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HELICOPTER

LIFE

HELICOPTER LIFE is the HIGH LIFE

Spring 2012 / £3.99

www.helicopterlife.com

now including gyroplanes

Win tickets to

the Goodwood

Festival of

Speed

LIFEHELICOPTER

SPRInG 2012SPRInG 2012

HELICOPTER LIFE, Spring 2012 3

Gusta Mangusta 32Dino Marcellino flewwith the 5th RielMangusta, the pride ofItaly and Italian indus-try, and saw theMangusta at work

World News 57 & 20A variety of writers, look at the latest heli-copter news and events.What are companies inthe old world doing tobeat the recession andhow the new world isbenefitting from thegrowth in helicopters.

HeliExpo 2012 40Georgina Hunter-JonesHeliExpo Dallas 2012gave great hope:new helicopters,improved technology,more R & D, bettercompany sales figuresand more visitors thanin previous years.

Check for RATs - Olympic update 48

Gyrocopters 50Roger Savage and BarryJones work out the prob-lems and pleasures ofgyrocopter flying in amodern era, using theheavier and more stable,but still open-top auto-gyros for training.

Book Review 58

CAA Legislation changes 59

Where to fly 61

Accident Reports 64

House & Helicopter 66

COVER STORYCOVER STORY

First Flight Show & Tell Guide 4Aviation shows and conferences.

The Editor’s Letter 5

Aerial Forum 6 & 10 Rob Hields talks of many things

Letters to the Editor 7 & 11 & 15

Flying Crackers 8 & 9

New Technology 12HAI Dallas shows:a new fly-by-wire heli-copter in the makingwith a canted tail rotor.Is this the way conven-tional helicopters arenow moving, or willhelicopters die out?

Somalian Aid 18Rainer Herzberg visitsSomalia and travelsaround with GermanHelp 3, an EMSHelicopter that wasalso used for aid-givingin Haiti after the 2010earthquake.

Don’t Poke the Pilot 22General Moore-Bicklooks back on a longcareer of flight trans-port with militarypilots “of all colours”and muses on the plus-es and minuses of thatform of “officer deliv-ery`’!

Turks & Caicos 24Georgina Hunter-Jonesvisits a Canadian heli-copter company with adaughter company inbalmy island ofProvidenciales in theTurks & Caicos.

HELICOPTER LIFE, Spring 2012

27 March - 1April 2012FIDAE 2012

Santiago di ChilePhone 562- 8739797www.fidae.cl email: [email protected]

25 May - 27 May 2012AEROExPO UK

Sywell Aerodrome, Northamptonshire, UKhttp://www.expo.aero/uk

14 June - 17 June 2012CHOLMONDELY PAGEANT OF POWER

Cholmondely Castle, Cheshire, UKhttp://www.cpop.co.uk/

22 June - 24 June 2012AEROExPO EUROPE

Bitburg, Germanyhttp://www.expo.aero/europe

29 June - 1 July 2012THE FESTIVAL OF SPEED & AVIATION

ExHIBITION

Goodwood House, near Chichester, Sussexwww.goodwood.co.uk/festival-of-speed

9 July - 15 July 2012FARNBOROUGH INTERNATIONAL AIR SHOW

Farnborough Airfield, Farnboroughhttp://www.farnborough.com/airshow-2012

14 September - 16 September 2012GOODWOOD REVIVAL

Goodwood House, near Chichester, Sussexhttp://www.goodwood.co.uk/revival

26 September - 27 September 2012THE HELICOPTER SHOW

Silverstone, UKhttp://www.thehelicoptershow.com

6 November - 8 November 2012THE DUBAI HELISHOW

Contact: Julia CuthbertMediac Communications and Exhibitions - UKE-mail: [email protected]://www.dubaihelicoptershow.com

4

HELICoPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd.

59 Great ormond Street

London, WC1N-3Hz.

Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2012.

ISSN 1743-1042.

All rights reserved. opinions expressed herein are not neces-

sarily those of the publishers, the Editor or any of the editorial

staff. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form whatever,

is strictly prohibited without specific written permission of

the Editor.

COVER PHOTOGRAPH

Mangusta by Dino Marcellino

SPRInG 2012

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOTGeorgina [email protected]

CREATIVE [email protected]

COPY EDITORSEvangeline Hunter-Jones, JPGerald Cheyne

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSRainer Herzberg, Barry Jones, Dino Marcellino,John Moore-Bick, Roger Savage, Tony Hancock

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHYRainer Herzberg, Barry Jones, Dino Marcellino,John Moore-Bick, Roger Savage

SPECIAL THANKS TODave Smith ATPL(H)IR, Paul Herbert CPL(H)Susan Bradley, Dietrich Peters and Ben Gearing

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

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

WEBSITEwww.helicopterlife.com

Bloghttp://helicopterlife.blogspot.com

See Helicopter Life on Facebook & Twitter

HON. EDITORIAL BOARDCaptain Eric Brown, CBE, RNThe Lord Glenarthur, DLJennifer MurrayMichael J. H. SmithWing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF

LIFEHELICOPTER

Show & Tell

Guide


EMS and life saving. The vision heportrays of Somalia is bleak, but withsome buried hope in the marvellouslyresiliant attitudes of the people.

More lightheartedly we have BarryJones (an already highly experiencedhelicopter pilot) article on learning tofly with that ‘father of gyrocopters’,Roger Savage, and an article aboutflying helicopters in the Turks &Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.

There are other positive indicationsin the helicopter world. one is thatthe longstanding helicopter companyHeliAir, originally started by MikeSmith, has just been awarded an IS-BAo Rating. Brian Kane, Head ofSales and Marketing at HeliAir, saysthat HeliAir is the first helicoptercompany in the world to ever receiveone. An IS-BAo (InternationalStandard for Business Aircraftoperations) is a code of best practice.and was introduced by TheInternational Business AviationCouncil (IBAC) in 2002 to fosterstandardized, safe and highly profes-sional aircraft operations.

on page 48 we have the latestupdate on flying in the Restrictedzone during the olympic period.

ulated helicopters. Have a look at thewebsite. It makes it clear that EASAregulations take the place of CAAones.

“All non-JAR licences (i.e.‘National Licences’, including JARlicences marked as ‘Valid for UKregistered aircraft’) can be converteddirectly into Part-FCL licences; it isnot necessary to convert to a JARlicence first. For aeroplane and heli-copter PPLs, CPLs, and ATPLs thisconversion can be done on similarterms to those which currently existto convert national licences to JARlicences.”

As an explanation of the length oftime it is likely to take the CAA haveincluded in their website this data:

“The CAA has approximately55,000 licence holders. on average,the CAA sends out 70 new or amend-ed licences every working day, orapproximately 1500 a month. It isdifficult to estimate the number ofnational (non-JAR) licences that willneed to be converted but it is likely tobe in the region of 15,000 to 20,000.If these are spread evenly over thetransition period (which is unlikely)the CAA will need to complete atleast 500 additional licence transac-tions per month from 1st July 2012

onwards. We must also expect a sig-nificant increase in enquires by tele-phone and email.”

In this issue we have an articleabout the Italian Air Force’s use ofApaches in Afghanistan which givesan interesting scenario of the day-to-day use of the machine. We also haveGeneral Moore-Bick’s opinion ofmilitary helicopter pilots, whose serv-ices he has used over a long career inthe army. Both stories give an inter-estingly broad view of helicopterpilots usage.

Rainer Herzberg flies out toSomalia to see a different side of hel-icopter use in war-torn countries:

5

The ediTor’S leTTerThis year started looking a littlebetter for aviation in Januaryand leapt ahead at the HAI in

Dallas in February. The HAI was anupbeat show, with new helicoptersfrom Bell and Eurocopter - Bell isdesigning and building a completelynew helicopter, the 525 Relentless(see New Technology page 12 andHAI article), while Eurocopter has an‘e’ version of the EC130. There werealso developments in the MarencoSwiss Helicopter, which, the compa-ny hopes, will do its first flight inNovember this year and some move-ment in the 609 programme, nowtotally controlled by AgustaWestland.Helicopter company sales figures arealso improving and there was a gen-eral feel that the downturn is gradual-ly turning upwards. While there arestill considerable disadvantages in thecurrent market: lack of militaryspending; debt ridden western gov-ernments and a reduction in the num-ber of private fliers, nonetheless therewas a hovering tide, which, if takenat the flood, should lead on to for-tune, as Shakespeare might have saidhad he been a devotee of helicopters.

For anyone flying in Europe thereis now a big change in the way flyingis controlled as we move over toEASA regulations. As changes willtake effect in a few weeks it is neces-sary for all pilots to be aware of thedifferences and the effect on theirlicences. The website to view forthese changes is:

<http://www.caa.co.uk/applica-

tion.aspx?catid=14&pagetype=65&

appid=7&mode=detail&nid=2096>

Gyrocopters are not affected by thechanges as they remain on CAA regu-lations nor are ‘amateur built air-craft’, but other helicopters will nowbe regulated by EASA.

For anyone who still has aUKPPL(H) issued prior to JAA, youwill need to convert your PPL toEASA, before you can fly EASA reg-

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AeriAl Forum

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Get the Picture! robert ‘noshmore’ Hields on the art of helicopters

Hello readers. Since my first article appeared inHelicopter Life, following my “long-haul” flightto London Heliport in G ASAz, my trusty old

Hiller, I have had some interesting feedback from cus-tomers, colleagues, friends, members of the CAA, andother people that absolutely hate me! Well, flattery willget you everywhere, but you must try to maintain a senseof humour, particularly in this business. There aren’t manyoccupations where you can bound off to work, full of thejoys of spring, jump into a much loved flying machine,screw-up, and toddle-off home thirty grand worse off, stillhappy to be doing what you truly enjoy is there?

What on earth is that idiot on about now, can I hear yousaying? Well, from the outside it looks like a pretty, dare Isay, “cool” industry to be involved with, doesn’t it? Imean it’s just not like your nine-to-five, or normal day-time business is it?

Well from being at the sharp end for twenty three years,and surviving, I can assure readers that most sane individ-uals wouldn’t last five minutes, and I’ve seen them come,and I've seen them go! Does that make me insane then?Well some individuals seem to think so, and I applaudtheir frankness and honesty, but sorry to disappoint themas I hold a class one medical certificate, ah-ha, therefore Imust be sane! After all, I can read upside down, even myprevious training inspector’s calligraphy pen was no threatto me, as the blue ink flowethed from the wide-nib of his“high-tech” feathered writing device. “Non compliance”,

forsooth, nay good fellow, yet again hath Ye Lode CAAdenounced my proverbial parchment work? The truth isof course stranger than fiction in the modern aviationworld isn’t it? “But all my students carry a spare sextanton the triangular navigation exercise, Sir Paul”, Iexclaimed tugging my forelock, “Just in case the VoRfails, or the magnetic compass works accurately in theturn”.

Get the point?There is more to this business than having fun, and its

about time some of us had some fun instead of justhanging on to the “good old days” when we were actual-ly making a living.

What really amuses me is the rate at which brain cellsdisappear, and conversations about helicopters turn intogibberish nonsense when a new prospective owner/oper-ator appears on the horizon. off comes the head of apreviously successful wealthy businessman or woman,and plonked in its place is a green cabbage with hugeears, ready for the stockpot!

Looks so easy from the outside, buy a helicopter, geta pilot, and then charge folks as much as you can getaway with to have a ride in it. Well, have I got news forthe next millionaire entrepreneur who fancies chucking afortune away, just get on with it! After all its more funthan just having a few million in the bank, and it

continued on page 10

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


Hancock’s Helimover

Dear Georgina,While it is always nice to be included in your presti-gious magazine we would like to mention an articlethat we thought needed a little clarification! In the Winter 2011 edition of Helicopter Life magazinewe read with both interest and amusement in yourHelitech 2011 article about the “HancockHelimover”. Yes, it is in fact Tony Hancock and his Helicoptermover but it is not the ‘Hancock Helimover’ a moreaccurate term could be the ‘Hancock Helilifter’because it is in fact the world renowned TLCHelilift(r) from TLC Handling Ltd! The Helimover which is designed purely for theRobinson range was sat just next door so we canunderstand the confusion, but if you need to'trulymove a helicopter show' as your article suggested then

you need the universal, single operator TLC Helilift(r)which will handle virtually every make and model ofskid mounted helicopter with speed, safety and style.We like your idea and the word play; however, notwishing to take anything away from the real‘Helimover’ we feel it is only right that we put therecord straight by saying that my machine is in factcalled the TLC Helilift(r) but we happily accept yoursentiment that without Tony and his TLC Helilift(r)“no helicopter show is truly moved”.Kind Regards

Tony HancockTLC Handling Ltd.

Hields on Teaching

Dear Georgina I would like to comment on the article by RobertHields. I have no doubt that Mr Hields is a fine heli-copter pilot. I found his comments about psychologyboth insulting, and narrow minded. Both helicoptersand psychology are of great significance in my life.They both have a valid place in this world, and neitherone or the other is of greater or lesser importance.Mr Hields throws insults around very easily. I oncewent flying with an instructor who had a similar man-ner. I walked away from the school after that one les-son. Their loss of many thousands of pounds of busi-ness. I then found a school staffed by open, fair mind-ed and friendly people, who kept their prejudices (ifthey had any) to themselves. It was a pleasure to flywith such people. Regards

David Barker

Reduced landing Fees at Festival of Speed

Dear Georgina,Following the recent news that the third dedicatedGoodwood Aviation Show is to become a fully-inte-grated on-site attraction at the popular Festival ofSpeed and Moving Motor Show (28 June - 01 July),Goodwood is now able to announce a substantiallyreduced flat rate landing fee for all Aviation Show tick-et holders. The annual Goodwood Festival of Speed and AviationShow sees hundreds of aircraft flying in from acrossEurope. This year, that number is set to grow consider-ably with the introduction of a flat rate landing fee ofjust £30 for everyone who has an Aviation Exhibitionticket. This £30 landing fee is irrespective of aircraftsize or the number of passengers aboard.Tickets are available from any one of Goodwood'smany Aviation Show partners, including Flyer, Pilot,Helicopter Life, Rotor Hub, or by simply applying online athttp://www.redboxpower.com/Goodwood-tickets.html. The Aviation Show ticket will allow entry into the avi-ation exhibition free of charge. As the Aviation Showis being relocated directly adjacent to the Festival of

continued on page 11

7

leTTerS To The ediTor Letters continue on

page 11 & 15 & 19 & 24


FlyinG CrACkerS

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Kathryn Tucker, the HelicopterMuseum Collections officer said“We are really impressed by thestandard of work carried out by theRolls-Royce Trust volunteers. Theengine now looks like new and is aninteresting addition to our displays.”The first British-designed turboshaftengine to enter service, the 1600shpGazelle was installed from the late1950's in the Bristol Belvedere, builtat Weston-super-Mare, and the earlyWestland Wessex helicopters, butwas rapidly succeeded by lighter andsmaller engines developed to pro-vide similar power. one of these, theRolls-Royce Gnome replaced theGazelle in the Wessex, being smallenough for two to be installed sideby side in the same area as the previ-ous power plant. Nevertheless,s theGazelle remained in service with theBelvedere until 1969 and with theWessex Mk.3 until the mid 1980's.The Rolls-Royce trust is now restor-ing at least two more Gazelles forthe museum, which plans to installthem in due course in the prototypeBelvedere held in the collection.

National Express sponsor AA

National Express Group, a leadingbus, coach and rail transportprovider, launched a £25,000 annualsponsorship of London’s Air

Ambulance in February.Commenting on the sponsorship,Charity Director, David oakley said:“London’s Air Ambulance reliesheavily upon corporate support anddonations from the public to ensurethe continued provision of this life-saving service. We are delighted tobe working in partnership withNational Express Group and areextremely grateful for the significantcontribution they are making.”

Bell and Eurocopter clash

Helicopter companies Bell Textronand Eurocopter have been to courtover an infringement by Bell ofEurocopter’s patent covering ‘aninnovative helicopter landing geardesign that Eurocopter developed andimplemented on its EC120 andEC130 models.’ Bell claims it wasvindicated in many aspects, whileEurocopter says that the CanadianFederal Court has issued punitivedamages against Bell. The amount isnot yet recorded.

Bristow Awarded UK SAR con-

tract for Northern Scotland

The Department for Transport hasannounced that Bristow HelicoptersLimited has won the contract to pro-vide Search and Rescue (SAR) serv-ices in the north of Scotland. Bristowwill provide SAR services startingJuly 2013, using Sikorsky S-92 heli-copters based in Stornoway andSumburgh. operations under the con-tract are expected to run for fouryears, until the long-term future pro-vision of such services are secured.Mike Imlach, Director of Bristow,said: "We are delighted to work withthe Maritime and Coastguard Agency(MCA) to provide this importantservice from the Scottish islands.“Bristow has an excellent reputationfor faultless execution of search and

Coffee from Heaven

When a group of Seattle hikers weredropped a cup of coffee from a heli-copter they had grounds for surprise,but their surprise soon turned toshock and then relief as they read themessage on the cup.“A ranger has been shot, shooter atlarge,” said the message, scrawledon the side of a Cruisin Coffee cup.“Call on cell if able to Pierce Cosheriffs.”“They got the message and gave us athumbs up,” said Chris Rosen, whowas piloting the U.S. Customs andBorder Protection helicopter. Theaircraft was flying over the park insearch of a gunman who had shot a

park ranger to death the previous dayand fled into the snow-covered hills.The unsuspecting campers - nearlythe only visitors left at the evacuatedpark, which was by then crawlingwith police and search dogs - quick-ly packed up their gear and headedfor safety, with the helicopter as anescort.

Gazelle for the Museum

The Helicopter Museum at Weston-super-Mare in Somerset has put ondisplay an enginedating from the1950's. The engine, a NapierGazelle, is one of several held by themuseum, and has recently beenrestored for static display by volun-teers at the Rolls-Royce HeritageTrust at Patchway, Bristol.


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rescue operations. We will bring our expertise to thiscontract, developed in the UK between 1971 - 2007with 11,500 missions. In addition, we currently oper-ate search and rescue services in Norway, theNetherlands, and Trinidad”.“We are very much looking forward to renewing rela-tionships with the MCA, Emergency Services andlocal communities in northern Scotland, working inpartnership to once again provide vital Search andRescue services to the UK public.”“As we take over the service, Bristow will workclosely with the current operator to ensure that staffeligible for transfer, achieve a smooth and seamlesstransition during this organisational change".

Kiowa reaches 2 million hours

Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, announcedthat the U. S. Army's oH-58 Kiowa Warrior helicop-ter fleet have accumulated 2 million flight hours.over 750,000 of these flight hours have been flown incombat. “The Kiowa Warrior continues to be theworkhorse of Army aviation and this recentmilestone is another example of the important rolethis helicopter fulfills in the Army's armed reconnais-sance mission,” said Mike Miller, director of ArmyBusiness Development, Bell Helicopter.

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Sikorsky goes on and on

At the HAI Sikorsky Aircraft recognized HelijetInternational as operator of the world’s highest airtimeSikorsky S-76® airframe — an S-76A™ helicopter (serialnumber 760074) with 37,025 flight hours.Vancouver-based Helijet operates North America’s largestscheduled helicopter service.Since 1986, aircraft 760074, an S-76A helicopter operatingin Helijet's airline service, has carried more than 500,000scheduled service passengers more than 3 million milesbetween Helijet passenger terminals in Vancouver andVictoria, British Columbia.Aircraft 760074 entered service in July 1980, and then flew2,287 hours during nine years as a corporate aircraft in thenorth-eastern United States. Helijet acquired the aircraft inJanuary 1990

Essex and Herts Air Ambulance,

photograph by Bryn Elliott

10 HELICOPTER LIFE, Spring 2012

continued from page 6

employs people as well, so it must be good eh? Butdon’t expect to make any money though, unless you canfly professionally, you are a licensed engineer, you have afully approved JAR maintenance facility with tooling,and a wife also qualified as an engineer, you can act as achief pilot, you have an Air operators Certificate, youcan act as accountable manager, auditor and quality man-ager, answer the phone, use the internet, design websites,make tea, and most importantly understand new legisla-tion from our friends and colleagues somewhere inEurope!

There must be a better way than this you may ask yourself? Well there is, just cheat like the others!

I suppose that sounds like a bit of a rant, and totallytongue-in-cheek to those who don’t know me.

Well, make your own mind up, and any reference toany person or persons, who bear a resemblance to theabove mentioned, is purely intentional.

Moving on now, since my last article I can report thatoliver Nicholls has passed his test and is waiting for hislicence, Jon Burrow is still at school, but ready to solo,and petite Catherine Reed is now solo in the circuit, seethe picture, all done without hands eh!

Recently I have stumbled on a new place to eat, on theNorfolk coast, in the village of Thornham.

Check the web for details on Thornham, and you willsee that for such a small place it packs quite a punch inthe “Nosh” department. Apart from being a pretty littlevillage it has three pubs with excellent food available.

our party booked a table at the orange Tree. Therestaurant at the Kings Head, and we were not disap-pointed. The pub itself is warm and welcoming, with thesmell of the oak fire reminding you of just how it used to

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be in olde England. The menu boasts fresh local pro-duce, imagination, and style.

Being so close to the source of the catch, the signa-ture dish was the most popular main course ordered, andI can certainly recommend it. Pan fried Stone Bass with“Saffron Fruite de la Mare”, Brancaster Mussels, PakChoi and cleverly made Spiced Cockle Popcorn. It wasas good as it sounds, and having started with Scampi inan edible fisherman’s basket, it was a coastal feast. Ieven managed to put a small sweet away, but for loversof sweets, “The Playground” looked astonishing. Therestaurant executive chef, Philip Milner, won BritishSeafood Pub Chef of the year, and thoroughly deservesrecognition.

our party was celebrating the 19th birthday of RogerAylott, the father of my friend and flying companion,Hedley Aylott. The picture shows Roger and his wifeMarion, Hedley and his wife Claudia, and yours truly.Bye the way if you think 19th birthday was a misprint,you would be wrong. Roger was indeed born on the29th of February, so you can work it out yourself!

How, did we get there? Well, Hedley, Roger andmyself arrived by R44 and the ladies by road. With alittle help from John Warham, the chairman of the localvillage playing field committee, we were allowed to landin the corner of the village playing fields. See the pic-ture of our welcoming committee. John turned out to berelated to my old school rugby coach, Joe Warham, whoI now know to be still alive! Roundhay Boys GrammarSchool, Leeds, 1966. Small world isn’t it?

You can contact John on 01485 512546 if you arelooking for permission to land, and please note that adonation to the playing field committee would be wellreceived.

Catherine Reed

first solo

Kings Head at

Thornham

continued from page 7

Speed site for 2012, there will be a free transport serv-ice in place transferring visitors arriving by aircraftdirectly from the Goodwood Aerodrome to theAviation exhibition. The 2012 Goodwood Aviation Show already has con-firmed more exhibitors than in previous years, as wellas the familiar exhibitors, including Pilatus, NicholsonMcLaren, Daher-Socata represented by Aura Aviation,and Red Box International. Entertainment at this year's event will include fly pastsand air displays, with plenty of other attractions and

famous faces appearing. All of this is set at thehome of the world's greatest motoring event, theGoodwood Festival of Speed at the picturesqueGoodwood Estate in West Sussex.All visitors to the Goodwood Aviation Show will beable to upgrade their entry to a full Festival of Speedticket. This will allow general admission into theFestival of Speed by following the ticket section ofwww.goodwood.com.Best wishes,

Adrian Jackson; 07970544190 or 01794 518888E-mail [email protected]

To The ediTormore leTTerS

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Take out or renew a two year subscription to Helicopter Life

and be entered in the draw for a pair of tickets for the

Goodwood Festival of Speed June 30 - July 1 2012


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The Bell 525 Relentless helicopter unveiled at HAIHeliexpo has innovative control systems includingfly-by-wire, side-stick cyclic and collective controls

and a canted tail-rotor, all concepts we know about but,how do they actually work?

Fly-by-wire uses electronic wires to control the normaloperation of an aircraft. In the case of the Bell 525Relentless this allows for small collective and cyclic con-trols (side-sticks) and a touch-screen control pad and thusmakes room for a far larger flight control panel.

A fly-by-wire system replaces the normal, mechanicalcontrol systems of the helicopter with an electronic inter-face. The pilot tells the computer what to do via the cyclicand collective controls and these movements are convert-ed to electronic signals tranmitted by wires to the comput-er, which then determines how best to fulfill the instruc-tion. It does this by sending signals to actuators at eachcontrol surface to provide a response. Commands from thecomputer may also be made without pilot input, in forexample, the question of stabilising the helicopter and per-forming other tasks that would normally be done intuitive-ly by the pilot. There also can be cases where the comput-er over-rides pilot input having deduced that it is unsafe. Inthe case of the Bell 525 the system has triple redundancy,which means that it can lose two means of control and stillcontinue to function.

The Bell 525 Relentless also had canted tail rotor. What

TeChnoloGy AT heliexpo

new

The Bell 525 a revolution in control technology

Close-up view of the

cyclic sidestick and the

touch screen control

pad

The Bell 525 a revolution in control technology

EC155

is the reasoning behind a canted tail rotor? The canted tail-rotor was designed by Dave Jenney, an engi-

neer working for Sikorsky in the 1950s. He designed the cant-ed (or tilted) tail-rotor in response to a problem created byadding another engine to the CH-53 Sea Stallion. The USMarine Corp wanted more lift from the big helicopter, andSikorsky wanted to add a third engine, and consequently putbigger blades on the main and tail rotor. However, that in itselfnecessitated moving the tail some six feet, and this threw thehelicopter out of balance. Jenney’s solution was to tilt the tailrotor 20 degrees off vertical, which then balanced the otherchanges by increasing the centre of gravity envelope and causedthe tail to give a little upward lift of its own. This technology,called the canted tail-rotor, was subsequently used by Sikorskyin the Black Hawk, and is now going to be used on the BellRelentless 525.

There are opponents to this design as it creates adverse yaw(as found on the wings of some early de Havilland Moth air-craft) which has to be factored out, in this case by the comput-er-based control system.

Robert Hastings, Senior VP at Bell Helicopters, talked aboutthe 525 as a helicopter far ahead of its time, which allows oneto deduce it is still a design in evolution, so it may well be thatthere will be changes during the years until the first flight andcertainly after as the helicopter matures. Certainly as helicopterdesign moves with computer technology this is an exciting timeto be watching the progress of aircraft engineering.

Canted tail rotor as

originally designed by

Dave Jenney

HELICOPTER LIFE Spring 201214

German Help 3 Rainer Herzberg sees the use of medical

helicopters and aid in war-torn Somalia

Augsburg’s Heli Coil Aviation earneds some very helpful experiencein the emergency use of helicopters during their work with the earth-quake victims in Haiti in 2010. German helicopters Help 1 and 2

used their helicopters to aid many individuals and relief organizations. NowHeli Coil Aviation is based at the border area between Kenya and westernSomalia and the German Help 3 helicopter is once again on its way, with sup-plies, medicines and teams of physicians to be transport to the distant

HELICOPTER LIFE Spring 2012

Dörfernund Camp. We accompanied German Help 3 on its flights. The

journey after Dadaab is, in the true sense of the word,an adventure! The cosy flight from Frankfurt was theopposite of the sight that greeted me in Nairobi. Tomthe kind HEMS helper and pilot of Heli Coil Aviationstands waiting for me with a calm face but has to giveme the bad news. Hepatitis has been diagnosed, which


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would mean no flying. Luckily I had been inocu-lated at high speed before my departure with alltwelve inoculations against African Unbill. Thisputs me out of danger of infection, and so I can sitmyself calmly in the Toyota with our driver Luuk,which goes all the quicker as my luggage is still inMombasa, delayed for some unknown reason, andI have only a light bag with my cameras and somewash things. Luuk, a master of his trade, jets uscourageously through the chaotic Nairobi traffic,over mud pathways and partly asphalted by-passroads on the route A3 toward Garissa, where thehelicopter awaits us, ready for the long flight toDadaab.

our route is scattered with innumerable vastimpact holes partially covered by a corrugatediron sheets, and we have some 400 kilometers ofthis shaking pathway to traverse. As CentralEuropeans we would normally slow down here,however Luuk increases his speed, already morethan 150 km/h, and, with the normal African san-guinity, puts everything down to the will of God. Iam glad Toyota made their trucks strong!

After five hours of torture, we reach a flatshrub landscape. We pass primitive brushwoodhuts which house a few poorly dressed humanbeings. The question of how and why anyone canlive like this cannot really be asked. Garissa, a tra-ditional town for Kenyan conditions, has an uncer-tain future and reminds us to be cautious. Islamist

Villagers waiting for the

helicopter

Waiting to see the doctor


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Al Shaban militias from Somalia attacked recently theonly hotel in the place with explosive charges and kid-napped two Spanish lady doctors, one of whom wasnever heard of again.

We drive directly through to the KAA (Kenya of air-port Authority) administered and guarded GarissaAirstrip. A Pick-up truck with three barrels of keroseneis already there and waiting to fuel the helicopter, whichemerges punctually, spot on the arranged time, as a doton the horizon. An AS350 Ecureille B2 with the identifi-cation D-HFEM, it is flown by Jens zeissig and his co-pilot Davide Espatola. Also on board are Mario Löhner,the engineer, and omar, our Kenyan supervisor. Afterfuelling we fly to Dadaab, in order to discuss with therelief organization, World Concern, the flights for thenext day. We may not remain in Dadaab for safety rea-sons, and instead fly 190 km north to Wajir. Flying time1 hour and twenty minutes.

At 17.20 we land on the international Airfield, 40minutes before darkness. Since there is no radar, aircraftmay not fly at night. All radio traffic in this region goesthrough Wajir Tower. once that call has been made,pilots make ‘blind’ calls on their way to air-strips usingthe Unicom frequency 118.3 MHz. Sometimes the air-field replies, at other times there is silence.

We are put up in the Wajir Guesthouse, a guarded,building complex with high, barbed-wire reinforced

After landing in Hamey

Inset: shops in Liboi

Examining the

latest cargo


One reason why helicopters are so vital to

Somalian aid

walls, populated by innumerable black beetles and pow-erful mosquitoes. For dinner there is Ugali (rice mash)with goat meat. Every day! After the breakfast on thenext morning (two jam doughnuts, an egg and Nescafe)our driver arrives at 7.30. It is monsoon rain time andthe country is under water, so our route is though mudand deep water holes from the hotel to the airfield.

Here the daily helicopter ‘A’ check is a special art.Jens, Davide and Mario check extremely thoroughlyand with great care, using mirrors on each line of poten-tial leakage, the smallest drop is closely watched and afuel sample is taken several times. Understandable, ifone has 200 kilometers flight over a deserted shrublandscape and further six hours flying time in thedesert, where the chance of assistance in a forced land-ing is nil. There are no other helicopters nearby andSAR is unknown here.

After refuelling by the very professional airport serv-ice we are ready for the start.

Flight altitude of 2,500 foot, course 170 degrees,speed of 100 KTS, outside temperature +28°C. Theview outside the window is unvarying: infinite shrublandscape all the way to Dadaab.

Usually here everything is brown and dried, but themonsoon-time rain brought out the vegetation with avengeance, and flooding to the Erblühen, and so we

have the rare sight of an enormous green area over hun-dreds of kilometers. In addition, the rainfall of the lastfew weeks totally cut off many camps and villages fromthe aid, which must now be supplied by German Help3. The sodden roadways are impassable. Whole truckconvoys stick for weeks in the mud and wait for a dryperiod. About ten minutes before we reach DadaabAirfield, we fly over the enormous camps, whereapproximately 450,000 Somalis were living even beforethe famine. These have now been made larger by thosefleeing from the war between the peacekeeping forcesof the African union (AMISo) and the Al Shabaab mili-tias and the Hizbul Islam.

Human rights are unknown in this conflict. Howeverthe Al-Shabaab is responsible for the punishment andkilling of local villagers, who do not bend themselves totheir interpretations of the Islamic laws.

There are about 200 new refugees to Dadaab everyday and they all come expecting assistance and food.These are predominantly women, children and old peo-ple; most young men are obliged to join one of the rivalmilitias for war service. Children are recruited from theage of nine years, supplied with weapons and forced tojoin the fight. Anyone who refuses is executed withoutcompunction, even the smallest ones. According tointernational estimations about 70,000 children have

weapons in Somalia. There is no working government.The country is designated by UN as ‘a failed state’

and is high on the list of international corruption. Aid ismisappropriated by warlords and does not arrive at thehomes of the poor and hungry. Lack of nutrition andinfections are far from rare and 70% of the populationhave no access to clean drinking water. Many relieforganizations have left Somalia owing to the continuousuncertainty. Al-Shabaab has for a long time preventedthe assistance of countries from the west by force ofarms.

Then, in october 2011, Kenya started an offensive onthe western Somali border which has already penetratedup to 120 kilometers into the country, forcing the Al-Shabaab-militias back. So, while this is happening fiftynine relief organizations in Kenya prepare to follow theforces and bring aid in to the country. However, withthe aid come Christian groups trying to distribute theBibles in Islamist camps, which heats up the conflictunnecessarily.

This is the region in which German Help 3 works tohelp all the remote settlements and Camps along theborder. It is a dangerous job, because the security situa-tion, which is daily evaluated by the relief organiza-

tions, is clearly extremely bad and it is again and againurgent to remind everyone to be very cautious.

We start with a flight down into the settlement ofHamey, in order to deliver a Chinese lady doctor and aKenyan Medical officer for a medical investigations onthe inhabitants, I remain with them against all the warn-ings of the team.

The landing itself requires good planning and organi-zation, set as it is in the scrub with all the inevitabledust and a very limited landing field. The Ecureillescarcely fits between shrubs and low trees, and in orderno protect us from possible attack, is unloaded withoutshutting down; with the rotor turning at speed and theflight is started immediately we have finished, becausewe are only 5 kilometers from the border of Somalia.

With Jens zeissig as captain and Davide Espatola asa copilot Heli Coil Aviation has sent two very experi-enced pilots to Kenya, who act in each situation withpeace and circumspection, and do their jobs extremelyprofessionally. The two know how to estimate whatreally is the level of risk and how to avoid everythingthat could make the flight dangerous. It does give realreassurance to all those here on the ground, knowingthat German to Help 3 is on the way.

Landing at the end of the day at Wajir.

Inset: the daily ‘A’ check is a special art!


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Around the WorldCapital Air Services fly Hermes EC135

CCapital Air Services Ltd. are now flying theEurocopter EC135 ‘l’Hélicoptère par Hermès,’providing the U.K.-based European corporate hel-

icopter charter specialist with a high-end helicopter forcustomers seeking excellence and optimum comfort.

“We are delighted to receive this very prestigiousHermès helicopter, the fifth EC135 to join our fleet,”said Michael Hampton, the MD of Capital Air Services.“We are sure that the elegance of this particular aircraft

combined with its proven reliability and speed will makea very appealing and cost effective aircraft.”

The EC135 ‘l‟Hélicoptère par Hermès’ is the result ofjoint vision from the House of Hermès and Eurocopter,two market leaders in totally different business fields. Itcombines the excellence of Eurocopter’s twin-engineEC135 with the savoir-faire of Hermès, with more than150 design changes of the interior and the exterior of thehelicopter.

Multiflight adds second Dauphin

The Eurocopter AS365 N2 Dauphin joins Multiflight’sexisting helicopter charter fleet that includes aEurocopter AS365 N1 Dauphin, AS355 Twin Squirrel

and a B206 III Jetranger.“We are delighted to announce the addition of a new Dauphinto our fleet,” says Multiflight MD Steve Borrowdale.Multiflight’s new Dauphin charter helicopter has undergone amajor refurbishment programme at Multiflight’s in-houseengineering and maintenance facility at Leeds BradfordInternational Airport, including the installation of new avion-ics, new cream interior and full repaint. Multiflight offers a full range of aviation services at its baseat Leeds Bradford International Airport including comprehen-sive air ambulance services.


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Eurocopter in

Mexico

Eurocopter’s Mexicansubsidiary, Eurocopterde México S.A.

(EMSA), delivered a single-engine AS350 B2 helicopter tothe Quito Aerial Police Service,of the Ecuadorian NationalPolice Force, for use on publicsecurity missions.

The new aircraft was pre-sented at the customer’s facili-ties in Quito attended by seniorofficials from Ecuador’sMinistry of Internal Affairs, theNational Police Force and theNational Council for theControl of Narcotic Drugs andPsychotropic Substances(CoNSEP), and EMSA repre-sentatives.

The Aerial Police Servicenow has two AS350 B2s underthe contract signed by EMSAwith the General Headquartersof the Ecuadorian NationalPolice Force in December2009. The new helicopter willprovide support in the fight

against organized crime and public security missions.The Aerial Police Service of the Ecuadorian National Police Force has been car-

rying out missions to safeguard public security in Ecuador for 14 years now, oper-ating from five strategically located bases. Due to its rapid response and wide fieldof view, the helicopter is the perfect ally for a wide range of law enforcement mis-sions, as well as SAR and MEDEVAC operations..

constraints, London's Air Ambulancehas, since its formation, provided aninvaluable service to the Capital”. oneof the 7/7 inquest's nine concluding rec-ommendations was that HEMS shouldhave its funding and capacity reviewed.

The Charity appreciates the help itreceives from the NHS, and currentcorporate supporters, however, in thesemost austere of times, it needs to devel-op additional income sources to remain

at the forefront of emergency medicalcare and maintain the quality of care itprovides to critically injured Londoners.

Commenting on his appointment DrJulian Thompson said: “During mytime as a doctor on the service I wasinspired by the professionalism of themedical care but frustrated that limita-tions in funding meant that we couldnot always reach Londoner's who need-ed our care.”

London's Air Ambulance ispleased to announce theappointment of Dr Julian

Thompson as an ExecutiveDirector of the Charity. Julianworked as a doctor on London'sAir Ambulance in 2010 and hasreturned to lead an enhancedservice in partnership with seniorfigures in the City of London.

Last year, London's AirAmbulance's work was high-lighted in the Coroner's Inquestinto the London Bombings of 7July 2005. The Coroner, LadyJustice Hallett praised the servicesaying ‘Despite current financial

new

London

HEMS

Director


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Your editor and I share a common heritage asmembers of the Court of the Skinners' LiveryCompany and we both edit magazines. So, we

are both always on the lookout for unsuspecting authorsand, in a moment of bravado/forgetfulness/distraction oralcoholic haze, I offered to write a bit on my recollec-tions of forty years in and around helicopters.Helicopters have accompanied my military life from itsearliest days to its culmination and it doesn’t seem to beover yet as I move between a variety of honoraryappointments.

Those earliest experiences were made at sea on HMSAlbion (Centaur class) with the exhilarating thrill of theflight deck, the unmistakable smell of AVGAS, theorder, the activity, the sheer sense of purpose of doinggreat things for Britain with such people as I met onboard. For a 20 year old university student the careeraspirations of academia in the world of plant sciencesgave way to a more practical life. And so it was thatthat ‘look at life' with 79 (Kirkee) Commando Batterybecame a life far fuller than ever expected: I joined 45Commando Group Royal Marines as its (by now

Don’t Poke the Pilot


General Moore-Bick looks back on a

long career of military transport

Sapper) 'Condor' troop commander. our winters werespent in Arctic North Norway and summers in the bad-lands of South Armagh. Challenge burst upon challengeand I soon learnt in both theatres how much successdepended, as if on a thread, on the support of our heli-copters. Sometimes, this was literally on a string, as ourland rovers and Snotracs were lifted off the deck ofHMS Hermes in the Commando role and, with anyluck, flown to our icy home for the next three or fourmonths. But a swinging load and a quick ‘snip’ meantthe end of carefully stocked luxuries, books and any-

thing else prized to make the long cold nights morebearable, lost without trace as they sank into the deep,deep Narvik Fjord. our Wessex 5s, Scouts and SeaKings were our lifeline and our biggest fear was thatwarmer temperatures that would ground them. our kitwas first class: -11° was fine, -18° better, but above -4°both we and our helicopters melted away like thawingsnowmen.

on a snowy plateau in Norway or a nasty corner ofSouth Armagh we strained to hear the familiar Scoutengine, every slight noise raised a hope and yes, there it


was, our much needed reinforcements, relief or casevac. However, I also learnt that pilots, even pilots, are as

fallible as the rest of us. My next door neighbour, forexample, who landed me in Ireland (yes, the other bit) inplain clothes with briefcase carrying a sub machine gunin it may have learnt his map reading a bit later in life, Ihope. on another occasion, one dark blowy evening, the(very) young pilot who picked me up in a Sioux (remem-ber that goldfish bowl attached to a crane jib?) inCrossmaglen, bound for Castle Dillon, usually about 20minutes flying, turned to me after what seemed an eterni-ty and asked with a tone of alarm in his voice ‘do youknow where we are?’ I didn’t and neither did he, it washis first day of operational flying. As it got really darkwe flew on and after well over an hour landed withempty fuel tank, having done two circuits – of the wholeprovince it seemed. And, HE even thanked ME!

Northern Ireland was where I learnt to value the liftingpower of the PUMA, as I had the Sea King before it. Myjob was to rebuild security force outposts along the bor-der and to destroy unofficial border crossings. Movingpallets by helicopter; the concrete blocks we used werethe most expensive in the world at £26 each at 1970prices, £350 today. And I watched with horror as anunder slung bundle of steel scaffolding poles unbundleditself and rained down like spears on a herd of quietlygrazing cattle. As we circled to view the damage I sawthat not one single cow had been speared and, due to thelocation, the happy farmer had suddenly earned a smallfortune in scrap metal.

Much of my service was international. on the GermanGeneral Staff course we often flew on visits with theHeeresflieger in UH-1Ds and CH-53s. Familiar, as I was,with the relatively few aircraft in British service it was astriking change to see forty-eight giant helicopters alllined up on the pad. And another surprise was to find out

that the front man read the map and the others followedon behind like a taxi service. It all worked pretty well, asStalin said, ‘Quantity has a quality all its own’.

In addition to flying in Germany, I have often flown inthe American helicopters which seem to abound in bothpeacetime and war. on one occasion I remember beingvery grateful for a thick pile carpet as a button flew offmy over-tight jacket when, in VIP NATo mode inBrussels, I was eating and drinking for peace.

But French, Serbian, Russian, Hungarian, Spanish,Italian, Danish and Norwegian pilots have sped me onmy way. Most have given me no cause at all for alarm,however, the CHoD’s VIP Puma provided for Anne, ourdaughter Charlotte and me in Romania astonished us. Inmid-flight our minders came through the cabin and dis-appered through a door at the back. This was not todesert us, as we feared, but to get to their smoking com-partment, a sort of galley at the back of the helicopter.Also in that country, which used a mixed variety ofrotary and fixed wing VIP aircraft, we always had thesame versatile pilot.

Then there was the Serbian Mi-8 HIP, in which I flewwith the President and nearly all of his cabinet together.It felt like one of those rural French baker’s 2CV vansand on board it turned out to be a smoking only flightwith no working seat belt in sight. Thank goodness forRAF air safety standards.

As the Chief Engineer in Bosnia at the end of the war,I faced a ruined country with every bridge blown up andmost infrastructure partially or totally destroyed. Therewas no overview, neither physically from the air normetaphorically on the ground, between competing insti-tutions. My daily flights over the beautiful but sadlydestroyed land gave me the necessary vision and peaceto work out what to do, and in what order.

Helicopters were abundant but made scarce by an

Moore-Bick’s last weekend in uniform

with 39 (Skinners') Signal Regiment (V)

Lieutenant Colonel Adrian Campbell-

Black R Signals, commanding.


undergrowth of national constraints. Even my owncountry tried to charge me £3,000 a day for a Lynx,thinking NATo could be blackmailed into paying.Luckily, German civil servants were not so advancedand carried me free of charge. on the ground vitriolicarguments about ‘Mission Creep’ threatened to paralyseany restoration and also meant that huge Americanresources remained parked up and unused. Refuelling atTuzla airport one day I spied a long line of red crossbadged Blackhawks, so I walked over to them. As wetalked I discovered a group of American warrant offi-cers who were bored stiff with no flying, since therewere no casualties.

‘Come Fly with Me’ I said and they did. Materials ofall sorts, bridge parts, railway parts, water supply, elec-tricity spares were suddenly available and over-night,the pace of engineering changed. It lasted about sixweeks until the clammy hand of their higher chain ofcommand re-exerted itself.

I knew the flight routes better than the short termrotating pilots and could warn them, if they listened, orbrace myself, if they did not. The crossing sets of HTcables just outside Sarajevo became a regular featureand duly brought down the son of a friend a few yearslater, safely that time, I am pleased to say.

overview, that’s what I gained there, just as I did inthe Falkland Islands in 1984. There I decided in my ear-liest days to teach German evening classes to ward offthe threat of alcoholism. An eclectic group came to myclass, all of whom had something to offer in return inthat vibrant, barter economy. That included command-ers of the Lynx flight and the Bristows contract aircraft.We all helped each other with irregular verbs, hardstanding and refuelling pads (from me) exchanged forhelicopter air miles to get out and about to the furthestcorners, not least to see the rich Falklands wildlife andmeet and stay with the fascinating settlers.

As I neared the end of uniformed service the Gazelleproved an ever present friend, with the huge privilegeof pick-up on the lawn from home. With duties overmuch of Germany to cover with my wife Anne, 12Flight Army Air Corps took us north, south, east andwest. And what a relief to see a highly sophisticated,clean, reunited country from the air after the devastationof the Balkans. As the Iraq war loomed Anne becamethe principal passenger as we tended the sparties, sinceshe had the Home Front experience of the first GulfWar in Iraq in 1991. So, she would take the front seatwith one or two new trouser suits to meet the regula-tions, and put me in the back with a newspaper.

Somewhere along the line I must have felt that allthis flying as a passenger was not enough and I learnt tofly with the RAF Laarbruch flying club. At 45 years old

that must have got it out of the system, but it taught me toappreciate the skills that kept me in the air and enabled meto do my job in decisive postings from start to finish.

Right at the end, on my last weekend in paid servicethere was a Gazelle on our village playing field once againto pick me up in my own country for a rare chance toappreciate the place, the pilots and the aircraft that it hasbeen my privilege to serve with. Some of you I have onlyknown by the Dymo tape on the backs of your helmets,but some I have got to know as friends. Thank you all.

Flying with

minders in the

Super Puma in

Romania

River Sava 1996.

Slavonski Brod bridge

repair. Probably the

largest of its type

since WW2

Intermediate piers,

rollers and bearing

plates were positioned

by Blackhawks.


,

Flying over the Salte

TCI Helicopters in the Turks & Caicos Islands is asubsidiary of Buffalo Aerial Services operatingin British Columbia, Canada. Unlikely though

this sounds, there are currently about 5,000 Canadiansliving in the Turks and Caicos, about 12% of the popu-

lation (roughly 35,000 over all the islands) and analmost equal number of Canadian visitors each year.

Buffalo Aerial Services was started in BritishColumbia by Dietrich Peters and Susan Bradley in2003, and immediately found a market for aerial lifting,

Georgina Hunter-Jones looks

at helicopter flying

in the Turks & Caicos Islands

27HELICOPTER LIFE, Spring 2012

VIP, fire fighting and EMS. A couple of years later onholiday in the Caribbean, Peters and Bradley realisedhow much the Turks & Caicos Islands needed a similarservice and set themselves on the road to working withthe people of the islands to set one up.

The challenge they gave themselves was not small.There had already been at least five attempts to set up ahelicopter service in Turks & Caicos, which had failedfor a variety of reasons, one, namely Silverstate, waspart of the failure of a much bigger company, others had


The Provo conch

farm was damaged

in Hurricane Ike

in 2009 and is

slowly being

rebuilt

tried the wrong type of helicopter, others had had prob-lems with the government of the day. However, lookingat all these previous failures and learning from theirmistakes Peters and Bradley thought they could see away to make a successful company that would benefitboth themselves and the people of the islands. Even so,it took five years before all the hitches and difficultiesthat surround a start-up company were ironed out.However, on 2nd February 2010, TCI Helicopters wasable to make its first flight; a tourist trip around theisland of Providenciales, the business and tourist centreof the islands.

TCI Helicopters is based at Provo Airport, althoughthe government centre of the island is in Cockburn Townin Grand Turk (where the Governor, Richard Todd, isbased) because Providenciales has the largest population,is the greatest generator of tourist income, and has avia-tion fuel. The Turks & Caicos were famous for their saltproduction, but now tourism is the main industry of theislands.

Tourism in Turks and Caicos started in 1984 whenClub Med opened a resort there and, as part of the agree-ment with the island government, built the main roadthrough Providenciales, the Leeward Highway. It nowincludes cruise ship passengers, mangrove swamps,scuba divers (Grand Turk has the World’s third largestnatural reef and is one of the best places for diving)

snorkelling with stingrays, resorts of all kind and is par-ticularly family friendly.

Two years of trading and TCI Helicopters is just start-ing to make a profit, this is partly because of the reces-sion, which hit just around the time of the start-up, andpartly because there have been corruption issues on theisland, which has led to the British Government estab-lishing an interim government in the overseas Province.This, though, has been true of many of the companies onthe islands, and Helicopter Life was told that many of theproperty companies still have unsold lots in the hotels.However, 2012 is looking like a good year for tourism inthe Caribbean with numbers up by 20%, and as TCIHelicopters gets more publicity and becomes betterknown they are generating more revenue for the island.

Peters says that the first couple of years they only kepta helicopter here in the peak tourist season, whichallowed them to avoid the hurricane season which runsfrom June through october, but that last year they left ahelicopter here for the whole year with locally basedpilot Ben Gearing in charge, and that this was such asuccess they plan to leave a helicopter here all yearround in 2012.

At present TCI Helicopters does tourists flights, VIPflights including flying scuba divers and, tourists to SaltCay, Middle Caicos and other islands, ship to shoretransfer such as for the super-yacht Phoenix 11, a limit-

Above and below:

Conch farm on

Grand Turk

ed form of EMS service, including a flight to Pine Cay(which has no cars) when a woman crashed her golfbuggy and broke her ankle, and support flights for thepolice and local government. The island has a problemwith immigrants from Haiti and the DominicanRepublic, who arrive on small boats and set upmakeshift camps in the scrubland, some of these immi-grants bring in arms or drugs. For this reason the USCoastguard is also based on Providenciales at themoment. It was originally based at Mayaguana,Bahamas but the base was destroyed in a hurricane andstill has to be rebuilt.

TCI Helicopters is run on a Canadian AoC. Thisnecessitated a visit to the islands from Canada byTransport Canada to ensure everything was fit for pur-pose, presumably a pretty popular piece of work!

There is currently no helicopter maintenance outfit onthe islands so Peters flies a mechanic down from Canadafor the major checks. While in the future they are look-

The islands cater to

high end tourism

Providenciales marina

The first major road

in Providenciales was

built by Club Med

The islands abound with

wild horses, dogs (known

as Potcakes) and donkeys,

left over from the days of

salt production

Grand Turk has the

third largest barrier

reef in the World

and is excellent for

scuba diving


The former Prime

Minister’s house,

known as The

White House.

There is a map of

the islands in the

swimming pool.

Illegal dwellings

in the scrub

land. People

smugglers bring

in boats full of

immigrants from

Haiti

ing forward to more specifically ‘helicopter’ usage ofthe company at present all flights must be done airportto airport, flights below 500 feet are not permitted andthey are not allowed to use the longline, which makesfire fighting impossible. However, Peters is confidentthat as the local government becomes more aware of thebenefits of helicopters and how useful they can be, forexample in fire fighting, police and EMS work, this willgradually change.

All the islands suffered heavy damage in HurricaneIke and Tropical Storm Hannah in 2008 and for a vari-ety of reasons much of this damage has not yet beenfixed, this includes infrastructure, such as the causewaybetween North Caicos and Middle Caicos, where partsof the tarmac road have been completely swept awayand cars must slide across on the sand and rock track.This, as Peters points out, this is where helicopterswould be very useful and really benefit the communitydoing construction and longline work.

Salinas. The Turks and

Caicos were famous for

their salt prodution

from the 1600s to 1960

Local

dwellings in

Provo

Providenciales

Airport

Inset: US

Coastguard

32Words and pictures by Dino Marcellino

At Camp Arena, near the Herat Airport in theAfghanistan East Region, under Italian control,plans are being made for the following day: a

convoy of ground vehicles must carry supplies to theforward base at Bala Murghab, in a remote area of theItalian sector.

The convoy Commander is well aware that travel at

low speed for long distances on rough roads, often littlemore than paths, inevitably exposes men and vehicles tothe danger of ambush by Afghan rebels. Direct attackswith light weapons, RPG rocket and explosion of minesplaced on the route are the main modes of attack fromwhich the troops need to defend themselves.

So the Commander decides to ask for air support and

33

Spring2012

Dino Marcellino visits the 5th Rigel

Mangusta Italian Army near Herat

Gusta Afghanistan


escort. The type and how it is used have to be agreedwith the JATF Joint Air Task Force (the Air Componentof which operates under the West Region’ ItalianCommand). In this case the protection will be com-posed of two armed helicopters.

The journey is long and it is not possible keep the hel-icopter cover for the full length of travel, so they decideto deploy a patrol of two Agusta A-129C, working froma mid-route base (a FoB, Forward operating Base) inorder to allow a rapid response to any emergency.

The A-129C (named Mangusta, Mongoose in English)is an Italian Army Aviation’ scout/escort/attack helicop-ter, in this case operated by 49th Squadron ‘Capricorno’of the 5th Regiment ‘Rigel’.

This Regiment is based in north-east Italy at Casarsadella Delizia, and, together with the twin Unit 7thRegiment ‘Vega,’ deploys ten Mangusta helicopters inAfghanistan, with an average of seven to eight machineson operational readiness.

The precautions of the previous evening were indeednecessary. A large group of Afghan militants attacks theconvoy trying to break it and capture the vehicles.

The threat is serious and the JTAC (Joint TerminalAttack Controller, the military member qualified to askfor an air-support asset and direct it in action in offensiveoperations) attached to the convoy contacts the controlroom asking for the activation of the Mangusta pair. Atthe same time he provides location coordinates and anassessment of the threat.

The two helicopters are ready on standby, each onearmed with four wire-guided HELIToW missiles and250 rounds for the 20mm rotative barrel cannon; a lightconfiguration (so to speak, because in effect it is aweapon worth respecting) which allows a greater flightrange.

There is just enough time for quick flight planning andthey take-off, not an easy operation because a strongwind is blowing up a lot of sand, causing a deep fog.However, the third generation thermal camera installedon the nose of the helicopters allows the pilots to navi-gate even in these adverse weather conditions.

During the flight the Mangusta Commander is indirect contact with the JTAC, who directs the two heli-copters to the new position taken by the rebels. The A-129C burst on the scene first doing a flyover duringwhich the crews assess the situation and memorize theexact coordinates of the guerrillas’ position.

This is enabled by the technology on the pilot’s hel-mets: a monocular display integrated between the helmetand the onboard computer, which handles the weaponsand fire systems. Each pilot can see the target throughthe monocle with a simple movement of his head, andcan keep it pointed in the right direction through everyphase of the flight, either recording the position in thecomputer, or firing immediately. In the latter case thefront cannon, which is integrated to the vision system,automatically aligns itself at the same viewing directionof the pilot.

9Around seven or eight Mangusta are on

operational readiness at any one time


Ph

ot

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Ph

sb

yd

ino

ma

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ellin

o

The presence of the two Mangustas strike such terrorin the enemy that the next step (to open fire) becomesunnecessary: the rebels choose to cease ‘war activities’and beat a retreat. The Friendly troops return to watchingmode and the trip once again resumes under the air-coverof the two helicopters, which can now escort them forabout 20 minutes before having to return to the FoB forrefuelling.

The attack to the convoy part of a wider rebel strategy,because other attack actions have benn simultaneouslyundertaken in various places in the country. Even now,another outpost in the Italian sector, not far from the firstevent, is under attack. The two Mangusta take-off again,but this time the situation immediately appears muchmore serious. Some soldiers have been injured and therebels are very close the allied field, whose Commanderis in radio contact with the helicopters. Even at a dis-tance of about 2.5 km the helicopters’ crew can identifythe enemy through their vision system which allows amagnification of up to 12x.

The rebels aim their weapons toward the two A-129Cand, under this very real threat, the crews decide to openfire. They fire with cannon, two short bursts of 10 shotseach. This allow them to verify their effectiveness and ifnecessary do appropriate adjustments. This is followed

by other, more intense, bursts of fire, 20 rounds each, tosaturate the area. A heavily armed vehicle is hit by aToW missile. At this point the insurgents break off theattack and retreat quickly.

Now the problem is to evacuate the wounded. AMedevac air-asset (Medical evacuation) is initiated: aheavy helicopter, an Italian Army Aviation CH-47Chinook equipped with stretchers and doctors comes in,escorted by another pair of Mongoose, while the first twoA-129, having finished their brief now return to theFoB.

The Chinook awaits the green signal given by theMangusta before entering the scene. It then lands andbegins evacuating the wounded, meanwhile the operationis supervised by the protection team on the ground andgiven aerial coverage by the Mangusta. The latter willescort the Chinook to the base and hospital in Herat.

Men and machine

The above story of a working day in Afghanistan hasintroduced us to the operational use of a very specialmachine, the A-129C Mangusta. The Mangusta is thepride of Italian Army Aviation, of Italian Industry and isbeing developed and produced by Agusta. It has nowalso been bought by the Turkish Land Forces Command,who have acquired sixty units in the dedicated fighter

A-129C Mangusta produced by Agusta

and the pride of Italy


version T129ATAK.To learn more about the Mangusta we visit the 5th

Regiment ‘Rigel’ at Casarsa della Delizia, one of thethree Army Aviation Units to be equipped with theMangusta (the other two are the previously mentioned7th Vega at Rimini base and the Centro AddestramentoEquipaggi, or Training Crew Center at Viterbo).

The 5th Rigel is divided into three Departments: the27th Gruppo Volo ‘Mercurio’ equipped with multirolehelicopter AB-205, the 49th Gruppo Volo ‘Capricorno’(47th Wing Capricorn) with Mangusta and the Gruppo diSostegno ‘Lupo’ (Combat Service Support Unit Wolf).

For more than thirty years the men and helicopters ofRigel have been deployed in support of internationaloperations, from Somalia to Namibia, Libano, Albania,Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Iraq and now Afghanistan.

The Lt.Colonel Alessandro Metalli, Public Informationofficer explains that “the (Mangusta) machine wasdesigned for use against the tank, having been developedin the last years of the Cold War. With the fall of theBerlin Wall the use of the Mangusta was forced tochange with the changing times. Now it is used in thesphere of large air-operations and air-ground synergy, thelatter being the use of aircraft in cooperation with terres-trial components. Here at 5th Rigel, using the profession-alism and experience acquired by the Regimental person-nel, methods of deployment have been refined andimplemented in operations in the theatre of war, such asthe one described in Afghanistan.

The purpose of the Mangusta is defined as an explo-ration-escort helicopter, with potential for attack. Lt.Col.Metalli explains: “in the Afghan theater is unlikely thatMangusta will be used to launch a planned assault, butthey open the fire when it is necessary in reply to aggres-sion, and to protect friendly troops on the ground.

Armed intervention is always intended, and the A-129C don’t open fire if there is not a clear threat, this is

because the result of fire is devastation and to get thewrong target would be a tragedy. There are also rules ofengagement to be respected, and if it is obviously a caseof clear danger it is possible open fire without any fur-ther authorization.

often the presence of Mangusta, with their weaponsclearly visible and aggressive, acts as a deterrent and it isenough to discourage the ambition of the rebels.

The air-patrol is always flown by at least two A-129C;this is the unquestioned doctrine that allows the two air-craft to protect each other, adopting special flying tech-niques during the delicate takeoff and landing phases.

Looking specifically at the equipment, Lt.Col. Metalliexplains: “the front cannon, inserted into the sleeve onthe left side of the fuselage, with the barrel rotating at20mm, is capable of 300 rounds; in fact normally weload only 250 rounds to prevent jamming, and it is possi-ble to fire bursts of 10-15-20 rounds or ‘burst free’. oneither side wings can be mounted in multiple combina-tions of missiles HeliToW (max 4+4 to the externalunderwings mountings), a 70mm multiple rocket launch-er (with 19 tubes) or 81mm with 7 tubes (at the internalunderwings mountings). The rockets are an area-satura-tion weapon, and being insufficiently precise it is pre-ferred not to use them except in extreme cases, to avoidunpleasant collateral damage.

on the wings, auxiliary fuel tanks can be mounted, asan alternative to the ToW, depending on the type of mis-sion to be carried out (normal endurance of 150 minutescan be extended to 195 minutes).

The helicopter is a tandem two-seater, pilot command-er in the back seat and the co-pilot in the front seat; thefirst is in charge of piloting, the latter performs the func-tions of fire, navigation and communication. Howeverboth of them can fly and handle and weapons.

Captain Muzj Fabio, pilot and Commander of a A-129C Squadron, said: “the weapons management system,

The 5th Regiment ‘Rigel’ at Casarsa della Delizia, one of

the three Army Aviation units equipped with Mangusta

The pilot’s

helmet is

equipped

with a

monocular

display

aiming and firing, is double: one is the already men-tioned monocle integrated to the pilots’ helmet, called theIntegrated Helmet and Display Sight System, the secondis a FLIR , a thermal imaging camera, second generation.Both the cannon and ToW missiles can be focusedthrough a Sight Unit equipped with a laser pointer, whichallows precise calculation of the distance from the target(and it is possible use 12x zoom).

As explained in the story above the pilot’s helmet isequipped with a monocular display for daily flight (it ispossible to view flight data and tracking system), whileto fly by night it is configured in NVG Night VisionGoggles.

By day it is possible to hit a target up to approximate-ly 3 km’s. Shot is very accurate thanks to the fact that the

helicopter is completely stabilized, and the probes detectweather data (wind, temperature, air density) which,interfaced with aircraft on-board systems, are used tocorrect and adjust the shot.

The helicopter is equipped with an integrated self-pro-tection system, called SIAP. It includes the flare launch-ers, engine’ exhaust heat suppressor to reduce the ther-mal track, an infrared lamp generating false signals, andsystems to detect the three main threats: radar, laser andmissiles. The systems alert the pilots to this threat, so if itis a missile the system automatically fires countermea-sures, or if the helicopter is illuminated by a laser or aradar the system indicates what type of threat is thereand the pilot can adopt evasive measures (usuallydescending to try to mingle with the local vegetation or

By day it is possible to hit

a target up to approxi-

mately 3kms. Accuracy

relies on the stabilization

systems and on-board

probes, which detect and

compensate for ambient

conditions

environment). The crew seats are armoured and have an energy

absorbing frame which limits the damage to the pilots inthe event of a violent impact with the round. The landinggear, a complex and impressive structure, contributes tosafety by being very robust. If hit, the helicopter can losetransmission fluid and stay in flight for 30 minutes.”

The cockpit is divided into sectors, and various controlpanels allow the sight of all on-board devices, naviga-tion, and armament: from the image of the thermal cam-era to the self-protection system, from the automaticengine controls to the underwing weapons load.

The machine also is equipped with a video-cameraplaced in the center of fuselage with which it records theentire mission, and it is also possible review while inflight how much has previously been recordered. A land-

ing lamp and an NVG compatible searchlight, completethe equipment.

In closing, some top tips and ‘gleanings’ related byLt.Col. Metalli: “the crews are fully motivated and confi-dent in the machine entrusted to them. Until now wehave had no losses or particular problems, and all mis-sions have been concluded.”

The human aspect is crucial, so the pairing of pilots inan A-129C are basically always the same when deploy-ing in theater of operations, to allow for the best compat-ibility.

A curiosity: the Mangusta pilots are trained to performa particular manoeuvre called buddy-rescue; this is exe-cutable thanks to the fact that Mangusta fly in pairs. It isimportant to quickly extract the pilots if the Mangusta isforced to land in hostile territory. The second A-129C

Crew seats are all armoured and have an energy

absorbing frame, which limits damage to the pilot

in the event of violent impact on the ground

can recover the two crew members by ‘housing’ them onthe landing gear wheels, of course with adequate safetydevices.

There is continuous ongoing research to optimize fueland weapons load, depending on the mission, andresearching the effects of altitude, temperature andweight.

The Afghan theater is challenging, particularly as theweather conditions are very severe; very cold wintersand very hot summers, high altitude mountains andtricky areas. All this limits the flight performance, and

the sand and dust wears away at the mechanical parts.Nevertheless, the forces still manage to maintain a highratio of efficiency thanks to the efforts of the specialistsof the Combat Service Support Unit, so much so thatsoon we will be able to do the 300 hour check inAfghanistan at the main base in Herat.

It is not an accident that one of the most appropriateand requested air-asset is constituted by Italian ArmyAviation’ Agusta A-129C. And the fact that the goal of5000 flight hours over Afghanistan was recently reached,is the clearest testimony to their success.

If hit the helicopter can lose trasmission

fluid and stay in flight for thirty minutes

Mangusta pilots are trained to perform ‘buddy-

rescue’ as so extract the pilots if the Mangusta is

forced to land in hostile territory


hi

HeliExpo Dallas

2012

review by Georgina Hunter-Jones

pictures by author and Ian Turner

After the down years of 2009 – 2011, HAI 2012was a revelation with upbeat manufacturers,new models and prospective helicopter produc-

tion growth. There were more than 19,000 visitors and650 exhibitors, with 60 helicopters on display.

However, the size of the venue was so large that itappeared relatively empty.

Both Bell and Eurocopter unveiled new products andothers were talking about their improving sales figures.However, the slight sting in the tail was the revelation


by Honeywell’s 14th annual Turbine Powered CivilianHelicopter Purchase outlook report that things willactually not be so good in the short term, although theyshould be better in the long term. In the training marketSikorsky is no long going to produce the 300CBi,

which was created to be the major competitor to theRobinson R22 trainer and was taking a small but grow-ing share of the market. However, the Enstrom helicop-ter Company hopes to profit from this loss and fill thegap with a new training machine of their own.

42

Bell Helicopters

Probably the manufacturer that gave the conventionthe greatest lift was Bell, with their Bell 525 Relentlesssuper medium class helicopter. With huge hype, smoke,protective walls and much secrecy the new commercialhelicopter was launched at the show. However, the sur-prise element was slightly blown when, the day beforethe launch, pictures of the Bell 525 were sent aroundseveral hotel bedrooms by overzealous staff, and thenquickly recalled. Not quickly enough it seemed as thepicture appeared on pPrune within hours.

When the 525 Relentless was actually revealed itwas shown to be in the yellow and black colours of itslaunch customer, PHI, who has also been very influen-tial in the customer focus group advising Bell on theirnew product.

The 525 will have GECT7-2FI engines, fly-by-wirecontrols from BAE flight control computers, said byBAE to “provide the ability to operate in austere envi-ronments safely and reliably, with decreased pilotworkload.” In the cockpit it will have side-sticks forcollective and cyclic controls and a touch pad for theinstrument systems, this, the demonstrator explained,“is as intuitive as your ipad,”

Unusually for a Bell helicopter, the 525 will havefive main rotor blades, which the advising customergroup felt was necessary for such a large helicopter forreasons of safety as well as performance. It will have afour blade canted tail rotor and excellent visibility.Speed is expected to be greater than 140 knots andrange will be more than 400 nm. Gross weight is18,000 lbs, with a useful load of 4,000 lbs. The mock-up was in 16-seat configuration, but there are alterna-tive modes. There is a large sliding door for easy exit.Bell says, “you are only ever one seat away from theexit,” and the pilot also has a swivel-seat that willallow him easy access to the door. Carl Crenshaw III inBell’s Key Segment Specialist in Parapublic and

Commercial Business sector, said, “underwater testing hasshown this is a safer and easier form of egress.”

Speaking about the company’s performance over 2011,John Garrison gave an upbeat picture. He said the 407with its GX and AH variants had been out-pacing expecta-tions and that 1,000 407s have now been delivered. Bellalso achieved the number one slot in Pro Pilot’s customersupport survey.

In 2012, Bell expects to see increased performance insales of the V22, the H1 and the Bell 429. However, thecompany realise that military budgets are under pressureand so they can no long depend on their traditionalsources of revenue, which is why they are making newinroads in the commercial market with the Bell 525Relentless.

Relentless Bell 525

cockpit

Front seats have

special tracks for

easy egress

Cyclic side stick and

touch pad controls

Eurocopter

The EC130T2 the latest version of the EC130 was revealedat the show and this has already had excellent sales. Eurocoptersaid they sold 191 aircraft at the show, valued at $1.44 billion,of which 105 (to seven different customers) were the newlyupgraded EC130T2. CEo Lutz Bertling commented that, thewhole of 2011 they sold 170 helicopters but this year they havealready sold 191.

The EC130T2 has an Arriel 2D engine with 10% increasedpower and better hot and high performance. Cruise speed hasincreased by 10 knots and the fuel consumption has gone downby 2%. Maximum take off weight is 5,512 lbs with an increaseto 6,724 lbs when carrying an external load. They have anupgraded crashworthy system, new active vibration control sys-tem, better air conditioning (something very important for thetourist market) and a new door design. on the instrument panelwith have improved the ‘man to machine interface.’ For thefuture, Eurocopter continues to look at the X3, which achieved232 knots in flight in 2011, and the X4, about which, DrBertling said, the company have a new philosophy that willlead to considerably decreased noise and fuel levels.

Now that the military market is decreasing, particularly inEurope, Eurocopter are moving to the mergers and acquisitionsmarket for growth. They recently bought the British companyVector, which has given them growth in the fixed wing marketin Britain and Canada, and in 2009 bought 60% of the Japanesecompany ANAM.

Dr Bertling was also keen to stress that Eurocopter’s visionof the future helicopter world includes commuting withoutusing airports, which, he pointed out, are currently close totheir limits and are not needed by helicopters. All he needs isgovernments to think the way he does.

AgustaWestland

AgustaWestland have a newly developed plant at Arlingtonin Texas, where the first prototype AW609 (number three over-all) is being constructed. once the programme gets underway

Eurocopter EC130T2

unveiled at the Dallas show

Eurocopter EC130T2

cockpit

AW609 flying at

Arlington


AW609 in fixed wing

mode

production will be done in Cascina Costa in Italy. However, theAW609 is still very much in the experimental stage (eventhough the first flight was 9 years ago) and AgustaWestland’spilots and engineers will continue to work with Bell’s engineers,designers and pilots to bring the project forward.

AgustaWestland’s real strength, as CEo Bruno Spagnoliniwas keen to point out, is in their growing family of intercon-nected models. Their strategy is clear, they want to give opera-tors options to build their fleets from the whole range of AWmodels; a model for every necessity. To this end they have beenstressing that AgustaWestland will reduce the cost for theiroperators, in both training and maintenance, by having com-monality both in the cockpit and in key parts such as gearboxesand rotorheads. “Both engineers and pilots,” said BrunoSpagnolini, “have the comfort of recognition.”

Deliveries in 2011 were up for AgustaWestland, who had 200new orders worth 4 billion Euros. The majority of these ordersare in the medium twin and higher range and they have an orderbacklog of three years production.

AgustaWestland will continue to move from the military intothe commercial sectors as they did in 2010, although outsideEurope and North America military budgets remain strong.

The AW169 will have its first flight in the spring of this yearand should have its civil certificate by 2014. The AW139 hasnow sold 600 units and has 450 units in service. AW189 had itsmaiden flight in December 2011 and AgustaWestland expect thesecond prototype to take its flight around the middle of 2012,with civil certification in 2014. They already have 30 orders and20 options on the model.

AgustaWestland is also increasing their training budget andhave opened two new training academies, one in Malaysia andone in the UAE, which they forecast will be very successful.

Sikorsky

Jeff Pino said his aim in the press conference was: “to speakrespectfully of the past, honestly of the present and optimistical-ly of the future.” This, he inferred, he was easily able to do as2011 sales had been $7.4 billion, spread across all three parts ofthe company; Sikorsky Global, Military and Aerospace.

Sikorsky has had a busy year including the Legacy of Heroestour, in which the Sikorsky S92 flew to various places aroundthe world. Pino joked that wherever the helicopter landed it hadbeen signed by local people and had returned completely cov-ered with signatures.

The Sikorsky S-76D is now on the market, and production ofthe C++ has been discontinued. The 76D did 700 hours offlight-testing, and the first one will be delivered by the secondhalf of the year. The launch customer is Falcon AviationServices in the UAE who have purchased two, with options ontwo further ships.

The 76D has HUMS, an enhanced Category ‘A’ capability, anall composite main rotor with a rotor ice protection system, anda quieter main and tail rotor. It has two PW210S engines.

Sergei Sikorsky with

his HAI medal for

Distinguished

Contribution to the

Helicopter Industry


Russian

Helicopters booth

KE119 from Las vegas on the AgustaWestland booth

Sikorsky have ended production of

the S300CBi, thus removing their

training advantage

Russian Mil Mi24

Hind helicopter

Ian Turner

Michael Kazachkov

opening the Russian

Hour

Pino also talked about the X2. The S97 Raider, the militaryversion is now doing testing at the Pentagon, but the civilian ver-sion has finished trials and is now waiting to see where the mar-ket will go. Pino pointed out that, because the project was entire-ly self-funded, it was able to move much faster than on projectswhere they had to wait for funding and approvals. or, as he said:“when you self-fund you get there cheaper and quicker.”

on the downside, Sikorsky is no longer building the 300CBi,which was a fundamental part of their training market. The com-pany has moved S300 (it is now S for Sikorsky not Schweizer)production to Coatsville Beach in Pennsylvania, and will only beproducing the larger model. This is allegedly something of aproblem to the Schweizer family, who have been involved in alawsuit with the company since a few years after its purchase.

Bristow Helicopters training school, who have 44 300 CBissaid that they were aware of this change and that they were look-ing at all options for the future when their fleet started needingreplacement. Enstrom, who are interested in providing a smalltrainer to fill this new gap in the market, has already approachedthem.

Christian Gadbois of SRT Helicopters, who also uses the CBi,said that since the buyout of Schweizer in 2004 Sikorsky hadbecome increasing less interested in supporting the companies inthe training market.

Sikorsky have also opened a new tower for blade testing:called a whirl power it enables helicopter operators and manufac-tures to rebalance their blades automatically and can be usedwith main blades operating either clockwise or anti-clockwise.

Robinson

Kurt Robinson said that although 2008 was still Robinson’sbest year for sales in its history, 2011 had come close with 356helicopters sold. He was extremely pleased as this almost dou-bled their sales in the previous year and included eighty-eightsales of the Robinson R66. However, on the downside Robinsonhas still not been able to get Canadian or EASA certification forthe R66.

Explaining the problems with EASA certification, KurtRobinson said that this is partly to do with hydraulic testing,


which is still being considered by EASA, and partly over aseat-belt issue. It seems there is a question by EASA as towhether the R66 helicopters should have a four-point harness.

Robinson said that due to the depressed US economy 70%of the helicopter sales were actually outside the United States.He also wanted to celebrate the production of the 10,000 thhelicopter, a record in civilian helicopters.

Robinson currently produces 10 helicopters a week, whichhas moved up from their previous production of 3 helicoptersa week and is helping to reduce the backlog. Last year thecompany took on 250 new employees and more machineryand equipment, making it a beacon of success in the market.

They have also increased their service centre and dealershipbase and now have 130 dealers and 146 service centres in theUSA, with 276 outside the USA.

The Robinson R66 is still awaiting cold weather trials, andthey have recently produced a police version, similar to theR44 police version, which is close to FAA certification.

Robinson is also working on a float version of the R66, acargo hook and a newscopter version, which they hope will beready by late 2012. He said there had been considerable mili-tary interest in the R66, particularly as governments aroundthe world reduce their budgets.

When asked if the Robinson Company might look at pro-ducing another larger helicopter he said simply that they werea proactive company and were always open to new researchand development.

Enstrom

The Enstrom Helicopter Company had its best year onrecord last year. Sixteen helicopters were delivered, fourteenof which were 480Bs at more than $1 million each, allowingthe Michigan based helicopter company to earn its highestannual revenue in its 52 year history. This year they expect todeliver twenty-two more helicopters, mostly the 480B, andmostly to international markets.

CEo Jerry Mullins said, “The fact that we are dealing withforeign military has helped us in the last couple of years.”

This trend continues as Enstrom did a deal at the show fortwenty-eight 480Bs to be sold to the Japanese Air Force. Thistops even the sixteen-ship sale last year to the Royal ThaiArmy, for which Enstrom Helicopter Corporation’s representa-tive in Thailand, M-Landarch Inc received a prestigious awardfrom the US Commercial Service. The “Excellence in TradePlatinum” award was given for outstanding achievement inpromoting trade between the United States and Thailand in2011.

Now that Sikorsky is no longer producing the S269CBitraining helicopter, Enstrom also see opportunities in thatdirection. Director of Marketing Tracey Biegler said that theywere looking very seriously into how Enstrom could takeadvantage of the clear gap in the training market left by theend of the Sikorsky CBi production.

Marenco SKYe

SH90 helicopter

Jerry Mullins sign-

ing the agreement

for 28 480Bs to the

Japanese Air Force

Robinson showing

new Police variant

47

Ph

ot

og

ra

Ph

s


MD Helicopter Company

Lynn Tilton, CEo of MD Helicopters, revealed atHeliExpo that the company will fly the MD540F this year.The helicopter is expected to feature a six blade compositerotor made by Van Horn, the same landing gear as theMD600 and an all up weight of 3,500 lbs. She is looking atmilitary and parapublic markets for the machine.

MD had been disappointed last year by the failure of aplan to bring EMS to the Saudi Arabian market, and MsTilton said she had spent $5 million of her own money pursu-ing the contract.

However, on the upside, MD were involved with the USArmy project for the MD530s in conjunction with Boeing.MD produced the fuselage and these machines will be usedin Afghanistan.

While the MD 902 has been dogged with supply failuresthese now look to be resolved and MD is planning a newcockpit for the 902, which will be ready in about 18 monthstime.

Marenco Swiss Helicopter

The Marenco SKYe SH90 is so close to flying that thecompany has taken on a new test pilot, Wayne Bambini, anAmerican, and hope to be flying the first prototype inNovember 2012. They have already sold thirty-four helicop-ters, twenty-four over the three days of the show, mostly forpolice, EMS, Vip and corporate and expect to get certifica-tion in 2014 and to start deliveries in 2015.

The only major change since last year is the new improvedvisibility cockpit, with larger windows, the result of flightswith the police and other commercial operators, whichshowed the importance of outside visibility. owing to thecomposite structure it is easy to put in new panels.

The engine remains the Honeywell HTS 900, which theychose specifically because there are no hard TBos and it isan ‘on condition’ engine.

Air Covers

Air Covers, a company that makes covers for helicoptersto protect them from wind and weather damage whetherinside or out, on board ship or on land, was at the show. AirCovers is based in the UK but has been coming to HAI forthe last two years. John Pattinson, the CEo, demonstrated hisnew R44 tip cover placer. The company continues to do wellwith many foreign and UK military orders.

Russian Helicopters

Russian Helicopters had brought four machines to theshow. There was also the Russian Helicopter Hour, in whichmembers of the group gave a short talk about the state of theindustry in Russia. Kimberley Smith from the FAA talkedabout the safety initiative that the US FAA are doing with

countries around the globe to try and improve safetystandards in flying and reduce fatalities.

Over-view

The HAI 2012 was a dynamic show despiteHoneywell’s 14th annual Turbine Powered CivilianHelicopter Purchase outlook report. While there is awarning to manufacturers and operators to be cannyin the short-term, it does mean that R & D done nowwill reap benefits in the future. Short term issuesinclude the reduction of western military budgetsand the recession in many current first world coun-tries. However, long term issues would seem toinclude the increasing military budgets of Far andMiddle Eastern countries and the continuing growthof civil aviation of emerging economies such asChina and South America and many regions ofAfrica.

MD 600 landing

at Dallas

Ian Turner

John Pattinson

demonstrating

the R44 tip

cover placer


Check nOTAMs for RATs

The restrictions are there,” explained AndrewHaines, Chief Executive of the CAA, “because ofthe belief that there is a very real threat to the

country at this time owing to the high profile of theolympics.”

However, he added that the CAA do understand thatpilots want to continue to fly and do their normal busi-ness and hobby activities, and for this reason the CAAhave worked hard to reduce the time and scope of therestrictions and they believe that they are now workingwith acceptable limits.

The main aims in working with the flying public overthese restrictions are to give a maximum understandingof the restrictions and to ensure that the aviation legacyof the olympics is positive. Haines pointed out that theairspace would be full of foreign operators many ofwhom have no knowledge of UK regulation; this makes

the British olympics very different from China or evenGreece where there were few foreign operators. He didnot want the press to be full of private pilot violations.

It is thought there will be 500,000 extra visitors to theUK, 20,000 media and 150 Heads of State.

The Prohibited Zone P111

is based on the London Heathrow zone and will be fromthe surface to the base of the LTMA. It will be activebetween 14th July and 15th August.

The Restricted Zone R112

will also be active between 14th July and 15th August.Between 16th August and 12th September there will beP114 around the olympic Park and two restricted areasaround Eton Dorney and the athletes’ village at Egham.There will be various 2 nm RA(T)s activated by

Update of the Restrictions around the Olympic Park

from 14th July – 15th August 2012

Top left: R112. Top right: P111.

Bottom right: Weymouth restricted areas


NoTAM throughout the whole period.There will also be a restricted area around Weymouth

between 14th July and 8th September, which will be fullof broadcasting, EMS and security helicopters. This willbe from the surface to 3,000 feet.

other olympics RA(T)s will be activated byNoTAMs on event days. These are mostly around foot-ball stadia and there will be one around Brands Hatch,which is being used for the cycling event. These will bepotentially activated any time between 14th July and12th September, so it will be necessary to checkNoTAMS before flight, or use the SkyDemon softwarewhen planning a flight. SkyDemon is giving their sitefree for olympic planning, for more details see theNATS website:

http://www.nats.co.uk/news/skydemon-and-nats-

launch-free-pre-flight-planning-tool-for-ga-safety/

ATLAS Control

Airspace will be controlled by Atlas Control, which willbe run by 48 RAF controllers and 5 controllers secondedfrom the Navy. It will be manned 24 hours a day and willhave 12 consoles and extra frequencies, twelve in total.These are for the restricted zones and not for P111 (pro-hibited zone), which will have specialist controllers.Atlas control will be divided into Atlas North, on the for-mer Farnborough North frequency 132.800 and AtlasSouth on the old Farnborough East frequency 123.225.Initial calls must be made to these frequencies and thepilot will be given a further frequency to call, thus keep-ing the original frequencies clear for initial calls only.

Pilots will be allowed into the restricted zone subjectto the number of slots available, and ATC capacity.

Pilots moving within the restricted areas must file aflight plan between 2 and 24 hours before they want tofly, and if approved will be given an approval number.Flight plans must include route and height and approvalwill be given on a first come first served basis. Flightplans with errors will automatically be rejected and willhave to be resubmitted before the flight can be author-ized. Thirty minutes from the start of the flight planpilots must call in with the approval number, or they willnot be authorized to fly. Pilots are being encouraged tokeep the initial call to: callsign, approval number andservice wanted, as these will be very busy frequencies.Any last minute changes will mean the application mustbe resubmitted. However, if a time slot is full and theATC see an empty one around the same time, they willsuggest a time variant. This new time will be put on thereturned form with the approval number.

Pilots doing circuits at an approved airfield must con-tact Atlas an hour before the flight and will be given asquawk number. They must remain within 3 nm miles of

the airfield, and will need to call Atlas when they havelanded, this is particularly important if they are flyingout-of-hours at a closed airfield.

Any pilot flying must have a transponder with eithermode S or modes A & C. Any pilot with a non-transpon-der aircraft, a Tiger Moth for example, will need to fly information with an aircraft that does have a transponder.

Solo students will be allowed to fly within EGR112but it will need to be written on the flight plan that he orshe is a solo student, and the name and contact numberof his instructor must also be included. It was stressedthat more than one student error from the same airfieldwould be looked on very unfavourably.

It was stressed and re-stressed that if a pilot becomesunsure of his position or is forced to leave the airfield forany reason while unauthorized he should call D & D121.5. Sqn Ldr San Ryan in charge of Atlas said, “callATLAS, do not run away.”

Any deviation from the flight plan should also resultin a call to Atlas control as anyone off route might not beidentified and thus become a suspect.

Unidentified blips on the radar will discover they areinvestigated by either a Typhoon or a Puma, and thereare definite procedures on how to respond to these air-craft, all of which start with turning away from theLondon Prohibited area.

HeliRoutes

After a long debate the CAA has decided to keep someof the Heliroutes open so as to allow continued use ofBattersea Heliport. These will be H7, and part of H4between H7 and Battersea Heliport. H4 east of BatterseaHeliport will be closed. H3 will also be closed as it wasfelt to be too close to the edge of Heathrow, making itpossible for a rogue helicopter to reach the airfieldbefore an intercepting Typhoon could shoot it down.However, these routes are subject to NoTAM andapproval on the day. There are also other restrictions onthe use of Battersea Heliport: pilots must be ‘known’ toBattersea, and must file a GA report and manifest.Communication must be made through Battersea. Atpresent, procedures are still be finalized with the police.

Airfields just inside the Prohibited zone; WhiteWaltham, Denham and Fairoaks, have special regula-tions. There are also special regulations for farm stripsand helipads within the zone, but all these exemptionsneed to be set in place by 31st March.

For those wishing to practice using the flight plan pro-cedures ahead of the olympics there will be a second“File of Flight Plan Day” on the bank holiday weekend5/6th May. For more details see:

www.airspacesafety.com/olympics


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Feet!......Left foot.....more!! I'm

in a twin seat open cockpit gyro-copter, learning to fly the thing

from the back seat and we're in the middleof a practice forced landing to the ground.I'm looking over the shoulder of the hel-meted shape of my instructor in the frontseat, trying to master one of the engine-offprofiles he's briefed me on and now he'sdemanding not just which field I'm aimingfor, but where exactly I expect to arrive init. We're passing through 600ft and I'mreminded of wind, check rate of descent,bingo height and of course, the five S's.

Below is a rapidly approaching patch-work quilt of smallish fields, fortunately theone I've chosen is looking good. We arriveover the fence with room to spare. Somesheep in the far corner of the field look upto see what all the fuss is about, pause andthen carry on munching their dinner.

I've flared a couple of feet above thegrass, waiting for the mainwheels to touch.There's a grunt from the front seat aboutbalance followed by a barked order to go-around. I put power on and we climb away.

We're surrounded by mountains and val-leys, the scenery quite fantastic as we headback to our base, a 400 metre grass strip inthe Lakeland hills.

Savage Flying

Barry Jones, Army Helicopter Pilot, goes on an

advanced gyrocopter training course with Roger

Savage in the Lakes.


We land, taxi in and shut down. The shape in the front clambersout and I await a comment. As the helmet comes off he's wearing aweak smile and says, “Not bad!” From The Rotweiller, that is praiseindeed.

The smile belongs to Roger Savage, one of the UK's best-knownAutogyro exponents and I'm here at his home airstrip at Berrier,right on the edge of the Lake District National Park, near Ullswater,for a week. I am aiming to extend my flying from PPL (Gyroplanes,)which I gained some years ago, to advanced flying techniques andsome preparation for a planned instructor course in the future. Anaim which means I must fly from the back seat.

We stand on the strip and have an informal de-brief; though Ican't help being distracted by the fantastic panorama. From thePennines in the east, past the Ullswater Valley to Blencathra in thewest, Berrier is almost exactly 1.000ft above sea level.

Roger is explaining the needs of field selection and not commit-

ting myself too early on finals during a PFL, plus anotherreminder about keeping the thing in balance.

“Remember”,he says. “Power on, right pedal, poweroff, left pedal”.

Then, as an afterthought, he adds. “Just imagine you'reflying a French helicopter,then we'll all be happy.”

And that's another advantage of learning with Roger:he understands helicopter pilots having been one himself.I chuckle to myself when I look on his website and see ablack and white picture of a much younger Savage withan armful of trophies, having just done rather well at along-ago Helicopter Championships, flying a Gazelle. Inthe picture he is fresh faced with black hair but now,8.000 hours later, what hair is left is distinctly silveryand the face bears the results of years of flying rotarywing, mainly gyrocopters, caused, I suspect, by alwayflying along wondering what's going to drop off next!

“Anyway,” Roger adds, “remember you are not man-aging torque as you do in a helicopter, this is simply thehelix airflow effect from the propeller pushing sidewayson the vertical tail surfaces of the gyrocopter but the aimis the same, keep it in balance and trim with your feet.'

This is day three of a week long course and it is bothchallenging and great fun.

I'm staying on site in Rogers beautiful 17th centuryCruck Barn holiday cottage - so my wife is happy withlots to see and some great walks nearby. There's even ahelipad on the site.

Included on my course are some of the following;* operating from short grass strips* Semi-prepared strips, including farm and forest tracks.* Strips with cambers and sloping ground.* Flying in command from the rear seat.* PFLs and advanced manoeuvres.* Mountain flying appreciation, where and where not to fly.* Dead reckoning/low level navigation.* Reminder of aerodynamics/autorotation.

There are two gyrocopters available on site; the MT03which we flew today and the Magni M16c. They're bothmodern and represent the new generation of factory-builtgyrocopters, which seem to have taken the sport aviationworld by storm over the past couple of years. Both are inthe 450/500KG MAUW category, with an empty weightof around 265KG, so there's plenty left for two occupantsplus enough fuel for a few hours flying.

Both are also open-cockpit, though you would hardlynotice it, particularly when flying from the front seatwhere there is absolutely no feel of wind at all. Even inthe rear seat, with a smaller screen, the effect of the windis barely noticeable.

Roger much prefers open cockpit machines. He reck-ons you have more of a feel of whats around you, it'sreassuring and brings with it, perhaps oddly, a feeling ofsafety - rather than being cocooned in a cockpit.

Since my day job was, until quite recently, flying heli-copters professionally I empathize and anyway, open-

We learn to operate from semi-

prepared strips and farm tracks


There is a fine balance between

the amount of in-flow and RRPM

during the initial take-off roll

cockpit flying is exceptionally great fun..Asked about fully enclosed gyrocopters and he's rather

dismissive.“I used to have an RAF 2000, that was twin seat, side

by side and awful. It was divergent in pitch and in yaw,if you flew with the doors on, which we never did.”

There's a couple of modern fully enclosed machinesnow available, the Germans who make the MT03 have atwin seat tandem fully enclosed machine approved in theUK.

Roger admits to quite liking the MT03 from a han-dling and efficiency point of view, though it needs arather longer take off run than it's open cockpit counter-parts.

Magni are the Italian manufacturer of the M16c andhave a fully enclosed machine approved in the UK.

“It's a side by side gyrocopter and so requires morepower than the German machine. It is rather less effi-cient, though quite stable in flight. It's not as agile or asfast as it's German counterpart, with a fixed 'T' bar con-trol system which seems to me quite heavy.”

“on the ground it sits on it's tail,” he continues ratherdisparagingly, “it looks a bit like Dell-Boy's three wheel-er with rotors parked on top. It seems to me more of atoy, designed for the wannabe helicopter pilot.”

Roger has been flying sport gyrocopters (or gyro-planes or autogyros - call them what you like) for wellover 30 years and like many of his generation startedwith the ubiquitous open frame Bensen - essentially a

garden seat attached to a skeletal frame with rotor aboveand an engine and propeller behind. All very basic stuffwith the ground slowly passing beneath your feet -assuming that is that you passed the first hurdle of get-ting the thing into the air!

“Great fun”, he says, “chock the wheels, hand swingthe prop, jump on the seat, reach up and hand swing therotors whilst holding the stick forward with your foot,kick the chocks away, strap yourself in and taxi forward,slowly at first in an attempt to 'load' the disc.

There's a very fine balance between the amount of'inflow' and RRPM during the initial take-off roll. Get itwrong (with too much inflow for too little RRPM) andyou'll stall the retreating blade then all hell breaks loosewith horrendous stick shake as the blades flap wildly.The only way to get things under control was to throt-tle back and urge the stick forward until things calmeddown. It was rather like being in charge of a dementedsupermarket trolley.”

The following day dawns bright and with light winds.We're going to be flying in the valleys and over ridges sothere's a detailed briefing on the days weather and partic-ularly the wind, which is forecast to be light for most ofthe day.

There's also a discussion on local and valley winds,lee-wave, anabatic and katabatic winds to name but afew and a full brief on valley flying techniques. Thisincludes which side of the valley to fly to get thesmoothest ride and cresting ridges - not straight over as


perhaps one may imagine but rather, diagonally for a bet-ter view and better chance of escape in the event of apower failure.

At the end of the briefing, I'm given a chart with avery wiggly chinagraph line scrawled over it coveringmuch of the southern Lake District, together with sug-gested heights to fly at different parts of the exercise anda number of designated turning points.

It all looks like good fun and, with NoTAMs checked,we're ready to go. We're using the Magni M16c today,which Roger reckons has the edge on stability, particular-ly when flying through the mountain valleys.

The M16 has much heavier rotors than the MT03 andtherefore RRPM is more constant and fluctuates far lessin turbulence, resulting in a smoother ride.

I'm flying from the rear seat so, once checks are com-pleted, rotors spun-up to around 240 RPM, and brakesare released I smoothly apply power up to 100%.

once established in the roll power is increased to max-imum, that is 115%, thanks to the Rotax turbochargedengine. We're on grass so best to get the power in as soonas possible. The stick is held fully back, allowing inflowup through the accelerating rotor disc which is now pass-ing 280RPM. The aircraft is kept straight down the run-way with rudder pedal. The nose starts to rise which ischecked with a small amount of forward pressure on thestick - the trick being to balance the Magni on it's main-wheels in a shallow take off attitude and as autorotativeforce and thus, RRPM increases further, creating suffi-cient rotor thrust to lift us smoothly off the ground.

Using the 5Kts of breeze we're airborne in not muchmore than 100 metres. We hold the aircraft in a veryshallow climb to allow energy to increase to enable asafe climb speed of 70mph.

Passing through 300ft, power is brought back to 100per cent and we continue the climb to 2.000ft indicated.

“okay Captain” comes the voice from the front, fol-low the line as accurately as you can.”

With a cruise speed of around 85 MPH established Iset the stopwatch and put the Magni on the initial trackto the south and soon Ullswater looms into view, thescenery magnificent, Patterdale Valley on the nose.

There's a continuing onboard discussion about moni-toring the wind and we look for tell tale signs of strongervalley winds on the waters below. What wind there is, iswesterly so I elect to cross the Lake and use the easternside of the valley, trusting that any wind there is, will begoing up, not down.

The squiggly track line on my map takes us quiteclose to the valley sides - it makes for challenging flyingbut keeps us well out of the way of any passing fast mili-tary traffic and what valley turbulence there is the Magnisimply shrugs off.

I'm constantly being badgered about where I'm goingto land us in the event of power failure; which makes methoughtful.

We climb the steep, rocky sides of Kirkstone Pass andI hit my first turning point, just south of Ambleside, spoton time. The route then takes us toward Torver near thesouth of Coniston and from here we fly a curved track,north of Morecambe Bay, to our next turning point nearKendal. This is great fun and rather more challengingthan navigating a straight track. There are landmarks toidentify, so the curve has to be flown quite precisely bothin terms of track over the ground and time.

our turning point is a tiny farm strip in a small valley.We land for tea and debrief. These machines are wonder-ful and ideal for short grass strips.

New autogyros tend to

be factory built and in

the 450/500 kg MAUW

category

Aerodynamics is about

taking the student on a

voyage of discovery

The final section of the trip is flown low level so thenavigation is just as challenging, we swoop through thehilly terrain and valleys. Berrier eventually appears onthe nose and on time. The voice in the front is suitablyimpressed.

Another debriefing follows and then a classroomreminder of ‘Autorotation' and how everything works.

This is a welcome reminder of my Shawbury days,since my host appears to be a fellow master of' 'thecoloured pens'.

I refer of course to the essential vector diagrams,which with its many different coloured lines, explainsbeautifully this aerodynamic phenomena of autorotativeforce/spanwise L+D/teetering to equality and the like....

I asked him where he acquired his board technique .“There wasn't much of a clue in autogyro instructing,

such as it was at the time I learnt - I wanted to do it bet-ter and with more authority, so I decided to do myHelicopter Instructor Rating with Philip Sheldon atCambridge Helicopters.

Roger freely admits that the month spent there was aculture shock - having not been near a classroom formore years than he cared to remember.

“This was seriously intensive and very disciplinedstuff both in the air and in the classroom and any sparetime in the evening was spent preparing board briefs forthe following day.”

“The course taught me a lot, both about the technical

subjects but also how to teach and, of course, improvingflying skills.”

"Take aerodynamics, for example, teaching it has gotto be fun for the student. It's about taking them on a voy-age of discovery, building up the picture on the board bitby bit and then seeing all the bits drop into place”.

We retire to the pub for a more liquid de-brief..The remainder of the week is spent generally tighten-

ing up our flying, including advanced manoeuvres andbeing as precise as possible. There are lots more PFLs ofcourse, as well as landing in confined areas, some withsloping ground, as well as farm and forest tracks. Pilots!

Flying from the rear seat has its own challenges withlittle or no instrumentation, so, apart from peering overthe shoulder of the guy in front, much of the developingflying technique is becoming more instinctive.

The whole course is designed to inspire greater skilland confidence for existing Autogyro pilots, as well asfor those from other flying disciplines who wish to havea 'taster' for this form of sport aviation. Gyrocopter fly-ing, thanks mainly to modern machinery, now appears,finally, to have come of age.

So, for anyone who wants a flying holiday with a dif-ference or a helicopter pilot who just wants to learn a lit-tle more about flying these fantastic, exciting and won-derfully stable machines amongst some of the most stun-ning scenery this country has to offer, this is definitelythe man to see and the place to come.

56

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Around the WorldnH90 For ALAT (French Army Air Corps)

During a visit by the French Defense MinisterGérard Longuet to its facilities in Marignane,Eurocopter officially delivered the first NH90

Tactical Transport Helicopter (TTH) qualified in its finaloperational configuration to the French armament pro-curement agency.

This initial on-time delivery comes on the heels of thequalification issued by the NAHEMA countries lastNovember for the French NH90 TTH in its final opera-tional configuration. The helicopter will be handed overto the French Army Air Corps (ALAT), which will beusing it for the tactical transport missions it was specifi-cally designed to perform.

“The delivery of the first NH90 TTH in its final opera-tional configuration is the culmination of the mostimportant helicopter program ever launched in Europe,”declared Lutz Bertling, president and CEo ofEurocopter, which is one of the companies that make upthe NHI consortium responsible for managing the NH90program. “Eurocopter and its partners are extremelyproud of this achievement. With its exceptional opera-tional capabilities, we are convinced that this helicopterwill successfully meet the needs of the French armedforces.”

France has ordered a total of 34 NH90 TTH helicop-ters, with an additional 34 on option, to progressively

replace the Pumas currently in service for the ALAT.The next-generation NH90 TTH has been designed to

perform a wide range of missions - even the mostdemanding, such as utility transportation and logistics,combat search and rescue (RESCo), medical evacua-tions, special forces operations and anti-terrorism.

In its final operational configuration, the NH90 isequipped with field-tested avionics that enable the heli-copter to carry out its missions both day and night withno major restrictions. It also has high-performance self-protection equipment, an interoperable military commu-nication system for international operations, and equip-ment for ship-based deployment.


Reuben Brothers acquire Battersea Heliport

The Reuben Brothers, who own London oxfordAirport, announced, that they had acquired TheLondon Heliport in Battersea from Andrew Davis.

The acquisition, made by Reuben Brothers investmentvehicle Aldersgate Investments Limited, extends thegroup's existing aviation interests, including the owner-ship of London oxford Airport

one of the Heliport's most significant customers is thePremiAir Aviation group of companies, which are alsoheld by Mr Davis. PremiAir and the London Heliport willcontinue to work together on a number of initiatives.

The London Heliport, on the River Thames and witheasy access to London's West End and the City, is theonly CAA licensed heliport in London and has been incontinuous operation since 1959, providing essentialservice to the business community and emergency servic-es, such as the Air Ambulance (HEMS) and Police AirSupport units. The Heliport has a newly developed termi-nal and VIP lounge offering luxurious facilities to passen-gers. It also benefits from an exemption to the no-flyzone during the olympics, meaning a large number ofdignitaries and other VIPs will be able to use the LondonHeliport as an easy access route to the 2012 Games.

London Heliport operating hours are 0700 to 2300

Cobham Aviation Services confirmed that FBHeliservices has been awarded a four year contractplus two possible one year extensions by the UK

Ministry of Defence to continue to provide helicopter fly-ing training at RAF Shawbury, RAF Valley and AACMiddle Wallop, together with support services at RAFShawbury and AAC Middle Wallop. The contract is worth£193 million and will commence on 1 April 2012.

The contract represents a continuation of the existingDefence Helicopter Flying School and support servicescontract, which has been so successfully undertaken byFBS Limited and FB Heliservices Limited for the past fif-teen years. Helicopter flying training will continue to bedelivered utilising the existing 34 x AS350BB Squirreland 11 x Griffin Bell 412EP helicopters, upgraded toinclude new technology with increased training capability.

FB Heliservices has a very strong track record underlong term performance based contracts supporting the UKMinistry of Defence, as MD Peter Richardson pointedout, adding “This contract allows us to continue to workin close partnership with the UK Ministry of Defence andthe Defence Helicopter Flying School to deliver militaryhelicopter aircrew training which is seen as best in class

worldwide.”

MOD Contract forFB Heliservices

seven days a week. London oxford Airport's hours are06:30 to 22:30 seven days a week, but can extend hoursfrom 06:00 to midnight any day with the relevant permis-sion.

Reuben Brothers investment activities include privateequity, real estate ownership and development, which arepredominantly based in the United Kingdom and Europe.Businesses include shopping centres, mixed use commer-cial real estate, data centres, race courses, public houses,hotels and other development projects.

58 HELICOPTER LIFE ,Spring 2012

Book review

Franciszek Kornicki ‘s book The Struggletells the story of a Polish airman in theSecond World War. It starts with his early

life and that of his family in Poland, on the estateof Robert Bialowski on the Ukrainian border.

Although from a humble background Kornickiwas both highly intelligent and lucky. His intelli-gence was noticed by Bialowski’s children gov-erness and he was sponsored through furthereducation. He considered going to university, butdid not think his family would be able to affordit, so decided to join the Polish Air Force; only ashort time before World War Two.

At the beginning of the war he fought forPoland but that was only a short war and soon hehad to escape to Europe. This was just the startof his adventures. Having made his way acrossRumania to France he had barely managed to getflying there before they too were overrun by theGermans and he was forced to escape again, thistime into England.

Finally in the British Isles, but even there thePolish Airmen found themselves underemployedand their skills left waiting until later in the war,then, suddenly, the British Government becameaware of a source of well-trained useful pilotswho were not only war ready but many of whomhad actually been in combat.

Kornicki became a spitfire pilot and part of theNo 1 Polish Fighter Wing. His jobs includedescorting bombers, such as Blenheims, as theirprotection force. Later he became Commandingofficer of ‘A’ Flight.

After the war he, like many others, wasdemobbed, however he, like most Poles, werenow homeless and could not agree with theBritish government’s suggestion to return to theirhomeland, which was now part of Stalin’s SovietUnion.

Kornicki decided to join the civilian Air Force

and was outraged to be offered a position as Sargent, hardly apromotion for a former officer. However, when he refused, withsome anger, to take the position, the Air Force agreed to takehim on as an officer instead and he then made a full career inthe services.

It is an interesting book on many levels, not only is it thestory of one man’s war, it is also a look at how Polish pilotswere treated by the British before and after WW2.

The StruggleBiography of a Fighter Pilot

Franciszek KornickiPublished in Poland

£12.99 Stratus

59HELICOPTER LIFE,Spring 2012

EASA licences - CAA publishes new guidance

<http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=14&p

agetype=65&appid=7&mode=detail&nid=2096>

With pilot licensing due to be taken over by theEuropean Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) in a matterof weeks, the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) hasnow published a guide to the coming changes. Theguide - available for download at

www.caa.co.uk/eupilotlicensing -

provides an overview of the effects of the changestogether with the key dates to be aware of. The CAA isstrongly recommending all qualified and trainee pilotstake the time to read it carefully.

Free Olympics 1:500,000 VFR charts for 2012

<http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=14&p

agetype=65&appid=7&mode =detail&nid=2041>

A detailed 1:500,000 VFR chart of the London 2012olympics airspace restrictions and changes will begiven away free to pilots who purchase the new1:500,000 VFR chart for South East England, pub on 8March 2012. The UK CAA has reached an agreementwith NATS Aeronautical Information Servicento pro-vide complimentary copies of the olympics chart forbuyers of the regular VFR chart for SE England.

CAA approves temporary airspace change for

London 2012 Olympics <http://www.caa.co.uk/appli-

cation.aspx?catid=14&pagetype=65&appid=7&mode

=detail&nid=2059>

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has approvedtemporary changes to controlled airspace in areas to theSouth West, South East and North East of the busyLondon Terminal Control Area during the London 2012olympics when there is expected to be a significantamount of additional air traffic movements. Thechanges announced today will help ensure the safety ofall airspace users during the olympic period from 16July to 15 August 2012.

Evaluation of Safety Management Systems - Course

<http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid =33

&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=4828>

CAA International is a commercial gateway to theexpertise of the UK CAA offering training, examina-

CAA Legislation Changesconcerning helicopters and gyroplanes

tions and consultancy services. The training coursesoffered are available to both aviation authorities andindustryglobally. Please refer to the information notice for anoverview of this course title or visit their website atwww.caainternational.com. CAA International is anaccredited college under the BAC.

SRG 1308: Model Aircraft Exemptions Application -

Displays/Competitions

<http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=4670> This form should be used to apply for an exemption toArticle 166(4)(c) of the Air Navigation order 2009 toallow a model to exceed 400 ft above the surface at a dis-play or competition. CAP 658 should be read before sub-mitting the form.

IN-2012/001: JAR-Instrument Rating Examination

Syllabus. FurtherInformation Regarding changes

<http://www.caa.co.uk/application.aspx?catid=33&pagetype=65&appid=11&mode=detail&id=4815> Aeronautical Information Circular W073/2011, publishedon 11 August 2011, advised that the CAA began provid-ing theoretical knowledge examinations for professionallicences (CPL and ATPL) to the latest amendment stan-dard of JAR-FCL 1 and 2 from June 2011. ThisInformation Notice provides further clarification for can-didates who are sitting the Instrument Rating examina-tions to either the old or new standard of JAR-FCL 1 or 2.

CAA approves new Transponder Mandatory Zones for

offshore windfarms <http://www.caa.co.uk/applica-

tion.aspx?catid=14&pagetype=65&appid=7&mode

=detail&nid=2045>

The UK CAA has approved the establishment ofTransponder Mandatory zones (TMz) to cover two newmajor offshore wind turbine developments. Infratil KentAirport Limited, the owner of Manston airport, requestedthe TMzs to cover the London Array and Thanet offshorewindfarms off the Kent coast. The decision to approve theTMzs has been taken to maintain a safe operational envi-ronment. The wind turbines will have a maximum bladetip height in excess of 500 feet.


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ACCidenT reporTS

to landing too abruptly on uneven ground. The rotorblades, skid and tail were damaged, there was only minorinjury to the crew. The pilot was 51 years old and had1565 hours of which 228 were on type.

Bell 206B N555NB, Texas

on January 22, 2012, a Bell 206B, NNB, was substan-tially damaged during a forced landing to the Las ColinasGolf Course, Irving, Texas.The pilot and three passengers were not injured. The hel-icopter was registered to and operated by LonghornHelicopters Inc., under the provisions of 14 Code ofFederal Regulations Part 135 without a flight plan. Theflight originated from Waco, Texas, and was en route toIrving, Texas.During the landing sequence to the Las Colinas FourSeasons Resort, the fuel light illuminated and the enginelost power. The pilot manoeuvred the helicopter towardsflat terrain at the Las Colinas golf course. During theforced landing, the helicopter impacted the ground hard,bending the tailboom down. Examination of the helicop-ter revealed that the tailboom was bent down and the ver-tical fin was crushed. The final report is still awaited.

Eurocopter AS350, PT-YLS, Brazil

A helicopter made a forced landing near the GuanabaraRoad, about 500 meters from the beach Grumari, in theWest zone in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The only occupantwas the pilot who was not injured and received help fromthe local military police. Fired after the accident, the firedepartment even sent five vehicles. The Military Policecordoned off the area and was on standby around the hel-icopter until everything was resolved.According to the lifeguard Márcio Guimarães, thedeployment of the Fire Department Bar Guaratiba, theaircraft was spotted flying low and billowing smoke onlyseconds before the crash landing. “I was one of first to arrive to extinguish the fire of theturbine. Before landing, I saw the helicopter already onfire and much smoke. It was a big scare, but the pilot wascalm and uninjured,” described the lifeguard.”According to police officers who came to hear the pilotexplain the cause of the incident, the problem was causedby a malfunction in the turbine aircraft Helibras HB-350B-2 Squirrel, prefix PT-YLS . Also according to thePM, the pilot would not comment. So now Health said itwould wait for an expert to rule on what happen in thetechnical matters. There will be a full accident report inthe near future.

Robinson R22 Beta, G-JERSWhilst practising running landings on a grass areaadjacent to the runway, the instructor asked the stu-dent to lift the helicopter into the hover with forwardmotion. The student initiated the manoeuvre by apply-ing a forward cyclic input. The instructor reportedthat as the helicopter slid forward along the ground, itmoved into an area of longer grass causing the frontof the skids to become caught. The student raised thecollective in an effort to pull the helicopter free, butthis caused the skids to dig in and initiated a forwardrollover. The instructor instinctively applied aft cyclicto stop the main rotor blades hitting the ground, butthis resulted in the blades striking the tail boom anddisengaging the tail rotor drive. The helicopter thenyawed rapidly and rolled over, finally coming to reston its left side. The occupants exited the aircraftunaided and without serious injury. The instructoradded that in his opinion, the lack of a dedicated heli-copter training area at the airport was a contributoryfactor to the accident. There was extensive damage tothe helicopter but only minor injury to the crew. Thepilot was 40 years old and had 1,987 hours, of which1,846 were on type.

Robinson R44 11, G-EEZRThe tail rotor contacted a small bush during traininginvolving landings on sloping ground. Examination ofthe tail rotor revealed minor damage and the tail rotorwas replaced. The instructor stated that, although he wasaware of the bush, he incorrectly assessed its positionand distance from the tail rotor. The bush has beentrimmed. There was creasing and indentation on the tailrotor and no damage to the crew. The pilot was 64 yearsold and had 9,800 hours of which 45 were on type.

Robinson R44 11, G-GDJF

The accident occurred on the owner’s property whilsthovering to dry the helicopter after washing it. Theweather was reported by the pilot as clear with 20 kmvisibility and a WNW wind of 10 to 20 kt with gusts upto 20 kt. During the hover the helicopter yawed suddenlyto the right. To avoid a collision with nearby trees, thepilot landed in an adjoining field. The landing on theuneven ground was reported to be “abrupt” and the heli-copter rolled over, damaging the rotor blades, tail andskids. The pilot was uninjured but the passenger sus-tained minor injuries.The pilot stated that the initial yaw was probably causedby a gust of wind and that the helicopter rolled over due


left. The pilot continued applying right yaw pedal but, asit reached about 45-60° to the wind direction, the yawrate increased dramatically and he pulled the collectiveto clear the ground. As anticipated, this increased theyaw rate and the helicopter turned through about three tosix complete revolutions, during which time he checkedthat he was applying the correct pedal input. The enginethen stopped. Still yawing left, he attempted to cushionthe landing, but the helicopter landed heavily. The rightskid collapsed completely and the front left skid bowalso broke. The tailboom partially fractured just forwardof the horizontal stabiliser but the pilot and passengerwere uninjured and were able to vacate the helicopternormally.The pilot stated that he believed that “slow application ofright yaw pedal” was the cause of the accident. The man-ufacturer also believes that prolonged yawing can causethe engine to stop through fuel sloshing. It is understoodthat no pre-impact mechanical anomalies were foundafter inspection. The pilot was 35 years old and had1,850 hours of which 6 were on type.

MD Helicopters H369E, G-KSWI

While flying in the cruise at an altitude of 2,200 ft amsl,it is probable that the helicopter sustained a mechanicalfailure that resulted in the loss of pitch control to one ofthe tail rotor blades. During the subsequent attempt toland in a field, the airspeed reduced to the point wheredirectional control of the helicopter seems to have beeninsufficient to maintain heading. At a height of approxi-mately 50 ft, the helicopter yawed rapidly to the rightbefore the rotation ceased and it developed a high rate ofdescent. The helicopter struck the ground heavily andwas destroyed. The pilot survived but sustained seriousinjuries. There was no fire but the pilot was badlyinjured.The investigation established the presence of fatiguecracks emanating from corrosion pits on the tail rotorblade pitch horn on one blade, which led to its failure.Also, the associated tail rotor pitch link had failed. Thesequence of the two failures could not be established buteither could explain the helicopter’s behaviour before itcrashed. Neither the failed section of this tail rotor bladepitch horn nor the associated pitch link were recoveredfrom the accident site. The pilot was 57 years old andhad 730 hours of which 720 were on type.Four Safety Recommendations were made all of whichrelated to the on-going maintenance of the helicopter andtwo of which were concerned with investigation andtreatment of corrosion in an aircraft .

Bell 412EP, LV-ZXO, Grenada

An Argentinean helicopter was forced to make an emer-gency landing in Grenada’s ward island of PetitMartinique when it developed a broken hose, whichstarted leaking fuel. A release from the police quoted thepilot as saying that “he was forced to make the emer-gency landing, just before ten in the morning, as a resultof the loss of oil that lubricates the main transmission ofthe helicopter”.The helicopter circled for several minutes while makingcontact with authorities in St.Vincent and the Grenadineswho advised them to land in a sparsely populated area ofPetit Martinique. The crew were uninjured and the heli-copter was mended and transported to the nearest air-field.

Robinson R44 11, PP-MOF, Brazil

The helicopter took off from a car park near LakeParanoa in Brazil, however, it failed to gain height andeventually came down on the edge of the lake. Althoughnone of the crew and passengers were hurt the R44 filledwith water and extensive damage was done by the water.

Guimbal Cabri G2, G-UIMB

The Guimbal Cabri G2 is a two-seat helicopter manufac-tured in France. It features a 7-bladed fenestron in placeof a conventional tail rotor and the 3-bladed main rotorrotates clockwise when viewed from above and aLycoming 0-360-J2A piston engine. It was awarded anEASA Type Certificate in December 2007 and G-UIMBwas the first of the type to be registered in the UK, hav-ing been delivered in September 2011.

The helicopter was approaching to land at CotswoldAirport (Kemble) after a short flight to the north of theairfield. The pilot rejoined the circuit left-hand down-wind for Runway 26; the wind was from 200° at 17 kt.He turned finals to the south of the runway and, as hepassed the airfield boundary, turned the helicopter intowind. However, during the final stages as he levelled offat about 5 feet, the helicopter started to yaw gently to the

65

ACCidenT reporTS

Windmill House on SaltCay, Turks & Caicoswas built as a hotel in

the 1970s. Rooms in this idylicluxury hotel were $600 a night,however with time and the diffi-culty of getting parts the hotelwas starting to feel a litle ‘his-toric’ although still beautiful. In2009, it was sold by the ownersto a hotel chain for a reported $4million dollars and then, only a few weekslater, damaged beyond economic repair byHurricane Ike. It has not been repaired, how-ever, if helicopters were available to be usedfor construction here perhaps it could beviable.


heliCopTerhouSein need oF A

Windmill House Salt Cay

Built in 1970s

destroyed 2009

Pictures by Georgina Hunter-Jones

Result of Hurricane

Ike in 2009

TCI

Helicopters

Ben Gearing

TCI Pilot

The house had

its own private

beach

l heliicfopteer - helicopterlife...book review 58 caa legislation changes 59 where to fly 61...

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