HELICOPTER LIFE€¦ · HELICOPTER LIFE, Winter 2013 7 and significant numbers of German, Russian and other pilots were trained in Spain in UK schools. So this is more a case of legislation

HELICOPTER

HELICOPTER LIFE is the HIGH LIFE

Winter 2013 / £3.99

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including gyroplanes

LIFE

LIFEHELICOPTER

WInTER 2013WInTER 2013

HELICOPTER LIFE, Winter 2013 3

The Age of AquariusGeorgina Hunter-Jonesflies the latest gyro-copter from AutoGyroin German, the twinseat, fully enclosedtourer, the Cavalon.

High HopesGeorgina Hunter-JonesHeliAir is emerging asa leading helicoptercompany in spite ofturbulent times. Howand why is examined.

Marenco SwissHelicopterHelicopter LifeUnveiled at HAIHeliExpo 2011, theMarenco SwissHelicopter continuesto make strides.

French CaymanBronco AviationKuit and Kievit lookat the history andpresent of the FrenchNavy Flotille 31F.

Book Reviews 58

CAA Legislation changes 59

Nordholtz Airday Arjan Dijksterhuis 62

Accident Reports 64

House & Helicopter 66

COVER STORYCOVER STORY

Flight Show & Tell Guide 4Aviation shows and conferences.

The Editor’s Letter 5

Aerial Forum 6 & 7

Letters to the Editor 10, 13, 45-49

Flying Crackers 8 & 9

Helicopter Training 16 & 17

New TechnologyPanda for iPad

Rosvertol on theMoveDavid Oliverreports on Rosvertol’smove to Batyaska AirBase

SAR UK HistoryG Hunter-Jones, on the changes to SARregiem in the UK.

Balkan HawksCarlo Kuit and PaulKievit of BroncoAviationvisit the MacedonianPolice and STU(Special Task Unit)

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HELICOPTER LIFE, Winter 2013

24 February - 27 February 2014HELIExPO

Anaheim, California, USAhttp://www.rotor.com

13 March - 16 March 2014AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIx

Melbourne, Australiahttp://www.grandprix.com.au

9 April - 12 April 2014AEROFRIEDRICHSHAFEN

Lake Constance, Germanyhttp://www.aero-expo.com

22 May - 24 May 2014HELIRUSSIA

Crocus Forum, Moscowwww.helirussia.ru/en/index.html?src=englishlink‎

30 May - 1 June 2014AEROExPO

Sywell, Northamptonshire, UKwww.expo.aero/uk/‎

2 June - 4 June 2014HELIExPO UK

Sywell Aerodrome, Northamptonshire, UKhttp://www.heliukexpo.com

19 - 21 June 2014EUROPEAN HELICOPTER SHOW

Hradec Kralove, Czech Republichttp://www.eurohelishow.com

14 July - 20 July 2014FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW

Farnborough, near London, UK.www.farnborough.com

24 September - 26 September 2014HELITECH

Amsterdam, Hollandhttp://www.helitechevents.com

4 November - 6 November 2014DUBAI HELICOPTER SHOW

Maydan Racecourse, Dubaiwww.dubaihelicoptershow.com

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HELICOPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd. 59 Great Ormond StreetLondon, WC1N-3Hz. Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2013. ISSN 1743-1042. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed herein are not neces-sarily those of the publishers, the Editor or any of the editorialstaff. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form whatever,is strictly prohibited without specific written permission ofthe Editor.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH

Cavalon Gyrocopter at Wycombe Air Park.Photograph courtesy Georgina Hunter-Jones

WInTER 2013

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOTGeorgina [email protected]

CREATIVE [email protected]

COPY EDITORSEvangeline Hunter-Jones, JP Gerald Cheyne

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSReg Austin, Bruce Charnov, Carlo Kuit, PaulKievit, David Oliver, Brian Kane, ArjanDijksterhuis, John Periam

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHYReg Austin, Bruce Charnov, Brian Kane, CarloKuit, Paul Kievit, David Oliver, ArjanDijksterhuis

SPECIAL THANKS TODave Smith ATPL(H)IR,

ADVERTISINGTelephone: +44-(0)20-7430-2384,[email protected]

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

WEBSITEwww.helicopterlife.com

Bloghttp://www.helicopterlife.blogspot.comSee Helicopter Life on Facebook & Twitter

HON. EDITORIAL BOARDCaptain Eric Brown, CBE, RNThe Lord Glenarthur, DLJennifer MurrayMichael J. H. Smith

LIFEHELICOPTER

Show & Tell

Guide


This is particularly true in the case ofHeliAir, once a small company, nowgrowing to become the largest heli-copter training organisation in theUK. (Helped by the demise of CabAir).

When new helicopters are built ittends to be done in already well estab-lished companies. However, the SKYeSH09, which has just had the proto-type revealed at Mollis Airport inSwitzerland, is an exception.Conceived in 2007, unveiled at HAIHeliTech in 2011 and already takingorders in 2013, the SKYe SH09 wasproduced by the formerly unknownSwiss Company MarencoSwisshelicopter Ltd. On 28thNovember this year the SH09 wasunveiled before an audience of jour-nalists and prospective buyers.

At a recent show in Pittsburgh, itwas revealed that helicopter designersare learning new methods of move-ment from jellyfish and owls, leadingto interesting new aircraft creations.See page 43 for details.

Before making your Christmas listhave a thought for the Robinson R66,still not given EASA certification 8months after ELOS (equivalent levelof safety) and six months sinceCanadian certification. Come onFather Christmas, give EASA a nudgefor 2014, perhaps that could be theCAA’s New Year resolution.

copters, machines actually very dif-ferent from helicopters but often con-fused with them. This confusion liespartly in their overhead free-wheelingrotor and partly because of the histo-ry of helicopter development whichstarted with gyroplanes (such as deCierva) and then departed from them.

However, one major differencebetween small helicopters and smallgyrocopters now seems to be newtechnology. While Gyrocopter com-panies are using uptodate equipment,monocoque bodies, digital engineregulators etc kit helicopters (often ina similar price range) appear to besticking to older tried and tested tech-nology. This may be partly to do withregulation, it may be related to thefear of spiraling costs. It may also berelated to the fact that while gyro-copters can be freely bought and soldin the UK, only the Rotorway kit hel-icopter is available here, even thoughthere are now many good kits on themarket. Perhaps, now GARTC’s find-ings have put the CAA to the blush,we may get some helpful action here.

I am reminded here by a quotefrom Steve Biko: “The most powerfulweapon in the hands of the oppressoris the mind of the oppressed.”

Push on. Let’s see if we can get theCAA/EASA to find a way to combinesafety with freedom.

It is winter again and the onset ofbad weather. Even though we nowhave about half the number of pri-vately owned helicopters we had in2008, (for example just over 300Robinsons now compared to justunder 600 in 2007) this seems tohave been a better summer than lastboth in terms of hours flown andweather. Only one of the operators Iasked said he had been quieter, oper-ationally speaking, this year than last.Generally, it seemed that schools andhelicopter companies were happierwith improvements in the market.

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The ediTor’S leTTer

On the 6th November 2013 theCAA made the followingpublic statement:

“Following the General AviationRed Tape Challenge (GARTC), whichfound that the current regulatoryregime is often too prescriptive,impractical and inappropriate, theGovernment and Civil AviationAuthority (CAA) have announcedplans to transform the way in whichthe UK’s General Aviation (GA) sec-tor is regulated.

One of the key changes will be thesetting up of a new GA Unit withinthe CAA dedicated to more propor-tionate, effective regulation that sup-ports and encourages a dynamic GAsector for the UK. The unit will be inplace by April 2014.”

This should, I hope, make a greatdeal of difference to helicopter flyingand particularly to light helicopters.As with everything the ‘proof of thepudding will be in the eating’ but Iam very hopeful that this will be aboost to inventors in the aviation fieldin the UK and perhaps means that theR66 may finally get EASA certifica-tion. Roll on April 2014.

There are also other regulatorychanges happening and one of theseis our continuing immersion intoEASA. Now is the time forRegistered Training Facilities (RTF)to get to grips with changing tobecome Approved TrainingOrganisations (ATO). There will befar more fixed wing than helicoptercompanies affected but on page 6there are details of the CAA confer-ence I attended on 1st November andwhat we were told. I asked the CAAif they could now answer the ques-tions on which they said they would‘get back to us’ but had still not had areply to my email on going to press.However, given all the changes, Ifully accept they must be very busy.

An interesting growth area is gyro-


AeriAl Forum

When RTFs Become ATOsare you ready for April 8th 2015?

As part of the UK’s commitment to the EuropeanUnion the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) havebecome part of EASA (European Aviation Safety

Agency). EASA is not a legislative body but drafts,implements and monitors the regulations. However, theyhave no implementation body and in the UK that willnow be done by the CAA. Amongst EASA changeswhich the CAA needs to oversee and enforce are thetransition of RTF (Registered Training Facilties) to ATOs(Approved Training Organisations).

Instructors, examiners, owners and chief pilots of fly-ing schools, went to Aviation House in November to findout when, why and how these regulations which requirethe transitions of RTFs to ATOs will be implemented.

The conference was introduced by Neil Benson and heand John Wickenden gave details of how the CAA wouldbe handling the transition of RTFs .

John Wickenden explained that the transition was alegal requirement now we are overseen by EASA. That itcovered PPL and LAL training regulations and that therewas a specific timetable.

RTFs will need to be transferred to ATOs by 8 April

2015 if they are intending to do flight training for an ini-tial EASA pilots licence, for rating issues or renewals.However, if they are only planning to do revalidations orthey are using older aircraft such as the Tiger Moth orSpitfire, or indeed if they are only planning to fly gyro-copters or kit helicopters, all of which have remainedunder national rather than EASA regulations they do notneed to do anything, such schools can remain as RTFs.The question here, will theses national RTFs still have topay to exist as they are, remains in limo. It like, rather alot of the other questions asked at the end of the seminar,remained unanswered. In the popular CAA phrase: “wewill get back to you on that.”

Given that there will be significant costs incurred,both for the CAA and for individual schools the questionwas raised, why should schools changed to ATOs?

Firstly, it is the law and RTFs as they currently arewill cease to exist after 8th April 2015.

Secondly, the new regulations will allow pilots fromany EU country to be training in the UK and vice versaunder EASA. This is perhaps not as exciting as it soundssince this was already possible under JAA regulations


and significant numbers of German, Russian and otherpilots were trained in Spain in UK schools. So this ismore a case of legislation catching up with commonpractice than a lightening of the regulations.

Thirdly, the CAA suggest that this will give a levelplaying field across Europe. What exactly they mean bythis is hard to say, but I would suggest it means that stu-dents sneaking off to Poland to get licences there becausethey have different medical requirements will now bestamped on! The question here is will we now get thesame experimental category they have in Italy andGreece?

How the implementation will work.

There will be a simplified process for RTFs registeredwith the CAA on or before 17th September 2014.Schools that have not registered by this date will have towork through the normal registration process.

What will the new approvals cover?

All training activity previously provided by an RTF,plus the LAPLs and associated courses.

What will not be covered.Any specific rating such as aerobatics or towing, or

heavy lifting etc, anything which already needed a spe-cific exemption to be taught.

How to Apply:

1. The RTF will need to submit form SRG2116 fortheir organisation and the courses required, they willneed their current registration number as this is only forschools transferring from RTFs to ATOs, not new appli-cations.

2. The ATO will need a manual. This manual willcover operations, management, training, SMS and com-pliance and monitoring.

3. The school will need to submit the fee.The Manual:

The CAA will supply a template manual with a guideon the free CD. This covers operations, training, safetyand compliance.

All the school needs to do is add their unique compa-ny information and procedures, writing the manual to away that works for their particular needs. It is,Wickenden was keen to impress, your individual manualand the one from which your company will work.

Fees:

1. For existing RTFs applying to be an ATO using aCAA manual template it will be £100 per RTF, that is percompany not per course.

2. For RTFs using their own manual, however, the feewill be £1000, plus however many extra hours is neces-sary to examine the manual at £172 per hour, up to£2,500.

3. There is also an annual charge of £430 per year,which will first be payable on 1st April 2015. This is one

fee per school irrespective of the number of courses orsites. New ATOs with no RTF background will becharged an annual fee of £560.

4. Any additional course added will get a charge of anadditional £54 as will any additional site added.

Audits:

The CAA will be making audits of all the ATOs newor old. This, they explained, will help spread best prac-tice, and that CAA and ATOs will both learn from theexperience.

Audits will be done with the first 24 months of anATOs application, but for new ATOs the audit must takeplace prior to the application.

There will be continuation audits on a nominal 24month cycle.

What is involved in an audit?Checking the manual, looking at the management

structure of the company, SMS ad compliance, materialrecords, documents, publication, training records, andlogbooks etc.

What do you need to do now?

1. Use sample manual and make it specific.2. Submit application forms, manual and fees as soon

as possible and definitely by December 2014.3. 31st December 2014 is the latest time an application

can be submitted in order to guarantee the issue of theATO by 8th April 2015.

Other factors:

Pilots must have EASA licences in order to fly aircraftcovered by EASA regulations.

EASA licence holders can fly Annex 11 (older and dif-ferent) aircraft but not vice versa. This is not true for hel-icopter and when I asked how this regulation was goingto be worked out I was told the CAA would “get back toyou on that.”

NB anyone originally issued with a national licencestill has it, as these were issued for life. The difficultyarises with JAA licences as these are not ‘for life’ andhence have renewing options.

Third countries not covered by EASA:Channel Islands, Isle of Man, USA, non European

countries, Africa, Australia, Russia etcHolders of third country licences must have an indi-

vidual validation issued by the member state where theyare resident or established before they can fly underEASA. This validation is granted once and is annual bymay be extended.

EASA licence regulations regarding third countries aredeferred until 2015.NB: I wrote to the CAA asking for clarification on the

questions on which they had said they “will get back to

you” but had received no reply by the time we went to

press.


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View. Caleb Garling, writing for theSFGate Tech Chronicles, said thatthe proximity to Google's headquar-ters, and apparently robust fundingsupporting 50 employees, with post-ings online looking for more techni-cal staff, suggests that Google maybe involved. Ilan Kroo, a professorof aeronautics at Stanford, hasbeen CEO of zee.Aero since 2011,according to his online profile.

Passenger jumps from R44

61-year-old man flying as passen-ger in a Robinson R44 tour heli-copter near Newport Beach,California, appears to have openedthe door and jumped out whileroughly 500 feet above the ocean,according to local police. The manwas recoveredfrom the water and later pro-nounced dead at an area hospital.During the flight the man openedthe helicopter's door and jumpedout whilethe pilot attempted to restrain him,the pilot's father told the LosAngeles Times. Informationacquired so far by the FAA appearsto concur with the pilot’s account.“The only passenger on boardopened the door and jumped intothe water,” FAA spokesman IanGregor told local news stations viaemail. Local police are investigat-ing the incident as a possible sui-cide. Both the FAA and NewportBeach police are investigating theincident. The deceased man’sbrother reportedly said his brothersuffered from a debilitating medicalcondition and had been unable tofund the treatment he needed.

Radioactive Pilots

Pilots who fly at high altitudes forbusiness or commercial aviationare exposed to as much radiation as

workers in nuclear power plants, andthat exposure is climbing as airlinesfly polar routes more often, accord-ing to NASA. During a typical polarflight, pilots are exposed to theequivalent of two chest X-rays, anexposure rate 3 to 5 times higherthan flights at lower latitudes.“Multiplied over the course of acareer,” says NASA, “this can causeproblems such as increased risk ofcancer and possibly cataracts.” Thespace agency is working on its mod-els for predicting the intensity ofradiation so flight planners can altercourse to avoid the most intenseradiation events.

Don’t Crash at Nashville!

It took six hours for anyone tonotice that a Canadian-registeredCessna 172 had crashed and burnedat Nashville International Airport,killing the pilot. Apparently,the pilot of the aircraft attempted toland unannounced at the majorairport but details are few. TheTennessean says the aircraft, regis-tered to the Windsor Flying Club inOntario, is estimated to have crashedsometime after 3 a.m.on Runway 2C, the middle of threeparallel runways at the airport.

Jetman flies above Mount Fuji

Yves Rossy flew his unique jet-pow-ered wingsuit above Mount Fujinine times, as part of a celebrationof the mountain's official designa-tion as a World Heritage Site. Eachof the flights lasts about 10 minutes.When the fuel is exhausted, Rossydeploys a parachute for landing. Itwas Rossy's first flight in Asia. “It'sa fantastic privilege to be a littlemosquito flying in front of that bigmountain," Rossy told reporters onWednesday. "It's really impressive.It's a perfect form, a huge mountain,

Royal Aero Club Bursaries

Aged between 16 years and 21years? Got a basic air sport qualifi-cation? Want to advance your airsport qualifications but lack thefunds? Would £1,000 help yourealise your air sport ambitions?The Royal Aero Club Trustannounces its bursary scheme foryoung people for the 2014 season.THE CLOSING DATE FOR APPLI-CATIONS IS 31 MARCH 2014.Full details, rules and an applicationform are available on the Royal AeroClub Trust web site: www.royalaeroclubtrust.org

Slovakian Flying Car

Slovakian company that has beenworking on a flying-car design sincethe 1990s, recently flew its aircraftfor the first time. The company saysit aims for the design to be a ‘realroadable aircraft’ that combines theperformance of a sports car with thequalities of a light aircraft. The air-plane that flew is the third-genera-tion prototype, which the companysaid aims to be "stylish, comfortablefor the driver and the passenger."In its auto configuration, theAeromobil fits into standard parkingspaces, and can be fueled at any gasstation. It runs with a 100 hp Rotax912 engine and, in its airplane con-figuration, has a top speed of 124mph and a range of 430 miles. It'sconstructed of a steel frameworkwith a carbon-fibre coating.

Google’s Flying Car?

A blogger in San Francisco pub-lished patent drawings that showdesigns for a battery-powered “per-sonal aircraft” with vertical takeoffand landing capabilities, in develop-ment by zee.Aero, a somewhat mys-terious company based in Mountain


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a huge volcano, a presence that you can feel on theground and also in the air.”

Lady Gaga dressed for flying

At the launch of her fourth album, Artpop, in NewYork in November, Lady Gaga, the flamboyantsinger, flew 20 feet (6 m) into the air. To do this shewore the world’s first flying dress, designed byTechHaus, the technical branch of House of Gaga,which took two years to make. Once landed LadyGaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, saidher flight was: “a small step for Volantis but a bigstep for Lady Gaga!”The flying dress, a platform with four battery pow-ered rotors, was controlled remotely.

RotorMotion bought by Castle Air

After sixteen years operating rotary wing executivecharter and flying illustrious clients from the DalaiLama to Prime Ministers, rock stars to Royalty, fromRedhill Aerodrome, RotorMotion announced inNovember that it has completed its sale to CastleAir.The deal will see RotorMotion’s fleet of Agusta109’s relocate to Castle Air’s new Biggin Hill centreof operations to augment their existing A109 fleet.RotorMotion’s Operations Manager, Sue Spencer,and Operations Assistant, Declan Lehane, are includ-ed in the move.Captain Philip Amadeus, founder and ManagingDirector of RotorMotion, will take on a new role asan independent aviation consultant through a newfirm Amadeus Aviation. He will facilitate the transi-tion by servicing RotorMotion’s existing clienteleand also develop new charter business and aircraftsales.Amadeus, who was dubbed a ‘hero’ after successful-ly landing PM David Cameron despite a gear failure

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said, “After a tragic and tumultuous year, this marks a newphase. I am excited about the possibilities that lie aheadand am looking forward to developing the executive char-ter business in the South East.”

Gliding on the Edge of Space

The not-for-profit Perlan Project aims to raise more than$2 million to build the Perlan II sailplane and send it to anear-space altitude of more than 90,000 feet. The projecthopes to use "stratospheric mountain waves and the polarvortex" to reach the target altitudes and to collect atmos-pheric data along the way. Flying in near-vacuum condi-tions, the aircraft will need to reach near-transonic speedsto create enough lift for flight. The project predicts build-ing costs to exceed $1.4 million with equipment and flighttesting to add an additional $800,000. Perlan II is meant toextend the efforts of the NASA Dryden Perlan Project,which included Steve Fossett and in 2006 set a record foraltitude in an unpowered aircraft.

Electric powered Flight

The two-seat e-volo Volocopter rotorcraft flew inside anarena in Karlsruhe, Germany, in November. The aircraftmade several flights to nearly 70 feet. The company said,the flight was vibration-free. The rotors are powered byeighteen small, quiet electric motors. The company saidthe design is highly redundant, and the distributed energysupply is virtually fail-proof. “Nearly all problems of nor-mal helicopters are thereby solved,” according to the newsrelease. The aircraft was flown remotely. E-volo managingdirector Stephan Wolf admitted that, due to the complexstructure of the rotorcraft and its lightweight carbon struc-ture, it was not possible to accurately simulate how thefirst flight would go, and if it would be vibration-free.

Two-seat electrically powered Volocopter

59 Great Ormond Street, London WC1N-3Hz, England.Telephone: 020-7430-2384, Email: [email protected] include your name, and email or phone.

Helipads for Sierra Leone

Dear Georgina,I would like to let you know that the concession for

the two new international standard Heli-pad sites atAberdeen and Lungi, has been awarded to my compa-ny 'Air Sierra Ltd.' (AS)

AS will manage the sites, I am therefore, inviting hel-icopter operators to the locations from which they willrun their own operations. This will include charterwork for the mining companies in the provinces,NGO's, the various oil companies now undertakingoff-shore exploration and the passenger shuttle serviceto Lungi. There are many international flights BA isincreasing to 4 flights a week. There are other possibil-ities such as Medivac and governmental opportunitiesfor charter.

The operators can be based at either location and willpay AS a annual rental fee, this will include unlimitedlanding fees and parking. Office space is available andother facilities if required.

I would help any new operator to adjust to the localconditions and advise them as may be required inorder to help make their business successful.Depending on the amount of help wanted a separateconsultancy contract would be available if required.Both sites will be ready to begin flight operations byNovember 2013.

I am attaching some Photo's of the sites for yourinterest. If you know of any operators that would beinterested to take up this opportunity, I would bepleased if you can facilitate in this process.

Kind regards,Roger Nathan.

Air Sierra Ltd (AS)[email protected]

leTTerS To The ediTor

10 HELICOPTER LIFE, Winter 2013

Letters are continued on page 13, 17 and 45

Aberdeen helipad and

terminal

Lungi helipad

Lungi terminal

Helicopter on Aberdeen helipad


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Airbox Aerospace Limited, the digital mapping, sit-uational awareness and navigation company, hasconfirmed it will be providing ANWB Medical

Air Assistance B.V., the Dutch HEMS operator with a newtablet software application for iPad called PANDA, anadvanced planning, navigation and situational awarenessapp.

William Moore, Airbox’ Chief Technical Officer andco-founder of the company explained, “Airbox hasworked hard with ANWB to create a bespoke packagebased on our successful RunwayHD mapping engineavailable for GA pilots. PANDA, however, allows formuch more than simple planning and navigation with newfeatures such as an offline street search and wires avoid-ance warning capabilities which makes this one of themost advanced aids to HEMS operators in the world.”

“The Airbox PANDA system provides all our pilots andnavigators with a powerful reference tool without distract-ing them from the task at hand. It provides hugelyenhanced situational awareness in the high stress environ-ment of the cockpit which saves time and ultimately liveswhen in use.” Said an ANWB spokesperson.

PANDA (Planning, Awareness, Navigation, DocumentsApp) is an all encompassing application providing pilotswith an unprecedented level of functionality including full

flight planning ability, airspace awareness including warn-ings, in-fight navigation, geo-referenced approach plates,advanced satellite weather overlays, an obstacle and theoverhead wires collision avoidance system, and remotetasking etc.

The mapping engine, originally developed for theGeneral Aviation consumer market gives users the abilityto access and view multiple map scales and styles at anyone time including ICAO charts right down to high detailstreet level mapping and photographic imagery ifrequired. Because chart, airfield and location data isstored offline pilots are now able to carry with them digi-tal documentation that previously would have been a prac-tical impossibility due to volume of paper required.

Airbox worked with ANWB to add a powerful on andoffline search function for PANDA, which allows users tosearch, locate and fly to locations such as towns, land-marks and even individual numbered houses on streets.

The company is hoping to continue the rollout of itsPANDA system to more HEMS operators across Europeand beyond.

Interested parties should contact William Moore atAirbox directly on [email protected] or viathe website www.airboxmissionsystems.net

TeChnoloGy For heliCopTerS

new

Dutch HEMS Panda

for iPad provided by

AirBox


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continued from page 10

Rocks from Kenya

Hey GeorginaThis is what can happen to a H300c when you fly

through an explosion from road blasting! Fortunately, wewere at 600agl and only flew through the small stones.Rocks the size of a dining-room chair were only about 20ftbelow and fortunately we only went through the edge!!

Best,Alastair Llewelyn

continued on page 45

To The ediTormore leTTerS

HELICOPTER LIFE Winter 201314

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David Oliver discovers Rosvertol is moving to

Bataysk Air Base

Rosvertol on the Move

Having produced Mil OKB-designed helicopterssince 1956, the Rostvertol aviation plant inRostov-on-Don 800 km south of Moscow, sur-

vived the difficult years after the Soviet Union implodedand now has a workforce of 8,500 working in two shiftsproducing more than 25 helicopters annually.

Director General Boris Slyusar told Helicopter Lifethat Rostvertol’s 2013 output will increase by 17 percentover 2012 and that it has a backlog of production until2017.

In 2012, Rostvertol invested $100 million in new tech-nology to increase its composite construction capability.Japanese machine tools, European spiral-winding com-posite rotor blade machinery, and the establishment of adynamic testing laboratory that will come on stream nextyear are all part of the investment package.

Rostvertol manufactures the spirally wound compositemain rotor blades for the Mi-28 and Mi-35, and the Mi-26 blades that have a one-piece tubular steel spar withhoneycomb filled composite pockets. The company is

also set to become the centre for the production of tailrotor blades for all Mil types including the Mi-8/17 fami-ly, it designed a new more efficient Mi-2 tail rotor afterproduction in Poland ceased. Metal blades for early Mi-24 variants are still in production.

Birthplace of the iconic Mi-24 Hind in 1969,Rostvertol is still producing the latest variant, the Mi-35M, along side the Mi-28 combat helicopter and theheavy lift Mi-26. When the facility was built it was onthe outskirts of Rostov but now the construction of newhousing is encroaching on the factory’s boundaries andits flight test airfield. Director General Slusar revealedto Helicopter Life that the company has a five-year planto move the facility to the former Russian Air Forcetraining base at Bataysk, 20 km south of the city, begin-ning with the flight test centre in 2015. Bataysk Air Basewas the home of the 801st Training Aviation Regimentwhere many leading Soviet cosmonauts, including ViktorGorbatko, Yevgeniy Khrunov and Vladimir MilhaylovichKomarov, first learned to fly. The base closed in 1993.

HELICOPTER LIFE Winter 2013

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Back to the present, a new variant of the Mi-28Nmade its first flight from Rostov-on-Don on 9August. The Mi-28UB combat training variant fea-tures and enlarged rear cockpit for the instructorpilot but retains the type’s full attack capability andunique crew emergency system. The main differ-ence between the new Mi-28UB and the Mi-28NNight Hunter is the dual hydromechanical flightcontrol system that enables the helicopter to beflown from either the pilot’s forward cockpit or theflight instructor’s rear cockpit. The area of the flightinstructor’s cockpit has been increased, with anexpansion in the pilot canopy and change to theconfiguration of the energy-absorbing seats.Rostvertol’s chief engineer, Andrey Varfolomeyevadmitted that the modifications have added weightto the helicopter but it was built to Russian AirForce specifications.

When activated, the Mi-28’s unique emergencysystem jettisons the crew doors, blasts away the

Mi-28N and Mi-24V outside the

Rosvertol flight centre

New Mi-28UB

stub wings and inflates an air bag beneath each door toprotect the crew from striking the landing gear when theyparachute from the helicopter.

At the time of Helicopter Life’s visit two Mi-28Ns wereundergoing flight tests, with five in final assembly plusthree early production aircraft undergoing upgrades, andone damaged in a hard landing, being rebuilt. More than1,600 Mi-24 Hind variants have left the Rostvertol produc-tion lines over the past four decades and the latest Mi-35Mvariant continues to be delivered to the Russian ArmedForces and several export customers. At the time ofHelicopter Life’s visit, five of fifty Mi-35Ms for theRussian Air Force and a single Russian Border GuardForce aircraft were in final assembly with another under-going flight trials while the last three of 12 ordered by theBrazilian Air Force were being prepared for delivery.Earlier Russian Air Force Mi-24V helicopters were alsobeing refurbished and upgraded

Rostvertol Director General Boris Slyusar toldHelicopter Life that there would be no more redesigns ofthe airframe by the company was working on enhance-ments of the Mi-35’s avionics and weapons systems.

At a earlier meeting in Moscow, Russian Helicoptersthen CEO Dmitry Petrov told Helicopter Life that develop-ment of its High Speed Russian Advanced CommercialHelicopter (RACHEL) project to replace the Mi-8/17 fam-ily in 2018, is forging ahead with a decision on the power-plants, which could be either Russian or Western, to bemade before the end of the year. A flying test bed is beingbuilt around a Mil Mi-35 with a new rotor system to setspeed parameters and validate systems, so the iconic Hindis guaranteed to reach a half century of useful life.

Russian Air Force Mi-35M prepared for

flight testing


Helicopter Training Type Rating on the Rotorway 162F by Georgina Hunter-Jones

see: http://www.helicopterlife.blogspot.com

Iam doing a type rating on the Rotorway 162F. This,plus further hours up to 15 in total, will allow me toexamine and teach owners on the kit helicopter series

the Rotorway. My teacher is John Jackson and I amlearning at Street Farm in Stansted, the home of the UKRotorway distributors.

We started with theory. This is particularly interestingas the Rotorway 162F is a kit helicopter and as such hasdifferences from the main series of factory built helicop-ters. Some of these differences are intrinsic to theRotorway, others are normal for two blade helicopters.We started with Rotorway Foibles!

The 162F has three main foibles. These are not disad-vantages, they are interesting and significant differenceswhich should be taken into account while flying.

First, it has a lag between action and reaction whenyou move the controls. A time delay between a controlinput and the response. This is a function of rotorheadcontrol and balance, takes a while to get used to and canlead to a new pilot over-controlling, even if he is alreadyused to flying helicopters.

Secondly, the 162F has a tendency towards flapback(the act of the rotor disc flapping away from the relativewind). As with any helicopter the main rotor blade will

lift on the occurrence of a gust or while transitioning,owing to increased airflow but the 162F is particularlysensitive because of the large, effective horizontal stabi-lizer. In time a new pilot learns to compensate for this aswith any unusual aspect of a helicopter.

Thirdly, the blades are asymmetrical and do not havewashout (twist), which leads to ‘spread of lift’ along theblade, instead of parts of the blade lifting more than oth-ers. The effect is movement in pitch, which needs to becompensated for by the pilot. In practice most peoplequickly get used to this.

When flying the Rotorway series for the first time it ishelpful to compare it with the Robinson R22, as theyhave many similarities and some difference.

Firstly, the are both light, two bladed machines. TheRotorway is the heavier machine with a 975 lbs (442kgs) empty weight and a useful load of 522lbs (238 kgs)compared to the R22 empty weight of 865 lbs (392 kgs)and a useful load of 510 lbs (229kgs). Secondly, beingnarrow but dual controlled helicopters they both have tocompensate for the distance the controls need to coverwithout hitting the sides of the machine. Robinson com-pensated for this in his R22 by using the ‘T’ bar, while inthe Rotorway they used stiffness.


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Thirdly, they both have relatively small piston engines. TheRotorway has a 2.6 litre engine with revolutions per minute upto 4,250 giving a nominal value of 150 bhp. The R22 has a 5.3litre engine, with rpm of 2,300, which gives 138 bhp. This is avery significant difference in that Robinson has clearly gonefor a larger low-revving larger engine, while Rotorway hasopted for a smaller, higher revving engine, which actuallygives more power but at the long term expense of its compo-nents, which do not like the vibration.

While the R22 engine will need a major overhaul at 2200hours in the Rotorway this is 500 for a major overhaul butwith a top overhaul at 250 hours. While this sounds as thoughthe R22 is a significantly more cost effective helicopter it isworth bearing in mind that few private owners do more than50 hours a year, and most much less and their is a consider-able difference in purchase and maintenance costs.

Before we set off on the first flight JJ pointed out someimportant factor to notice with the machine. These are true ofany helicopter but are particularly pronounced in theRotorway.

Firstly, tail rotor performance. As with any helicopter if theRPM decays the tail rotor becomes less effective, however inthe Rotorway this is very noticeable. When I was later doingturns on the spot (NB to the left not to the right so this not afunction of the drag of the machine) I allowed the RPM todroop and found my feet were suddenly becoming very inef-fective in the turn. However, once the RPM was increased tothe green range this was fine.

Secondly, manifold pressure. MAP is related to RPM andthrottle position, and hence is not a true reflection of enginepower. Again this is normal with any helicopter but is morepronounced with the Rotorway. The point being that you can-not simply raise the lever to get more power, you must alsomonitor the RPM and will generally need to increase it. Thiscan be hard for R22 pilots who have a governor and thus arenot used to moving the throttle. However, for those who learnton the Schweizer series this is completely normal.

Thirdly, the clockwise moving main rotor. With power youneed right pedal and in autorotation you need left pedal. Thisis the opposite direction from the normal US helicopters anddoes need to be taken into account. Pilots who have learnt onthe Cabri will find this completely normal, others will not.

Now for the check ‘A’.Checking the Rotorway means taking off the panels and

looking inside. Once these are off you get a clear view of theengine, the control rods, the gear chain in the oil bath in thedog house, the control belts and the fans, the primary and sec-ondary shafts.

The oil dipstick is behind the pilot’s seat. The engine is liq-uid cooled and there is a reservoir to check. Make sure the topis put back securely or you can have problems with liquidspilling onto the belts below.

Next issue onto flying the Rotorway. Or see the blog.

Rotorway

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Around the WorldWorld Vision Mexico helps Flooded

The Eurocopter Foundation and NGO World VisionMexico have joined forces to distribute food andhumanitarian aid to the communities affected by

Hurricane Ingrid and Tropical Storm Manuel. This agree-ment provides 30 helicopter flight hours to reach com-munities in the most devastated regions of the country,inaccessible by land.

In order to assist those affected by the recent stormsthat affected multiple areas of Mexico, the EurocopterFoundation has teamed up with the NGO World VisionMexico.

“The hurricane left various communities in a dramaticsituation, which is further aggravated by the inability toaccess these zones by land,” said Martha YanethRodríguez, General Manager of World Vision Mexico.“Helicopters are undoubtedly an excellent alternative,enabling us to get humanitarian aid to totally devastatedand inaccessible zones.”

This humanitarian organization collects and distributesfood and basic necessities and is one of the entitiesworking together with the Mexican authorities under the

Civil Emergency Plan for natural disasters, known as theDN-III Plan

The operations began last September 28 with a recon-naissance flight by an EC120 in the state of Veracruz.

“It is hugely satisfying for Eurocopter to see first-handhow our helicopters are helping those most in need anddrastically affected by these hurricanes,” said GuillaumeFaury, Chairman of the Board of the EurocopterFoundation. “The provision of support to humanitarianorganizations forms part of our company’s fundamentalvalues and we are quite content with this first urgenthumanitarian action by our foundation together withWorld Vision Mexico.”

Meanwhile, on October 3, World Vision Mexico beganits operations in Guerrero, the state worst affected by thetropical storms, with an EC130 B4. Based at the NGO’soperational center in Ometepec, this helicopter hasalready airlifted more than a ton of food and personalhygiene items to people living in Ometepec,Cuajinicuilapa and Xochistlahuaca.


AS365n3+ Dauphin for nagoya City Fire

Eurocopter Japan has signed a contract to supplyNagoya with an AS365 N3+ Dauphin for opera-tion by the Nagoya City Fire Bureau as an

upgrade for the service’s existing helicopter resources.Delivery of this new rotorcraft is planned in 2015 to thePacific Coast city of Japan, which is the country’s fourthmost populous urban area.

The Nagoya City Fire Bureau has been usingEurocopter products for over 40 years since introducinghelicopters into its equipment inventory, and it currentlyoperates two AS365s. The aircraft are used for firefight-ing, disaster prevention, emergency medical transportand rescue missions.

Including this contract, Eurocopter Japan has bookedfour orders this year for Dauphin family helicopters –involving the AS365 and EC155 versions. Nagoya’s con-tract follows orders received so far in 2013 from HyogoPrefecture, Hiroshima Prefecture and the MetropolitanPolice Department.

“We are greatly honored to have signed another con-tract with city of Nagoya, with which we have a long-

standing relationship that spans more than 40 years,” saidStephane Ginoux, the President and CEO of EurocopterJapan. “This fourth Dauphin family order in 2013demonstrates a strong endorsement for our services inJapan. We are committed to offering the best and mostcomprehensive support and service to meet our cus-tomers’ needs.”

The 4.5-ton class AS365 N3+ is part of Eurocopter’sDauphin family, and is a highly popular helicopter typefor firefighting services, disaster relief organizations,police agencies as well as news media in Japan andaround the world. Currently, more than 50 AS365s areoperated in Japan.

Eurocopter leads the Japanese firefighting segmentwith a 60 percent market share, thanks to its wide rangeof products, in-country support and services network.Popular models used for firefighting and disaster reliefmissions in Japan include the AS365, the Super Pumafamily, and the BK117 – which is a light twin-enginehelicopter developed jointly with Japan’s KawasakiHeavy Industries.


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gustaWestland announced that Bristow andEverett Aviation have taken delivery twoAW139s, the first to be certified for operations in

Tanzania. Representatives from the Tanzanian CAA havecompleted training in the United States and will belicensed to certify future AW139s in-country.

A third aircraft is expected to be delivered within thisyear and will be dedicated to search and rescue.

Everett Aviation has operated for nearly 20 years, theonly East African commercial operator of twin-enginehelicopters. Everett is a member of the EuropeanHelicopter Operators’ Committee. In addition to the pro-vision of helicopter support to offshore Oil and Gas com-panies, they provide onshore services to internationalmining companies, and medevac services to governmentsand government agencies. www.everettaviation.com.

First AW139s certified in Tanzania

AgustaWestland has delivered a second AW139featuring a highly customized exterior paintingscheme to a South African private customer. This

aircraft is also the 600th AW139 delivered to the globalmarket and it will be used to perform corporate and pas-senger transport in South Africa and Emergency MedicalServices utilizing a quick convertible EMS pod. In addi-tion it will perform the unconventional mission of per-forming aerial game counting to monitor the populations

of wild animals typically found in African game reserves.Equipped with a particle separator system, the per-

formance of the AW139 allows for operations anywherein Africa and in hot and high conditions. This AW139’scabin is provided with a mix of six backward/forward-facing seats with the possibility of quick reconfigurationon a mission by mission basis. The unique aircraft’s paintscheme provides a glimpse of Southern African art andcultural tradition with its primary focus on nature.

South African AW139 for EMS


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Russian Helicopters new Helicopters

Russian Helicopters carried out testing of the newMi-171A2 and Mi-38 helicopters at the NationalHelicopter Building Centre (NHBC) in Tomilino,

Moscow Region. The tests were attended by VladimirKozhin, Chief of the Presidential Property ManagementDirectorate. The NHBC is currently carrying out the firstround of testing on the medium multi-role Mi-171A2 andthe third round of tests on the transport and passengerMi-38. The helicopters were demonstrated at the MAKS-2013 airshow in August, and can be used for VIP trans-port and corporate purposes.

In line with the testing programme, the Mi-171A2 suc-cessfully completed testing of its on-board systems andnew Klimov BARK-6S-7V automatic engine manage-ment system, which increases engine efficiency in vari-ous modes of operation. It is expected that the developerwill start ground tests and flight-testing of the Mi-171A2

by the end of December 2013. The NHBC is simultane-ously carrying out the latest stage in the third phase oftesting for a prototype Mi-38 fitted with Russian-madeTV7-117V engines by Klimov, including ground-basedtesting.

Vladimir Kozhin was briefed on the progress of test-ing of the new Russian-built helicopters. He praised thepotential of the Mi-38 and Mi-171A2, and noted thatRussia has always been a leading producer of mediumand heavy-lift helicopters. Kozhin stressed that today’sMi-8 series helicopters are the mainstay of the fleet ofthe Russia Special Flight Detachment, which provides airtransport services for senior state officials.

The new multi-role Mi-171A2 and the new transportand passenger Mi-38 are core projects for RussianHelicopters in the medium sector and can be configuredin specialised VIP versions.


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Bristow introducing AW189s

AW189 Maiden Flight

Bristow Helicopters Ltd. is set to introduce the firstof six AgustaWestland (AW189) helicopters to itsoil and gas customers.

The eight tonne aircraft, which is capable of carrying16 passengers, will support GDF SUEz E&P UK’s rap-idly expanding E&P operations in the Central andSouthern North Sea from Q2 2014. The twin enginehelicopter will be based at Bristow’s Norwich facility.

Bristow is the first helicopter operator to introducethe AW189 and has six on order for use in the oil andgas sector with the remainder expected by 2015. Thecompany recently signed a contract for 11 Search andRescue AW189s to be used in the delivery of the UKSearch and Rescue contract which the company wasawarded by the Department for Transport.

Mike Imlach, Director of European Operations forBristow Helicopters, commented: “We are delightedthat GDF SUEz E&P UK Ltd is set to become the first

oil and gas company to introduce this new state-of-the-art helicopter to its North Sea operations.

“Designed to operate in harsh conditions and capableof undertaking long range flights, the AW189 effective-ly fills the gap between the medium and heavy helicop-ter markets. We look forward to introducing the remain-ing five to our fleet and the oil and gas sector.

The AW189 is a second Bristow aircraft for GDFSUEz E&P UK Ltd with an existing contract for aSikorsky S-92 operating out of Aberdeen.

Jean-Claude Perdigues, Managing Director, GDFSUEz E&P UK Ltd said: “The AW189 is of the high-est technical specification and we are privileged to pro-vide this new generation aircraft for passenger transfersas we move towards first gas from Cygnus, the largestgas discovery in the Southern North Sea in the last 25years, in 2015.”

AgustaWestland announced that the first produc-tion AW189 8 tonne class twin engine helicopterperformed its maiden flight at Vergiate plant on

2nd october 2013. The aircraft is expected to be deliv-ered to Bristow Helicopters Ltd. by year end to carry outoffshore transport missions in the North Sea, with opera-tional readiness planned in early 2014. Two AW189 heli-copters are currently under assembly in Vergiate. Daniele Romiti, Chief Executive Officer, said“Completing the very first AW189 which will enter oper-

ational service is a tremendous programme achievementto AgustaWestland and to our customer. With this eventwe’ve brought to life the first and only new generationproduction aircraft in its category with an extremelyreduced time to market, meeting the most stringentrequirements set by the relevant authorities and by themarket. With many orders by a number of major cus-tomers already logged to date, we’re confident that thiswill be just the first of hundreds of AW189s to be deliv-ered in the coming years.”

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Life Flight’s 10th AW119Kx

Phillippine Air Force buy AW109 Powers

Unveiled in October 2012, the AW119Kx is thelatest evolution of the proven AW119 singleengine helicopter which features the Garmin

G1000HTM integrated flight deck system, AW119’s per-formance, cabin space and payload. The new avionicssystem includes a synthetic vision system, moving map,highway in the sky and obstacle/terrain avoidance sys-tems for enhanced situational awareness and safety.

Agusta Westland has delivered the 10th aircraft in sup-port of Life Flight Network’s air medical transport mis-sions. The aircraft is also the 150th AW119 from thePhiladelphia assembly line.

Life Flight Network, the launch customer for theAW119Kx, exists to provide air and ground critical caretransportation for seriously ill or injured patients fromthe scene of accident or from one hospital to another.

AgustaWestland announced that thePhilippine Air Force has signed a con-tract for eight AW109 Power light

twin-engine helicopters. The aircraft will beused to perform duties including homelandsecurity, armed reconnaissance and close sup-port. Deliveries will start in 2014. The contractincludes initial logistics support and training foraircrew and maintenance personnel.

This expands the presence of AW in thePhilippines and adds another military cus-tomer for the AW109 Power model in thiscountry, following an order for three aircraftby the Philippine Navy earlier this year. TheAW109 Power configuration will feature adedicated mission and equipment packageincluding a range of weapon systems.


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The Times they are a-Changin

From Summer 2017, a civilian company, BristowHelicopters Ltd, will run the Search and Rescueservice in the United Kingdom. This is a change

from the original military service, but in fact the ‘civil-ianization’ of the SAR service has been being slowly tak-ing place since 2001, with the final phase being imple-mented in stages from 2015. As there has been someanxiety from the general public, and in particular frompeople living on the coast, the government has declaredin writing that there will be a better coverage for all, andthat it was with this in mind that the bases used werechosen:

“These base locations are strategically placed nearareas with high SAR incident rates. Based on historicincident patterns, the government estimates an averageflight time of nineteen minutes instead of the previoustwenty-three, and believes that the new service will raisethe percentage of high-risk areas reachable within thirtyminutes from 70% to 85%.”

Historically there has been a search and rescue servicesince 1809, when the Preventative Water Guard wasestablished. Its primary role was to prevent smuggling,but it was also responsible for giving assistance to ship-wrecks. By the Second World War, there were sufficientnumbers of aircraft flying for aircrew to need as muchassistance as sailors so, in 1941, the RAF created aSearch and Rescue team using Supermarine Spitfires and

Boulton Paul Defiants. The RAF used fixed wing untilthe early 1950s, when helicopters took over the SAR roleusing Sea Kings. They also worked in the mountains ofGreat Britain and coordinated with the mountain rescueservices.

It was not until 1971 that civilian companies took overa few of the SAR roles. The first civilian company to doso was Bristow, its Sikorsky S55 helicopters replacingthe RAF Whirlwinds at RAF Manston in Kent. In theNorth Sea, Bristow took over more SAR roles andbecame the main SAR provider as part of their greaterservice provision to the oil and gas industry. In 1982,Bristow took over Sumburgh in The Shetlands.

BP founded the Jigsaw Project in the North Sea, whichwas used for SAR and to assist sick or injured oil-rigemployees. It became fully operational in 2006, whenBond Helicopters won the SAR contract for rescues pre-viously done by the RAF and Coastguard.

Efficiency drives in the 1990s led to the introductionof Her Majesty's Coastguard, a government executiveagency. In 1998, the Marine Safety Agency and theCoastguard Agency were joined together to become theMaritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

In 2001, a government study emphasized the benefitsof increasing the private financing of public projects andin 2006, the government announced plans to completelyprivatize provision of search and rescue helicopters in

Georgina Hunter-Jones looks at the history of Helicopters in

Search and Rescue in the United Kingdom


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order to replace the aging helicopters (predominantly SeaKings) currently in use. A contract was put out to tender.

In February 2010, the consortium Soteria SAR wasannounced as the ‘preferred bidder’ for the UK SAR pro-gramme. However, on 8 February 2011, only a few daysbefore the contract was due to be signed, the UKGovernment halted the process after Soteria admitted thatit had unauthorised access to commercially sensitiveinformation regarding the programme.

The government announced it would then have to rene-gotiate the SAR project and while that was happening a‘Gap’ contract was tendered for the existing MCA bases.

On 28 November 2011, the Department for Transportbegan the procurement process for UK Search andRescue (SAR) helicopter services by issuing a contractnotice in the Official Journal of the European Union.

In February 2012, it was announced that BristowHelicopters would take over the running of Stornowayand Sumburgh, using four Sikorsky S-92s, while CHCHelicopters, using AgustaWestland AW139s, would retainPortland and Lee on Solent. This Gap contract was to runfor four years and would involve working with theMaritime and Coastguard Agency. It started in the sum-mer of 2013.

In March 2013, the Department for Transportannounced that it had a signed a contract with BristowHelicopters Ltd to provide Search and Rescue HelicopterServices in the UK, operations commencing progressive-ly from 2015. The new service is expected to be fullyoperational across the United Kingdom by Summer 2017.

Bristow Helicopters will use both the original SikorskyS-92s and AgustaWestland AW189s, based in ten loca-tions around the UK, an increase from the current fourMCA bases at Stornoway, Shetland, Portland and Lee-on-Solent. The new service will operate in a similar mannerto the existing MCA contract and will run for 7-10 years.The contract will be managed by the MCA. All bases willbe operational 24 hours a day. These base locations arestrategically placed near areas with high SAR incidentrates.

Bristow Helicopters Ltd and the MOD have agreed aspecial transition between spring 2015 and early 2016, toallow Service Personnel who wish to continue to work inUK SAR to do so without risking the current militaryservice provision. Civilian personnel currently workingfor UK SAR will also have the opportunity to work withBristow Helicopters Ltd

The RAF and RN SAR bases: RAF Boulmer; RAFValley; RAF Lossiemouth; Royal Naval Air Station(RNAS) Culdrose and HMS Gannet at Prestwick, plusWattisham, Chivenor and Leconfield will revert to theirpure military roles and their future will no longer belinked to the UK SAR.

S-92 on GAP Search

and Rescue contract

Sikorsky S92 helicopters will continue to be based atthe existing MCA bases at Stornoway and Sumburgh,and at new bases at Newquay, Caernarfon andHumberside airports, while the AgustaWestland AW189helicopters will operate from Lee on Solent, Prestwickairport, and new bases at St Athan, Inverness andManston airports.

The remaining working Sea Kings will now be retiredfrom SAR service.

The S-92 can carry its crew of 4, plus 3 stretchers andup to 10 passengers, to an operational radius beyond 250nautical miles.

The ten smaller AgustaWestland AW189 twin-enginehelicopters will operate from Lee on Solent andPrestwick airport, and from new bases at St Athan,Inverness and Manston airports. The eleven AW189s willbe built at AgustaWestland’s Yeovil facility in Britain,these will be brought into service with Bristow between2015 – 2017. The AW189 can carry its crew of four, plustwo stretchers and up to six passengers, to an operationalradius beyond 200 nautical miles.

Each base will host two SAR helicopters, which willbe on-call at all times, and are expected to be fully serv-iceable. Since no machine has a 100% readiness record,it is presumed that Bristow will keep one spare helicopterof each type as the gap-filler.


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Balkan Hawks

Macedonia, officially the Republic ofMacedonia, is located in the central BalkanPeninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of

the states of former Yugoslavia, from which it declaredindependence in 1991. Macedonia became a memberof the United Nations in 1993. The Republic ofMacedonia is bordered by Kosovo to the northwest,Serbia to the north, Bulgaria to the east, Greece to thesouth and Albania to the west. Macedonia is a memberof the UN (1993) and the Council of Europe. SinceDecember 2005 it has also been a candidate for joiningthe European Union and has applied for NATO mem-bership. Law enforcement in the Former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia is the responsibility of theMinistry of Internal Affairs (MOI). Headquartered in

Skopje and headed by a Government-appointedDirector for a four-year mandate, the Ministry’s Bureaufor Public Security runs the national Police Force. TheMacedonian Police is playing a vital role in the coun-try’s security; an important role is played by theMacedonian Police Aviation Unit which has a long andrich history in the region.

The Macedonian Police aviation unit “Hawks”(Helikopterska Edinica “Jastrebi”) operates currently asmall fleet of various helicopters out of PetrovecAirport and Indrizovo, the latter is the mainMacedonian Police station, located about 15 kilometresto the east of Petrovec airport. Various types are cur-rently in use ranging from the AB.206, AB.212, AB.412to the in the 2008 procured Mi-17V5 (2) and Mi-171

Paul Kievit and Carlo Kuit visit the Macedonian PolicePhotographs by Bronco Aviation

27HELICOPTER LIFE, Winter 2013

(2) heavy transport helicopters. The latter were original-ly planned to be delivered to the new established IraqiAir Force. As this deal did not materialize theMacedonian Police acquired these helicopters to sup-port their tasks and expand capabilities especially nightoperations and support of the Special Task Unit (STU).

The official name of the Macedonian Police AviationUnit is Oddel za vozduhoplovni edinici, which trans-

lates as Aircraft Unit of the Macedonian Police.Macedonian Police helicopters are used by the Ministryof Internal Affairs (MOI) for various tasks: VIP trans-port, transport of cargo and the special police units(STU/ Special Task Unit), Border monitoring, Searchand Rescue (SAR) missions, Medevac and Traffic sur-veillance. The Hawks unit was formed in 1969 and for40 years has been operating Bell-designed helicopters.

The Macedonian Ministry of

Internal Affairs Policija Na

Republika Makedonija, oper-

ates two Mi-171's and two Mi-

17V-5's in its Helikopterska

Edinica “Jastrebi” out of

Petrovec-Skopje.

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The addition of the four Mi-17 helicopters came as asurprise in both Macedonia and abroad, especially con-sidering the experience the MOI has with its smallwestern-made fleet and at the same time, the logisticalproblems the Macedonian Air Brigade is currently hav-ing with its Mi-17 and Mi-24V helicopters in terms ofspare parts.

The Mi-171 helicopters are currently part of anextensive upgrade under the so-called ‘Balkan’ pro-gramme. Elbit Systems is involved in the upgradewhich seems similar to the ‘Alexander’ upgrade to bothMi-17 and Mi-24s of the Macedonian Air Brigadethough detailed information remains scarce at themoment. Dragi Micev Head of the Aviation Departmentdetails “The first stage of the upgrade consists ofadding Night Vision Capabilities and has been imple-mented by now. Stage 2 comprises of a Moving Map,upgraded Radio and GPS amongst others. Both PoliceMi-171 helicopters should be upgraded by the end of2013”. Further details were not revealed during theAuthors’ visit.

The Hawks are currently working with reduced num-bers of staff, which puts a lot of pressure on pilots andtechnicians. “Our pilots and mechanics are mainly exAir Force staff” the Head of the Aviation DepartmentDragi Micev continues. “We have experienced seniorpersonnel; however there is a continuous pressure as wework with a team of around 30 people in total.Maintenance of our helicopters is executed on base bythe Unit. After 600 hours of flight the helicopters areoverhauled abroad. There is always a challenge to allowfor holidays, but also keep a 24/7 alert in case of emer-

gency”. Currently three student pilots are being trainedwithin the unit to relieve the pressures of the seniorpilots on base also acting as examiners. Two of themare expected to finalize their training soon. “We couldeasily double our headcount in order to achieve all ouractivities and put less pressure on the current team”.Dragi Micev says. “Our main challenge is to expand thenumber of pilots and work with the budget we are pro-vided by the MOI. In the most optimal scenario wewould like to have forty-eight pilots”. The MacedonianPolice student examiners consist now of the Head of theAviation Department Dragi Micev and the former Headof the unit. It takes up to 135 flight hours to completethe training phase.

As of 2014 it is expected the first student class ofPolice pilots will be trained by the newly establishedPilot Training Center (PTC) at Petrovec Air Base. ThePTC is a joint venture between Elbit Systems of Israeland Macedonian Ministry of Defence dating back toMay 2011. Currently the PTC trains two classes for theAir Brigade utilizing zlin 142s and a sole AB.206, intotal four AB.206s will be operated by the PTC over thenext year to allow for a smooth transition on the Mi-17and Mi-24 helicopters. “The main difference in require-ments for the Police pilots is we do not require an aca-demic background” says Dragi Micev.

The Augusta Bell AB.206 and Agusta-Bell AB.212have been in the Macedonian inventory since the early1970s. During 2000, Taiwan announced it would donateone Bell UH-1H utility helicopter to the MacedonianAir Force and Air Defence Forces. This decision of theTaiwan Government was later changed, owing to objec-

Members of the Special

Training Unit (STU) exercise

a tactical deployment from

the sole Bell 412EP in use by

the Macedonian Police.

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The Bell 206 is used

for training

The history of the Special Task Unit

(STU) dates back to 1980.

After the independence of the Republic of

Macedonia in 1991, under the Ministry of

Interior, the Militia became a Special task unit

an elite part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The STU operates with Macedonian Police

Aviation Unit

tions from the United States. Taiwan decided instead todonate US 5 million to the Macedonian Government tobe used for procurement of one new helicopter fromBell Helicopter TEXTRON. The MacedonianGovernment decided to acquire one Bell 412EP whichwas delivered to the Macedonian Police Aviation Uniton November 22, 2000. The helicopter received the seri-al z3-HHC and is has recently been recoded to MAP-7752 as part of new legislation of the Civil AviationAuthority (CAA) where MAP is the abbreviation ofMacedonian Police.

The main roles for the Macedonian Police AviationUnit, since its establishment in 1969, focus on monitor-ing the borders of Yugoslavia with Bulgaria, Greece andAlbania, humanitarian missions and other activities topreserve and protect the interests of Macedonia. The fullBorder Patrol role, with all those responsibilities, wastaken over from the Air Brigade some years ago. One ofthe new roles that came up as a new task for the Policeis conducting Commercial flights. In practice everybodycan hire one of the Police helicopters for travel inMacedonia, a pricelist is available. The cost of one fly-ing hour is (between 1000 – 4000 euro) around 1.500Euro per hour depending on the helicopter type. “Thedrug enforcement role has become more important, theharbor of Thessaloniki, Greece is very nearby andMacedonia is been used as one of the transit countries”according to Dragi Micev. “Of course, the general crimefighting and prostitution problem from neighbouring


country Albania needs constant attention”. TheMacedonian Police is working with other EuropeanPolice Forces. Tasks are becoming more intensive andmore complicated,” the Head of the AviationDepartment concludes.

During the Autumn of 1972 the initial AB.206 wascompletely destroyed in an incident near the villageLojanje, Shar Planina, near Tetovo. Shortly thereafter,the State Secretariat for Internal Affairs ordered a newAB.206 helicopter from Agusta. The unit was leftwithout a helicopter until 1973, when new AB.206BJetRanger II was made available to the unit. As a resultof their work in the 1990s, the unit received the presti-gious Gold Medal for their work in the field of civilprotection.

After operating a small fleet of Bell helicopters forthirty-five years the Macedonian Police Aviation unitacquired two Mi-171 and two Mi-17V5s late 2008.The helicopters were not procured directly from theRussian helicopter production plants Ulan-UdeAviation Plant (UUAz) and Kazan Helicopter Plant(KVz). Instead, they have been purchased on theEuropean market in order to meet the urgent need forhelicopters that could perform a wide range ofdemanding missions, such as disaster relief and civiloperations under the Ministry of Internal Affairsresponsibility.

The first two Mi-17s were purchased on Nov. 27,2008, with Lithuanian, Kaunas-based AviabaltikaAviation. The second agreement was signed onDecember 23, 2008 with a Finnish registered companyunder a deal for two KVz-produced Mi-17V-5s. All

four helicopters are now operational within theMinistry’s Helicopter Hawks unit located at Petrovecairport. “These new helicopters brought us new chal-lenges” Dragi Micev outlines “The heavy Mi-17 heli-copters have been acquired for new tasks previouslynot in scope of our work. Besides SAR, VIP, standardpolice tasks we are now also involved in border patrolactivities and work closely together with the SpecialTask Unit (STU). The crew of Mi-17 consists of acrew of three, whereas we normally work with a crewof two pilots operating the Bell helicopters”.

The Mi-171s (serials MAP-7710 and MAP-7711)and Mi-17V-5s (MAP-7712 and MAP-7714) all dis-play the Macedonian national flag, Macedonian Policeemblem, Cyrillic inscription “Policija” as well as anEnglish translation “Police.” The new Macedonian Mi-171 helicopters are easily recognizable by the fact thatthey have an Iraqi Air Force colour scheme, the twohelicopters were part of a group that the Iraqi Ministryof Defence refused to take from the Polish companyBumar before acquired by Macedonian Ministry ofInternal Affairs. The Mi-17V-5s are recognizable bytheir overall olive-green colour.

Co-located at Indrizovo Police station is the STU.The history of the Special Task Unit (STU) dates backto 1980 following a decision made by the StateSecretary of Interior to form a new unit for specializedtasks. After the independence of the Republic ofMacedonia in 1991, under the Ministry of Interior, theMilitia became a Special task unit (STU) as an elitepart of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MOI). In thepast the STU has been engaged in supporting major

The two Mi-171's (710 and

711) are the Iraqi machines

that were stored in Poland


The Macedonian Police Aviation unit has

operated a small fleet of Bell helicopters

for forty years

events to support the regular police, to execute arrests ofcriminals, assist in case of natural disasters. Nowadays,following the world trends in the fight against crime,particularly in combatting terrorism the STU performsthe following tasks: hostage negotiation, counterterror-ism activities, arrest of high risk targets, VIP protection,coordinating actions with other organizational units ofthe MOI in providing escorts and high ranking foreigndelegations, secure shipments of money, support trans-port of weapons and ammunition, Search and Rescue,selection and admission of new members, conductingappropriate training with the same training and perform-ing advanced training to the other members of the STU.

For the successful execution of the tasks by the STU asignificant part is depending on international coopera-tion, this consists of exchange of experience, seminars,sporting events and visits to similar units from otherstates. The STU is currently collaborating with Policeagencies in the USA, France, Germany (RAID/Research, Assistance, Intervention, Deterrence), France,Hungary, Austria (Cobra) and Italy. Furthermore theSTU has a good cooperation with the Ministry ofInterior (MOI) of Serbia, special anti-terrorist unit (SAJ)and with Croatia. The STU have the professional capaci-ties to handle challenges when it comes to cross-bordercrime. The STU is part of the International LawEnforcement Cooperation Unit (ILECU). ILECU is aEuropean Commission funded project, carried out by theAustrian Ministry of Interior. Its aim is to enhance thecooperation and networking among beneficiaries and EUMember States through the establishment of cooperationmechanisms and/or agreements with national and inter-national law enforcements partners. The beneficiary

countries are Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina,Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia, while theinternational partners, among others, are Slovenia,Romania, Europol and Interpol. The professionalism ofthe STU is high and can be deployed in an hours’notice. “

The main issue is to attract new team members andto train them” according to one of the senior staff ofthe unit. “Continuation of executing missions is to ourutmost importance”.

The STU is highly recognized by other specialforces around the World. The STU has won the 3rdplace for Snipers during the World Special Task ForceCompetition in Hungary (2008).

The STU can be

deployed at an

hour’s notice

32

Georgina Hunter-Jones flies the Cavalon

The Age of

This,” the Cavalon salesman, Andy Wall, told me,“is the era of the gyrocopter.”Interestingly, gyrocopters were the first aircraft

to be flown in Antarctica, South Pole, during the ByrdExpedition in 1933 and those gyrocopters (the Kelletautogiro see below) were considerably less sophisticat-

ed than the current models.The Cavalon is a two seat side-by-side enclosed

model designed in 2012, it was, built in Germany in2012, and selling in the UK from 1st May 2013. It has afibreglass body over a stainless steel frame, unlike pre-vious models it was built with a monocoque structure to

3333

Winter2013

Aquarius

Cavalon taxying with

the overhead rotor in

the BRAKE position


make it more robust. The engine is a four stroke Rotax,partly air and partly water cooled, you have a choice oftwo types of engine; the basic 912 hp or the tur-bocharged 914 model. Both engines can run on UL91,or Mogas, but as they are designed for use with UL91they will need a bi-annual filter change if they useMogas. The Cavalon carries a fuel tank of 100 litres anduses 14/15 litres an hour, depending on the mode of fly-ing, so it has an endurance of five hours. The enginesneed an overhaul at 2000 hours. The Cavalon cruises at145 km per hour with a maximum speed of 160 km/hr.

As the Cavalon was designed in 2012 it has a lot ofuptodate features. These include the LED headlights,electrically heated seats with lumbar support, and aniPad mount, on which you can run AirBox, Sky Demonor whatever navigation package you choose.

Test Flight

I flew with Rotorsport salesman Andy Wall fromBooker Airfield, near London.

While doing the pre-flight check he explained that theCavalon is designed to be a simple machine, hence it iseasy to check lights, fuel and water states, and anystresses on the airframe or blades.

We climb on board and adjust the backrest and lum-bar support so the seat is very comfortable. The cockpitis wide and roomy, partly a function of its monocoquestructure, but also related to the neat baggage areasbehind the seat and the movement of the seat back,which allows for more or less luggage behind both pilotand passenger. The console is laid out in a ergonomicmanner. Gerry Speich is on the compliance committeeof the Rotorsport Company and many of the necessary

Cavalon main

rotor

implementations were down to his insight.The pilot’s seat is on the right, and in the current

models there is only one throttle, between the pilots,however, in training models a second throttle can beadded.

Starting is electric and has a double ignition for safe-ty. This only involves the engine since, as with othergyrocopters there is a knob on the console for ‘Brake’or ‘Flight’. While on the ground the blades are kept inBrake mode for safety.

We taxied out with the blades fore and aft, it is worthemphasising this position as more than one gyrocopterblade has hit a gate or tree when being taxied up to therunway with the blades in the abeam position!

Once lined up on the runway the knob is changedfrom Brake to Flight position. Once the gyroplane is inflight mode, the pre-rotator button on the stick is helddown until rotor rpm reaches 250 rpm. (Pneumatics areused to power the pre-rotator, this reduces the numberof moving parts in the cockpit and improves reliability.)Once the blades are spinning, the wheel brakes arereleased and the gyrocopter motors forward, with thestick now held back, until around 300 rpm, when thenose wheel lifts slightly from the ground. At 350 rpmthe gyro lifts into the air, and climbs out at 60 mph (allspeeds are in miles, not knots). Rpm varies slightlydepending on varying wind conditions.

I was surprised by the length of ground run beforethe gyrocopter lifted off the ground. This was longerthan I expected and is possibly a function of the draginduced by the wide (relatively) body. There appearedto be touch of squirreling in the ground run (there wasno wind) however, this might be because I am moreused to the take off run of helicopters than aeroplanes.

We climbed up to 2000 feet, rate of climb was around800 fpm. Once levelled off we did some turns and slowand fast flight. The Cavalon has very good visibility andis very benign in flight. You can easily fly hands off,and although, thanks to the large windscreen, there areno horizon markers and when first doing steep turns thenose tends to drop, its stability allows this to be easilyrecovered.

We did a few engine offs, and apart from the fact Ikept expecting to come to the hover, and then hastilyremembering that that is not possible, these were fineand clean. Rate of descent is benign and I felt as thoughI was in a Warrior or other comfortable touring aero-plane.

We headed back to the airfield and approached therunway at 60 knots. A nice approach and gentle touch-down with a short ground run. We stopped to return theblades to the fore and aft position and to return the knobto Brake, and taxied in with our aluminium blades held


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safely in position.In conclusion, I would say this is a nice tourer, it

is stable, clean, spacious and full of modern technol-ogy, but don’t look for the fun of a helicopter. It isan aeroplane with overhead blades and a pusherengine not a helicopter, so treat it as a long distanceflyer and you will not be disappointed but don’t setout for Antarctica without a few more gallons offuel.

Cavalon 912/914 SpecificationsMinimum crew: 1 plus 1 passenger or 2 crew.Length: 4.6 m (15 ft 1 in)Width: 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in)Height: 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in)Gross weight: 450 kg (992 lb)912 Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 912ULS horizontally opposedfour cylinder, liquid and air-cooled, four stroke aircraftengine, 75 kW (100 hp)914 Powerplant: 1 × Rotax 914ULS horizontally opposedfour cylinder, liquid and air-cooled, four stroke aircraftengine, 75 kW (100 hp) plus turbo charger.Max power 5800 rpmCruise power 4850 rpmMain rotor diameter: 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)Pusher propeller: 3-bladed composite

Performance

Maximum speed: 160 km/h (112 mph; 97 kn)Cruising speed: 145 km/h (94 mph; 86 kn)Best rate of climb 60 mph, gives 550 fpm in 912 and 750fpm in 914Cruise climb 70 mphVNE 100 kphFuel tank: 100 litresFuel usage: 14 / 15 litres an hourEndurance 5 hoursFuel: MoGas or UL91, which is approved by Lycoming.

Costs

Basic model 912 without options around £66,000 plus VAT.

NB. An apology: on page 31 of the last issue of HelicopterLife we tittled a picture the M24 Magnigyro. It was actuallythe Cavalon. I hope this article will clear up the confusion!

Cavalon panel

Backrest

mover and

storage space

behind the

seat

The Cavalon has an egg-like

monocoque structure


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In America a Kellet autogiro would briefly becomethe most famous autogiro in the world when its cor-porate owner, the Pep Boys chain of automotive

stores, lent it to Rear Admiral and national hero RobertE. Byrd for his second Antarctic Expedition of 1933 –1935. The ‘Pep Boys Snowman’ K-3 Autogiro(NC12615) was a converted K-2 that the company hadused for advertising purposes. It is likely that the PepBoys corporate executives had been impressed by thepublicity gained by the Champion Spark Plug Company,from the involvement of Lew Yancy and ‘MissChampion’ in the Mayan explorations in the Yucatán theprevious year.

The ‘Snowman’ left Boston in October 1933, securelyplaced aboard Byrd’s supply ship Ruppert. It wasunloaded in the Bay of Whales, after a largely uneventfuljourney on January 28, 1934, and flown to the expedi-tion’s forward base at Little America by pilot W. S.McCormick. By the end of January the K-3 had beenemployed for sea ice reconnaissance by McCormick,with Byrd as a passenger, and both were impressed withthe performance.

That autogiro, unlike the Cierva and Pitcairn models,was ideally suited to such exploration, as the side-by-sideseating allowed for easy communication between theparticipants, and the optional coupé top facilitated flyingin the cold climate. Byrd was reported as observing: "I

was greatly impressed with the virtues of the autogiro.With its singular hovering instincts and its nearly verticallandings, it is the perfect instrument for short-rangereconnaissance in the polar regions."

On March 24th the K-3, flown by McCormick withByrd again as passenger, flew out in the face of strongwinds to find one of the expedition’s fixed-wing aircraftthat had not returned. When Byrd and McCormick sight-ed the missing aircraft, the K-3 landed to check on thecondition of the two marooned pilots. The K-3 thenreturned to base and returned with the leaders of thedogsled teams who would come to rescue the strandedairmen. Although when winter set in all the aircraft weregrounded, and the K-3 experienced engine problems, therescue gained much notoriety and public acclaim. Flyingresumed in early September and, when weather permittedit, the K-3 was used for measuring the temperature of theupper air, but the aircraft crashed on September 28, 1934as it took off. It fell from a height of approximately 75 ftand was completely destroyed. McCormick survived butwas found unconscious, in shock, with a broken arm.Investigation revealed that drifting snow had weigheddown the rear of the fuselage and shifted the centre ofgravity.

In September 1989, gyroplane pilot Beverly Johnson,wife of Academy Award winner Mike Hoover askedRon Menzie (who, along with John T. Potter, had flown

Bruce Charnov on the Byrd Expedition to

Antarctica


in the 1972 New Television Workshop production of"Between Time and Timbuktu") to build a tandem gyroplane"capable of performing in the harshest conditions on earthwhile carrying two persons, survival gear and heavy cameramounts and cameras . . . " Johnson was a veteran of two pre-vious expeditions and had flown a Brock KB—3 gyroplane,but now not only wanted a two-passenger, she and her hus-band wanted Ken Brock to fly with them in Antarctica whilefilming a National Geographic TV special.

The Ron Menzie ‘Ice 90’ gyroplane, was completed intwo months, transported to Brock’s machine shop inCalifornia and tested where further modifications were madebefore being crated, flown to Santiago, Chile and placed onboard a ship for the final southward leg.

Brock spent two months and three days in January-February 1990 in Antarctica, during which he flew bothgyroplanes for nearly 30 hours and spent three weeks on thepolar ice cap. It was the time of his life and, when asked ifhe would go again, he stated in typical Ken Brock-fashion:"I’d go in a minute! It was just a lot of fun and good oldtime." Such photographic survey work had proven hazardousin the past for naturalists, and Philippe Cousteau had crashedon just such a expedition while exploring Easter Island on

October 18, 1976 and broken his tibia and fibula,requiring evacuation to Los Angeles for medical treat-ment, but Brock’s performance under harsher condi-tions had been flawless. However, five days afterBrock left for the trip back to California, another pilotinexperienced with the gyroplane was killed while try-ing to fly the two-passenger model.

This is an extract from a previous article by Bruce

Charnov on the Byrd Expedition published in

Helicopter Life in Winter 2006.

The Kellet K-3 wa a converted

K-2 with a coupe top and side-

by-side seating

The Pep Boys

Company gave K-2

to Byrd’s expedition

38

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High HopesHeliAir now has nine bases from which it flies Robinsons, Bells,

Eurocopters doing training, charter, aerial work and maintenance

HeliAir, originally started in the1980s has grown since 2008 from asmall privately owned school into a

large company with nine bases nationwideincluding one in Scotland.

“Heli Air’s success has come from diver-sification,” said Brian Kane, Head of Sales& Marketing.

The company, which started with justpilot training and a few helicopter sales,now embraces helicopter maintenance formany brands, charter, and both oil and gaspipeline patrol work as well as expandingon their sales and training schools. Theyrecently won the IS-BAO(H) award forsafety standards.

HeliAir started in Wellesbourne and thenexpanded to Denham and High Wycombe,they later included Fairoaks, Thruxton, andManchester.

In 2010, Heli Air added Silverstone Racecircuit to its stable. Here they have a FATO(final approach and take off area) andground to air radio control. However, this

Robinson R66, which still has

not received EASA certification

eight months after ELOS

(equivalent level of safety)

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Silverstone, once the businest

heliport in the UK. Managed by

HeliAir

Pipeline work involves following

and checking the pipeline route,

ensuring that no damage has

been done to the lines

base is exceptionally busy with helicopter traffic duringthe Grand Prix weekend with an additional GP FATO,and at other times of year they give pleasure flights andtrial lessons as well as PPL(H) training.

In 2012, they added Gloucester to their company, astart-up operation at that time and now the base is rapid-ly becoming very busy. This year they added

Cumbernauld to start Heli Air Scotland. They have nowbeen operational there for six months.

“There have been huge changes since 2009,” saidKane, “but for now we have stopped expanding and con-centrate on consolidation and growth at all bases.Although each individual base will grow, we will not belooking to acquire any more at in the short term.”

FrankRobinson visiting

HeliAir in 2012


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SKYe is the limitHelicopter Life looks at the growth of the SKYe SH09

Marenco Swiss Helicopter from conception to prototypePhotographs courtesy of MarencoSwissHelicopter

On 28th November 2013, the prototype of theSKYe SH09 MarencoSwiss Helicopter wasunveiled at Mollis Airport in Switzerland.

Martin Stuki, CEO and designer of the helicopter said:“With a maximum take-off weight of 2,650 kg (5,842

lbs), the SKYe SH09 has seating for up to seven passen-gers in addition to the pilot. A cruise speed of 260 km/h(140 knots) will allow it to offer a range in excess of800km (430 nautical miles) with standard fuel tanks.”

The SKYe design was first unveiled as a mock-up atHaiHeliExpo 2011, but it had been in construction since2008. The aim of the Marenco company was to take allthe best bits of previous helicopters, and build a ‘new

generation’ light turbine helicopter, using more advancedmaterials and modularity and advanced ergonomics.

The SKYe SH09, has a standard configuration in the2.5 ton weight class. It has five composite blades with anadvanced bearing free rotor system and a shrouded tailrotor. The aim is to reduce noise levels and maintenancewhile increasing safety for people and objects on theground.

The body-work is composite and uses the same crashresistant technology employed by the Formula Oneindustry. The ceiling is higher than on most helicopters,perhaps to give more room for medical work inside, andit is easily changed from five to eight seats for differing


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roles. There are clamshell doors at the back, again use-ful for stretcher access, and the tail boom is higherabove the ground to prevent anyone accidentally touch-ing the shrouded rotor. There are four doors, the backtwo are sliding doors and the front two can be jettisonedin case of emergency. A Plexiglas viewing floor allows apilot to hook loads without having to crane through aside window or alternatively gives a good view forsightseeing.

The engine is a Honeywell HTS900 (820 shp takeoff,750 shp max continuous) and has FADEC (FullAuthority Digital Engine Control) with dual channel andmanual backup provision. The dual centrifugal compres-sor in the engine is said to increase power output andreduce engine consumption. Standard tanks carry 800litres.

This performance is one of the most interestingclaims. Marenco Swisshelicopter says that the SKYeSH90 will be able to hover at 2,200 kgs at a height of4,478 metres in ISA + 20˚c (this is the height of theMatterhorn).

Cruise is 145 knots (27km/h) and it will offer rangearound 430 nm (800 kms) with standard tanks.

Throughout 2013, the Marenco SKYe SH09 wasbecoming known and approaches were being made fororders. Marenco Swisshelicopter has already taken ninefirm orders for helicopters.

The SKYe SH09 by Frédéric

Vergneres

showing the high visibility cockpit

Left to right: Martin

Stuki CEO and

Founder; Daniel

Schultheiss CAO and

Mathias Senes CCO


In December 2013, Air BP launched their new cash-rewards fuel-card. A credit card in a combined ven-ture with Visa, this will allow Air BP to reward their

customers for loyalty.Miguel Moreno, Global General Aviation Manager Air

BP, explained, “this is not a discount card or a price set-ter, but a way to thank customers for their loyalty by giv-ing them a cash reward.”

The credit card, which comes in two versions, one forAvGas and one for AvTur, can be used anywhere in theworld that has BP aviation fuel, by customers registeredfor the scheme. They will then be given loyalty points,which will be credited as cash to their rewards card at theend of each month. The rewards card can then be used topurchase certain products.

As Biggin Hill Airport was the launch airport cus-tomers fuelling here will be given a bigger cash rewardthan at other airfields. Customers will get 10 cents cashback rewards per gallon, instead of the 1 cent per gallonoffered elsewhere.

The reason Air BP have opt for separate cards forAvGas and AvTur is that they wish to emphasise theimportance of using the correct fuel for each aircraft to

pilots, owners and airports. Air BP feel that this separa-tion of cards will ensure ground staff do not use theincorrect fuel.

Although the Sterling Card has first been launched inthe UK, it is intended that the card will be able to beused world over, from the USA, to Africa, China and theNear and Far East, Australia and New zealand andEurope.

Air BP is currently used in sixty different countriesand has been at Biggin Hill for over eighty years.

Moreno says that there will be further promotions tocome and that Air BP is very serious about rewardingtheir customers.

However, for GA buyers with only one or two smallaircraft or helicopters this scheme will probably have lit-tle effect as, for example at Biggin Hill, the extra cost ofthe landing fee would negate the small saving in the fuelcost.

BP are also looking into getting rid of plastic cardsaltogether and moving into electronic capture and pay-ment. They already have an enabled system which allowsevery customer to check their invoices electronically online.

Air BP’s Reward Card


Helicopter development like any similar field hasits ups and downs, changes are sometimes notimprovements and steps can be taken that lead to

over-regulation and a diminishing of creativity. However,there have been some positive movements recently inter-nationally.

One is in China, which has taken a major step towardopening its airspace for general aviation operations.Reuters reported that the government said that fromDecember 1st 2013, companies and individuals flying ina private jet or helicopter no longer need to have theirflight plans pre-approved by the military. Flights will stillneed to be OKed by the Civil Aviation Administration ofChina, and civilian aircraft must stay out of designatedno-fly zones but this is a significant relaxation of therestrictions..

These change should make it much easier for compa-nies like Eurocopter, Sikorsky and AgustaWestland whohave parts and sometimes whole machines built in Chinaand who are also envisaging huge sales in the future.

It is no secret that China is one of the most soughtafter helicopter markets. In 2010, there were only around200 helicopters in the whole country, then in 2011 Chinaopened its lower airspace to general aviation aircraft.Indigenous companies went into co-operation with majorforeign manufacturers such as Eurocopter, Sikorsky andAgustaWestland. Chinese companies bought US manu-facturers, such as Chongqing Helicopter Investment

Group’s purchase of Enstrom.In 2013, the Tanjin Air Show (fairly near Beijing) fea-

tured civil as well as military helicopters and it wasannounced that the government had plans to build orreconstruct 100 heliports in the next decade.

As well as countries and air space, there is also amovement to change the design of helicopter, to increasetheir availability and to create other flying craft.

Recently, jellyfish and an owl have inspiredresearchers with new insights about how to fly more effi-ciently and with less noise. The oscillating movementused by jellyfish underwater can translate into aerialcapabilities, as proven by a tiny hovercraft built by LeifRistroph, a mathematician at New York University. Thetiny 3-inch-wide prototype, which he demonstrated at therecent meeting of the American Physical Society, inPittsburgh, hovers using four small petal-like wings thatopen and close.

This machine Jaworski explained, “achieves self-right-ing flight using flapping wings alone, without relying onadditional aerodynamic surfaces and without feedbackcontrol”. At the same meeting, engineer Justin Jaworskiof Lehigh University said the mechanics of owl wingsmay help design quieter airplanes.

Places, shapes, power units; we are finding more andmore light and adaptable power sources and materials. Ihope nature keeps inspiring inventors and we keep sup-porting their creativity.

Changes in Chinese Airspace and other

Helicopter Mishmash


Dubai Air Show November 2013Report by Gerald Cheyne

Dubai Airshow takes place every two years and is akey event in the Middle East region. The firstDubai Airshow took place in 1989. Participants

include global aerospace and defence companies and pro-ducers of systems and components interested in expand-ing their presence in the Middle East.

Now, in 2013, Eurocopter showed the company’s mili-tary helicopters the EC725 and efficient NH90 and thelatest generation of corporate aircraft, including the newEC145 T2 and the executive version EC175 presented forthe first time in the Middle East.

Eurocopter’s EC725 and NH90 were presented atDubai in scale model form to illustrate their capabilitiesfor customers worldwide. To date, 17 military servicesfrom 12 countries have ordered 130 helicopters from theEC725/EC225 family for deployment in Afghanistan,Mali, Europe, Latin and South America, as well as Asia.

Russian Helicopters demonstrated commercial modelscurrently in production, including the Ka-32A11BC, aswell as the new Mi-171A2, the latest Ka-62 and the mod-ernized Mi-26T2. The company and Rosoboronexportjointly presented the military Ka-52 Alligator, the Mi-28NE Night Hunter, the multirole Mi-35M and the Mi-17V-5 and Mi-171Sh military transports.

Six Bell products were at the Dubai Airshow, each tar-geted at the challenging environment, geography anddiverse missions of the region, including three newlyupgraded and enhanced commercial aircraft – the Bell412EPI, Bell 407GT and Bell 429WLG. On the static dis-play were the Bell AH-1z, Bell UH-1Y and the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey. 2013 marks the debut of the BellAH-1z and Bell UH-1Y at the Dubai Airshow.

Dubai Airshow 2013 hosted 60,692 trade attendeeswith 1,046 exhibitors from 60 countries; deals announcedat the show totaled $206.1b, the largest in any airshowhistory. Mi-28NE Night Hunter

AW139 was used by Dubai

Police to monitor the show

Ka32A11BC


continued from page 13

A Long Career in Helicopters

Dear Georgina,Thank you for the most interesting current copy of

Helicopter Life.It was of particular interest to me as it touched upon

many of the aspects of my long career in the BritishHelicopter Industry – beginning with a StudentApprenticeship in 1945 with Bristol AeroplaneCompany and working on the Prototype Bristol Type171, Sycamore. The apprenticeship was superb seeingus through every department in the Company includingFlight test and learning to fly gliders and light aircraft.

After completing my doctorate in 1953 for which mymain thesis was a theoretical prediction of helicoptervibration, I returned for a while to Bristol Helicoptersbut then left to assist in setting up a Helicopter Divisionat Auster Aircraft in Leicestershire. There, after a yearattempting, not too successfully, to develop the AusterB9 ram-jet powered Helicopter, I was given full controlof the Helicopter Division and went on to design anddevelop the ‘SkyRover’.

This was a collaborative programme between Austerand the Rover Car Company at Solihull. Rover had abeautiful little 180 shp Aurora free-power gas turbineengine which, although not suitable as a land vehicle asit used too much fuel when idling at low powers, ideal-ly suited a helicopter with its generally high-poweroperation.

So the 3-seater Skyrover was born. The third seatcould face either forward or aft which pleased the ArmyAir Corps who wished to obtain a number for observa-tion purposes. Within 2 weeks of promoting it, we hadITPs for just over 500 for both Civilian and Militarycustomers. Then disaster struck!

The day on which I collected a contract for 40 air-craft with up-front money from the Swedish embassy,Duncan Sandys, the then Air Minister, summoned ourmanaging director to London. Sandys thereupon effec-tively blackmailed him into ceasing our helicopteractivities and I had the ignominious task of tellingRovers and handing back our contracts.

He was probably already planning the merger of thethen four helicopters companies into one and did notwant another successful company to undermine hisplans. I mention this because of your references to theRobinson R22 and R66

At Auster we also had plans for a Mk 2 Skyrover – afive seater with two Aurora engines, giving an engine-out performance when that was necessary to overflyurban areas. We were 20 years ahead of Robinson, andwith a potentially better aircraft with better perform-ance. Robinson, to his credit, has demonstrated thedemand for small affordable light helicopters.

You commented how a successful British AircraftIndustry had declined over the ensuing years. That isjust one example of how political interference hasdogged the industry – there are many others!

I then returned to Bristol to work again under RaoulHafner but I have one reason to thank Sandys for hisinterference- as there I met my dear Wife-to-be but whosadly died 3 years ago.

You report on the sad death of Ken Wallis – aremarkable man and both my friend and erstwhile com-petitor!

On one occasion, we were each invited to compete intrials at an RAF airfield on Airfield DamageSurveillance, the winner being given a contract to pro-duce equipment for a number of airfields.

Ken, carrying a thermal imager in one of his autogy-ros and me, then with ML Aviation, operating a Sprite,a small, very stealthy, unmanned co-axial-rotor helicop-ter which had a range of interchangeable payloads fordifferent tasks, Civilian and Military. On this occasion itwas fitted with a payload mounting a Rank-Pullin highresolution thermal imager,

Unfortunately for Ken, the Sprite won hands downbut we remained friends!

The Sprite with its much higher resolution imagercould, when a suspicious item was seen ahead, slowdown, hover near to it and zoom in to identify it.Something that Ken, of course, could not do.

MLA won the competition but, as usual, the MODfound that they had no money, so it was only a pyrrhicvictory.

Interestingly, whilst this operation was being carriedout, we discovered that the imager could detect the steelreinforcement in the concrete about 12” below the sur-face. This led us to begin the development of a payloadwith other added sensors which should quite readilydetect IEDs and buried landmines and also, in the samepayload, have the means of destroying them usingeither explosive darts or a pulsed acoustic beam devel-oped for us by ISVR of Southampton. This would bedone remotely with no personnel ‘boots on the ground’.

The Sprite System was available with several other

more leTTerS To The ediTor

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payloads by 1990 and the anti-IED payload almostready. It could have been used to our troops’ advantage,saving many lives, in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Returning to Ken’s autogyros, although he bought hisoriginal machines from Benson in the USA, they actual-ly originated in the UK.

During WW2, Raoul Hafner and a team at AirborneForces developed a small autogyro named the‘Rotachute’. This was intended to be dropped in num-bers from a transport aircraft to deploy paratroopers. Itsintended advantage was that compared with a para-chute, the Rotochute could be descended more quicklyand flown under more precise control to a given spot inthe drop zone. It could also carry more arms and ammu-nition.

A number of successful trials were carried out but thewar ended before they could be used in action. Post-war, they were offered for sale in Government surplusmilitary equipment outlets. Igor Benson, helped by theUSAF in the UK, bought one, and flew it.

It so inspired him on the concept of autogyros that hetook it back with him to the USA where he madeimprovements such as replacing the 2-blade flappingrotor with a teetering rotor, added an engine and pro-peller and reproduced them to sell as part-assembledkits. It was there that Ken Wallis purchased one to bringback to the UK and set about making other improve-ments.

So began Ken’s stable (or Harem as he called them)of autogyros and very successful life’s work. I don’tthink that story is generally known.

I was also intrigued to see the advertisement in yourmagazine for the book entitled Borneo Boys by RogerAnnett. I have obtained a copy.

The reason for my interest was the comment of thereviewer that the Bristol Belvedere was “prone to insta-bility” which puzzled me, especially as no such com-ment appears in the book!

I was closely involved in the development of that air-craft including its stability characteristics.

The prototype of the Type 173, a much smallerTandem Rotor aircraft, a predecessor; of the Type 192,Belvedere, did initially have a problem in that it insistedon turning to port in level forward flight.

We expected this as the rear rotor, operating in thedownwash of the front rotor used more power andtherefore generated greater torque than did the frontrotor. We had thought that we had countered that bybuilding in a differential rotor axis tilt.

However, the effect was greater than expected so thatwe added an offset tab to the rear of the fin which sort-ed that out. The 173 was a technically successful heli-copter but the prototype was powered as an interimmeasure by 500shp Leonides piston engines awaitingthe availability of the 850 shp Bristol Janus free-powerturbine engine.

A number of Type 173s were ordered by BEA on thepremise that the production machines would be fittedwith the Janus This engine, in final development, wasdesigned by Bristol Engines in collaboration withadvice from the helicopter team to make it especiallysuitable for rotorcraft installation.

In the event, however, the Korean war began and theUK government ordered Bristol to cease manufacture ofthe Janus in order to assist Rolls in the accelerated man-ufacture of its Avon engines for the Hunter fighterwhich, however, never made it to the war.

Without the Janus, the 173 did not have a reliableengine-out capability so BEA, understandably cancelledtheir order. Another political gaffe!

Moving on to the much larger Belvedere, politicsagain took control.

Whereas the Company concept was of a machinewith GE T58 engines, made under licence by DeHavilland as the Gnome, mounted atop the fuselagewhich was to be of a much larger uncumbered cross-section and with a rear-loading ramp, the “Ministry”insisted on our use of the Napier Gazelle, a much heav-ier engine with a much larger diameter, which had to beinstalled within the fuselage

Unfortunately, the Ministry also insisted on our useof IPN starters for the engines, in which they had avested interest, instead of our preferred installation of aRover Neptune APU mounted in the aircraft sternframeand available to supply electrical power to start theengines and provide power to other aircraft systemswhile it was on the ground.

The IPN starters were a source of unreliability onBelvederes as they exploded causing fires, especially onstart-up. An explosion with the aircraft airborne was thecause of one fatal crash of Belvederes during their oper-ations. Another criminal decision by The Ministry.

Returning to the issue of instability, the prototype


Belvedere did exhibit a bias to port and Dutch roll char-acteristics. The stalling of the main fin was suspecteven though it had a built-in camber in light of theexperience with the Type 173. To assess this, the finwas covered in black wool tufts but we did not have avideo camera with a sufficiently wide angle lens tocover the field.

So I volunteered to be strapped to the outside of thefuselage in a position to view the whole of the fin andpassed information to the crew by intercom at progres-sive values of forward speed.

Indeed the fin became stalled at quite low values ofspeed, due to the rotary wake of the forward rotorimpinging upon the port side of the fin.

We cured that by adding a quite large trailing-edgetab. However, the Dutch-roll characteristics had notbeen completely cured so we measured, in flight, thevalues of the stability derivatives lv (rolling momentwith sideslip) and nv (yawing moment with sideslip)and found them to be ill-matched. So changes wererequired. We made progressive changes to the originalempennage in an attempt to provide a measure ofanhedral and to increase the effective fin area. (Seepage 49)

Unfortunately none of these relatively simple modifi-cations were adequate We found that a new, fairly wide-chord anhedral tailplane (affectionally known as the”Barndoor” ) did the trick and the aircraft was then sta-ble, hands-off, at all airspeeds. We then required thattailplane to become the production standard.

Unfortunately, without our knowledge, the produc-tion department had proceeded to build an initial batchof 25 of the earlier design of tail plane – horizontal,tapered and mounting small tip fins. The Companycould not afford to scrap those and build new so we hadto cobble together a new tailplane from the parts of theold.

This did achieve much the same result as the‘Barndoor’ but does not look very elegant!

The Belvedere could be flown virtually ‘hands off’above about 40 knots. If there were indeed, anyinstances of instability, it was more likely to have beenbrought about by the assortment of external loads car-ried slung from the aircraft. At the Bristol Weston-super-Mare works, we had a method of ensuring thatloads were stable before they were picked up. Theseincluded the Spire for the new Coventry Cathedral,which a Belvedere carried and lowered onto the roof ofthe Cathedral, and a radio dish antenna for CambridgeUniversity. The Borneo Boys would not have had thatfacility.

We also developed a twin-cable suspension systemfor external loads which used the bifilar principle to sta-bilise even aerodynamically unstable loads such aslarge containers onto cargo ships.

Unlike the other helicopters in Borneo, the Belvederecould be flown manually should the power controls fail.

This ability resulted from Raoul Hafner’s oftendeclared maxim – “We do not seek a solution – we seekthe elegant solution”. Hence the control loads wereminimised by balancing springs to oppose the propellermoment from the blades putting a download onto thecollective pitch system and the use of Raoul’s innova-tive resonant torsional tie bars which removed loadsfrom the pitch-change bearings.

Apart from the availability of manual reversion, thisstrategy enabled the use of much smaller hydraulicactuators in the control system thus minimising weightand cost. As the author of Borneo Boys says, theBelvederes did sterling work in Borneo. They were thefastest helicopters there by far and carried loadsunmatched by any other.

The tag ‘the Widow Maker’ was undeserved as thesole fatal crash, caused by the unwanted IPN Starters,was less than those experienced by the other, single-engined, helicopters.

Yes, the height above ground requiring a ladder toreach the cockpit was not clever and a lower frontundercarriage could easily have been substituted hadThe Ministry agreed.


The reason for the Belvederes being handed downfrom the Navy was not as given in Ansett’s book. TheNavy originally used anti-submarine helicopters in ahunter-killer arrangement, i.e. one carrying the sonarequipment and the other the torpedoes / depth charges.Reportedly, it was decided to combine these activitiesinto one twin-engined aircraft and hence the require-ment for the Type 191 Naval Version which precededthe RAF Type 192 Belvedere.

Then another policy change decided to revert to twoaircraft working together so that if one was forced toditch at sea, the other could rescue the crew. Hence twosmaller aircraft were to be used instead and the Wessexwas adopted, leaving the 191s redundant.

They were then handed to the RAF rather than theirspecified aircraft. More irrational politics!

Another criticism of the Belvederes was the crackingof the base of the rear fin/pylon.

Photographs of a Belvedere carrying, underslung, aWessex (not the smaller Whirlwind) reportedly with fullfuel aboard in order to make the flight from Borneo tothe mainland indicated that the Belvedere was operating20% above its maximum design weight. What otherloads may have been carried is not reported but mayalso have caused overloading. Because of this cracking,the aircraft were withdrawn from service and Chinooksinstead were ordered for the Service. Shortly after that,the Chinook order was cancelled leaving the UK with acostly financial penalty and no heavy lift helicopter.The money paid to Boeing in compensation could prob-ably have paid for repairs to the Belvederes.

Yet another political shot in the foot on a par withtoday’s no aircraft carriers for a while and no Harrierssold to the USA for a knock-down price!

We had a very capable and enthusiastic team atBristol Helicopters, working under the inspiration ofRaoul Hafner. Many of the technologies developed thenare interesting Boeing and EADS Helicopters today forpossible inclusion in their new helicopters

These included a simple boundary-layer control sys-tem for rotor blades which had no moving parts andsimply used the centripetal action to suck in the tiredboundary layer and exhaust it at the blade tips, toreduce the net power required by the rotor and byimproving the lift on the retreating blade to increase thehelicopter speed.

Other developments used on the Belvedere were twodifferent types of accurate air data measurement sys-tems, one of which was used to good effect on itsrecord run from Battersea to North Africa,

Another under way was the installation of radarwave-guides into a radar-transparent blade trailing edgeto convert the front rotor into a high-resolution radar

scanner. Sadly, all of these developments were aban-doned after the Westland take-over.

Other reminders of my past work were the LynxHelicopter and the EH 101.

In 1960, Sandys pushed through a compulsory merg-ing of the 4 UK helicopter companies under the controlof Westland. In my view that was a great mistake.

It removed all element of competition. I believe thattwo companies formed, say, of Bristols with Faireysand Westland with Saunders-Roe would have been thebetter solution.

Westland had always produced older-generationSikorsky aircraft under licence (as did Italy and Japanat the same time) and saw no reason to change that.

Shortly after the merger, I was appointed as ChiefProject Engineer for the new Group and had to move toYeovil to set up a small team of designers to producedesigns for new aircraft. I soon discovered that this waslittle more than a front.

However, I persisted and discussed, with the Army,the requirements for a medium-sized helicopter to carrya section of soldiers plus aircrew and to carry 4 stretch-ers and 2 para-medics in a casevac role. i.e. aWhirlwind replacement with greater capacity, betterperformance and reliability in tropical conditions,including virtually twice the speed of its predecessor. Ithad to be able to live in the field with minimum mainte-nance.

I had been acutely aware of the problems of theBorneo Boys in Indonesia. In fact I was scheduled tofly out there to discuss their needs for improvement ofequipment when the campaign ended and the helicop-ters were withdrawn.

My team outlined a design and estimated phasedcosts based on the installation of an existing powerplant– the Continental T72. I was well aware of the difficul-ties which could ensue in designing a new aircraftaround paper engines. Engines take longer to developthan do aircraft.

I wanted a rugged engine and an aircraft whose num-ber one requirement was that, having spent perhapsweeks on standby in tropical rain, it started on “the firstpress of the button”.

A generous design contract was offered for thedesign phase which I accepted. I was later called to theboardroom and given a dressing down for having com-mitted the company to develop a new helicopter. I wasnot popular.

However, the die was cast and so the Lynx was born.But that is another story, again of political interferencewhich compromised the design!

Re the ‘101’: The Royal Navy were looking for ananti-submarine helicopter with greater endurance and


weapon capacity than the then current Sea King. However, their assump-tion was that it would be operated in similar fashion.

We obtained a contract to carry out the preliminary design of a SeaKing Replacement but I persuaded the board to let me spend a first thirdof the contract carrying out Operational Research to determine whatshould really be the characteristics of the new helicopter.

Using sources, I learnt that the new Soviet submarines were now carry-ing medium range missiles and could operate at much greater depths thantheir predecessors. It was important therefore that they be intercepted atgreater distances from the fleet. I also discussed with the PlesseyCompany the possibility of dunking sonar systems that could penetrate togreater depths.

Another aspect of operation that the war-gaming part of our analysisbrought to light was the fallibility of the practice of dunking buoys in aregular pattern.

A submarine can detect a ‘ping’ at a far greater range than the helicop-ter can detect a return. Therefore, if a regular dunking pattern is main-tained, the submarine commander has prior knowledge of where the heli-

copter(s) will be looking next, andmake his attack accordingly.

We therefore had to persuade theNavy to pursue a random pattern,even to the extent of dunking again inthe same location, say, 5 minutes later.This latter, they found especially diffi-cult to accept! They did, eventually,understand the logic. The aircraft specwas subsequently rewritten and wasdesignated Westland WG26.

Shortly after, I left that activity inorder to concentrate on the unmannedhelicopters ideas which my team hadbeen developing and in which theMOD were showing great interest.

But that, also, is another story.The 101 eventually became the

Merlin but when Agusta joined withWestland to form the EuropeanHelicopter Industries the WG 26became the EHI 01, i.e. the first heli-copter project of the new group.

At the next Farnborough, show themodel shown was mistakenly labelled‘EH 1o1’ and since then the 101 labelhas stuck!

In conclusion, I would like to saythat throughout my long career in theBritish Aircraft Industry, I have hadthe good fortune to work withAviation Enthusiasts and enjoy theircompany and friendship.

There was always a great cama-raderie, a total dedication to the taskin hand, no matter how many ungodlyhours we worked and always conduct-ed with a great sense of humour. Thiswas perhaps exemplified by the slo-gan: “Today we do the possible – Theimpossible we do tomorrow!”

So much was achieved in spite ofthe frequent setbacks brought about bythe actions of stupid politicians andshort-sighted members of the UKfinancial sector.

I have the very good fortune toremain in contact with many of myaviation colleagues even dating backalmost 70 years to my student days,although now, sadly, they are indeclining numbers.

Best wishes,Reg Austin


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The Helicopter Museum in Weston-Super-Mare hastaken delivery of one of the few survivingCampbell Cricket gyroplanes, built at Membury in

Wiltshire in the late 1960s as a single-seat developmentof the original US designed Bensen B.8M gyrocopter.

Established by Don Campbell and partner GeoffreyWhatley, the Campbell factory originated in a garage inReading but relocated to Membury in 1967. Here design-er Peter Lovegrove modified a Bensen with a partiallyenclosed cockpit and replaced the original unreliabletwo-stroke power plant with a modified Volkswagenengine, hand-built for the purpose by Royal BerksMotors in Reading. Final assembly was carried out atMembury airfield, close to where the Membury motor-way services on the M4 stand today.

Only about 30 Crickets were eventually produced,with examples exported to France, Denmark, Norway,Malaysia and Morocco, and six to Kuwait, each sellingfor around £1,645 ex-factory. Production ended in 1971although some kit-builds were revived for a time in2001.

The example donated to the Helicopter Museum wasthe third Cricket built (G-AXRA), which was completedin February 1970 and initially sold to a US citizen livingin Harlow, Essex. It later changed owners before finallyending up in Cardiff, complete but in poor condition.Originally the new owner intended to restore the gyro-plane to flying condition but eventually abandoned theidea and offered G-AXRA to the Museum, along with asecond incomplete example.

Led by Collection Officer John Clews, The MuseumVolunteers Chris May and Jack Kilmuray collected thecricket on 4th October and it is now planned to refurbishit for static display alongside an original Bensen B.8Mfor comparison and next to another Campbell gyroplane,the one-off Cougar which was built next door to theMuseum in 1973.

The addition brings the Helicopter Museum collectionto over 90 aircraft, including 10 different autogyros andgyrocopters dating from 1935 to the present day, as wellas a secondary collection of over 100 engines.

Cricket for Helicopter Museum


The Naval Air Station Hyères-Palyvestre started in1919. Now, though, the introduction of the NH-90NFH (NATO Frigate Helicopter) by the French

Navy named Caïman (Cayman) with 31F (Flotille/Squadron) is adding a new Chapter to its long history.

On 4 October 2012, when the unit’s Lynx fleet wastransferred to 34F based at Lanveoc-Poulmic, the 31Fwas re-activated after a stand down of two and a halfyears. The 31F is now operating three Caïmans in ‘StepA’ version; a fourth, tested by CEPA/10S (Centred'Expérimentations Pratiques de l'Aéronautique Navale)during the Authors visit, will be the first in a Step B ver-sion. Further Caiman deliveries are planned.

Flottille 31F was founded in Algeria, North Africa 1stof August 1956. The unit then operated the H-21C‘Banana’ helicopter. In March 1960, the H-21C wasreplaced by the Sikorsky HSS-1 and the unit relocated toSaint-Mandrier. By the 16th of November 1978, afterflying 70.000 hours with the H-21C and HSS-1, theWestland Lynx (WG-13) was introduced to the FrenchNavy. In 2003 31F moved to BAN Hyères Le-Palyvestreand had been operating the type till June 2010.

The first Caïman delivery to the French Navy in May2010, was for initial experimental testing on behalf of theAeronavale. Each future NH-90NFH following the samepath before being delivered to 31F or 33F based atLanveoc-Poulmic. The latter was the first unit to bedeclared operational on the new type as of December2011.

Currently five crews are operational with 31F; sister

squadron 33F has five crews operational. The Caïmanhas a reduced crew of three due to the 4-axis autopilotonly one pilot is required, seated on the right hand sideof the cockpit. The tacco (the tactical coordinator respon-sible for mission management) is seated on the left side,and a senso (sensor systems operator) in the cabin whodoubles as the loadmaster and winch operator.

The community within 31F is a mixture of experi-enced helicopter sensos, and former Atlantique NG sensooperators. “The tacco role is new to the French NavalAviation and comes with the introduction of the NH-90”said Executive Officer Lionel Le Boursicot “We reallyhad to prove the French Navy HQ that this new taccorole would be of value add to us. The tacco has two vitalroles to play during operations; most important is thetactical observer responsible for overseeing the big pic-ture during operations, located on the left side in thecockpit. Besides this role we expect the tacco to be aback-up pilot who is able to support the pilot duringharsh circumstances as you can imagine when operatingover sea. Now everybody sees the value add of the tacco;it is like a contract between pilot and crew.”

“It is a challenge to convert to the NH-90, it is a high-ly computer driven helicopter which requires a differentmindset from other types of helicopter currently in serv-ice within the French Navy” says LT. Jerome Dagnac(NH-90 pilot and 31F Safety Officer). LT. Dagnac hasbeen operating the SA.321G Super Frelon with 32F andwas one of the first three pilots to be involved in the NH-90 programme testing the aircraft with CEPA/10S and

French Cayman

Words and pictures by Kuit and Kievit of Bronco Aviation


Within two years

there will be NH-90

training squadrons

at Hyeres

LT Laureline Beuvelet,

first female NH-90

pilot

writing the manuals for operations.The first three pilots were trained at Eurocopter,

Marseille in 2010 and flew 30-40 hours before moving onto 31F. One of these three pilots is LT Laureline Beuvelet;the first female NH-90 pilot.

“For the other pilots we use the train the trainer con-cept” continues LT Dagnac. “Besides the three trainedpilots by Eurocopter 31F is responsible for the transition tothe NH-90 of all pilots for both 31F and 33F. As we havecurrently only senior pilots in the squadron the conversioncan be done in 20-30hrs of flying”.

To support the pilot training of 31F a Partial TaskTrainer, developed by Augusta Westland, is made avail-able. This consists of four terminals which are connectedand simulate the set-up of the NH-90 cockpit. On averagepilots spend 10-20 hours familiarizing themselves withspecific tasks. A full NH-90 simulator will be available in2015. “The aim eventually is to have 50%-60% of the NH-90 training on the simulator in the future”says CommanderBarbe “so we can push the envelope in learning curve ofour pilots.

“Within two years from now we plan to have a separateNH-90 training squadron at Hyères” explains CommanderBarbe. First part of the training will be conducted at LeLuc, Base école Général Lejay (French Army/ Armée deTerre) training facility for combat helicopters. The secondpart, the Aeronautical part will be at Hyères. The helicop-ters will stay at the existing squadrons; no aircraft are to beassigned to the Training School.

The French Navy NH-90NFHs are being shipped direct-ly from the Agusta production plant in two different con-figurations: 13 for SAR and sea assault, with a rear loadingramp and 14 for pure anti-submarine warfare (ASW) oper-ations, without a ramp. However the cabin of all 27 NFHsis able to be fitted with specific pallet-mounted ASW kitcomprising an avionics bay, a sensor operator station andtactical coordinator station, plus dipping sonar andsonobuoy launcher. A magnetic anomaly detector (MAD),in the helicopter’s tail boom, completes the ASW suite forthe detection and identification of underwater targets.Besides a complete IFF system, the Caïman has a compre-hensive communications suite for tactical communicationsand a navigation suite including GPS, INS, Doppler, airdata and a digital map generator. The L11 tactical data link,which provides extended on-board data fusion and totalnetworking with a NATO task force at sea.

The FREMM multipurpose frigate designed byDCNS/Armaris and Fincantieri, operates in anti-air, anti-submarine and anti-ship warfare, and is capable of carryingout strikes against land targets. The French Navy plans tooperate nine FREMM frigates. 31F's aircraft will be ondetachments to Forbin-class air defence ships, while 33F,the other NH90 unit, will deploy its aircraft on the


FREMM-class vessels. Typically the primary missions ofthe NH90 NFH helicopter is in the autonomous anti-sub-marine warfare (ASW) and anti-surface ship warfare(AsuW) role. In a four-hour 'relocation on call' operation,the helicopter would take: 35 minutes to reach the areaof operation; 20 minutes releasing sonobuoys; two hourson surveillance in the area of operations; 30 minutesreleasing torpedoes; and 35 minutes to return to ship andland, with 20 minutes in reserve. In a four-hour 'screen-ing' operation, the helicopter would take: 15 minutes toreach the area of operation; three hours and 30 minutesin the operations zone carrying out 11 consecutive cyclesof ten-minute sonar dipping; and 15 minutes to return tothe ship and land, with 20 minutes reserve. In the anti-surface warfare role, the helicopter is capable of detec-tion, tracking, classification, identification and attack ofhostile ships, and has over-the-horizon capability.

A vital role in the introduction of the “Caïman” is forCEPA/10S. The unit has been involved from the startonwards of the NH-90 introduction to prepare integratingthe NH-90 within the French Navy. Each to be deliveredNH-90 is extensively tested before handed-over to either31F or 33F. Currently the unit is involved in experiment-ing with the implementation of the MU-90 torpedowhich is fore seen to be finalized before the autumn of2013. The first NH-90 Step B was delivered byCEPA/10S during January 2013 and is including now aECM (Electronic Counter Measures) kit. Based on feed-

back from 31F crews and technicians CEPA/10S is ableto deliver a solution on short notice. “We are the toolboxof the French Navy” as Commander Henri Mavéexplains. “Our work is dedicated to experimental flightssince the NH-90 has already been certified. We evaluatethe NH-90 to make sure it is living up to the standards ofthe French Navy. Furthermore we are developing opera-tional documentation for tactical use, training and flightsafety. For these tasks we have two experimental flighttest pilots a crewmember and ten technical staff”.Commander Mavé continues “We are experiencing somechallenges currently as the French Navy has not reachedthe targeted number of NH-90s in service. We have todeal with availability and operational needs to performour flights. The NH-90 is still in a development phasethrough the new versions (Step B) and capabilities(ASW, AsuW, MU-90 torpedoes), we need to find anaccurate conciliation between a stable standard and aquick and consistent response to the operational needs ofthe French Navy. We want to make the NH-90 easy tooperate by the crews and make sure they can focus ontheir missions”. Commander Mavé concludes “Our workis highly dependent on what the French Ministry ofDefence requires. We anticipate starting with experi-ments with the ANL (Anti Navire Leger/ Light Anti-Shipmissile) in the near future. Our schedule is booked forthe next two years with developing an electronic warfaredoctrine, mission preparation system and ship based

Upgrading will continue

between 2014 and 2017


operations”.As CEPA/10S is in the lead of the implementation of

the NH-90 there is also a high dependency on the techni-cal support unit of 31F to be able to conduct flying oper-ations. Elementary maintenance is conducted by 31Fitself; 50 flight hours (visual inspection, torque check),100 flight hours and 150 flight hours checks are execut-ed. “The helicopter is like an iPhone and requires a dif-ferent way of working then before with the Lynx” statesthe Chief Engineer of 31F. “We are now only workingwith electronic documentation, our crew had to betrained to handle the maintenance. Ever since operationshave started some child deceases had to be overcome.“We have to be very watchful on corrosion especially ofthe composite materials on the NH-90, furthermore wehad to replace the floating devices numerous times, wefound out these were ripped apart during flight opera-tions. “Currently too many tasks are in each scheduledmaintenance and consumes a lot of time; aim is to fur-ther streamline these tasks over the next years” con-cludes the Chief Engineer. To support 31F’s maintenanceteam five Eurocopter technicians are embedded with 31Fas part of first contract which runs till May 2014.

On 21 December 2012 the Directorate General ofArmaments (DGA) took delivery of the first standardCaïman. After a short period of evaluation conducted byCEPA/10S, the total number of NH-90s in service will bedelivered by end May 2013 to 31F. In total eight

Caïmans will be in service by then. The seven earlierdelivered Caïmans from 2011 (Step A) will be graduallyupgraded to the Step B between 2014 and 2017.

During October 2012 the NATO HelicopterManagement Agency (NAHEMA) awarded Thales atwo-year contract, with a three-year extension close, tosupport 14 FLASH dipping sonars on the French Navy's27 NH-90 NFH helicopters. The contract will contributeto the operational readiness of the French Navy NH-90NFH helicopters equipped with the FLASH sonar sys-tem and will enable them to fulfill their antisubmarinewarfare missions in conjunction with the Navy'sFREMM frigates equipped with the Captas-4 variabledepth sonar from Thales. “The introduction of theCaïman to our unit has been a great adventure so far withmajor achievements. We have now eight NH-90s deliv-ered over a three year period with two units equippedwith the new helicopters and able to perform SAR andMCT missions. Last but not least we have been operatingonboard a multi mission FREMM Frégate during 2012 togain experiences. During the autumn of 2013 we willstart experimenting with ASW and AsuW missions,implement the MU-90 Torpedo and Machine Gun MAG-15 and will start with operating with Chaff & Flare.Within a year from now will be fully SAR and SpecialForces capable; in two years’ time we aim for full quali-fication on the NH-90NFH”concludes CommanderBarbe.

Lt Jerome Dagnac

discussing the NH-90

programme with his

crew


On the 3rd of May 1913, Kaiser (Emperor)Wilhelm II founded the first two‘Marinefliegerabteilungen’. One for the airplanes

and another for the zeppelins. On Sunday the 18th ofAugust, the German Marineflieger, celebrated their 100thanniversary with an Air Day at Naval Airbase Nordholz.

Nordholz is one of the oldest airports in Germany andlocated in the north of Germany, about 25 kilometresnorth of Bremerhaven and close to the town of Nordholz.It is the homebase of the Marinefliegerkommando (NavalAir Command) with Marinefliegergeschwader 3 ‚Grafzepplin’ (MFG3) and Marinefliegergeschwader 5(MFG5). The P-3C Orion and the Dornier Do-228NGare operated by Marinefliegergeschwader 3. The SeaLynx Mk88A helicopters were transferred fromMarinefliegergeschwader 3 to Marinefliegergeschwader5, that already operated the other type of helicopter; theSea King Mk41. The Sea Kings were moved to Nordholzin November 2012, as part of the scheduled closure oftheir, now former, homebase Kiel-Holtenau.

One of the highlights at a rainy Nordholz was a pair ofWildcat HMA2 helicopters. AgustaWestland had a boothinside one of the hangars to promote the AW159. OneAW159, designated by the Royal Navy as a WildcatHMA2, was parked inside. The second example wasparked outside after a lot of requests and was probablythe most photographed helicopter. The AW159/ Wildcat

HMA2 can easily be recognized by the infra-red sup-pressed engine exhausts and the tail boom is far moreangular than the original tail boom. A civil EC135P2+was seen with badges from MFG5 on both sides of thehelicopter as well on the nose. This particular EC135 isin use for training purposes with MFG5.

Special liveries were applied on both types of helicop-ter as well as the Orion. The Orion received a blue fuse-lage top with the text ‘100 Jahre Marineflieger’. SeaLynx Mk88A with serial 83+20 and Sea King Mk41 withserial 89+55 both received the same dark blue livery. AnUH-1D Huey and a German Bo-105P1 were presentwearing a special livery.

This Air day even had a small aerial display with afew military helicopters displaying their capabilities. TheOrion also flew a display. Formation flying was donewith a Dornier Do-228 and the Dornier Do-28. Both air-craft flew a display afterwards. An Austrian Air ForceSaab 105ÖE flew its display in a tiger-livery.

A few participants on static display reflected the histo-ry from the German Navy. A Dassault Atlantique 2 fromthe French Aeronavale was present, still wearing the spe-cial markings, celebrating 100 years Marine (1910-2010). The German Atlantic fleet was replaced by theOrions that were acquired from the Royal NetherlandsNavy. One of the former German examples can be seenat the junction outside the gate of the airbase, with the

Nordholz Air Day

Words and pictures by Arjan Dijksterhuis


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es

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SeaKings were moved

to Nordholz in 2012

German BO105P1

UH-1D Huey

AW159 Wildcat

special painted MFG 3 ‘Graf zeppelin’ tail. The museum‘Aeronauticum’ also has an example preserved. Theentrance of the museum can be found close to theentrance of the air base.

A few civil aircraft on static display like the Dornier27 and a Piaggio P.149 reflected the fixed wing part ofthe history within the German Navy. A Dornier Do-28could be seen as part of the small flying display. A pre-served Sikorsky H-34 was parked out of sight and was in

a not so good condition. This particular helicopter waspreviously preserved at Kiel-Holtenau.

The polish Mi-14 helicopter was cancelled a few daysprior to the event. Had it been there it would havereflected history: in late October 1979, the East GermanNavy (DDR-Volksmarine) received the first Mi-14 intwo different versions. After the reunification in 1990,fourteen Mi-14s were added to the new inventory, butwere quickly phased out in December 1991.

58 HELICOPTER LIFE ,Winter 2013

This is alove storyabout a

dog, and anyonewho likes dogswill find it veryfunny andtouching. Notleast becauseyou get the feel-ing Shelley wasthe first dog inJohn Periam’slife and she tooka while to getused to!

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Aperennialfavourite.A detec-

tive romance setaround a group ofUK pilots flyingto Moscow inRussia for the1994 WorldChampionships.There are somesurprising twistsin this storywhich took meunawares. Goodfor fireside read-ing.

Peckham DiamondsGeorgina Hunter-Jones

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Carrie’s hus-band, apilot in an

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The CruelCompanion isthe story of

one man’s fight forsurvival in the NorthSea.A fast movingadventure whichtakes the hero from aleisurely break inWhitby, N.E.England, to the brinkof death on theNorth Sea until apossible timely res-cue, but then...........An action packed

compelling story, a fight for survival, with an insight intothe sometimes dangerous world of a North Sea helicopterpilot. I felt I was in the helicopter with the pilots.Technically brilliant and well informed.

59HELICOPTER LIFE,Winter 2013

IN-2013/158: Withdrawal of CAA Master Minimum

Equipment Lists (MMELs) and CAA MMEL

Supplements

The CAA currently maintains a number of CAA-generat-ed MMELs and MMEL Supplements which modify theType Certificate Holder’s MMEL for use by UK opera-tors. Due to the transition to the new European AviationSafety Agency (EASA) MMEL rules, the CAA has com-pleted an internal review of the status of these CAA-gen-erated MMELs and MMEL Supplements, resulting in adecision to discontinue their support and withdraw themfrom use.http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pag

etype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=5795

IN-2013/163: Consultation: Replacement of Class F

Airspace in UK Flight Information Regions -

Addendum Consultation

The CAA's proposals to replace Class F ADRs by meansof regularisation to Class E airways, enhanced by addi-tional SERA-compliant conspicuity requirements werethe subject of a CAA consultation. Comments identifieda need for additional airspace 'fillets' in the vicinity ofthe Aberdeen Control zone/Control Area in order tofacilitate continued application of current radar vectoringof traffic off what are currently Class F ADRs, but whichare likely to become airways ( i.e. controlled airspace)whilst remaining compliant with Manual of Air TrafficServices Part 1 requirements. It is therefore necessary toundertake an addendum consultation on the CAA's pro-posals for the establishment of this additional airspace.http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/InformationNotice2013

163.pdf

IN-2013/156: Consultation: CAP 772 Aerodrome

Wildlife Strike Hazard Management and Reduction

The guidance in CAP 772 was last updated in September2008 and was in need of substantial revision. An amend-ed version has been produced for consultation and stake-holders are invited to comment on the revised content.http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pag

etype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=5781

IN-2013/151: Helicopter Pilot Licences - Type Ratings

for the Agusta Westland A109 and AW109

The purpose of this IN is to explain: alterations to thetype rating endorsements to be included in a licence; andadjustments to the training for type ratings for theAgusta Westland A109 and AW109 helicopters and the

CAA Legislation Changesconcerning helicopters and gyroplanes

background to these changes.http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&page

type=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=5771

CAA announces review of North Sea helicopter opera-

tions

The review will be undertaken jointly with the NorwegianCAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA)and advised by a panel of independent experts. It willstudy current operations, previous incidents and accidentsand offshore helicopter flying in other countries to makerecommendations aimed at improving the safety of off-shore flying.Led by the CAA’s Head of Flight Operations, CaptainBob Jones will work closely with Geir Hamre, Head ofhelicopter safety for the Norwegian CAA. They are sup-ported by a team of experts who will consult with a widerange of individuals and organisations involved in off-shore flying. The final review will also be subject toscrutiny by independent specialists. The review will payparticular attention to:• Operators decision making and internal management• The protection of passengers and crew• Pilot training and performance• Helicopter airworthinessIt will include a comparison study of UK operations withthose in Norway. The findings of the review are due to bepublished in early 2014.http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=14&page

type=65&appid=7&mode=detail&nid=2285

IN-2013/147: Reminder of the curtailment of National

Aeroplane and Helicopter Pilot Licence privileges with

effect from 8 April 2014

To remind pilots that, with effect from 8 April 2014, theimplementation of European legislation will limit theprivileges of national UK licences.http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&page

type=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=5760

CAP 804: Flight Crew Licensing: Mandatory

Requirements, Policy and Guidance

Notifying the UK requirements for pilot licensing andalso a guide to the new European Flight Crew Licensingrequirements. Effective on 17 September 2012; LASORSwill be withdrawn from that date. A5 paper copies areavailable from TSO.http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/CAA_CAP%20804.pdf


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Russian Helicopters


Russian Helicopters has delivered a Mi-171E builtat the Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant to the KazakhstanMinistry of Internal Affairs. The Ministry uses

Mi-8/17s for routine patrolling and search-and-rescuemissions, and for transporting personnel and cargo.

The Mi-171E has a number of features that give it anedge in Kazakhstan’s extremes of climate – temperaturescan range from plus 50 to minus 58 degrees Celsius –and geography, marked by extensive steppe and tallmountain ranges. The helicopter can operate across local-ities from steppe to foothills to mountains, and can with-stand temperatures from plus to minus 50. The Mi-171Ecan operate in all weathers and difficult navigation con-ditions.

The Ministry chose the Mi-171E for its flexibility –the helicopter can carry up to 26 passengers or 12wounded people on stretchers accompanied by medicalpersonnel. In its cargo configuration the helicopter cancarry loads of up to 4,000 kg in its cabin or on an exter-nal sling. The Mi-171E is fitted with a Safir 5K/G Miauxiliary power plant and VK-2500-03 engines that sup-port operations at high altitude and turbulent air condi-tions. Helicopters of this type have a long list of optionalextras to extend their operational possibilities. UnderRussian Helicopters’ contract with the Ministry, Kazakhpilots and technical crew will be given theoretical andpractical training at the Ulan-Ude plant.

Thanks to the Mi-171E’s competitive edge, itsadvanced flight capabilities, reliability and ease of opera-tion, as well as its attractive price point, the Kazakhstan

Ministry of Internal Affairs plans to expand its fleet ofRussian-built helicopters in the future.

Russia and Kazakhstan have been working together onhelicopter operations for several years. The KazakhstanEmergencies Ministry makes active use of the Mi-171Eand attests to its outstanding qualities.

The Mi-8/17 series are among the world’s most effec-tive rescue helicopters. They are widely deployed to helpdeal with flooding, earthquakes and other disastersincluding forest fires around the world, and to provideemergency medical assistance in the field.

The Mi-171E is one of the latest versions of the Mi-8/17. It has been developed by the Mil MoscowHelicopter Plant and is built at the Ulan-Ude AviationPlant, both of which are Russian Helicopters companies.Today more than 4,500 Mi-8/17 series helicopters are inoperation around the world.

Kazakhstan Mi-171E

63

Chinese Helicopters


The Brazil Agência Nacional de Aviaçáo Civilissued a Type Certificate for the The EnstromHelicopter Corporation has received updated type

certification in both Brazil and Argentina.The Brazil Agência Nacional de Aviaçáo Civil issued a

Type Certificate for the Enstrom 480 and 480B helicop-ters. This certification update includes several optionsthat were not previously available. The Brazilian TypeCertificate is now current with the FAA Type Certificate.

“Brazilian operators can take advantage of the latestconfiguration and options available on the 480B,” saidBill Taylor, Director of Engineering at Enstrom. “Thisreflects Enstrom’s commitment to establishing and sup-porting a strong fleet in South America.”

In addition, the Argentina Administración de AviaciónCivil has also updated the type certification for theEnstrom 480B. Two helicopters were deliveredSeptember 2013 to the Cooperativa de Trabajos

Portuarios Limitada de Puerto General San Martín in tobe used as Emergency Medical Services vehicles. Theoptional Litter Kit has proved to be a valuable asset inthis community.

“We are thrilled to be able to meet our customers’ var-ied requirements,” said Enstrom’s Director of Sales andMarketing, Orlando Alaniz. “This updated certificationallows us to provide helicopters that are designed to meetthe unique missions of each user.”

Founded in 1959, Enstrom Helicopter Corporationdesigns, fabricates, assembles, and tests a full line oflight single helicopters for sale and delivery to customersin the global market. They are used for training, execu-tive transport, and commercial operations. Enstrom is awholly owned subsidiary of Chongqing HelicopterInvestment Group (CQHIC) and is located inMenominee, Michigan.

Enstrom Brazilian and

Argentinia Type Certificates


ACCidenT reporTS

served by the crew. At 2.0 nm the co-pilot advised thecommander that the height at 1 nm should be 390 ft. Theco-pilot made a call at 100 ft above the MDA (300 ft);the commander acknowledged. There was then an auto-mated audio call of “CHECK HEIGHT”, an acknowl-edgement by the commander, and then a comment by theco-pilot to draw the commander’s attention to the air-speed. At this time the helicopter’s airspeed was 35 ktand reducing. Shortly thereafter, there was a second auto-mated audio call of “CHECK HEIGHT”, followed by a“100 FEET” automated call two seconds before impactwith the surface of the sea. At some point the commandersaw the sea, but he was unable to arrest the helicopter’sdescent and it struck the surface shortly thereafter, at1717 hrs. The co-pilot, realising that the helicopter wasabout to enter the water, armed the helicopter’s flotationsystem. After striking the surface the helicopter rapidlyinverted, but remained afloat, the flotation equipmenthaving successfully deployed.Of the 18 occupants, 14 survived. The survivabilityaspects of this accident are the subject of ongoinginvestigation. To date, the wreckage examination andanalysis of the recorded data have not found any evi-dence of a technical fault that could have been causal tothe accident. The ongoing AAIB investigation will focuson the operational aspects of the flight; specifically onthe effectiveness of pilot monitoring of instruments dur-ing the approach, operational procedures and the trainingof flight crews. The survivability aspects of this accidentwill also be examined in detail

Robinson R22 Beta G-EROM

The student pilot was briefed to carry out his first soloflight which comprised takeoffs, landings and hoverpractice in the southern hover square at Redhill. Thesurface wind was calm. Initially, the exercises were car-ried out ‘dual’ with an instructor and were performed sat-isfactorily. The instructor confirmed the student under-stood the brief for a solo flight. Standing some 10 metresin front of the helicopter, the instructor gave the studentthe signal to lift into the hover. The student slowly raisedthe collective control lever, at the same time monitoringthe Manifold Air Pressure (MAP) gauge to achieve18 inches of boost. He had been told that this was theapproximate power indication at which the helicopterwould start to lift off. As it appeared to lift off, thehelicopter ‘lurched’ to the right and the studentinstinctively continued to raise the collective lever.The roll to the right increased and was accompanied bythe nose yawing to the right, both of which the studentwas unable to correct before the main rotor blades

AS332 L2 Super Puma G-WNSB

The flight, which was the third leg of a four-leg rotationout of Aberdeen Airport, was between the BorgstenDolphin semi-submersible drilling platform andSumburgh Airport. The intention was to refuel the heli-copter at Sumburgh, before returning to Aberdeen. Thehelicopter lifted from the Borgsten Dolphin platform at1612 hrs, with the commander acting as the Pilot Flying(PF) and the co-pilot as the Pilot Not Flying (PNF)The flight towards Sumburgh was uneventful.Whilst en-route, the crew requested radar vectors to thefinal approach course for Runway 09; the request wasacknowledged by Sumburgh ATC. At 1626 hrs the crewlistened to the 1620 hrs Sumburgh ATIS information‘Whisky’. This gave the weather conditions as: surfacewind from 150° at 18 kt, visibility 4,000 m in haze, scat-tered cloud at 300 ft, broken cloud at 500 ft, temperature+15°C, dew point +14°C and pressure 1014 hPa.At 1648 hrs, Sumburgh ATC informed the crew of thelatest weather. The visibility was 2,800 m in mist,with few clouds at 200 ft and broken cloud at 300 ft.The commander briefed for the ‘SUB’ LOC/DMENon-Precision Approach to Runway 09 at SumburghAirport. Minimum Descent Altitude for the approachwas 300 ft and the Automatic Voice Alarm Device bugswere set accordingly. The plan was that the commanderwould fly the approach while the co-pilot monitored thevertical descent profile with reference to the publishedapproach chart. The commander briefed that he wouldreduce the airspeed to 80 kt for the latter stage of theapproach. At 1702 hrs, the ‘Approach’ and ‘BeforeLanding’ checklists had been completed. The helicopter,receiving a radar control service from Sumburgh ATC,was vectored to the north of Sumburgh before beingturned onto a south-easterly heading and being clearedto intercept the localiser for Runway 09.The autopilot was engaged in Heading and Altitudemodes, with the APP push button selected on theAutomatic Flight Control Panel. The localiser was cap-tured at 1714 hrs. At 6.4 DME ‘SUB’, the commanderinitiated the descent using the autopilot vertical speed(V/S) mode with a selected rate of 500 ft/min. A cross-check by the co-pilot at 5 nm and 1,670 ft indicated tothe crew that they were on the correct vertical profile.There were further checks at 4 nm and 3 nm, which con-firmed that the vertical profile was being maintained. At3 nm the airspeed was 110 kt and reducing. At approxi-mately 2.3 nm, the commander noted that the airspeedwas 80 kt and increased the collective pitch, intending tomaintain this speed. However, the helicopter’s airspeedreduced below 80 kt and continued to reduce, unob-


require power that is beyond the limits of the aircraft andpower plant.The pilot was not wearing his flight helmet, which con-tributed to his head injuries. Despite the recognized ben-efits of head protection, there is no regulatory require-ment for helicopter pilots to wear helmets. The operatorhas implemented a safety policy that requires that allpilots wear flight helmets during flight operations.

Bell 206 JetRanger C-GLQI

One pilot and four passengers flew VFR from theKananaskis base Alberta. 13 minutes after departure thehelicopter crashed in a steep, snow-covered avalanchecorridor, near Loder Peak. 1 hour and 29 minutes later,the operator was advised by the Joint RescueCoordination Centre in Trenton, Ontario, that the ELT onC-GLQI was transmitting. A company helicopter wasdispatched to search the tour route, and found the wreck-age. All occupants were extracted from the site. The pas-sengers sustained minor injuries; the pilot succumbed toinjuries 5 hours after the accident.The investigation found nothing to indicate any airframefailure or system malfunction before or during the flight.The helicopter was being operated within its weight andCoG limits at the time of the accident. The weather wassuitable. Therefore, analysis focused on other factors,including the pilot’s experience and training, airmanship,operational control within the company, and environmen-tal factors that likely contributed to the occurrence.Other than 2.6 hours of flight time obtained in February2012 toward a Robinson R44 helicopter endorsement,there was no record of the pilot having flown for approx-imately 21 months when hired by Kananaskis MountainHelicopters. At the time of hiring, the pilot had little orno mountain-flying training or actual mountain-flyingexperience.Based on the pilot’s self-reports of having approximately500 hours of helicopter flight experience in BritishColumbia and no accidents, the company considered thepilot to have adequate knowledge, skill, and experienceto safely conduct mountain tour flights with minimalrecurrent flight training and checkout. That the pilot hada previous accident, no prior mountain-flying training,and minimal mountain-flight experience was not identi-fied. As a result, the pilot received very little instructionfrom Kananaskis Mountain Helicopters (KMH) in moun-tain-flying techniques, and a minimal evaluation of abili-ties in that environment. The pilot’s reluctance to fly inclose proximity to rock outcrops during KMH flighttraining heightened the company’s confidence in thepilot’s ability to safely conduct tour flights within themountainous local area.

struck the ground. The helicopter rolled onto its rightside, having rotated through approximately 180°. Thestudent isolated the fuel and electrical systems beforeexiting through the left door.The student pilot considered that the cause of theaccident was that he had not identified the developingdynamic rollover. He had been taught to lower thecollective lever at the onset of this condition but hadfocused his attention on the MAP gauge and notmonitored the helicopter attitude and therefore did notidentify the developing situation. The student was 36years old and had 24 hours of flying all on type.

Robinson R44 C-GHZN

The helicopter departed Whitehorse, Yukon, on a wildlifesurvey flight. At approximately 1513, the Joint RescueCoordination Centre received an emergency locatortransmitter signal from the aircraft. A company helicopterwas dispatched to the site with emergency medical serv-ices personnel aboard. The wreckage was found approxi-mately 5 nautical miles east of Carcross, Yukon, onNares Mountain. The pilot was fatally injured, one pas-senger was seriously injured, and another received minorinjuries. The passengers were treated and flown back toWhitehorse. There was no post-impact fire.There was no indication that an aircraft system malfunc-tion contributed to this occurrence. As a result, the analy-sis focused on the operational and environmental factorsthat contributed to the occurrence.Conducting a reconnaissance pass is an industry standardand is taught at mountain flying schools. The pilot hadcompleted a mountain flying course; however, forunknown reasons, he did not carry out a reconnaissancepass before attempting to land. Downdrafts frequentlyexist on the lee side of mountain peaks and ridges. Thosedowndrafts can be severe, and may contribute to addi-tional power demands during the approach for landing.The pilot, upon entering the region downwind of theridgeline, should have expected higher engine powerrequirements to maintain altitude in the descending air.Attempting to maintain altitude by increasing rotor pitchlikely demanded engine power beyond the aircraft’scapability, resulting in a loss of rotor rpm. In this heli-copter, the rotors are coupled directly to the engine.When the increased pitch caused a low rotor speed con-dition, the engine did not have the power to overcome itand slowed down as well. The pilot attempted a landingwhere the power required exceeded the power available.Numerous warnings from both the helicopter manufac-turer and the FAA have indicated the dangers of flyingthis model in high-wind conditions, and that it may

65

ACCidenT reporTS


And

The first World Helicopter Championships tookplace in West Germany in 1971. Much later, TonyEverard, then Chairman of the Helicopter Club of

Great Britain, told me: “we thought people’s helicopterhandling was pretty poor, so we welcomed these trials asa way of raising the standard.”

Included in the first championships was the SecondWorld War Ace, known as ‘Hitler’s pilot’ HannahReitsch. There were only three events, and most of thecompetitors were either British or from West German,most of the helicopters were Brantlys, Bell 47s or theHughes 269.

The second world championships was held in Britain,in 1973. This time there were five events, Time Arrival,Precision flying, Navigation, Slalom, and the non-obliga-tory Free Style, which was won by Karl zimmerman.Teams came from the USSR, the USA, the UK and WestGermany. For the first time, there were a lot of womencompetitors.

The third championships were in Russia, in 1978, andincluded Polish and Hungarian teams. Both Easternblock teams had female members. The fourth champi-onship was in Poland in 1981, and the fifth went back toGreat Britain to be held at Castle Ashby in the presenceof Prince Andrew and his wife-to-be Sarah Ferguson.

Since 1986, there have been a lot of changes includingthe rules. The events are mostly the same, with some

additions such as the Fender. The USA no long sendsteams as it has been otherwise employed and cannotafford the cost.

Through the years there have been British winners,notably Q Smith in the Free Style, and Caroline Gough-Copper and Imogen Asker, who won the LadiesChampionships in 2006.

The next WHC will be held again in 2015 and Polandis bidding the FAI-CIG have not fully accepted the bid,but no other country has offered to host the event.

houSe heliCopTer

World Helicopter Championships 1986

at Castle Ashby

Castle Ashby with Prince

Andrew and his fiance

Sarah Ferguson