was Frank Piasecki’s 1950 Aerial Jeep.

Bell had a large presence at Farnborough this year,

with the Bell

Boeing V-22

Osprey tilt rotor

flying for the

first time in the

UK. When it was

not flying, it was

constantly under

armed guard

throughout the show. The Osprey

had flown across the Atlantic, leav-

ing from Goose Bay and twice

doing in-flight refuelling from two

KC-130J tankers. The Osprey car-

ried an additional 5,000 lbs on fuel

in two internal tanks. The journey

took a little under 9 hours and the

Osprey did ground speeds of

between 240 and 300 knots. It was

the first time an assault support air-

craft had ever flown across the Atlantic.

Further showing Bell’s desire to get back the domina-

tion of the helicopter market from Eurocopter, Patriot

HELICOPTER LIFE, Autumn 2006 17

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Bell 429 mockup with the newly created scissor tail rotor

urban Aeronautics X-Hawk in animated EMS mode


Aviation, the new (relatively, having

started this year) British dealers,

were emphasising the importance of

the Bell 429 helicopter in its market;

EMS, police or corporate helicopter.

Mark Butler, Sales Consultant, com-

pared the 429 with the EC145, now

very much the helicopter-to-beat

after its success in winning the US

military LUH (Light Utility

Helicopter) contract. He said, “the

429 is the same size as the EC145,

but much cheaper. Like the 145 it is

SPIFR (single pilot instrument flight

rules) but costs US $4.23 million,

instead of US $6.5 million.” He

explained that the scissor configura-

tion of the tail reduces the tip speed,

making it quieter and allowing it to

conform to the FAA noise regula-

tions, in addition to which there is

more tail rotor authority owing to the

reduced vortices. Mark said, “the

scissor configuration stops the har-

monic noise signature and therefore

reduces vibration.” He added, “there

is also the advantage of much

reduced labour costs as the connec-

tion of the tail rotor is direct rather

than via pitch links.”

Scot FitzGerald, Bell VP Europe,

Africa and Middle East Sales, added,

“in an attempt to reduce noise we

tried all the various styles of tail rotor

including shrouds, but finding them

all less effective, particularly at

height, came back to standard tail

rotor, which we then modified.”

we will be allowed to take a shorter

crossing, which will reduce flying

time by 45 minutes.”

Mike Creed said that the US$6.2

million jet has sea level pressurisa-

tion up to 41,000 feet, is certified for

single pilot operation and has a max-

imum speed of 486 knots, with an

IFR range of 2,500 nm. He contin-

ued, “we have sold 33 aircraft since

November last year and had huge

interest from

Russia and the

Middle East.”

Mike added that

the parent compa-

ny also plans to

offer a fractional

ownership, point-

ing out that if you

consider the alter-

natives US$2 mil-

lion for a third

share in a jet is

pretty good value.

Eurocopter

EADS has been dominating the fly-

ing news recently with the Airbus

380 and its troubles, however the 380

was flying most imperiously at

Farnborough and EADS offspring

Eurocopter mostly escaped any

opprobrium, instead being rather

upbeat having won the LUH contract

in spite of the competition from US

based rivals.

In the contest, the EC145 beat off

competition from the MD902

Explorer, the Agusta Westland

AW139, and the Bell 412EP to win

the US$2.2 billion contract. The pro-

gramme calls for 322 helicopters and

possibly an additional 30. Production

will be mostly at American

Eurocopters plant in Columbus,

Mississippi, greatly increasing jobs

in the area.

Eurocopter is likely to be leasing

civil EC 225s, Super Pumas, (the

civil version of the EC725) to the

MOD to bridge the gap in capability

aggravated by the British armed

Patriot have high hopes for the

Bell 429, and Mark says they have

had a lot of interest from potential

customers. Deliveries are expected to

start in 2010.

Sino Swearingen

Former Patriot Sales Director, Mike

Creed, is now The Sales Director of

New Aircraft at Action Aviation,

whose SJ30 set two world records as

it landed at

F a r n b o r o u g h .

Firstly, it became

the first light jet in

its class (it is cur-

rently flying as a

p r e - p r o d u c t i o n

prototype) to cross

the Atlantic on one

hop using standard

tanks. And second-

ly, it created a new

speed record, taking just 10 hours

and 40 minutes to fly from San

Antonio, Texas to Farnborough, with

a 42 minute stop at Goose Bay.

Flown by Sino Swearingen’s chief

test pilot, John Siemens, with

Hamish Harding, the chairman of the

UK’s Action Aviation, as co-pilot, the

aircraft landed with 560 lbs of fuel

remaining from an initial load of

4,850 lbs.

Siemens, however, is already keen

to break his own record, pointing out

that, “we can shave 300nm off the

distance if we have HF installed, as

18 HELICOPTER LIFE, Autumn 2006

This Sino Swearingen SJ30 holds two world records

From top: Mike Creed, Hamish Harding and Adam Miles

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the following types of aircraft can be maintained and refitted by Biggin HillHelicopters’ highly qualified and experience team of engineers under our part145 exposition.

Bell/Agusta Bell 206 SeriesBell 206L SeriesMD Helicopter 369 Series (Hughes 500)Shwiezer 269 Series (Hughes 300)Eurocopter AS350Eurocopter AS355

our engineers have in excess of 100 years of experience maintaining aircraftbetween them and we are the premier service centre for hughes 500's in thesouth east of england.

BHH Engineering also carry out vibration analysis, main rotor trackingand balancing and tail rotor balancing using the Microvibe™ 11 aircraftanalyser, Microtrack™ optical tracker and MicroBase™ computer mountedanalysis, storage and printing system.

forces engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq. Eurocopter

also believes that the EC225 is a strong contender for the

British SAR programme for which the MOD and MCA

(Maritime Coastguard Agency) will soon be inviting bids.

This is set to start in 2012, at the end of the interim con-

tract from 2007-2012, which was won by CHC

Helicopter Company.

poland

Swidnik again had the PzL SW-4 at Farnborough as part

of the static display, and a booth in the Polish pavilion.

Grzegorz Pawlowski said that, “small improvements and

changes continue on the SW-4 as does the attempt to get

JAA certification.” He hopes that they may get certifica-

tion by next year.

india

The Hindustan Aeronautics Dhruv helicopter was at

Farnborough, although at present it only has Indian Civil

Aviation approval. Resembling the BK117, it is the same

category as the EC155, the Sikorsky S76+, the AW139

and the Bell 412 but comes with the lower price tag of US

$6.5 to $7.4 million, which would be more in its favour if

it could get USA or European approval.

Japan

There was also a large Japanese presence, including

Kawasaki Heavy Industries, with their BK117 c-2, and

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Although the Mitsubishi

MH2000 program stalled, after all the Mitsubishi

MH2000As on the market were all recalled in 2000, they

are now hosting Heli Japan 2006, which is to be held in

Nagoya in November this year.

Mitsubishi was the only Japanese company to have

created a totally Japanese helicopter, and there is still

considerable interest in recreating the machine. Moreover

Japan is now a growing market for helicopters generally

as they increase their use in many fields, including medi-

cine, earthquake relief, fire fighting, police and corporate

VIP travel.

Conclusion

Usually, even though helicopters are a small part of

Farnborough, that small part is dominated by Eurocopter,

this time it was definitely Bell. While other companies

had booths and chalets, Bell had pavillions. Their distrib-

utors talk about Bell’s revival; they could be right, cer-

tainly Bell is fighting hard to get back the number one

spot after having been out on a limb for many years. And

the Helicopter market itself is booming.


The 5 seat polish pZL SW-4 helicopter at the static display

pZL-Swidnik at the polish pavilion at Farnborough

Class A3 Helicopters

Hangar 500, Biggin Hill Airport, Biggin Hill, Kent, TN16 3BNTel: 08704 430 555 Fax: 08704 430 556

www.bhh.co.uk


Heli-Tech 2005 at Duxford

was where William Moore

(an engineer by training)

first saw the Flymap mov-

ing map system. Amazed he had

never seen it before, and encouraged

by his companion Rob Lamplough’s

interest in buying a machine for his

Spitfire, William decided to become

the British distributor, something he

does not regret. He says, “the nice

thing about working with a small

company is when you

have suggestions, or you

want to change or add

things you can just ring up

the parent company and it

gets done. There is no

bureaucracy to go through.”

He launched his Flymap at

AeroExpo at High Wycombe in

June this year. He says: “Over

250 of these units have now been

sold in Europe since its launch last

year, and we hope

for similar suc-

cess in the UK.”

Using nor-

mal flying

maps as a

background

instead of a

c r e a t e d

screen, the

Flymap moving map

system is taking hold of the fly-


On Track with FlymapThe perfection in navigation

BY GEORGINA HUNTER -JONES

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Ma

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pocket Flymap

running on a standard

Windows pDA


ing market. It has a particular reso-

nance for helicopter pilots as the

company has designed several fea-

tures with them in mind. One is ter-

rain warning feature, either as a bar

or by height based colours superim-

posed over the map.

Cameron Henderson explains: “the

terrain warning feature uses a colour-

coded overlay to denote the relative

height of surrounding terrain. The

warning automatically switches on

when the helicopter’s height above

terrain (HAT) drops below 500ft.”

William adds, “This displays a

high-resolution profile of the terrain

infront of the aircraft for twenty nau-

tical miles and can include

man-made obstacles such as

radio masts.”

For Air Ambulance or

police (or anyone looking for

a particular house) the screen

can change to a street map,

which allows the pilot to

enter an address and post-

code instead of latitude and

longitude when planning a

flight. This part of the system

includes all roads in the UK.

The hardware comes in

three styles, the ‘L’ a middle

sized screen 6.4 inches in size, the

‘XL’ a large screen 8.4 inches in size

or the pocket fly map which runs on

a PDA (Blackberry-esque) all of

which can fit easily into the helicopter.

For the software, it is possible to

company this year he has already

quite a few satisfied customers. Bill

Lowry, Chief Pilot of Biggin Hill

Helicopters says, “it is defi-

nitely a helicopter pilot’s toy.

What I find so attractive

about it is that it uses the cur-

rent charts, even the OS

Map, so pilots don’t get con-

fused moving from hard-

copy to screen.” He was also

keen on the ability to overlay

the landing site on the map,

so you can recognise it when

you get there.

Robert Lamplough (Robs)

who is a warbird collector

and now has 300hrs on

Gazelle as a PPL(H) said: “I use

Flymap in my Gazelle because the

touch sensitive screen is very easy to

use and is extremely legible even in

bright sunshine.”

Cameron Henderson says:

“Flymap also includes all of the fea-

tures and options that you would

expect from a premium moving map

GPS and more.”

“One other thing I like,” says Bill

Lowry, “is the fact you can superim-

pose NOTAMs on the screen, so you

don’t fly into a Red Arrows display!”

He laughs, “Anything that helps keep

the pilot stay within the law must be

a good thing.”

Cost varies from around £300 for

the pocket flymap to £3,300 for the L

screen or £4,100 for the XL screen.

There are also many extras.

put on a variety of

different maps

including the normal

CAA 1 in 500,000

and 1 in 250,000

maps, it is also pos-

sible to put on the

OS Maps and use

specialist maps such

as the heli-routes

crossing through

London or Paris.

Superimposed on

the maps as well as

terrain clearance, you can have

weather maps or TCAS, although, as

William points out, TCAS only

warns you of passing traffic that is

using its transponder.

After flight it is possible to down-

load and examine

the route you have

flown, something

which many

instructors might

like to use when

their students have

returned from an

unexpectedly long

flight! Flights can

be planned on a

PC and moved via

a memory stick to

the screen in the

cockpit, in a simi-

lar way information after the flight

can be returned to the computer.

Although William only started his

21

Flymap XL installed in the Robinson R44

Flymap L outfitted in the Bell 222

BK117 cockpit with the Flymap L

The TT Circuit Assen, which

is located one mile s-w of

Assen, is the home of the

annual Dutch Motorcycle

Grand Prix, known world-wide as the

Dutch TT and is one of the classic

events in the World Championship

Calendar. The Dutch TT is tradition-

ally held on the last Saturday in June

and this year, the 76th Dutch TT, (A-

Styler TT Assen) it was on Saturday,

24th June 2006. The Moto GP is the

world’s premier motorcycling cham-

pionship, with a season of seventeen

Grand Prix races in five continents

across the globe. Apart from the main

programme, the Moto Grand Prix,

the programme also included two

extra races. Several helicopters flew

in during the practice days and the

Grand Prix on the Saturday. There

were two helipads, one, only tempo-

rary, was located inside the circuit

and was used both by the ‘response

ready’ HEMS (Helicopter Emergency

Medical Service) helicopter as well

as two other helicopters, there to be

used for aerial filming. The second

heliport was located just outside the

gate and was used for VIP arrivals

and departures.

Aerial Filming and Broadcasting

A German company, Heliteam Süd

Bikes behind the DykesThe Moto Grand Prix in Assen, TheNetherlandsBY ARJAN D IJKSTERHUIS


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had been contracted by Dorna (an

international sports management and

marketing company) for aerial film-

ing at the Dutch TT. Heliteam Süd is

also used by three other circuits. Two

helicopters were operated

from the helipad inside the

circuit during the weekend

for filming and broadcasting;

a Bell 407 and one Bell 206.

The Bell 407, registered as

D-HUTA, on the German

register, was equipped with a

gyro stabilised aerial filming

platform, the Gyron 935,

which is a versatile gyro-sta-

bilised system from Aerial

Camera Systems Ltd. The

Gyron 935 was fitted on a

side-mounted bracket on the

pit, so the pilot, Hako zimmer, could

easily see what he was filming and

could change the angle if he thought

it was necessary. During the races,

Hako zimmer flew with his Bell 407

between a minimum altitude

of 500 feet and a maximum

altitude of 1500 feet and he

flew almost continuously

around the circuit, following

the action. Between the

races, Peter Davis, from

ACS, made sure that the lens

was clean and that the sys-

tems worked properly.

The other helicopter, a

Bell 206L-3 registered as D-

HOPY, was flown by pilot

Hans Schneider. “I only have

to be airborne during the 250

right side of the helicopter. Although

this is primarily used as a helicopter

platform, the system can also be fit-

ted to boats, cranes and vehicles. A

small display is mounted in the cock-

Cabinet Minister Karla peijs arriving at the circuit


the other side. During the flight, a

film crew member sits in the back of

the Bell 206 helicopter and operates

the equipment. Hans explains: “The

film crew member receives the sig-

nals from all the four motorcycles

and thus he is able to watch them all

in one display at the same time. He

decides which one will be broadcast

to the ground station.”

HEMS

The other helicopter on the tempo-

rary helipad was a yellow German

registered B0-105CBS-5 from the

ADAC Luftrettung GmbH. This heli-

copter was on stand-by for HEMS

missions during the practice sessions

and the races. The medical crew, con-

sisting of a doctor and a nurse, are

normally assigned to ‘Christoph

Europa 2’ which is based at Rheine,

Germany, while the pilot came from

the ADAC in Munich. Fortunately,

their help wasn’t needed during the

weekend. If an accident occurred just

outside the circuit during the week-

end, then the assistance can be called

from ‘Lifeliner Europa 4’ based on

the rooftop at the University Medical

Centre Groningen (UMCG). If the

BO-105 helicopter crew had to assist

an incident outside the circuit, then

the races would officially have to be

stopped, upsetting both the spectators

and the organisers.

Vip

The second heliport was located just

outside the gate and was only in use

on the Saturday for VIP flights.

Several VIP’s including Karla Peijs,

the Dutch minister from the

‘Ministerie van Verkeer en

Waterstaat’ (Ministry of Traffic and

Water Management) arrived by heli-

copter early in the morning. She did

not come to Assen only to watch the

race, but to open the revamped cir-

cuit. For VIPs a ‘BMW VIP shuttle’

was flown in the morning prior to the

races and at the end of the day for the

return flight. Heliflights arranged

what is happening on the circuit.

Hans continues, “During the race, I

am hovering above the circuit

between the 2500 and 3000 feet.

2500 feet is absolutely the minimum,

because it is sometimes difficult to

receive a signal from the camera

owing to the angles when the motor-

cycles are almost flat on the ground

in the corners.”

The receiver was mounted on the

skid at one side of the helicopter,

while the transmitter was mounted on

cc and the Moto GP races,” he says.

“During these two races there are

four riders with a small camera

mounted on their motorcycle that is

broadcasting. So, we aren’t filming

as my colleague does. Instead the

helicopter is actually an airborne

relay station. We receive the signals

that the small cameras are broadcast-

ing and send them directly to the

ground station.”

The small cameras are used to give

the viewers at home a close look at

The Bell 407

filming with the

gyro-stabilised

platform

Below: The ver-

satile Gyron 935

from Aerial

Camera Systems

being cleaned by

peter Davis

The Bell 206 airbourne

relay station

Above: The signal receiver

from ground cameras

ar

ja

nd

ijk

st

er

hu

iis

those flights that were flown with helicopters hired from

Heli Holland, a Dutch company that operates a variety of

helicopters. A Bell 206 JetRanger and a Eurocopter

EC120 were used for the VIP flights.

In three days, more then 132,000 visitors came to

Assen both to see the practices and the races. On the

Saturday, almost 92,000 people were counted. The Moto

GP ended with a climax. The likely winner, Colin

Edwards, suffered a heartbreaking crash only a few

meters from the finishing line. Nicky Hayden, who was

driving closely behind Colin Edwards was able to over-

take him and finish first. Nicky Hayden will never forget

his first win of the season. Neither will Colin Edwards.


The BO-105CBS-5 was on stand-by for HEMS missions

Eurocopter EC120 coming into land at the Vip helipad

26

Left: MD500D outside

Biggin Hill Helicopters

engineering hangar

Below: The head of the D

model has quick release

pins, which allow the

blades to be folded back

Above: The tailrotor has

‘lamiflex’ bearings

Left: The D model

was the first MD500

with a T-tail

Left: Capt Bill Lowry

climbing into the high-

skid MD500D

Nicknamed the Flying Egg

by the US military (or

when loaded for combat

the Killer Egg) the forerun-

ner of the Hughes 369 was extensive-

ly used in Vietnam. Its real name was

the OH-6A Cayuse and it became an

entity after it won the contract for the

US Army LOH (Light Observation

Helicopter) in 1963, when it was also

nicknamed the LOACH. All the cur-

rent variations on the 369/500 derive

from this original design.

The Hughes 369D I flew at Biggin

Hill with Chief Pilot Bill Lowry was

less killer egg than Private Dick’s

transport: it had come from Hawaii

and was ‘apparently’ the very heli-

copter used in the television show

nullifies the quick release of the pins.

This particular model of the 500D

has had standard pins put back in the

place of the quick release ones. The

earlier models from Cayuse onwards

had four blades, while the MD500E,

like the D model, has five.

As we pass to the tail, Bill points

out the tail rotor, which has lamiflex

bearings replacing the conical bear-

ings used on the 300, this allows for

more flexible use of the tail rotor and

a longer travel, useful for windy con-

ditions and high hovering and lifting

work out of ground effect.

Above the tail rotor is the T-tail

which was first used in the D models

and replaces the V-tail of the 500C

and earlier models, Chief Flying

Magnum P.I. Whether or not this is

the actual one, it, like Magnum’s hel-

icopter, had the later T-tail design and

five-blade main rotor. (Although this

helicopter was a Hughes 369 I am

going to use the more current term

MD500 for ease of description).

As we did the walk round before

flight Bill pointed out a few major

differences from earlier models of the

500. The D has quick release pins in

the main rotor head which allow two

blades to be folded back so that there

is more room for the helicopter in the

hangar. However, in the UK the CAA

insist that any time the main blades

are removed or folded back two engi-

neers must sign off the replacement

of the blades, something which rather

MD500DÕsSunnyside Up

HELICOPTER LIFEvisitedBiggin Hill Helicopterswhere Capt Bill Lowrytook GeorginaHunter-Jonesfor a test flight on theMD500DHere are her findings:

Photographs byTony Lowry and Hilaire Dubourcq

Instructor at Biggin Hill, Simon

Maynard, says, “it is a much more

stable 500 than the C model.”

This could be because the horizon-

tal stabilizer is just below the plane of

rotation, or, as 500 engineer and

expert, Archie MacKenzie suggests,

it could be that the D model, with its

extra blade and higher gross weight,

is overall a more stable machine. He

says, test pilots have discovered that

the T-tail makes no difference at all to

the handling characteristics of the

tail, and there is even a suspicion that

the only reason for the change was

cosmetic: T-tails being very much in

vogue at the time in the 1970s when

the D model replaced the C.

partly the max gross weight, which

has increased from 2550lbs in the C

to 3000lbs in the D and E (empty

weight has increased by 308lbs).

“The overall structure is heavier: as

well as the blade weight, there is the

improved transmission, while the C

is air-cooled the D has separate oil

coolers, and that, plus the T-tail,

increases the weight.” Another very

important factor is that the C engine

is de-rated, “at 56% it is using 22 US

gallons, while cruising at 120 knots

and a VNE of 130,” he explains,

“while the D and E running at 98%

power are using 28 gallons an hour

but their speed has increased to a

VNE in the D of 152 kts.” (This

The other important change to the

D was the engine. Early models had

the Allison T63-A-5A 285 shp tur-

boshaft engine and the 500C had the

Allison/Rolls Royce 250-C20 400

shp model, while the D and the E

have the upgraded version of the 250-

C20B 420 shp. In the D model this

reduces the range from 301 nm to

261 nms, and the endurance from 3.4

hours to 2.8 hours. Performance is

also somewhat reduced in the D, with

the C’s ability able to hover in ground

effect at 13,000 feet being now

reduced to a paltry 8,500 feet in the D

and E models.

Archie explains that the reason for

this deterioration in performance is

2828

M D 5 0 0 V a r i a t i o n SThe variations of the H369 and MD500 now flying are all

derived from the original 1963 design for the uS Army LOH

(Light Observation Helicopter), which OH-6A Cayuse won.

The OH-6 was also nicknamed the LOACH which, in

Vietnam War speak, means ‘the LOH light observation heli-

copter used to draw enemy fire so Cobras can come in and

make the kill’.

peak production for the OH-6A came in 1968 (at the height

of the Vietnam War) when 100 a month were being produced.

The OH-6D was an improved version with more avionics and

armaments. The modern-day OH-6 variants flown by the u.S.

Army's Special Operations Forces are known as ‘Little Birds,’

and, because of their ability to strike undetected during dark-

ness, earned Task Force 160 the right to call themselves ‘Night

Stalkers’. in 1984 the Hughes Company sold the series to

MacDonald Douglas, and it was in turn purchased by Boeing

in 1997. However, two years later Boeing sold off the helicop-

ter part of MD to RDM Holding inc. in 2005 it was bought

from the Dutch company by patriarch Holdings, whose MD

Lynn Tilton has promised many changes to the company and

to the attitudes of the helicopter world in general. More than

4,700 helicopters in the 500 series have been produced.

increases again in the E to 175 kts.)

The pre-flight walk around over,

we climb into the cockpit. This 500

has high skids, which were particu-

larly useful in Hawaii when landing

on the uneven volcanic soil, and

probably allowed Magnum to fire

from under the helicopter as he flew.

The 500 has a collective friction

screw behind the throttle, instead of

the normal lever or wheel. All the

controls are mechanical and are quite

heavy, but there is a very useful elec-

tric trim, which is constantly in use

when moving the cyclic. In fact

cyclic movements are really led by

the trim (this can be a problem if the

trim fails, but the weight, although

very heavy, is not impossible to fly

with and seems to pull forward, as

attested to by two people who have

suffered from this failure).

Start-up is the usual turbine engine

shuffle up to 58%, made worse for

Re-starting with the throttle now

open right to the edge of the ‘click’

position the fuel poured in and the

engine sprung to life and there were

no further problems. Unlike the Bell

series, which have an idle release

button, the 500 has a collar on the

throttle which has to be pulled for-

ward to return the throttle to idle.

We taxied out to the pad and any

the instructor as

the starter button

is on the left col-

lective. However,

this is normal for

the left seat heli-

copters and, as

other instructors

have pointed out,

there are advan-

tages with this, as

the student knows

that the instructor

depends on him to

keep the starter button depressed and

doesn’t rely on the instructor being

able to take over: making him more

independent from the beginning. As

this 500D has a Bendix starter the

fuel is opened to just below the ‘first

click’ position, something that has its

draw-backs, as we discovered when I

didn’t open the throttle far enough

and thus suffered from a non-start.

stiffness in the controls was soon for-

gotten: washed away by the incredi-

ble responsiveness and manoeuvra-

bility of the machine. The 500 is,

even more than most helicopters, a

lively and fun helicopter to fly, one

reason for this is the shape of the

‘egg’ which is comparatively low in

drag, and the large amount of power

available with only two people on

board and less than half tanks. We did

torque turns, dives and danced

amongst the air currents. What a

sight this helicopter must have been

in Vietnam when, twined with the

AH-1G Cobra attack helicopter as

part of what were known as ‘Pink

Teams’, it ducked and dived in low to

find targets, flying below the tree

line, and then, after marking the tar-

get with coloured smoke to lead in a

Cobra for the ‘Snake’ attack, pulled

off sharply and made its get away by

a combination of power, stealthiness

and on-edge flying. Whether you

liked the 500 or not probably depend-

ed on which side you were fighting!

Next we went on to autorotations.

The 500 enters autorotation smoothly

and without noticeable effort. In the

C model, I remember the autorotation

needed a very large amount of right

No strain and just the smallest for-

ward tilt and raised collective to

cushion the landing.

The MD 500 I flew is based at

Biggin Hill Helicopters in Kent and

we flew on a day that was stormy,

windy and overcast, never got above

1,000 feet, never left the airfield and

yet had a fabulous flight. This, per-

haps is the beauty of the 500; it is a

rugged, mechanical machine which

looks like it was made to fly and real-

ly appears to like doing so and to be

flung around and enjoyed. Almost

every pilot who flies it calls it a

‘boy’s toy’ and the power in the

machine which allows it to go verti-

cally up is phenomenal. No one,

pedal, however in

this D model this

is far from the case

and only a small

amount of pedal

seemed necessary;

possibly this is the

effect of the T-tail

or of its overall

stability. We

descend smoothly

to the ground and,

remembering to

give a higher flare

than normal, owing to the higher

skids, run on in just the same manner

as the Hughes 300, plus a lot more

stored energy from the five blades in

the head: a much softer, easier land-

ing than I was expecting. Much easi-

er, in fact, than its younger brother

the 333.

Having done the upper air work

we moved onto hovering, landing (all

very smooth and uneventful) and

finally tail rotor failures.

Bill said he doesn’t much like

doing tail rotor failures in the hover

with the high skid 500s, as it can put

a strain on the undercarriage, howev-

er, he closed the throttle and the 500

landed gently on its feet like a big cat.

30

and Atmospheric Administration)

where it does marine sanctuary over-

flights, ship grounding investiga-

tions, oil spill surveys, hurricane

damage assessments along with base

security flights and other utility and

observation work.

the machine for lifting, as fire dogs

and other work-horse jobs, while in

countries that mostly use helicopters

for the tourist market there are very

few 500s around. It is also still used a

lot by parts of the military, for obser-

vation, for example, by the US gov-

ernment’s NOAA (National Oceanic

though, who has sat in the back

would ever suggest that those ‘boys’

took their wives! It has got to have

one of the worst helicopter back

seats, with minimal room and hardly

any communication with the front.

This is probably why while it is very

popular in countries where they use

useful load 1586 lbs

Fuel capacity 429 lbs or 64 gallons

Gallons per hour 28-30

Range 261 nm

Endurance without reserves 2.8 hours

Service ceiling 15,000 feet (16,000 with oxygen)

HiGE 8500 feet

HOGE 5900 feet

VNE 156 knots

initial development of D model 1970

Hourly maintenance cost $131-146 uS

Engine Rolls Royce 250-C20B turboshaft 420 shp

Max continuous power 400 shp

Transmission takeoff 375 shp

Continuous 350 shp

5 main blades, 2 tail rotor blades metal construction (minimal cavitation)

diameter of the main blades 26 feet 41 inches

Length of fuselage 23.30 feet

Width 6.50 feet

Height 8.50 feet but 8.90 feet to tail fin

Max gross weight 3000 lbs

Empty weight 1414 lbs

M D 5 0 0 D S p E c i f i c a t i o n S

32

Ascot’s new

paddock and

grandstand

HELICOPTER LIFEvisited the new improved Royal Ascot

Georgina Hunter-Jonesreports:

Royal Ascot’s new

Home

This year Royal Ascot

returned to Ascot

Racecourse after the £200

million make-over of the

grandstand and track; all finished on

time and within budget. The twenty

month renovation used HOK Sport

(Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum) as

the Architects with Buro Happold as

the Engineer and Project Manager

and White Horse Contractors for the

track work. Overseeing the whole

development was the Chief

Executive of the Course, Douglas

Erskine-Crum, a former brigadier in

the Scots Guards. Ironically one of

the other projects that HOK Sport has

been involved in is the revamping of

Wembley Stadium, still unfinished.

One of both HOK and Buro

Happold’s current future assignments

Photographs byGeorgina Hunter-Jones and Hilaire Dubourcq

Ascot’s helicopter

landing site with

170 movements on

Ladies Day

is as part of the consortium involved

with the 2012 Olympics. Perhaps the

group wish they could take Erskine-

Crum with them as overseer and

time-keeper.

The new grandstand is certainly

light and airy, if a little reminiscent of

an airport, but, as Erskine-Crum

pointed out, the racecourse was

forced to take on large debts to make

a renovation of this nature and conse-

quently will need to be far more com-

mercial in the future in order to pay

back the loans. Certainly the atmos-

phere over Royal Ascot week was

very different from that at York

Racecourse the previous year, which

had a far more relaxed and old-fash-

36

HM the Queen and

HRH The Duke of

Edinburgh arriving

at Ascot

ioned feel in comparison to the

bustling new building with its 24

pairs of escalators, 7 restaurants,

265 hospitality boxes, 90,000

square feet of glass and 1,000 tele-

vision screens. Over Ascot week

there were around 300,000 racego-

ers and approximately 170,000 bot-

tles of champagne were drunk.

Although there were complaints

about the number of people throng-

ing the fourth level on Thursday,

including a New zealand visitor

who complained it reminded him of

the ‘Races in Oz’, Roland Rudd

from Finsbury PR said he thought

the racecourse was greatly

improved, particularly the boxes

which were formerly pretty pokey.

And one great improvement is the

position of the paddock, which is

now just behind the grandstand,

rather than a distant walk away in

the original design of the race-

course.

Inspite of all the other changes

the heli-pad remains virtually the

same, although Martyn Fiddler,

whose company, Helicopter and

Aviation Services, runs the helipad,

said there were more helicopters

flying-in than in previous years at

Ascot but fewer than at last year’s

Royal Meeting at York. He pointed

out that the position of the heli-pad

behind the trees and a short bus ride

away from the racecourse means

that the race-goers who do not fly in

are virtually unaware of the helicop-

ter movements.

Thursday, Ladies Day, was the

busiest of the week with around 170

movements, using the north-west

runway and approaching from the

south. In comparison Ladies Day at

York last year, also the busiest of

the week, had 220 movements.

Angela from Helicopter and

Aviation Services calculated that

around 2000 people flew in by heli-

copter over the week. All pilots

used Jockey call-signs, the weather

remained clement and the five days

went pretty smoothly with, as the

ATC confirmed, “only a few pilots

who turned the wrong way. Fewer

than in York!”

Above: Air Harrods

Sikorsky S76c+

Above right: The

first AW139 to be

flying in this country

40

pre-flight briefing given by Flt Lt Olly padbury to

Sgt Ryan Thomas and Flt Lt Bob Dewes

Owing to the complex and

responsible nature of

Search and Rescue both

the helicopter crews and

the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat

Institution) need to train and practice

regularly, working together whenever

borne rescuers who are available.”

Squadron Leader Neil Robertson,

from the RAF Search and Rescue

based at Wattisham in Suffolk,

explains, “we are committed to train

with the RNLI at least once a year or

as necessary.”

If possible the RAF at Wattisham

try to train with the RNLI once a

month with emphasis on the manoeu-

vres from lifeboat to helicopter, and

particularly from the small ‘rib’ (re-

inforced inflatable boat) to helicop-

ter. Here the helicopter pilot cannot

see the boat and the rib has to move

up to the helicopter, which can be

extremely difficult for an inexperi-

possible to refine their skills in

winching and the difficult manoeu-

vres of catching the winch line and

hoisting survivors (injured or unin-

jured) in poor weather conditions,

from the boats into the helicopter.

Laura Kerr, from the RNLI says,

“our personnel need to be able to per-

form a smooth transition to the heli-

copter in sometimes very rough seas,

and we will train with any of our air-

HELICOPTER LIFEspent the day with theRAF Search & Rescue training on andoff the RNLI LifeboatsGeorgina Hunter-Jonesreports:

Photographs byAlan Norrisand Hilaire Dubourcq

HELICOPTER

AUTUMN 2006

LIFEBOATRESCUE

Sea King being

prepared for

departure and

taking off

unit) and medical transfers to hospi-

tal or, as in today’s practice, aiding

the lifeboats. Call-outs and SAR

radio coverage come from the

Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination

Centre at Kinloss. There is an emer-

gency siren in the office but call out

is more usually directly by tele-

phone or radio.

After being kitted out in the fire

retardant RAF attire, plus helmet

and gloves, I am given a safety

briefing by Sergeant Nev Davies

(radar and winch operator) includ-

ing the helicopter, its manoeuvres

and equipment and what to do in the

event of an emergency, including

what to do if the helicopter becomes

submerged and we have to exit via

the windows. We then return to the

office for a briefing from Squadron

Leader Neil Robertson, the com-

mander on today’s flight. Included

in the Squadron Leader’s brief is

enced coxswain in rough seas.

I went up to Wattisham to join in

the RAF training exercise with the

RNLI boat based at Sheerness, in

Kent. Since moving to Wattisham

Airfield from RAF Manston in Kent

in July 1994, B Flight 22 Squadron

has carried out almost 2000 scram-

bles and provided assistance to over

900 people.

The primary purpose of the RAF

SAR unit is to cover the fast jets fly-

ing from nearby RAF bases includ-

ing their own. However, these days

fast jet accidents are rare; Flight

Lieutenant Bob Dewes tells me that

they have a maximum of four or

five a year. Far more of their call out

work is done with civilians in the

local community and includes lost

children and hikers, civilian plane

crashes, occasionally car crashes

(although the majority of these are

covered by the local Air Ambulance

43

Above: Sgt Nev Davies

in the Sea King radar

room, behind the pilots

44

details of what the crew will be

practising, weather and hazards and

the area in which the helicopter will

be flying.

In today’s training exercise Sgt

Nev Davies will be guiding the pilot

from his on-board radar over to the

coast and down to a 50 foot hover.

The pilot, flying under the instru-

ment hood, will be practising his

instrument techniques. This on-

board radar usage is something for

which SAR units are given special

dispensation and may only take

place over the water. Once returning

to land in IMC conditions the pilot

would instead use the land-based

radar service.

We all walk out to the Sea King

helicopter, where the fire crew and

Left: Stricken

pleasure yacht,

hauling water

RNLi rescuing a

stricken yacht, hauling

water, between

Southend and the isle

of Sheppey

46

engineers are now manning the emer-

gency equipment preparatory to start-

up. Also on this flight are Flight

Lieutenant Bob Dewes, the co-pilot,

Sergeant Paul Hunter, the winchman,

and Doctor Thomas Malaj, from the

local hospital. Dr Malaj is not

required to be on board as the RAF

SAR units do not carry a doctor, but

he likes to try and train with the unit

at least twice a month, both for the

experience it gives him and for the

help he can give the unit. In many

ways it seems the doctor’s involve-

ment helps integrate the crew into the

local environment.

During the week the crew are not

allowed to be more than 15 minutes

from base, although this is extended

to 1 hour during the week-ends, when

there is less fast jet flying. The crew

do 24 hour shifts and should be ready

for call out in 15 minutes before 10

o’clock or 45 minutes after 10

o’clock, the latter allows them to

sleep in the available rooms at the

back of the station.

Flight Lieutenant Bob Dewes,

said, “this must be almost the ideal

pilot lifestyle. It is a superb, satisfy-

ing job and I am able to see my wife

and children on a regular basis.”

Originally a fixed wing pilot flying

VC10s and training students on Grob

Tutors, Flight Lieutenant Dewes has

been flying the Sea King for three

months and does flying training

every day to improve his handling,

this includes autorotations and single

engine training.

We are strapped in and the helicop-

ter engines are running warmly when

Squadron Leader Neil Robertson

brings in the rotors, the Sea King

sways on its wheels but remains

steady. Checks complete, he lifts

smoothly and we head away from

Wattisham towards the coast before

the Squadron Leader goes under the

hood and Sgt Nev Davies starts giv-

ing instructions from his ‘radar

room’ behind the pilots.

The Sea King has a range which

allows the SAR crew to cover a 250

nm radius, possibly stretching to 270

nms depending on weather condi-

tions and how much weight they have

on board. For a stricken boat off

shore the crew pull out seats, decide

what equipment they really need and,

stripped down to basics, take the

maximum fuel available.

Leaving Wattisham the pilots talk

to their control unit at Kinloss, where

they learn that the Sheerness lifeboat

has been given an emergancy call

out, to a yacht hauling water, and so

there will be a short delay in the

training exercise. The crew use this

delay to get in a bit more radar and

instrument flying practice.

In his radar booth Sgt Davies has

Dr Thomas Malaj

being winched down

onto the All Weather

Lifeboat

winch operator maintain radio con-

tact at all times.

Although the All-Weather-

Lifeboat is still busy with the emer-

gency, the rib (known as the Inshore

Lifeboat) is ready for the the first rib

coxswain to practice his approaches

to the boat.

Sgt Hunter is winched down to the

inshore lifeboat and the crew begin

the practice. He gives instruction to

the boats less experienced members

on how to catch the line and the best

speeds and directions to approach the

helicopter.

Robin Castle, the Coxswain and

Mechanic and a full time RNLI man

explains:

“On the inshore lifeboat, the heli-

copter will proceed into wind at

about 10 knots. The inshore lifeboat

both FLIR and radar. As he gives the

pilot co-ordinates to fly he can see

boats, buoys and masts on the water,

and keeps the helicopter on a clear

path away from these or other obsta-

cles. Gradually he guides the pilot

through the melee into clear water

where he is able to descend to the

fifty foot hover.

Once in the fifty foot hover the

pilot can either fly the helicopter

manually or make use of the autopi-

lot. The radar altimeter takes a level

of the ‘raw altitude’, which changes

with the height of the waves, and

gives a ‘smooth’ readout based on the

mean height of the waves. Once the

pilot is ready in the hover the exer-

cise can begin.

Winchman Sgt Paul Hunter

explains that there are two ways of

doing a lift, either the pilot holds 8-

10 knots in the hover and the rib

commander motors up to the heli-

copter and catches the hoist cable,

which the winchman has let down

under the helicopter, using this to

winch up his casualties. Or the boat

motors ahead and the helicopter

pilot formates on the boat. Then hi-

line weights are let down onto the

boat and caught by one of the crew

members on the boat. The winch-

man is then winched down by the

winch operator onto the boat.

The winch operator has a ‘hover

trim,’ a control remote from the

pilot’s controls by which he can

steer while the pilot is hovering,

thus helping get the Sea King pre-

cisely into position, and a winch

lever with which he can raise and

lower the winchman. The hoist

cable is 245 feet in length and can

lift 600 lbs. The winchman and

48

will come infront, astern and to star-

board of the helicopter to avoid the

downdraft ‘no go area’ and will wait

until the winchman is lowered

before finally moving in under the

helicopter.”

When each of the crew members

have been successfully winched up

into the helicopter and back down to

the rib, we move onto the All

Weather Lifeboat. First Paul is

again winched down to the boat,

which would be the normal practice

in an emergency call out as, like

most of the winchmen, he is para-

medic trained, and can assess the

situation before helping the lightest

injured up to the helicopter and

bringing up the most injured in a

double lift. Next goes the doctor.

When it comes to my turn to be

winched out of the boat I am first

given a long-strap-seat-belt, which

allows one to walk safely around

near the open door without fear of

falling out. I then sit on the edge of

the open door and am given a single

strop to put around my body which

is attached to the winch cable via a

rope. I take off the seat-belt and am

warned to keep my elbows in. I am

given the hi-line cable to hold,

which the winchman will use to

guide me onto the boat.

When everything is ready the

winch operator eases me up, off the

side of the helicopter and into the

void. Surprisingly, this is not an

unpleasant feeling and at all times I

felt completely safe, even though I

was hanging from a thin cable over

open water, under a large hovering

helicopter in weather conditions

which (owing to the heat) would

make it impossible for the helicop-

ter to fly away on one engine.

Luckily I have no imagination!

As the winch operator glides me

down towards the boat, the winch-

man begins pulling on the hi-line to

guide me in the right direction, here

the pull is quite fierce and at one

point I almost lose the handle of the

Helicopter Life’s

Editor takes part in

the exercise onto the

All Weather Lifeboat

cable and grip it harder to keep it in

place. Then I am arriving at the back

rails of the boat deck, lift my legs to

swing them over and am down on

deck. It has all happened in less than

a minute.

With the helicopter maintaining its

position over the boat and the

coxswain steering a constant heading

the RNLI crewmen are winched up

into the helicopter and back again.

Some go up in pairs, as casualties

might if they were only lightly

injured, some singly.

RNLi volunteers

proving that the

winch can take up

to 600 lbs in weight

50

Robin Castle explains: “There is

a considerable amount of responsi-

bility when winching with the heli-

copter, not only the safety of the

lifeboat crew and lifeboat, but also

the helicopter. It is important to

have enough ‘sea room’ for winch-

ing. On the all weather lifeboat the

coxswain will oversee the opera-

tion, by placing a competent person

on the helm. If winching from the

after deck we will have a crew

member forward with red and green

flags. Green for winching and red to

stop winching. This enables the

pilot to have a clear view of the

lifeboat. In an emergency the heli-

copter would try to clear to port and

the lifeboat to starboard. Constant

VHF communications are kept

between the helicopter and the

lifeboat.”

Since all the winchees so far have

used the single strop attachment,

Sergeant Hunter now shows me the

use of the double strop.

The importance of using the dou-

ble strop with some injuries was

discovered some years ago during

the Fastnet race, when survivors

who were perfectly OK while still

in the water, suffered from loss of

hydrostatic pressure during the

actual lift. In the consequent loss of

consciousness, some lives were

lost. This lead to research about the

use of single and double strops and

the realisation that having the knees

bent up and the body in a foetal

position means that there is less

strain on the heart and a reduction in

the problem of the blood draining to

the extremities, which prevents the

casualties blacking out.

Sergeant Hunter, wearing a hip-

encompassing cradle, attaches my

double strops to his cable, then the

two of us are winched up together.

This is also be a good way to lift a

nervous or badly injured patient. It

is a very comfortable way to travel,

and when we start to spin, as often

happens in a winch, Sergeant

Hunter happily pushes away from

the base of the helicopter to keep us

clear. A final lift and we are back in

the helicopter.

We return to the base at

Wattisham, with the pilot in com-

mand doing an ILS approach into

the base under the hood. We had

only been down a few minutes

when the siren sounded, warning

another call was coming in, and that

this time it was not a training call.

Everyone sprung into action and the

fuel was pressure-pumped into the

R N L IRunning and funding of theRNLI is done entirelythrough voluntary contribu-tion. The RNLI is a regis-tered charity with one clearpurpose: to save lives atsea. It provides a 24-hoursearch and rescue serviceout to 100 nautical milesfrom the coast of theUnited Kingdom andRepublic of Ireland and alifeguard service on 62beaches in the South andSW of England. Since theRNLI was founded in 1824,lifeboat crews have savedmore than 137,000 lives.Money is raised from thegeneral public, the charityreceives no governmentmoney and the helmsmenand crewmen are volunteersgiving their time and

expertise for free. Of the4,800 lifeboat crew mem-bers 4,500 are volunteers,10% of whom are women.

On the Sheerness Lifeboatduring our training sessionwere: On the inshorelifeboat: Clive Hancock,the Helmsman, who is acreative resin technicalmanager, Nathan Silveston,who is self-employed, BobSmith who is a police offi-cer. On the all weatherlifeboat were Robin Castle,the coxswain and full timewith the RNLI, Paul Jarvis,the second coxswain and amate on local tugs, MartinRowden, the second

mechanic, a plumbing andheating engineer, AndyMatthews, third mechanic,who is a police officer,Nigel Budden, the naviga-tor, who is an estate agent,Nicky Wood, one of the10%, an immigration offi-cer, Jason Bailey, an ambu-lance technician, PaulTaylor, a scaffolder andTom Ware, a shop owner.

The RAF Search and

Rescue organisation was

established formally in

1941 to aid all military air

crew in trouble over land or

sea while training or on

operations. By the end of

World War II more than

8000 air crew and 5000

civilians had been rescued.

In the five decades since

then more than 55,000 peo-

ple have been rescued by

the RAF, Royal Navy and

HM Coastguard helicopter

crews, and RAF Mountain

Rescue Teams based

around the UK.

Even today about 1500

people are assisted annually

in more than 2000 incidents

involving a helicopter or

Mountain Rescue Team

(MRT) being scrambled by

the Aeronautical Rescue

Co-ordination Centre. From

1941 until the end of 1997

there were two ARCC, one

at Plymouth and the other

at Edinburgh.

The two were combined

in 1997 at RAF Kinloss.

All requests for assistance

from the other emergency

services throughout the

United Kingdom - Police,

Fire, Ambulance and

Coastguard - are now han-

dled at this single ARCC.

Whilst the primary task is

to assist military personnel

the large majority of the

tasks that they undertake

involve civilians in trouble

anywhere on the UK main-

land and islands or at sea.

RAF Search and Rescue

helicopter, which allows a 1,000 lbs

of fuel to be pumped in in a few min-

utes, and as soon as we were ready to

go, so was the helicopter.

The Coastguard around the British

coast is currently shared between the

RAF (six coastal bases), the Navy

(two bases) and the Maritime

Coastguard Agency (MCA), which

has four bases presently run by the

civilian operator Bristow

Helicopters. This will change slightly

after 2007, CHC Helicopter

Corporation, a Canadian company,

having won an interim contract to

serve the MCA until 2012, using a

mixture of Sikorsky S92s and Agusta

Westland AW139s. The operation

continuing on from 2012 will soon be

open to bids, however, the basic

structure seems likely to remain

much the same: that helicopter sup-

port is given to the boat service run

by the RNLI; community based,

funded by charity and serving the

people with dedication.

53

54

Weston-

Top: Lynx ZD28 of the Blue Eagles, the

Army Air Corps display team

Above: The only oversea’s visitor,

German Army BO105 from Bückeburg

Despite unsettled weather

across the west of the UK

over the last weekend in

July, the 16th Helidays on

Weston-super-Mare sea front attract-

ed over 50 helicopters during a three

day period. The Helidays are primari-

ly run to raise funds for the

Helicopter Museum, based on the

edge of the town, and local charities.

It also gives the public a rare chance

to see helicopters close up and learn

more about this versatile aircraft and

the many roles it performs. This

annual event is a unique helicopter

fly-in which takes place on the 3/4

mile long seafront beach lawns: a

grassed area adjacent to the miles of

sandy beach which contribute to the

attraction of this traditional British

seaside resort. This year also coincid-

ed with two local anniversaries: 70

Photographs byAlan Norris

HelidaysHELICOPTER LIFEvisited the 16thHelidays at Weston-super-Mare fromwhere Alan Norrisreports:

ian feel about the show although the

military aircraft included the British

Army Air Corps Blue Eagles display

team and Army Historic Flight of a

Westland Scout and Alouette II.

The Blue Eagles performed their

spirited display on two days much to

the delight of the crowds lining the

sea front, and the RAF was well rep-

resented with a Bell 412EP from the

Search and Rescue Training Unit,

based across the Bristol Channel in

North Wales, and a Westland Puma

HC1 which flew in from RAF

Benson in Oxfordshire. Both aircraft

crews allowed a never ending line of

the enthusiastic children to sit and

look inside the helicopters. The Puma

attracted particular interest as it was

originally ‘war booty’ having been

abandoned near Port Stanley by the

Argentine Coast Guard and later

rebuilt to RAF standards, entering

service in 2001. It is now operated by

No. 33 Squadron in RAF service as a

tactical support helicopter.

The German Army BO105 Anti

Tank helicopter was the only over-

seas visitor this year. It came from

the German Army aviation training

school based at Bückeburg, 50 km

West of Hannover, and the three man

years of Weston airfield and 50 years

of helicopter associated activities.

Weston-super-Mare having been the

home to Bristol Aeroplane Company

building helicopters followed by

Westland Helicopters in the early

1960’s, continuing today with the

Helicopter Museum.

Helidays invites both civilian and

military helicopter crews to fly onto

the beach lawns for a celebration of

the helicopter and the show has

developed a reputation for attracting

military helicopters from across

Europe. However, due to operational

commitments around the world this

year’s event had a much more civil-

56

Left: The Bell 412Ep from the

Search and Rescue Training

unit crossed the Bristol

Channel to spend the weekend

at Weston-super-Helidays

Above: Robinson R44 G-OMEL

arrives at the Helidays

Above: Bell 206 G-SpEY

comes in to land

Below: Scout XT626 from

AAC HAF

58

Left: The crew of the puma

from 33 Squadron the RAF

were happy to show the visi-

tors inside and out as well as

answering questions about

being a pilot in the RAF

Left: The largest

and the smallest

helicopter; the

RAF puma and

the Bug Mk3,

which is being

developed by

Ronald Cope.

This, the third

prototype, is

powered by a

BMW four stroke

engine.

R44 arriving at

the Helidays

steady increase of visitors each year

will ensure that the event will contin-

ue to build on its last sixteen success-

ful years and maintain the helicopter

link to Weston-super-Mare well into

the distant future.

pleased with yet another

successful event” said

Claire ap Rees event

organiser.

Many private owners

and Helicopter Club of

Great Britain members

take the opportunity to

fly in to Helidays, in a

variety of helicopters, as

they are always looking

for some where new to

fly into. Pilots use the

weekend as an ideal gathering point

to socialise with old friends and talk

helicopters, some stopping for the

weekend and others just visiting for

the day.

The unique mix of military and

civilian helicopters together with

pleasure flights, operated by Polo

Aviation, running continuously dur-

ing the show from the beach, and a

crew enjoyed their return visit to

Helidays. Children and other curious

visitors were allowed a close up and

personal look at the aircraft; a great

public relations opportunity.

“We had over 20 thousand visitors

to the show and over 150 helicopter

movements into and out of our

licensed helipad. The civil and mili-

tary mix of helicopters is a real

opportunity for the public to see how

diverse and adaptable the helicopter

is in everyday life. We are veryAbove: Alek Murzyn arriving in a

Brantly B-2B, probably the oldest

helicopter at the Helidays, one of

six still flying in Britain

Right: Royden Kemp

and his co-pilot depart-

ing on the Sunday in his

Bell 47G G-BAXS

In June this year, the first

AeroExpo was held at High

Wycombe Airfield in

Buckinghamshire. Paddy

Casey, show organiser,

explained that the aim of the

show to bring all types of avia-

tion together, for future as well

as present day pilots, and was

especially aimed at families.

There were only a few helicop-

ter participants but those that

were there were highly visible.

Patriot Aviation had a large

external static display leading up to

the hangars of the main show. This

included a Bell 407, as Patriot have

recently become the British Bell

dealers. Helicopter Life was told

they had already confirmed sales of

four 407s. Caseright Helicopters,

had one Schweizer 300CBi and the

BHAB had a small stall inside.

Show stalwarts included;

Pooley’s Flight Equipment, Express

Doors, Police Aviation News and

Ross Aviation amongst others.

Brand new show goers included

Action Aviation, the British distrib-

utor of Sion Swearing, and

Flymap’s moving maps, which use

current charts on the screen.

chances of airborne collision

and bird strikes, conclusive

tests have proven that the puls-

ing of external lights creates an

illusion of exaggerated motion

and makes an aircraft visible for

miles, even in fog or smog.”

The Pulselite® avoidance

system is now available in

Europe for the first time from

Ross Aviation. The company

say it is very simple to fit. Ian

explains that the system pulses

the landing lights, which can be

activated manually or automatically

using its TCAS feature. For further

details contact Mark Biggs.

Hayward Aviation, the insurance

company, had a strong team at the

show headed by MatthewDay.

Opposite them were Hitachi

Capital, looking for likely loan tak-

ers, and Shell, who sponsored the

seminas, had the entrance booth.

Although the show was not very

well attended, partly because it

coincided with the World Cup,

Paddy said that the larger fixed

wing companies were very happy

with their sales and concluded that

it had been a useful first event. The

second show will be in June 2007.

Ross Aviation are promoting a new

pulsing light, called the Pulselite®

System. Ian

B r o w n

says: “In

c r o w d e d

a i r s p a c e

around air-

ports and

when flying

below 3000

feet, being

seen is criti-

cal to flight

s a f e t y. To

reduce the

60

A ERO E XPO

AeroExpo over two hangars, plus a static display

Caseright Helicopter’s Schweizer 300CBi on display

pulselite ® system uses the landing light

patriot Aviation with a Bell 407 at the static display


Lat.N51˚46.2’ Long.W000˚37.8’ O.S. Ref: 165-946087Height above mean sea level: Approx. 500 feetNearest airfield with fuel: ElstreeSurrounding control area: LutonHelipad: YesDescription of landing area: In grass area 400yds

away from resort.Landing fee: No

Address: Champneys Health Resort Tring,Wiggington, Tring, Herts. HP23 6DY

Tel: 01442-291000 Fax: 01442-291001Email: [email protected] Website: www.champneys.com

(Prior Permission Required)

Lat. N 47° 26.2 Long. E 004° 19.9O.S. Ref: Jeppesen VFR +GPS Chart LF-2Height above mean sea level: 932 feetNearest airfield with fuel: Semur-en-Auxois LFGQ or

Saulieu LFEWSurrounding control area: REIMS CONTROL / INFO Helipad: On the terrasse of the Château,

wind sock Description of landing area: Please approach from the Eastover the park, radial from the lake de Pont. Avoid flying over

the village.Landing fee: FreeAddress: Château de Flée, F 21140 Semur- en Auxois,

Burgundy, France. Motorway A6, Exit Nr: 23Tel: + 33 6 73 20 04 06 or + 33 380 97 17 07 Fax: +33380 9734 32Email: [email protected] (Reservation Required)

Lat.N50˚42.56’ Long.001˚.06.31’W O.S. Ref: 903-36333Height above mean sea level: Approx. 40 metersNearest airfield with fuel: Bembridge AirportSurrounding control area: Bembridge AirportHelipad: Due east of hotel in middle

of rough golf course.Description of landing area: “H” usually mown on rough

area of golf course. Please approach from the seai.e. east rather than over local residential areas.

Landing fee: £50 fully credited against hotel account

Address: Priory Drive, Seaview, Isle of Wight, PO34 5BUTel: 01983-613-146 Fax: 01983-616-539

Email: [email protected]: www.priorybay.co.uk(Prior Permission Required)

LANDINGFRIENDLY SITESH ELICOPTER

CHAMPNEYS H EALTH RESORT TRING

PRIORY BAY H OTEL , ISLE OF W IGHT

CHåTEAU DE FL�E, BURGUNDY , FRANCE

THE pRiORY BAY HOTEL

“THE COuNTRY HOuSE BY THE SEA”

5 minutes across the Solent to a different world

The Mediterranean in an English Garden

6262

Joanna Vesty is herself an explorer,

although she doesn’t dwell upon it

in her book, and has, amongst

other things, flown from Alaska to

Tierra del Fuego in a Robinson R44,

on her honeymoon. However this is a

book about fifty other explorers and

is, as she says herself, an eclectic and

personal choice; some are household

names, others less well known and

some probably are getting their

first taste of publicity in her book.

Amongst these fifty, many are

polar explorers, some discover the

secrets of the sea or other parts of

the earth, including Everest and the

rainforest, or the meaning of life

and eight are pilots, exploring the

air. These eight cross the spectrum

of the craft. We have Svetlana

Savitskaya, Buzz Aldin and F.

Story Musgrave going into space,

Bertrand Piccard, Steve Fossett

and Sir Richard Branson as bal-

loonists (clearly many of these

people have other talents but here

she is concentrating on their explo-

ration) Mary Ellis delivering air-

craft in the Second World War and

Steve Brookes, Joanna’s husband,

flying a helicopter to both poles.

Mary Ellis, we discover, is the

antithesis of the modern day celebri-

ty seeker, a quiet gentle woman who

simply loved flying and took the

opportunity to enlarge her repertoire

when the war came. One quote I

loved says: “as a schoolgirl of 16 I

was not very good at hockey and was

allowed to go for flying lessons at the

Although Buzz is best known as “the

man who was second to set foot on

another planet”(sic) that is second to

Neil Armstrong, Joanna discovers

other things about the man, including

that he was a pilot in Korea, flying 66

combat missions in F-86 Sabre Jets

and that he wrote several novels.

F. Story Musgrave, a man who has

been into space more than anyone

else, and appears to have every

qualification and achievement

NASA could possibly desire, is

also a sensitive poet and artist.

Steve Brookes, the man who

flew a Robinson R44 to both poles,

says the highpoint of his life was

making “the world’s ultimate all-

terrain vehicle.” The “part combine

harvester, part Thunderbird,”

which he and co-pilot drove across

the Bering Straits between Alaska

and Russia.

Bertrand Piccard is well known

for his record breaking flight

around the world in a balloon,

which took 19 days, 21 hours and

47 minutes, but less well known

for being the grandson of Auguste

Piccard, Hergé’s inspiration for

Professor Calculus in Tintin.

These kind of interesting and

unknown facts fill Joanna’s book and

make it fabulous to read, really the

only failing of the book is that she

does not have enough room to write

more about each person or show

more photographs. A fun book and

definitely worth the price.

local aero club instead.” Oh, for such

a choice today! As she went on to

deliver more than 1,000 aircraft to

240 airfields during her time in the

Air Transport Auxiliary and thereby

help the war-effort her parents clear-

ly made the right choice.

Another heroine of the skies is the

Russian cosmonaut Svetlana

Savitskaya, the first woman to walk

in space as part of the Soyuz T-12

mission. Flying at 16 years old,

Svetlana went to test pilot school and

established many new records

including 2,683 kms per hour in a

Mig-21. In 1989 Svetlana became a

member of the Russian parliament.

Buzz Aldin’s section is illuminated

by a wonderful picture of President

Nixon laughing with the astronauts.

BOOK R EVIEW

JoannaÕs encounters with 50 extraordinary Pioneers

Georgina Hunter-Jones

FACES OF EXPLORATIONby Joanna Vestey

Wigwam Press in association with Andr� Deutsch, £20, 212 ppISBN 0-233-00199-9



checks, raised the collective lever. The helicopter

yawed to the left and the nose pitched up. The pilot

lowered the collective, whilst correcting the left yaw

with right tail rotor control pedal and the helicopter

settled on the ground. Following the yaw to the left G-

ODHG was then facing the R44, which had previous-

ly been behind and to the left.

The pilot again raised the collective lever to left the

helicopter into the hover and moved the cyclic control

aft in order to prevent movement towards the parked

R44. The helicopter again yawed to the left and the

nose pitched up. He continued to raise the collective

lever and attempted to correct yaw and nose-up pitch,

but the helicopter pivoted around the rear of the left

skid landing gear. It rolled to the left and the main

rotor blades struck the ground; the helicopter came to

rest on its right side. The pilot was uninjured and was

able to release himself; he vacated the helicopter

through the front left door.

The ‘accident flight’ was the first time the pilot had

flown the R44 solo but with full fuel. As a conse-

quence the centre of gravity was close to the aft limit,

but within the C of G limits for the all up weight

(AUW). The pilot considers the aft C of G was major

factor in the accident. To address the problem he now

places 56lbs of ballast in the left front seat when fly-

ing solo with full fuel. This moves the C of G for-

ward, which reduces the need to counter nose-up

pitch when lifting into the hover.

Eurocopter AS350B3 ‘Ecureuil’, G-BZVG

An instructor and student were carrying out a simulat-

ed hydraulic failure approach and landing. The stu-

dent was about to carry out a run-on landing when she

experienced difficulty overcoming the control feed-

back forces. The instructor took control and attempt-

ed to climb the helicopter but it rolled to the left and

struck the ground. No evidence of pre-impact

mechanical fault was found, but the issue of heavy

control forces in manual flight was well understood

by the helicopter manufacturer.

There had been a previous incident with the helicop-

ter, in which the owner had had trouble with the heli-

copter during a simulated hydraulic failure, finding

the control forces too high, and the instructor had

taken control and managed to fly away, but only after

the helicopter had yawed to the left 180 degrees.

Following this incident, the chief instructor and the

Eurocopter AS350B2 Squirrel, G-BXGA

The helicopter had been employed on an underslung

load-lifting task, tansferring bags of stones from a

scree slope to a footpath a kilometre away. On com-

pletion, the pilot manoeuvred the helicopter to land

and pick up the two ground personelle who had been

attaching the loads to the external hook. The first

landing site he deemed unsuitable because of its rocky

surface, so he hovered over to another possible site at

1,900 feet amsl and which was of limited size. It had

a more acceptable surface, but was adjacent to a steep

slope, which included a boulder at the pilot’s two

o’clock position.

The pilot stated that the surface wind was from 250

degrees at about 20 to 30 knots, which, with the heli-

copter on a 350 heading generated a turbulent cross-

wind from the left. While assessing this landing site

from the hover the pilot felt a vibration through the

cyclic stick. He realised that the main rotor blades had

hit the boulder and immediately moved up and away.

He considered the controls were working normally so

he selected a third site, where he landed successfully.

The ground personelle then climbed on board and the

helicopter flew a mile away to the refuelling area

without further incident.

Noticeable vibration was felt on shut-down and an

initial inspection revealed damage to the tips of each

of the three main blades. Subsequent engineering

examination found no other damage.

Robinson R44 Raven, G-ODHG

On the day before the accident the pilot had flown

from Ireland to Cannock in a R22. He had been forced

to abandon his intended destination of Sywell due to

bad weather. On the day of the accident the pilot and

an instructor planned to fly to Cannock to recover the

R22 back to Sywell.

The pilot intended to hover taxi G-ODHG to the east-

ern side of the airfield in order to collect the instruc-

tor before departing from Cannock. The surface wind

was from 200 degrees at 10 knots, and the visibility

was 8 km with a cloudbase between 800 and 1,000

feet. The helicopter was full of fuel in both the main

and auxiliary tanks. It was parked on the main park-

ing area adjacent to another R44, which was behind

and to the left, and a R22, which was to the right. The

pilot completed his pre-flight inspection, started the

helicopter and, having carried out the pre-takeoff

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owner consulted the manufacturer’s agent. They

explained they thought the control forces were abnor-

mally high, and a test pilot was asked to assess the

control forces without hydraulic power when he flew

the helicopter. The test pilot flew G-BzVG twice,

including a full C of A test flight, and came to the con-

clusion that the control forces were normal.

In this incident, the student was an experienced

AS350B pilot, having flown approximately 100 hours

on the type on her FAA licence in the USA. She was

now training to have the type endorsement added to

her UK PPL. She had done 11 hours, with the same

instructor, and was on her second sortie of the day.

The instructor had observed the student demonstrate

the successful handling of this exercise several times

previously. On the downwind leg of the circuit the

instructor depressed the HYD TEST button to simu-

late hydraulic failure. The student correctly identified

the emergency and reduced airspeed to 60 knots.

When the helicopter was stable the instructor

switched the hydraulic cut-off switch on the collective

to OFF. Next the instructor confirmed the student was

happy with the weight of the controls, as they had

been abnormally heavy on the last flight. The student

considered them normal and they continued to fly

around the circuit and made an approach for the heli-

copter landing area. In the last few feet of the

approach the helicopter was turned into wind. The

approached at first seemed normal. However, as the

helicopter neared the ground, still with forward

ground speed, the nose began to rise up and yaw to the

left as the collective was raised. The instructor took

control and attempted to lower the nose, correct the

yaw and correct the increasing angle of bank to the

left. The lateral control forces were very high and the

student asked if she should reinstate the hydraulics by

switching on the hydraulic cut-off switch mounted on

the right side collective control. Given the large force

the instructor was exerting and the helicopter’s close

proximity to the ground the instructor elected to

remain in manual control, but, because her attempts to

correct yaw and roll had insufficient effect, she tried

to raise the collective in an attempt to fly away from

the ground. However, the helicopter continued to roll

left and struck the ground.

The ATC activated the crash alarm and the airfield

Rescue and Fire Fighting Services arrived promptly.

Both pilots, who had back injuries, were taken to hos-

64


tion in their fuel tanks, and although overnight con-

densation in the tanks was considered possible it

would only cause about a teaspoon of water in the

tank. The helicopter was usually kept in the owner’s

garden or a nearby field so the possibility of foul play

could not be ruled out.

Hughes 369HS (Hughes 500) G-LiNC

A sixty year old private pilot flew from Folkestone

Racecourse to Sywell, after a day at the races. He had

initially flown from Sywell to Catthorpe, and then on

to Folkestone, where he had been unable to refuel as

there was no fuel available. He did not do a visual

check of the tanks at any time but had asked the

fuellers at Sywell to fill the machine ‘to the top.’

Returning to Sywell, just north of Luton the FUEL

LOW caution light flickered once or twice, but the

pilot was not worried by this because he had seen it

happen before in a low fuel state. The pilot had not

made a fuel burn check whilst en route.

Approximately ten miles from Sywell the FUEL

LOW caution light came on permanently, but the pilot

was still not worried by this, as his GPS said it was six

minutes to the airfield, and he believed that when the

FUEL LOW light came on he still had fifteen minutes

of flying time left.

Having reached the airfield, he decided to do a circuit

rather than come straight in and land, because there

were a number of microlights in the circuit. At 400

feet on final approach the engine flamed out having

no fuel left, and the pilot did an autorotation to the

ground landing short of the threshold of the 23

Runway. Neither the pilot nor passenger were injured

but the tail boom separated from the body of the hel-

icopter, having been chopped off by the main rotor

and the landing skids were splayed.

Schweizer 269C, G-CCJE

The highly experienced instructor was demonstrating

an autorotation to the hover to the student. He elected

to do the autorotation downwind although with the

amount of fuel on board and the weight of the instruc-

tor and student they were only twenty pounds short of

maximum all up weight. He flared at 150 feet

preparatory to bringing in the engine, which did not

respond, and realised the helicopter was going to land

with a high rate of descent. They hit the ground hard

and toppled to the right. Neither pilot was hurt.

pital. There was no fire.

Subsequent investigation into the accident revealed

that an incorrect sequence of hydraulic switch selec-

tions could have led to the accident, however, neither

the instructor, nor the student nor the Chief Instructor

had seen the Flight Manual Supplement which recom-

mended this course of action, so consequently did not

put it into practice.

Specifically, this meant resetting the HYD TEST

switch on the approach to land, which may explain

why they felt the control forces were too high. Had

the HYD TEST switch been reset before the second

stage of the manual approach, the tail rotor accumula-

tor would have been recharged and the yaw control

forces would have been reduced. Additionally, the

pilots would have had the option of restoring

hydraulic power very quickly using the student’s col-

lective mounted cut-off switch.

Since the accident EASA has recommended that air-

craft manufacturers make additional information such

as this available via the internet until it has been

included in the Flight Manual as a formal amendment.

Robinson R44 Astro, G-HEpY

The engine stopped as a result of water in the fuel sys-

tem. During the subsequent landing run the helicopter

sustained minor damage when it collided with a fence

and farm gate. None of the crew were injured.

The pilot and his passengers were on a private flight

from Redditch to Bedstone. About 15 minutes into the

flight and at about 1,000 feet above ground level the

pilot felt ‘a couple of kicks in yaw’ which he attrib-

uted to turbulence from the ridge he had just flown

over. He therefore moved away from the ridge and

lowered the collective. About the same time the low

rpm horn sounded, the low rpm warning light illumi-

nated and the pilot became aware the engine noise had

stopped. The pilot therefore entered autorotation and

chose what he believed to be the only suitable place to

land on a ridge covered with woods and isolated trees.

The main rotor blades clipped a number of trees on

the approach to the landing site, where the helicopter

made a fast run-on landing before colliding with a

fence and metal farm gate.

Subsequent investigations show there was water in

the fuel tank. Almost a full litre in the main tank and

half a litre in the auxiliary tank. The airfield where the

pilot fuelled the helicopter had no water contamina-

A CCIDENT R EPORTS

65


into the Thames. The house has six beds, six baths, a spa,

pool, yoga deck, three sun decks and the biggest sunbed

in Europe at 6m x 5m – big enough to sleep ten!”

His new helicopter is a ‘spanking’ MD500E G-MRRR

(named after his children Max,

Red, Ruby and Rory) with an

Alison C20R, fully coupled IFR

avionics with Garmin 430, fully

coupled HIS, ELT, Skymap, AHI,

turn and slip, IVSI, VOR 2, Com 2,

MP3 player. Wire strike kit, Fargo

tank, rain gutters, Connelly hide

interior, paint work by Edmondson

and body art by Alex Baynes,

whose grandfather invented the

swept wing!

Jeremy tells Helicopter Life: “This late model E has

had a complete, no expense spared, zero time refit by

Martin Lovell of Skytech,” who is, Jeremy stresses, “the

best 500 engineer in the World and he’s English!” GH-J

Jeremy Paxton, designer and builder, with his Hughes

500 helicopter G-ORRR sitting on his helipad above

the pool at his house Ballihoo. Since the photograph

was taken, Jeremy has sold the helicopter (which once

also belonged to Barry Sheene, his

brother-in-law) and bought G-

MRRR, and the helipad has been

appropriated by his children as a

sundeck!

Jeremy designed and built

Ballihoo himself. He says: “I

design and build funky houses that

offer great lifestyle – Ballihoo I

built five years ago and it has won

three RIBA awards and Urban

house of the year. It is a modernist

interpretation of the Thames boathouse and the Thames

‘runs through it’ - living is 10 metres above the river and

the house strides out over the Thames by 4 metres – the

only one to do so. I can, and do, dive from my bedroom

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HELICOPTER LIFE · Helicopter Life who, with th e Copy Editor, will be d oing an abseil for ... Michael J. H. Smith Wing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF ... whales, seals and much else