HELICOPTER LIFE · intentionally break rules but quite likely, if rules are continually chang - ing, that pilots won’t always know them. Pilots are generally men of action, not

HELICOPTER

LIFE

HELICOPTER LIFEis the HIGH LIFE

HistoricHistoricGazelleGazelle

SUMMER 2009 / £3.99

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LIFEHELICOPTER

Summer 2009Summer 2009

HELICOPTER LIFE,Summer2009 3

How the GazelleStole Christmas 32Helicopter Lifelooks at the historyof the Gazelle, itsmilitary use and howit was adapted to beused as a civilianperformer

The Long March 40Georgina Hunter-Jones and Mark Kengelbacherfly a Schweizer300 from Redhillin the UnitedKingdom to Jerezin SouthernSpain. The triptakes four daysand sixteen hoursflying. This istheir story.

HeliRussia Moscow 48Helicopter Lifespends four days in Moscow at the Second RussianHelicopter Show and examines whether this is aninternational or a local show and the potential forgrowth

The Music of the Skies 54Romina Ciuffa takes to the skies in aquartet of helicopterssees how the musicof the 20th centurycomposer Karl HeinzStockhausen isplayed using the heli-copers as part of theorchestra

Aviation in Music (Bruno Misonne) 59

Helicopters Past and Future 62

Book Reviews 63

Accident Reports 6 4

House & Helicopter 66

COVER STORYCOVER STORY

Show & Tell Guide 4Aviation shows and conferences.

The Editor’s Letter 5

Aerial Forum 6 & 10 Phil Cazaly on his H300 engine failure

Letters to the Editor 7, 11, 15 & 39

Flying Crackers 8, 9

G-HENS takes off 12Georgina Hunter-Jones wites aboutthe new GlobalHelicoper ExecutiveNetwork inaguratedby AAG Globalfrom New York andPremiAir from theUnited Kingdom

New Technology 16Helicopter Life looks at the Hungarian DioraKx165 icepick and the Italian AH130 Turbine

Cholmondeley Pageant of Power 18Georgina Hunter-Jones goes toCholmondeley toget a taste of theforthcoming eventin July and take aspin on the race-track

Autogyro training 21Chris Jones on flying gyroplanes

Medical Crew Training 22 Richard Patterson on improving crew trainingafter the NTSB report

Friedrichshafen 26Helicopter Life experi-ences the most influen-tial general aviationshow in Europe and seesmany possible helicotperinnovations

15 June - 21 June 2009PARIS AIRSHOW 2009

Aeroport Le Bourget, Paris

France

Fax: +33 1 47 20 00 86

email: [email protected]

Registration: www.salon-du-bourget.fr

Website: www.paris-air-show.com

11th July 2009

AMERICAN HEROES AIRSHOW

Hansen Dam Recreation Area

Lakeview Terrace, CA

Contact Jim Paules

818) 631-8132 office

(818) 347-4577 fax

[email protected]

www.heroes-airshow.com/losangeles/

18 July - 19 July 2009CHOLMONDELEY PAGEANT OF POWER

Cholmondeley, Cheshire

United Kingdom

Tel: 0845 0941 007

Fax: 0845 0941 008

email: [email protected] or

[email protected]

Website: http://www.cpop.co.uk

22 September - 24 September 2009HELITECH 2009

Duxford Airfield, Cambridge

England

Contact Brandon Ward

Fax: +44 (0)20 8439 8853

email: [email protected]

Website: www.helitech.co.uk

21 February - 23 February 2010

HAI HELIExPO 2010

Houston, Texas

Contact Helicopter Association International

1635 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Phone: (703) 683-4646 Fax: (703) 683-4745

[email protected]

HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer 20094

HELICoPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd.

59 Great ormond Street

London, WC1N-3Hz.

Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2009.

ISSN 1743-1042.

All rights reserved. opinions expressed herein are not 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

Bob Fairall landing his Gazelle at Redhill

by Georgina Hunter-Jones

SUMMER 2009

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOTGeorgina [email protected]

CREATIVE [email protected]

COPY EDITORSEvangeline Hunter-Jones, JPJohn Wilson

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSRichard Patterson, Philip Cazaly, Jeremy Paxton,Bruce Charnov. Romina Ciuffa, Chris Jones

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHYRomina Ciuffa, Richard Patterson, JeremyPaxton, Bruce Charnov, Milutskiy Gennadiy,Chris Jones, Mark Kengelbacher, Nick MoutonMason-Williams

SPECIAL THANKS TODave Smith ATPL(H)IR, Bruno Misonne, BruceCharnov, Mark Kengelbacher

ADVERTISINGTelephone: +44-(0)[email protected]

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

WEBSITEwww.helicopterlife.com

HON. EDITORIAL BOARDCaptain Eric Brown, CBE, RN

The Lord Glenarthur, DL

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

LIFEHELICOPTERSHOW & T ELL

G UIDE


tonnes.”

Which I took as another way of

saying that Russia is very happy to be

party of the International Helicopter

Scene, as long as the world follows

the Russian lead. of course, this is

exactly how America and China also

view the world, so hardly surprising,

and the only reason that Europe is so

keen to be party of a conglomerate, is

that all its countries are too small to

be world leaders on their own: as

soon as we lost our colonies we

became fervent Europeans.

In Aerial Forum we have a possibly

controversial piece on whether or not

autorotations should be taken all the

way to the ground, by Phil Cazaly. I

worked with Phil for many years and

he is a very good instructor, however,

this is one thing on which we totally

disagree. I believe students should be

taught to go all the way to the ground

on autorotations, he is vehemently

against it, for the reasons put forth in

his article. What do you think?

Helicopter Life been nominated for

the Aerospace Journalist of the Year

Awards in Paris Le Bourget, for the

firefighting in oregon story: Baby

won’t you Light my Fire. It is unlike-

ly that we will win, but it was nice to

be nominated. Thank you.

in spite of the recession, keep flying;

the experience you will get will hold

you in good stead, long before you

get to the age of 92.

In this issue we have the prelimi-

nary findings of the EHSET (the

European Helicopter Safety Teams)

board and it makes interesting read-

ing. Tellingly, only 16% of accidents

are attributable to rule or law break-

ing - the lowest figure in every cate-

gory studied. And something that

should be taken into account when

making new regulations: it is unlikely

that people like pilots, who are natu-

rally disposed towards safety, will

intentionally break rules but quite

likely, if rules are continually chang-

ing, that pilots won’t always know

them. Pilots are generally men of

action, not necessarily the most likely

people to read every piece of legisla-

tion, especially if these are variable.

Although there may be less heli-

copter flying there are definitely not

fewer shows. Friedrichshafen,

although a general GA show, rather

than just helicopters, was full of new

and interesting very light helicopters:

Alpi Aviation’s new turbine helicop-

ter, which can only be flown on a

permit in Italy and Greece was one,

and there were a variety of gyro-

copters and small helicopters.

Gyrocopters will probably do well

out of the recession, as pilots, still

keen to fly rotorcraft but unable to

afford helicopters, look around for a

cheaper way of experiencing the

whirling rotors above.

The Russian helicopter show, now

in its second year, gave a slightly dif-

ferent view of the world from the one

we see from the West. The Chief of

Russian Helicopters oleg Ponomarev

told me: “Russian aircraft plants are

the biggest serial manufacturers of

rotorcraft in the world, having pro-

duced 56 thousand rotor wing aircraft

with a take-off weight of one to 56

5

T HE EDITOR ÕS LETTER

This has not been the best

quarter for helicopters and

helicopter flying. Helicopter

schools are not busy and a lot of

people are selling their helicopters.

Even manufacturers are not as

upbeat as they were at the start of

the year, with complaints that if this

level of investment continues they

will not be able to continue with

research and development. And

then we have all the blather over

the ‘obama Helicopter’. Will it

continue in its present form? Will

the contract go back to an American

manufacturer? It is, of course, no

secret that Sikorsky is waiting to

welcome back that sweet

Presidential Suite with the open

arms of a former lover.

Now there are more rumbles; the

Citizens Against Waste recommend

going on with the present project.

Still, even if nothing else, this

debate has got readers of the New

York Times talking about helicopters.

one advantage of less flying is

there fewer accidents. Though that

is only until people start flying

again; then there may be an

increase, as pilots attempt to shake

off the rustiness of lack of training

in the down years; even a short time

away from flying can make a differ-

ence to your skill levels.

The New York Times had an piece

about a survey on 92 years olds who

play bridge. Apparently, people who

suffer with dementia can, if they have

spent enough of their lives playing

bridge, can still recall brdige moves,

even while they can hardly function

on a day to day level. Thestudy

showed that the more experienced

people were, the more moves they

could recal. This can be transposed

over to helicopter flying; the more

experienced you are, the more likely

you are to react in the correct manner

when put in an unusual situation. So,

HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer2009

If a helicopter pilot had to nominate one major mechani-

cal component to suffer the inconvenience of terminal

failure in flight, chances are they’d pick the engine. Ask

a pilot who flies fixed- and rotary-winged machines which

mount would afford the best chance of surviving an engine

failure, odds are they would choose the helicopter.

Hopefully these are choices we’ll never have to make, espe-

cially as there is a common misconception that if a heli-

copter’s engine quits it carries on flying about as well as a

mallet. Not so. If it were so, these words would not be on this

page, because one perfect spring afternoon the Lycoming

360 engine powering the Schweizer 269 I was flying

stopped, giving me a golden opportunity to put all my engine

failure drills into practice.

We can all learn valuable lessons from other people’s inci-

dents and mistakes, and become better pilots for it, and for

this reason I would like to share my experience of total

engine failure on the day the donkey died.

All we can do in training is simulate a situation. Even those

helicopter instructors with a death wish, who chop the throt-

tle on their students, come nowhere close to demonstrating

the reality of an engine failure. In my role as instructor I’ve

had plenty of student pilots rapidly roll off the throttle; a very

common affliction, especially among bikers who are used to

opening the throttle in the opposite direction. Believe me, a

rapidly-closed throttle is nothing like a real engine failure.

My experience also has reinforced my personal – and I stress

personal – views on how engine failures are dealt with in

training. But first:

How is it that a helicopter is able to glide? It is because the

main rotor blades are capable of autorotation, which means

that the blades are being driven by aerodynamic forces alone,

as opposed to the usual state of affairs in which the engine

provides the power. Think of the sycamore tree sending its

seeds away under gracefully rotating blades, or James Bond

in the Little Nellie auto-gyro, and you get the picture.

But helicopters, like aeroplanes, were designed for powered

flight, and when that power source is taken away the pitch

and the angle of attack on the main lifting surfaces is all

wrong, and will have the same potentially disastrous result if

the pilot does nothing about it; the lifting surfaces stall, no

longer produce lift, but do create plenty of drag. To remedy

this the aeroplane pilot lowers the nose to exchange some of

that potential energy for kinetic energy to keep the wing

moving, reducing the angle of attack to produce some lift

6

A ERIAL FORUM

The Day the Donkey DiedPhilip Cazaly experienced an engine failure in a H269c, here he examines

what he learnt from the unexpected event

and resultant forward thrust. Much the same thing happens

with helicopters; by lowering the collective lever we quickly

reduce the pitch and angle of attack on the blades. The heli-

copter then starts to descend and the updraft through the rotor

disc causes the central area of the disc to provide a resultant

forward driving force on the blades to keep them turning,

while the outer sections of the blade provide more lift, as well

as drag, thereby maintaining constant rpm. Thus the helicop-

ter is gliding and all the controls (except the throttle) behave

as normal, including the tail rotor which is still being turned

by the main rotor through the drive shafts and gears. A free-

wheeling clutch between the broken engine and the main gear-

box allows the rotor system to keep turning.

Also normal in autorotation is the helicopter’s ability to keep

flying when stationary – long enough to make a controlled

landing at little or no ground speed. This is where helicopters

score over stiff wings; they can land on a sixpence without

the need to keep barrelling along at 60, 70, 80mph; which is

tiresome when aeroplanes are forced to land away from nice,

big, smooth airfields.

Relatively speaking, the aeroplane pilot has plenty of time to

think about lowering the nose after an engine failure and if he

allow the wings to stall he can still recover from this situa-

tion, even more than once if necessary. The helicopter pilot

does not have this luxury: he must reduce the pitch on the

blades – known technically as dumping the lever – pretty

damn quickly. How quickly? Well it depends on aircraft type,

all-up weight, atmospherics and whether you happen to be

climbing, cruising or descending. The smaller and lighter the

helicopter the less stored-up inertia there is in the rotor disc.

Worst-case scenario would be two well-fed persons in a

fully-fuelled small helicopter on a hot and humid day climb-

ing away from a high-altitude airfield. Less than a second is

all the time they would have to dump the lever. And just the

one chance to get it right.

The rotor system in a helicopter is similar to a constant-

speed, variable-pitch propeller, but with one hinges at the

root, and once the blades start to slow from their normal

(very narrow) operating rpm band, they cone up and noth-

ing – not even a revived and healthy engine – will get them

down and turning again. Game over. This is the main area

in which rotary loses out to fixed wing. Even in larger

machines, the window of opportunity to lower the lever is only

around two seconds. And I think there is a very important

continued on page 10

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

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

Please include your name, and email or phone.

HELICOPTER LIFE,Summer 2009

A Flying Paradise

Dear Georgina,

If I were showing off, I’d say I

had a blinding flash of inspira-

tion that summer’s day in

1994 when I was bimbling

around the skies over the

Cotswolds in my then R22 and

spotted something intriguing

1,500 feet below me.

I’d tell an amazing but quite

untrue story that when I

looked down on the series of

deserted, overgrown lakes

below, I decided on the spot

that I would turn it into a glob-

ally recognised nature reserve

housing an idyllic upmarket

vacation village studded dis-

creetly with some of the

world’s leading modernist

architecture.

But no. Actually, I landed for a

sandwich, a bit of a snooze

and a swim.

And it was the flying, which is

fantastic in this part of the

country, that in many senses

was the tail that wagged the

dog which would, as the years

passed, slowly morph into

Lower Mill Estate.

Even when I had bought and

started building on the land, it

was primarily as an ideal

retreat for my own family –

which for me meant some-

where in the Cotswolds we

could fly down to and from

which I could keep on flying

all weekend.

There is a great helicopter

7

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

community between Kemble, Gloucester

and oaksey and it really is top notch for

aviation all around here. Lower Mill isn’t

on high ground – it’s couple of hundred

feet lower than Kemble - so there’s not

much by way of hill fog. So you can usu-

ally get into Lower Mill, plus you’ve got

exceptionally good radar from RAF Brize

Norton, the European landing site for the

Space Shuttle, you’ve got oaksey air-

field, which is Jet-A fuel and helicopter

friendly just a helicopter mile away - and

Kemble about three H miles away.

Today, the media variously describes

Lower Mill Estate as a residential nature

reserve, a designer vacation village and

even a celebrity resort. None of these

labels are wholly untrue, as it happens,

To me, however, more than anything, it’s

a giant playground offering residents,

holiday letters and their families the

extraordinary prospect – unavailable even

to most people who live permanently in

the country – of the run of most of 650

acres of safe, virgin rural landscape and

water - along with a world-class spa that

on its own would be an attraction worthy

of moving to the estate for.

And all this is alongside that fantastic

helicopter flying opportunity. There are

very few places, really, that are helicopter

friendly. A lot of hotels, for example,

charge private helicopter pilots for land-

ing while they wouldn’t dream of charg-

ing motorists to park their cars. I think

this is a complete stitch-up and so refuse

to go to any hotel which charges for landing.

At Lower Mill Estate, I like to think we

have successfully combined ecology,

community and architecture – and we’re

happy to say that we can also accommodate

helicopters because we’re able to land them

on a part of the land that’s completely unaf-

fected by noise disturbance.

Helicopter pilots have the benefit of a

private helipad with 24 hour security and

hangarage and we can even offer jet fuel

on a complimentary basis to people who

turn up and are a bit low.

continued on page 11

Letters continue

on pages 11 & 15 & 39

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Jeremy Paxton’s perfect

ecological dream house


Marriage in FlightThis was overheard on a radio serv-

ice in California.

Aircraft to ATC: Madam, am I still

getting flight following? I haven’t

had a call for a while.

ATC: Sir, Flight following is like

marriage, the less we talk the better

off we are.

It is Hard to be a HeroRuedi Hafen, owner of Niagara

Helicopters, was determined to save

the life of an unidentified 30-year-

old ontario man who went over

Niagara Falls without a barrel: even

though the man did not want to be

rescued. The man became only the

third person known to have survive

the plunge unaided (perhaps the first

to skinny dip) but it wasn’t for lack

of helpers. In the end, it was only

Hafen’s flying rescue that put the

man into the arms of rescuers whom

he'd been trying to avoid.

A Capital Rebrandoxford Air Services, has relaunched

as Capital Air Services (CAS). The

company has been in business since

1994 and feels it has outgrown its

name. “We realised that people were

confused by fact that we were called

‘oxford’ Air Services when we fly

from all over the UK and into

Europe. We felt that Capital was

more representative of our client

base and capabilities,” says Michael

Hampton, MD.

Capital is meeting the difficuulties

of the current financial turbulence

by expanding its business at a time

when many in the industry are

downsizing. The company has just

taken delivery of a state of the art

Eurocopter EC155. Hampton says:

“We saw there was a demand for a

larger aircraft in our fleet and have

FLYINGP

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s

been pleased with the response

we have received since the heli-

copter arrived.”

Hampton says that, although

there has been some downturn

in the industry, Capital has had

a steady number of requests

from people wishing to travel

further and the EC155 will cater

for that market. He adds: “our

clients wish to avoid the endless

traffic on the roads and prefer to

fly. Having been one of the

largest helicopter shuttle service

providers to the Silverstone

Grand Prix, we understand the

unique requirements of flying just

one, or large number of clients,

smoothly and with no fuss.”

Capital anticipates brisk business.

“People still want to travel and be

entertained,” adds Hampton.

The company is no stranger to

glamour and featured in the Girls

Aloud Christmas special.

Hampton is optimistic about the

future. “We’re looking forward to

a busy summer, and to introduc-

ing more people to the conven-

ience of private charter,” he says

No Sex Please, we are Pilots

A FAA pilot’s licence has been

revoked (not the first time) for

having sex in the cockpit. The

52 year old male pilot has

appealed against the revocation

of his certificate, which he lost

after a video started doing the

rounds showing him having sex

with a Swedish adult film

actress while flying a helicopter

over San Diego. Reports do not

say what type of helicopter he

was flying, but probably not a

Robinson R22.

The revocation marks the fifth

Michael Hampton MD

of Capital Air Services

time his licence has either been revoked

or suspended, according to the AP, which

noted a prior infraction that the FAA

deemed as reckless flying. In that, 2006

case, ‘reckless’ meant landing a helicopter

on a Hollywood street to pick up a rock

star and deliver him to a concert.

The Future Lynx is a Wild CatAt a ceremony at AgustaWestland in

Yeovil, it was announced that the Future

Lynx aircraft is now to be known as the

AW159 Lynx Wildcat. The Lynx Wildcat

programme will deliver 62 light helicop-

ters for the Army and Royal Navy from

2014 and 2015 respectively.The Army

variant of will perform a range of tasks

on the battlefield including reconnais-

sance, command and control, transporta-

tion of troops and force protection. The

RN variant will provide an agile maritime

capability providing anti-surface warfare


with access restricted by trees and other obstacles. The

bucket contains four high-speed pumps which allow the

pilots to fill the bucket from sources as shallow as 18-

inches in less than two minutes. When fighting fire, the

pilots are able to control the gates on the bucket to best

meet the requirements of the Incident Commander. The

pilot can drop the entire load in one massive spot drop,

open and close the bucket gates to create a series of small-

er spot drops, or partially open the gates in forward flight

to create a fire line. Pilots can also use the bucket to drop

short or long-term retardants.

9

FLYING C RACKERS

capability and force protection and will operate in

support of amphibious operations as well as acting as

a light utility helicopter. The aircraft will be able to

switch between Army and Royal Navy roles, princi-

pally through the changing of role equipment. Their

capability will be a significant advance on that pro-

vided in both Iraq and Afghanistan by the current

Lynx fleet. The name ‘Wildcat’ was given to the

Grumman F4F widely used during the Second World

War. The aircraft ceased operational service in 1945

but some flying aircraft remain, including one in the

collection of the Imperial War Museum Duxford.

Flu and Fires in Mexico, Columbia Helicopters to the Rescue

Columbia Helicopters has deployed a Model 234

Chinook helicopter to Mexico to help fight forest fires

on the Yucatán Peninsula. This is the first time

Columbia has been called into fighting fires in

Mexico. The Columbia Model 234 Chinook is capable

of lifting 28,000 pounds at sea level, and carries a

2,650-gallon SEI Torrentula Bambi Bucket equipped

with the Powerfill System. This bucket, carried at the

end of a 200-foot long line, allows the pilots to draw

water from a wide variety of sources, including manyto

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Seen in the streets of

Harare, Zimbabwe

The Lynx Wildcat is

the new name for

the AW159

Columbia Helicopters

Chinook 234

10 HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer 2009

..

continued from page 6lesson to be learnt from this.

Apart from being a legal requirement to

be able to land clear when flying single-

engine aircraft, this basic precaution was

ingrained into to me by an old mate who

suffered an engine failure in an R22. He

landed safely in a field instead of annoy-

ingly bumping into a block of flats or a

school that could have been in his way if

he hadn’t stuck to that basic rule.

So, there I was flying the Schweizer

269CBi over open farmland with a lady in

the left seat, who had been treated on her

birthday to a one-hour trial lesson. She

was doing a grand job on the cyclic stick

when without warning the Lycoming 360

dropped an exhaust valve into a piston. It

did this with an almighty bang that was

felt as much as heard. It was if a giant had

struck our little helicopter with a huge

baseball bat. our flight path was dis-

turbed and altered in every plane,

although the sudden yaw to the left which

I had always thought would accompany

an engine failure - due to the change in

torque reaction with sudden loss of power

- was not that apparent. It could be that

some of the other sounds masked the

yawing. I can’t be sure. It’s not easy to

accurately recall unfamiliar events when

every last drop of adrenaline in your body

has just surged into your bloodstream.

Thankfully, those were the only body flu-

ids that did any surging that day.

I had no idea at this point that the cause of

all our troubles was engine failure. And

this is the point I really want to ram home.

our aircraft’s attitude was so disturbed

that I thought the problem was far, far

worse - possibly some kind of major

structural failure. However, my immedi-

ate reaction was to lower the lever and

enter autorotation. I do strongly believe

that when a helicopter pilot encounters

any unknown mechanical problem, or

worrying noise, the first action should be

to enter autorotation, pick a landing site

and only after that indulge in the task of

analysing the situation. The pilot who

attempts to analyse and resolve the problem

first will have left it too late to successfully

enter autorotation if rotor rpm has already

started to decay.

one of the most important areas of the

training syllabus, whether fixed or rotary,

is dealing with emergencies, especially

engine failure and forced landings. But

should we be teaching, demonstrating or

practising full touch-down simulated

engine failures in helicopters? I really do

not think so. In fact, I’d go as far to say

they are utter madness, an opinion rein-

forced by my own real engine-failure

experience and a view I know is shared by

many other instructors.

A good touchdown is the inevitable con-

clusion of a good approach and in the

world of helicopters we fly the autorota-

tion approach at around 50 to 60 knots

(although we can bring the speed back to

zero) and then initiate a flare at 30-40ft

above the ground, which arrests not only

descent but also the speed. The aircraft is

then levelled and using the stored

momentum in the spinning rotor system,

the collective lever is raised to increase

blade pitch and lift, which therefore slows

the rate of descent and cushions the land-

ing. In training, if the throttle is deliber-

ately closed back to idle, then the helicop-

ter will settle on the ground – hopefully

uneventfully. However, if the throttle is

not closed then the engine governor or

correlator will kick in and get the blades

turning again under power, which means

that the machine will end up hovering

rather than landing. And that, in my hum-

ble opinion, is how simulated engine fail-

ures should be taught; back to the (pow-

ered) hover as opposed to banging per-

fectly sound helicopters down onto the

deck. If a pilot can end up in the hover, at

the right spot at the right height, they will

survive a real engine failure, almost certain-

ly without breaking anything.

Another downside of practising full

touch-down engine offs is that they can

break helicopters and pilots. The dangers

outweigh any advantages. Too many

machines have been wrecked when

engine offs have gone wrong, and for

every one time there has been visible

damage I’ll wager there are a hundred

when the stored up stresses and strains

caused by rotten landings are lurking

within the machine waiting to get their

own back. It’s not because helicopter

owners are worried about getting mud on

their pride and joy that many will ban flying

schools from doing engine-off practice.

Whether or not you agree with me so far,

the next point should clinch the issue. I

maintain that the landings we practise in

the training engine-off scenario are noth-

ing like the landings we should be doing

when the engine really does quit. In train-

ing we have to maintain airspeed at touch-

down – getting on for 20 knots on light

machines – otherwise the blades could

slow down too much and be left with

insufficient inertia to cushion the touch-

down. on calmer days high airspeed

means high ground speeds and it is these

high ground speeds that have caused hel-

icopters to flip over break.

Well this is all fine and dandy at the hands

of an experienced instructor on his home

turf, which is probably as flat and well-

groomed as a bowling green, and who

doesn’t indulge if the wind is less than 10

knots. But in the real world the ground is

going to be rough, the wind is going to be

calm (or cross- or downwind) and

chances are you are not going to be cur-

rent in the art of run-on landings. If you

passed your PPL(H) recently you won’t

even have flown a full touch down

because the rules say they can only be

demonstrated by an instructor.

In a real-life, genuine engine failure, zero

ground speed surely must be the preferred

option, even if maybe you do come down

with a bit of a bump in a lighter helicop-

ter if maybe you do run out of collective;

far better than flipping the machine over

and potentially being joined - or separat-

ed - in the cockpit by bits of flailing

blades. What really is the point of taking

all those risks in training with run-on,

engine-off landings when they bear no

relation to the zero ground speed touch

down you should be doing on the day the

engine really does quit? Work on getting

those autorotation entries off pat, the

approaches well judged to a chosen spot

on the ground, finishing with a good flare

and recovery back to the powered, zero

ground-speed hover. If ever you are

unlucky enough to lose the engine one

day, the only difference should be that

you’ll settle softly onto the ground.

Soapbox session over, I can report that

our birthday girl did wonder why I had

parked the Schweizer in a remote

farmer’s field instead of returning her to

Biggin Hill. After reassuring her that my

intentions were entirely honourable and

that she had been treated at no extra

charge to a real engine failure demonstra-

tion, the company JetRanger arrived to

whisk us back to base. Although the trial

lesson was curtailed by the engine’s

faulty valve-retaining collet, our cus-

tomer was not put off by the experience,

returning to complete her trip and is now

contemplating lessons.

continued from page 7

It’s the ultimate flying community,

really, because if you’re a helicop-

ter owner, and we’ve had as many

as eight here at the same time, it’s

fantastic to be able to have a vaca-

tion house and land right on the

property.

Lower Mill Estate’s flying roots

are surprisingly extensive, too.

The renowned English artist who

made our gates, Alexander

Baynes, oddly enough, had a

grandfather, L.E. Baynes, who

designed the Baynes Bat glider,

Churchill’s favourite, and also the

swept wing and vertical lift air-

craft and the hydrofoil.

What I believe has been one of

our proudest achievements at

Lower Mill Estate has been to

ensure that while we’re an

absolute haven for helicopter flyers,

the ecological model for the whole

estate is sustainable for a thousand

years. We really do have a thou-

sand year business model.

We’re already the most significant

nature reserve in Europe in private

hands, host to over 13,000 trees

and over 3,000 species of wildlife

– including the famous Lower

Mill Estate beavers. And the hous-

es we build are designed to last as

long as – and probably longer than

- as any of the Cotswold stone

houses in the traditional villages

around us.

I’m very much a country boy. I

was brought up, in the New Forest

and spent most of my time as a

kid scraping my head open going

underneath barbed wire fences and

running away from farmers who’d

be chasing us off a bit of land

because we’d found a great swim-

ming place there.

These days, I get so many ideas,

and I don’t mean just business

ideas, in the countryside. I just

dream and dream and I still love

hanging out and letting the mind

wander.

It’s been an amazing exercise for

the past 15 years harmonising peo-

ple ecology and architecture. I

don’t even really see myself as a

“developer” in the traditional

sense.

I’m just someone with an interest

in the countryside and an interest

in design and wanting the two to

work symbiotically. So the core of

Lower Mill Estate, the basic idea

that developed out of that initial

landing for a snooze and a swim,

is about connecting wonderful

architecture with nature.

Best wishes,

Jeremy Paxton

letters continue on page 15

TO THE EDITORM ORE LETTERS

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Please quote reference ASHLQ7 in any correspondence

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PremiAir Aviation has been

busy. In spite of, or perhaps

because of, the decline in the

economy, they have been planning

new ventures, some more taxing that

others. They have started a new heli-

copter shuttle between the major air-

ports, they have inagurated a new

Global Helicopter Executive

Network, and they have a variety of

new projects starting at the revamped

oxford Airport.

The most difficult venture, accord-

ing to the PremiAir pilots, was

preparing for the deal with AAG

Global or as one pilot put it “the deal

with Sikorsky”(who own AAG) to

become the Global Helicopter

Executive Network. This involved a

very intensive audit by ARGUS to

make sure the British company was up

to US standards. Apparently it was,

and the launch of the Global Helicopter

Executive Network (G-HEN) took place

between the Sikorksy owned American

company AAG Global and Von Essen

owned PremiAir on 1st May.

AAG are a helicopter comapny

based in New York. Amongst other

things they have a fractional owner-

ship programme. The fractional

scheme is so successful in New York

that Tom McQuade, CEo of AAG

decided that he wanted to expand it

over the rest of the world. He said, “I

wanted to raise more money and I also

wanted to know what my ‘owners’

wanted.”

What they wanted turned out to be

the ability to have a helicopter avail-

able to them in the same way it was in

New York, across the Atlantic and

elsewhere in the world. Available,

moreover, twenty four hours a day,

When Harry Met Sally

BY GEORGINA HUNTER -JONES

The inaguration of the Global HelicopterExecutive Network took place on 1st May 2009


seven days a week.

PremiAir Aviation in the UK was the only helicopter

in Europe big enough for the business.

“I don’t do brokering,” said McQuade, and it seemed

Sikorsky did not want to buy PremiAir, nor did Von

Essen wish to sell, so the alternative was a partnership

between the British and US companies.

“We will be sharing best practices,” McQuade says,

“flights will be bookable via the website, which will

always be manned.”

They claim to be able to dispatch a helicopter in 20 minutes.

The new network is now looking to expand across the

globe, particuarly in the Far and Middle East.

In February, PremiAir also launched its London

Heliport Shuttle Service, which offers dedicated flights

to meet private jet arrivals into the business airports

around London, flying them up to Battersea and thus avoid-

ing the traffic on the capital’s notorious motorways.

PremiAir now have five bases: Blackbushe, Denham,

Battersea, Farnborough and oxford. They have a fleet of

18 helicopters, including a Sikorsky S92. They are a

FAA, CAA, and EASA Part 145 approved maintenance

organisation, a Hawker Beechcraft Authorised Service

Centre, a Sikorsky Service Centre, a Bell Customers

Service Facility and a Eurocopter maintenance centre.

AAG were started after the Vietnam War by John

Agor, a helicopter pilot who saw the potential in heli-

13

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Franchisees will now be able

to have a helicopter available

in London as well as New

York. Inset: PremiAir MD

David McRobert

European Helicopter SafetyAnalysis Team (EHEST) preliminary results

In April, the European Helicopter

Safety Team (EHEST) released

its preliminary analysis report on

helicopter accidents which occurred

in EASA Member States between

2000 and 2005.

The report discovered that there

were three main contributory fac-

tors, the highest being pilot judge-

ment and actions when faced with

an emergency. This was very simi-

lar to the findings of the

International Helicopter Safety

Team (IHST) formed in 2005 look-

ing into accidents in the USA

between 2000 and 2005.

The second and third problem areas

were found to be the safety culture

management and pilot situational

awareness.

The IHST gave as their objective:

“Analysis, as the first step towards

reducing the helicopter accident

rate by 80% by 2016.” To reach

this objective, EHSAT, the

European Helicopter Safety

Analysis Team, was formed with

the purpose of identifying safety

issues and intervention recommen-

dations. The report presents the

results of one hundred and eighty

six accidents where a final investi-

gation report has been issued by the

responsible AIB.

of the accidents analysed so far, 72

involved General Aviation opera-

tions, 66 Aerial Work, 40

Commercial Air Transport, and 8

VIP Flights. 68% of the fatal acci-

dents and 34% of all accidents

analysed by EHSAT occurred dur-

ing the en route phase of flight. In

33% of the accidents, the pilot had

less than 1,000 hours total helicop-

ter experience. In 26% of the acci-

dents, the pilot had less than 100

hours flight experience on the heli-

copter type involved in the acci-

dent. However, accidents also

occurred to very experienced pilots.

The accident analysis aims at iden-

tifying all factors, causal or contrib-

utory, that played a role in the acci-

dents. These: Pilot judgment and

actions, Safety Management and

Safety Culture, and Pilot situation

awareness, had different patterns

when in Commercial Air Transport

compared to Aerial Work and

General Aviation.

Violations ie breaking rules or laws

were extremely low in the analysis.

only 16% of the accidents were a

result of rule-breaking.

However, a greater emphasis was

put on training and the use of the

available equipment, and of knowl-

edge of regulations.

For further information access the

report on: http://www.easa.europa.eu/

essi/documents/ReportPreliminaryRe

sultsEHSATv1.0.pdf

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JET JET A1A1 AAVGAS 100LLVGAS 100LL


Dear Georgina,

The Spring 2009 article ‘Manhattan Belle’ featured a

terrific view from a helicopter of the Statue of

Liberty, and reminded me of the first rotary-wing air-

craft to fly in that airspace in october of 1930 – the

experimental Pitcairn PCA-1B (known as the ‘Black

Maria’) and PCA-2 Autogiros. Harold F. Pitcairn,

seeking to both certify the PCA-2 (it would be the

first certified American rotary-wing aircraft, receiv-

ing ATC-410 on April 2, 1931) had the two

Autogiros fly over Manhattan in certification flights

that also garnered much publicity and caused

pedestrians to stop in their tracks and gaze upward.

And there was an additional aircraft flying with the

Autogiros, a chase plane from which a wonderful

aerial series of New York photographs were made.

one of these shows the two Autogiros flying through

the same airspace from which the helicopter photo

was taken.

The PCA-1B is in the background, while the PCA-2,

flown by James G. ‘Jim’ Ray is in the foreground –

they are flying over ‘Liberty Island’ upon which the

Statute of Liberty stands, lifting her lamp ‘beside the

Golden Door’. Lower Manhattan is to the left while

Brooklyn is to the right. The island was formerly

called Bedloe’s Island but was officially changed in

1956.

other photos in the october 1930 certification flight

series include the Autogiros flying over the piers in

the East River, over the Battery in lower Manhattan

and over Wall Street - through what one architect

has estimated would later be airspace occupied by

one of the World Trade Center towers. I thought your

readers might enjoy these first rotary-wing flights

over New York City.

Best wishes,

Bruce Charnov Ph.D J.D. FRAeS

letters continue on page 39

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The Diöferr Diora Kx165 Icepick is a twin rotor

counter-rotating helicopter built in Hungary and

designed by the AeroConsult Engineering Bureau. I

talked to their chief engineer Dr Imre Bánó.

The company has been designing the Icepick for four

years, and they hope to fly it soon. So far they have only

done ground-runs, as Dr Bánó said, rather endearingly, “we

did not want to risk flying it for the first time just before

Friedrichshafen, and then having nothing to show.”

They decided to go for the co-axial main rotor for rea-

sons of safety, expense (as there are fewer moving parts)

and compactness. Unlike other co-axial systems the Icepick

does not have a rudder, and the pedals work on the lower

swashplate, changing pitch.

“There is,” says Dr Bánó, “no cross-wind limit with this

type of helicopter. Also,” he continues, “there is less for the

pilot to do than in conventional helicopters, so he has more

time to concentrate on flying and getting where he is

going.” (obviously helicopter pilots have a poor reputation

for navigational ability in Hungary.)

At present they are using a Subaru 165 hp normally

aspirated piston engine with fuel injection. However, this is

a very high revving engine and Dr Bánó says, “if there is a

problem with EASA we can change the engine, but Subaru

are very experienced in light aviation engines and cars.”

They looked at using a Lycoming engine, as it was more

traditional, but discovered it was too heavy for their com-

pact machine. They have not considered using a turbine

engine as it would be too expensive and too big.

The Kx 165 is a single seat helicopter, but the company

have also started designing a two seat model with a bigger

Subaru engine. The single seat machine will have an empty

weight of 460 kgs, while the two seat will be 490 kgs. Both

machines will cruise at 150 km/h and have a VNE of 180

km/h. The single seat will carry 86 litres of fuel and the

two seat 94 litres. They expect both machines to have a

range of between 350 and 380 kms, but they are hoping to

increase this to a 3 hour endurance and more than 500 kms.

Dr Bánó says, “the rotor is made of carbon and the body

of glass fibre with a steel frame, all of which is very light.”

The expected price for the machines is 60,000 Euros for

the single seat machine, 65,000 Euros for the two seater.

Di�ferr DioraKx165 Icepick The Icepick has no

cross-wind limits

The twin boom

Icepick has a

Subaru engine

HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer 2009 17

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TECHNOLOGY

N EW

Alpi Aviation, an Italian company, designed the

Sylon AH130 from a derivative of the Rotorway

Exec body and an APU turbine engine.

The engine is a Solar ground generator modified for

use in a helicopter and giving 130 hp. The modified

engine is lighter than a piston engine, and uses 50 litres

of AvTur an hour. It has a range of an hour and a half,

with a reserve of 20 minutes.

Corrado Rusalen, one of the owners of the company,

says, “using no more than 70% torque, it can fly for

almost two hours.”

This turbine model first flew as a prototype four

years ago, a second machine, with some small modifica-

tions, flying three years later. In Italy the helicopter may

be flown as an Ultralight, because it weighs less than

300 kgs, (the empty weight is 280 kgs) but in countries

outside Italy it must be flown on an experimental cate-

gory. The one exception being Greece, which also

allows flying of Ultralights below 300 kgs. There are

currently five models flying, all privately owned.

Rusalen says, “the AH130 is very good in autorota-

tion.” (He trained on both the Angel Compress and the

Enstrom Shark). He says, “the rpm does not drop below

90% in autorotation, and it is much better than the stan-

dard Rotorway because Alpi Aviation have changed the

blades to ones with more stored inertia.”

The blades are composite.

He continues, “it can hover out of ground effect at

10,000 feet and then fly away from there, level or climb

at 500 feet a minute.”

Everything on the Sylon AH130 is produced in Italy,

the factory is based at San Qiorno close to Venice.

The AH130 Turbine uses FADEC and can fly at 103

knots, using 70% torque. Normal cruise speed is 86

knots with VNE 113 knots. Empty weight is 693 lbs

with a take off weight of 992 lbs but a maximum take

off weight of 1278lbs.

The AH130 is 29 feet long, with a main rotor diame-

ter of 25 feet, and a tail rotor diameter of 4.20 feet. It is

just under eight feet tall.

The ‘fly-away’ price for Italy and Greece, the only

two countries that can accept the machine as a produc-

tion model, is 180,000 Euros.

The AH130 was on show at Friedrichshafen, sur-

rounded by other Ultralights designed by the Alpi

Aviation company.

Alpi Aviation Sylon AHTh AH130 uses an

APU conversion as

an engine


Gentlemen, please keep your

cars at half speed on the track.

Drivers were told.

This was not because the rain was

slanting down like a Grand Prix in

Shanghai, nor because members of the

press, who were to experience the ride

first hand, are a weeny lot, happier

talking about speed than actually being

involved with it, but for the safety of

all concerned. Regulations. on the

Pageant day, however, these will be

lifted, and, as a weeny member of the

press who did experience the corners,

bends and straights of the track at half

speed, full speed must be absolutely

awesome!

The Cholmondeley Pageant will

have a wonderful array of cars, bikes

and boats, both racing and static. There

will also be a fly-in of helicopters. Last

year there were 120 helicopters parked

on the lawn, even though the weather

on the Saturday was considerably less

than CAVoK. This year the exhibition

organisers are hoping to attract 180 or

more helicopters, all of whom get free

landing fees and free entry to the

grounds.

Major Dan McBride, of the Army

Air Corps, said the three services will

be there doing an ‘Agility Test’. This,

he explained, is not a competition, but a

‘test of the fittest’ for Army, Navy and

18

Cholmondeley Pageant of Power18th and 19th July @ Cholmondeley Castle near Crew

BY G EORGINA H UNTER -JONES

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Major Dan

McBride


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Air Force, who will no doubt be holding back in a most gen-

tlemanly manner from any form of vile competitiveness.

The combined forces will also be demonstrating a drop-

ping and carrying manoeuvre, with underslung loads, as in

a war-zone and there will be a recruitment tent.

At Shawbury, where the majority of the combined forces

training now takes place, there are Squirrels for basic train-

ing and Griffins for twin training. Similar to the civilian

AS350s and Bell 412s, these are designed specifically for

military purposes and have some unique features. All the

consoles are ‘one fit’ and are currently all analogue.

Although training in the three forces varies slightly the

basic training is the same and done on the same machines.

only later it will become more specific, with the RAF, for

example, staying at Shawbury to do their multiengine and

CRM training on the Griffin (77 flying hours) before mov-

ing on to the Chinooks they will eventually fly. They also

do crew training here. This is different from the Army, who

will return to Middle Wallop for training on the Lynx, or

Apache, and there do their NVG and the operational phase

of their training. or the Navy who will go to Yeovilton or

Culdrose.

The event charity this year will be the Army Benevolent

Fund which, for 65 years, has worked to provide support

to serving and former soldiers, together with their families

in time of need. That includes people with disabilities or

mental illness, those experiencing homelessness or unem-

ployment and older people.

Using the rolling

road starting tool

Ready to go on the Cholmondeley

Racing Track with Alistair Barker in

the 1938 Lagonda V12 once owned

by Sam Goldwyn of Goldwyn Meyer

Graham Hildich driving

the 1972 840 Westlake built

by JO ‘Paddy’ Lynch with

Lucy Hall in the sidecar


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Latest Update on thePresidental Helicopters

In spite of obama’s reluctance to

change his fleet of helicopters

and cause extra costs, the ninth

and final VH-71 to be built under

‘Increment 1’ of the US Presidential

Helicopter Replacement Programme

was delivered in April.

The VH-71 flew across the Atlantic

to the United Statesin the US Air

Force C-17 transport aircraft, for

completion by prime contractor

Lockheed Martin.

AgustaWestland CEo Giuseppe orsi,

said, “All the aircraft delivered are

compliant to the specifications

required by the U.S. Government

and the progress achieved in such a

short period of time is uncommon

for an acquisition of this size and

complexity. The whole VH-71 team

can be proud of this remarkable

achievement”. He went on to say

“The VH-71 helicopters remains the

only helicopter available today, or in

the medium term, that can meet the

demanding requirements. The VH-71

delivers much greater safety, speed,

range and capability that the legacy

aircraft which are now reaching the

end of their service life.”

The programme was actually only

six months over schedule but there

have been over 800 customer

changes including 50 major design

changes, hence the huge overspend.

The VH-71 is more than just an

executive transport helicopter; it also

allows the President the same com-

munication and command ability as

if he was in his home office. It is

based on the AW101, a helicopter

currently serving with 7 armed

forces having logged more than

180,000 flight hours, including com-

bat operations in Iraq and Kosovo.

If the project goes ahead the

Presidential helicopter should be

ready for service in 2010 .

However, there is still debate on the

final outcome of the Presidential hel-

icopter scheme. It is said that the

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates,

is against the project and that it is no

longer part of the defense budget.

Sikorsky has a keen interest in the

debate as they are the company who

would be the most natural successors

to take over, should the current fleet

be scrapped. Whether that would be

a cheaper alternative is not by any

means certain.

In another change, though, at the end

of May, CAGW (Citizens Against

Government Waste) recommended

that the project continue and that

Congress did not suspend funding.

The reason for this was that the cur-

rent fleet is ageing and will cost bil-

lions of tax-payers dollars to upgrade

and keep flying. They also point out

the current fleet is 35 years old and

that “while every take-off is optional,

every landing is mandatory.”

So, it looks like Sikorsky may have

to lengthen their wish list.


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The 5000 autorotations above may

seem like an exaggeration but in a

gyroplane you have very little

choice: leaving the ground is option-

al and landing a necessity.

I tell all newcomers to the gyroplane

world we are not helicopters nor are

we fixed wing aeroplanes; we can’t

alter the pitch of the rotor blade and

therefore we are unable to demon-

strate a vertical take off or more

importantly a vertical descent to the

ground. But what we do achieve

through our limited abilities are con-

sistent and successful autos to the

ground, and while training student

pilots we complete 10 reduced power

landings an hour equating to over

100 on a conversion course

Achieving this rate may not be every

helicopter pilots idea of fun but isn’t

better to practice for the possible

rather than pray that it never hap-

pens? To briefly describe our

approach: we start at an 800 foot cir-

cuit height, reduce the power to pre-

vent a powered push over then low-

ering the nose to maintain 65 mph in

the descent. our descent path is

rather steep, giving a glide angle of 1

in 3 but the reason for such an

approach is to reduce the noise and

should the engine actually stop allow

us to still land on the runway. At 20

feet we start the flair, reducing the

airspeed but continuing towards the

ground, at 5 feet we reduce the air-

speed further and a 2 feet we flare

and stop. With a 20 knot wind we

achieve a zero zero landing, in no

wind you can expect a ground roll of

around 30 feet, bearing in mind that

we have wheels rather than skids.

Gyroplanes are extremely easy to

fly: no collective, no mixture control

and you can’t over-speed the rotor

nor can you reduce the Rotor RPM,

unless you unload the disk. We can

fly slowly, backwards and sideways,

we can perform a 360˚ rudder turn

and a hovering descent.

Gyroplanes used to have a poor safe-

ty record and why that is, is under-

standable: poor build quality, lack of

training, pitch sensitivity etc. But we

have seen a dramatic change over the

past four years, with the introduction

of manufactured two seat machines

with reliable CAA approved four

stroke engines, four hours endurance,

with VNE at 125mph.

There are three training gyroplanes

available; the German MT03, Italian

Magni and Spanish ELA07s. They

are all very similar in design with a

tandem two-seat cockpit and Rotax

engine.

The new design will which, I am

sure, attract tremendous interest, par-

ticularly from the helicopter fraterni-

ty is the Rotorsport Calidus. This

gyroplane has a fully enclosed cock-

pit and will be available as from late

summer, just in time for the winter!

Running cost, in these times an all

important feature, are: £20 an hour!

Yes, that’s it!

For example, my MT03 which burns

fourteen litres of Mogas an hour.

Then servicing will cost £220 every

100 hours, insurance £2200 per year

and hangarage. The only lifed part of

the machine is the rotor bearing at

1000 hours.

A current helicopter pilot will have

to complete a twenty-hour conver-

sion, a fixed wing pilot a thirty-hour

conversion and forty hour courses

are a requirement for all others.

Training courses are now available at

many locations across the UK, all of

the schools have details on the inter-

net. it is well worth trying and you

can see how things have changed for

the better.Chris Jones is a 3000 hour gyroplane

Instructor and CAA approved Examiner

BY CHRIS JONES


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Air Medical Crews TakeTraining to a Higher Level

The year 2008 saw a higher

death toll of air medical

crews and patients than any

other year in history. As a result,

the NTSB has been investigating

these occurrences to find a common

denominator, and it recently held

hearings to address the issues fac-

ing the industry. The organizations

present included the International

Flight Paramedics Association

(IAFP), Air & Surface Transport

Nurses Association (ASTNA), the

Commission of Accreditation of

Medical Transport Services

(CAMTS), the National EMS Pilots

Association (NEMSPA) to name

but a few. Also present were several

representatives from the FAA and

the NTSB to address the common-

alities, which always seem to

involve Controlled Flight into

Terrain (CFIT), 49% of these in

night weather, and some form of

deteriorating weather (most often

inadvertent IMC).

Various bodies representing

Nurses, Pilots, and Paramedics, as

well as several family members of

deceased crew and patients, were

also on hand to offer their sugges-

tions. one such organization is also

doing its part to ensure that the air

medical crew members, the Flight

Nurses and Paramedics, take an

active role in the prevention of such

occurrences in the future.

Critical Care Concepts is head-

quartered in Virginia, at the Suffolk

Executive Airport (KSFQ). When

founder Richard Patterson started

operations in 2006, he was certain

of the need for such a thing, and

knew that certification and training

make all the difference. The sole

purpose of Critical Care Concepts

is to help prepare his fellow Nurses

and Paramedics for their credential-

ing examinations as either a ‘Flight

Paramedic - Certified’ (FP-C) or a

‘Certified Flight Registered Nurse’

(CFRN).

Richard Patterson is also a (CFI)

Certificated Flight Instructor in

Helicopters, an Instrument-rated

Commercial Helicopter Pilot, and a

Commercial Pilot for Airplanes

(ASEL & AMEL). But what makes

his training courses unique is that,

for more than a decade, he was a

Flight Paramedic and Manager him-

self. “When we developed this cur-

riculum, I had no idea that it would

have been as well received as it

has,” stated Richard.

Critical Care Concepts has now

provided training at some of the

most prestigious air medical pro-

grams around the globe, and has

traveled to over 10 states within the

United States. The textbook used in

his courses has recently been pub-

lished (Critical Care Patient

Transport, Principles & Practice ,

ISBN # 0615242677), and is avail-

W ORDS AND PICTURES BY RICHARD PATTERSON


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23

able from Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The textbook has

also received a permanent place in the US Library of

Congress.

What is vitally important is the training that he provides

to medical crews on aspects of weather, aviation sectional

interpretations for their local flying areas, terrain features

and figures, minimum safe altitudes, elevations, safety &

survival techniques, flight physiology, weight & balance,

the effects of aft and forward loading, ELT activation and

use and, most important, FAA Rules and Regulations per-

taining to Part 91 and 135 operations. He goes into great

detail in addressing weather trends, to enable crews to

decide if it is safe to accept certain calls, based on the

available weather information for their local flying areas,

and for cross-country flights. (Again, the information pro-

vided depends on where the class is conducted, and is rele-

vant to that environment.)

The classes have resulted in the production of an 8 Disc

CD Audio Box Set, which presents the live recorded class

for people who are not able to attend, or lack the financial

means to travel to such classes. “our goal is to reach every-

one, despite their inability to be present physically,“ says

Richard. “If we can help one person stay safe in their cho-

sen profession, then mission accomplished.”

Next on the agenda is the production of a DVD of these

classes, again to reach more people. “We have already start-

ed production of the DVD, and hope to have it available by

the summer of 2009,” says Richard. “our goal is to reach

as many people as we can, helping to avoid the mishaps

that 2008 afforded all of us, and to make the industry

safer.” For more information on Critical Care Concepts,

please visit www.CriticalCareConcepts.net for information,

or to schedule a class at your location.

Lifeflight Peoria, Illinois

Richard Patterson,

founder of Critical

Care Concepts

Billings Clinic

Summer came early

on the Bodensee

Aero 2009 Friedrichshafen, words and picture by Georgina Hunter-Jones

The 2009 Aero at

Friedrichshafen was the

biggest yet, with 625

exhibitors, 12 percent more than at

the last show, and over 46,400 visi-

tors. Friedrichshafen sits on Lake

Bodensee, (Lake Konstanz) and is

best known as the place that zepplins

were built.

For the first time ever, the

Friedrichshafen Aero show included a

dedicated helicopter hall, as well as a

few helicopters scattered through the

other halls. There were three main

areas of helicopter expertise: working

businesses; helicopters with historic

interest and very light machines as in

gyrocopters and kit helicopters.

Light helicopters and gyrocopters

are very popular in Germany, with

one of the most innovative newcom-

ers being the Hungarian Diöferer built

Diora KX 165, Icepick (See page 15

New Technology)

Although the Icepick does not yet

have certification nor has yet flown,

one helicopter that does and has is the

Alpi Aviation Sylon AH130, Turbine.

The AH130T looks like a Rotorway

but is actually a production machine

and is powered by a turbine engine,

formerly an APU. Alpi Aviation is a

light aircraft manufacturer. (See p.16)

Kit helicopters included the Angel

CH-7, the Rotorway and the Safari.

The Safari, which was once called

the Baby Bell but had to change its

name after the threat of a possible

lawsuit from Bell Helicopters, resem-

bles the Bell 47G. It was designed in

Canada and this model was built by

Gustrel Schremp in 2006. He went to

Florida to learn how to fly it, and now

flies it at air shows and from his home

in Germany.

Schremp says, he chose the Safair

over other kit helicopters because it

was “like a professional helicopter”

and he thinks it is the safest kit

around. He says, “all the Safari parts

are certified and there is a Lycoming

engine.” It also has size and space in

the cockpit, more than the R22, which

was the machine he learnt to fly on.

“It is also,” he says, “quieter than the

R22”.

The Safari took 1200 hours to built

and Schremp was assisted by his col-

league and partner in the helicopter,

who is a professional helicopter pilot.

They were building for 6 days a week

from March to August, and completed

the machine in 6 months. He says it is

very easy to build, if you are a com-

petent engineer.

The helicopter can fly on MoGas

or Avgas and uses 40 litres an hour. It

is made of stainless steel with com-

posite blades. It cruises and 84 knots.

Like the Rotorway the Safari

comes with a weight, which must be

moved from the back to the front

depending on whether you fly one or

two up. While this sounds problemat-

ic it must be remembered that for

those of us below 150 lbs we have to

carry weight in certain fuel conditions

to fly the JetRanger solo. So this is a

general helicopter problem, not

restricted to kits.

on the historic side there was the

Bristol Sycamore featured in

Helicopter Life Winter 2008, and the

Mil Mi-2, featured in Helicopter Life

Spring 2009, as well as Flying Bull’s

Cobra (part of Red Bull) and Volker

Grasberger’s Bell 47J.

The Bell 47J was originally in the

UK, but Grasberger bought it in

Germany, at an auction of the posses-

26

Aveo organises

adventure rides with

bikes and helicopters


27

sions of a bankcrupt machinery com-

pany. He had originally bid for the

machine thinking he could use it for

spare parts, but as no one else was

interested in buying the machine he

bought it very cheaply and decided to

run it as a helicopter. Grasberger con-

verted the 47 to a Soloy engine, and

he still has three Soloy turbine engine

models. Grasberger recently met one

of its former owners, a Director of

Sloane Helicopters whom he believes

was known as David George.

Volker started Grasberger

Helicopters with one Bell 47 and

some leased helicopters. However,

around this time the MoD started

selling off their Bell 47s, so he was

able to buy a G3 and a G4, which had

been used in Norway. The in the

1970s he was able to buy a Westland

Sioux. All the machines were rela-

tively cheap to buy, as companies like

Grasberger Helicopters were rare at

that time, and at that time there was

not much demand for former military

helicopters.

Grasberger had to change the heli-

copters to civilian instead of military

specifications, and to remove the

weighty military instruments.

However, the basic helicopters were

strong and there was no corrosion, so

they were exactly what he was look-

ing for. Most of his work at that time

was spraying and photography

flights. Grasberger himself had a

background of crop spraying and had

worked in Libya with the police.

Grasberger explains that the reason

the Bell 47J looks so different from

the other Bell 47s is that this was the

first helicopter used for the trans-

portation of people (particularly civil-

ians) and so it was necessary to make

it far more comfortable and roomy

than previous helicopters had been.

To this end there is only one pilot, and

the console is to his left hand side.

The three passengers sit behind the

pilot and all four of them are in the

cockpit with no partitions, which

allows for much more legroom and

better views.

This was also the first type of heli-

copter used as VIP transport by an

American President, and Eisenhower

had one as his personal transport

machine.

Like Grasberger, Red Bull has a

Bell 47, with a Soloy conversion.

Red Bull, a company owned by

Dietrich Mateschitz, is currently even

more in the news than usual after the

Grand Prix win in Shanghai. It has a

flying wing based in Salzburg called

The Flying Bulls.

The Chief Pilot of the Flying Bulls,

Siegfried Schwarz, is a former rescue

Moveable

weight:

above

shows boom

position,

below on

the skidGustrel Schremp with

the Safari he built

The Lycoming engine

can use mogas or avgas

Bell 47J, type used

by US Presidents

Volker

Grasberger in

the Bell 47J


pilot and a friend of the owner. one

day, when they were in the USA

looking at aircraft, Siegfried men-

tioned that he would like to fly a

Cobra. “Shall I buy you one?” he was

asked. Thus the Flying Bulls were

formed.

As well as the Cobra, the Flying

Bulls have a Bo105 certified for aer-

obatics. To be allowed to do aerobat-

ics a helicopter must have approval

from the manufacturer, in this case

they have it from Eurocopter, since

Bolkow became part of that compa-

ny. The helicopter must have a full

inspection every 18 hours. In the sea-

son they do shows across Europe.

The Flying Bull’s Soloy conver-

sion Bell 47 is one of the few Bell

47s with a turbine engine. They also

have a VIP EC135, which is used for

transport. The helicopters are all pri-

vate and are kept for promotion and

display purposes. They also have

twenty five aeroplanes, including jets

and piston engine planes.

The Flying Bulls have five pilots

including Chuck Aaron, who came

with the Cobra, when they bought the

machine from him! Siegfried is a

civilian pilot, having been a Civil Air

2828

nology in LRLS to the helmet. The

warning systems are being trialled in

both military and civilian helicopters,

and so far the results have been very

positive.

Another commercial venture was

Aveo Air Services, which is owned by

Mr Riess, is a camera and event compa-

ny, which also does VIP and adventure

flying. They use the MD 600, which

pilot Michael Bern says is absolutely

suitable for the range of work they do.

Rescue pilot in Austria for 21years.

For helicopter companies on the

commerical side there was Bodensee

Helicopters, based on the airfield.

They were trying out a new HELLAS

Awareness system. This is a EADS

Terrain and obstacle collision avoid-

ance system, which can be used in

combination with NVGs,

HELLAS is a version of the 1982

LRLS (Lasar Radar Line Scanners)

and is bringing the same radar tech-

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RotorTech two

seat gyrocopter


Autogyro on floats

29

He explains that one reason why the

MD 600 has a reputation for being

hard to fly is that you have to get used

to the particular machine before you

can really fly it well. “The big prob-

lem is speed reaction. over 80 knots

the tail fin, is flying, under that speed

70% of the stabilization system is

through the slots and the forces can

become very large.”

He explains that the colander is

slow to react and consequently the

pedal forces tend to be very large.

“Imagine moving from a JetRanger,

where the pedals are very effective on

the tail rotor, to the EC120 where the

fenestron is slower to react and needs

greater imput, the next step is on to

the NoTAR system, where the pedal

input are another increased step.”

Aveo are currently organising a

bike and helicopter adventure in the

South of Spain. Contestants get a

chance to spend varying amounts of

time on the bike or in the helicopter,

depending on the terrain and conditions.

Friedrichshafen was an enlighten-

ing show. It was extremely different

from the helicopter shows, which

have a tendency to focus on the major

manufacturers and business. This was

a General Aviation show in the sense

that it was for the general flying pop-

ulace, and it focused on their interests.

These, naturally, tend to be the things

that the major of people can afford

and so the emphasis was on the

cheaper end of flying; microlights,

gyrocopters, kit planes, light aircraft

etc and the range was phenomenal.

Extreme aircraft

parking!

Red Bull Cobra

and baby Cobra

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Robinson R44 on the

way to do a display

Co-axial, twin-

boom Icepick

see page 15

Autogyros are very

popular in Germany


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Pv

On bad

weather days

the flying can

be very hard

CPV, Christian Pilots and

Model Fliers, is a support

group for aviation related

religious companies such as MAF

(Missionary Aviation Fellowship)

and HeliMission, a Swiss helicopter

support group for missionaries.

CPV’s aim is to help pilots raise

the money needed to work for one

of the flying organisations. Fledgling

pilots have to pay for all their own

training, just like other pilots, these

pilots, however, even once they have

a job with MAF or HeliMission still

have to raise their ownn salaries and

living expenses from their congrega-

tions and friends at home.

CPV also try to help pilots get

contracts and work out the legal

details. They liaise between pilots

out in the bush and less experienced

pilots, so that the novices can learn

from the older pilot’s expertise.

They are currently trying to help

Matthias Geiger, an Austrian pilot,

who is also a charimatic Christian.

Matthias has just got his CPL(H) in

Arizona. He is now hour building

and hoping to find a way to go and

work for HeliMission, but he cur-

rently only has R22 time, and before

he can be considered by HeliMission

he needs 500 hours total time, of

which 100 hours must be turbine. All

pilots must also be Christians and

aware of the difficulties and vicissi-

tudes of living in very basic regions

with your helicopter or aeroplane.

Mathias Glass and Norbert Gerber,

who have been working in Papua New

Guinea with the New Tribes Mission,

helping missionaries, said:

“It is very difficult to get pilots, as

they need to be a combination of dedi-

cated to the job, capable and fairly

experienced, or at least imagainative

in difficult situations, and to realise

that when the excitement of the

adventure wears off, there is still the

privations and difficulties of living in

a deprived country.”

Even Norbert, who was the son of a

missionary, has had to return home

when his own son became ill living in

such a harsh environment. Families

usually go out with the missionaries

and pilots, although that was not

always the case in the past.

one of the main reasons for need-

ing helicopters and aircraft in most of

these regions (the regions stretch from

Papua New Guinea, Africa, South

America and across the globe) is that

there is very little infrastructure, few

roads and no rail links.

Norbert says, “one of the best

things was when they got the radio

going, this means that it is now pos-

sible to contact every mission and

hospital, and to know when someone

is in trouble and needs help.”

The work is a combination of taking

out provisions to the people, carrying

missionaries to distant provinces, and

taking sick people to hospital or doc-

tors and nurses out to the villages.

Sometimes helicopters are used to

help build airstrips, so that in future

cheaper aeroplanes may be used.

Both pilots said the work was var-

ied and exciting, often could be

stressful and tiring, but exactly what

they felt called to do.

Website:http://www.cpv-online.de

Christian Pilots and Model Fliers raise

The Gazelle who

Pictures by Georgina Hunter-Jones, Bob Fairall and courte

Stole ChristmasSummer 2009

The Gazelle helicopter (SA341

and SA342) was the workhorse

of the British military for three

decrades. originally built by Sud-

Aviation, which became AeroSpatial, it

began as a proposal for a light-weight

observation helicopter for the French

army, and was destined to replace the

Alouette 11.

In 1967, Britain joined in a produc-

tion sharing agreement with the French,

and the first Gazelle flight was made in

April 1967. Westland made the first

British military Gazelle in 1970, and

since then the Gazelle has been linked

with the British forces.

In 1971, the Gazelle established three

world helicopter speed records. The

fastest was 312 km (168 nm) per hour.

The Gazelle has about twenty differ-

ent variants, both military and civilian

and has been used over the years by

twenty seven different countries. France

has nearly 300 heavily-armed Gazelles.

There is also a special civilian variant,

the SA342G, which was certified in

June 1972.

The Gazelle uses the same Astazou II

powerplant and transmission system as

the Alouette 11. Unlike the Alouette II,

however, it has a fully-enclosed fuse-

lage structure and two pilots side by

side, with full dual controls. It also

PhotograPhgeorginahunter-Jones

34

introduced two innovations: the fenestron and a rigid modi-

fied Bolkow-type main rotor. The Fenestron is a shrouded

tail-rotor with a high fin to improve flight characteristics at

high speed. It gives an added safety factor by guarding

against tail rotor strikes during landing. The Gazelle was

also the first helicopter to use composite blades.

As part of the Anglo-French agreement, the Gazelle was

built under licence by Westland Helicopters for the British

Army, Air Force and Royal Navy. These Gazelles entered

service in 1973 as trainers. Later, the Gazelle was chosen by

the Army as a light observation/liaison helicopter joining

the Army Air Corps. The French Army use the Gazelle in

the armed anti-tank role fitted with up to six hot missiles.

This version, the SA.342M/L1, is powered by an up-

rated Turbomeca Astazou XIVM turbine developing

650kW. The Gazelle is also popular with overseas and

PhotograPhneilharrison

4,000 soldiers, 18

helicopters and 550

armoured vehicles

took part

1975 AAC Gazelle

circling the mosque

during a NATO exer-

cise at Deep Express

in Turkey

1976, Gazelle of the Salerno

Flight, mountain training over

Mt Etna in Sicily (10,900 ft)

1977 British Army of the

Rhine Royal Review at

Sennelager, West Germany.

35HELICOPTER LIFE,Summer 2009

used in the armed/anti-tank/observa-

tion/civilian and training roles. It was

built under licence in Egypt and

Yugoslavia, as well as in the UK.

During the Cold War, Gazelles were

used by the British Army of the Rhine

(BAoR). The BAoR was part of the

NATo defence of West Germany from

the end of the Second World War until

1994. BAoR was divided into four divi-

sions, each of which could call upon the

Army Air Corps to provided Gazelle or

Lynx helicopters.

From 1975 to 1992, the Royal

Navy's Helicopter Display Team was

composed of four red Aérospatiale

Gazelle helicopters; the ‘Sharks’,

whose aircraft and pilots were drawn

from No 705 Naval Air Squadron

based at RNAS Culdrose, Cornwall.

The Sharks were unusal as a team

in that their crews were changed every

year. The pilots were all instructors

responsible for the basic training of

Royal Navy helicopter pilots. Shark

crews were all volunteers and all the

team activities; the pre-season

rehearsals, transits to and from display

venues, and the display flying itself

were extra to their normal weekday

duties.

The Sharks display routine was

renowned for mixing together a range

of different manoeuvres. They used

close formation, synchronised flying,

1975 The Royal

Navy display team

The Sharks from

705 RNAS

Culdrose in

Cornwall

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1977, AAC Gazelle over Hangar

Mountain near Voss in Norway,

during Exercise Hardfall

36

opposition (ie flying apparently against each other, but

without touching or crashing!) and solo flying. Most of

the displays lasted for 10 minutes, and the Sharks used a

distinctive mix of red and green smoke.

The team operated for about twenty years. They flew

at airshows and events around the UK and Europe, but

were eventually disbanded in 1992, because of RN opera-

tional and budget cuts. Despite this, the Royal Navy

Helicopter Display Team title was maintained until the

end of 1996, as No 705 NAS, they continued to provide a

pair of Gazelles, ‘the Gazelle Pair.’ In 1995, the Sharks

got up a special four-aircraft team, which flew at a few

commemorative events. The Gazelle was retired from the

Royal Navy service in 1996, and at the same time Royal

Navy Helicopter Display Team was disbanded.

The Blue Eagles display team, the Army Air Corps

display team, also used Gazelles, but not exclusively.

over the years from the creation of the team in 1968,

they had a variety of helicopters including the Bell 47

(Sioux) the Gazelle, Lynx and Scout. They also had a

variety of names; Eagles, Sparrow Hawks, Army Eagles

and (on the AAC’s 25th Anniversary Year) the Silver

Eagles. Between 1995 and 2007, they used four Gazelles

and one Lynx in a formation display. They trained at

Middle Wallop. In 2008 the team became an Apache, a

Lynx, a Gazelle, a Scout and an Alouette, to represent

their history.

The civilian version of the Gazelle, the SA341G was

designed in the early 1970s as a response to interest from

the VIP market. Al Gwilt, Gazelle pilot says, “as with

Bell helicopters the military version was used to finance

the civilian. It was the first single engine turbine market

to get IFR certified in the US, and consequently had quite

a market in those days.”

Today the civilian Gazelles are divided into the

SA341G and the reconsituted military models. Although

cheaper to buy, there are some drawbacks with the ex-

military models, in that they can only fly on a permit, and

so cannot carry passengers, only crew, they may not fly

over congested airspace, for example, the London

heliroutes, anad have other basic restrictions.


The Gazelle in the SA341G

civil, luxury variant

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Specifications

Gazelle SA341GThe SA341G was the civil variant powered by an

Astazou IIIA engine. It was officially certificated on 7

June 1972; subsequently became first helicopter to obtain

single-pilot IFR Cat 1 approval in the US. Also devel-

oped into the ‘Stretched Gazelle’ with the cabin modified

to allow an additional 8 inches (20cm) legroom for the

rear passengers.

General characteristics

Crew: 1 + 4 Passengers

Length: 9.53 m (31 ft 3 in)

Rotor diameter: 10.50 m (34 ft 5 in)

Height: 3.18 m (10 ft 5 in)

Disc area: 87 m (932 ft)

Empty weight: 998 kg (2,196 lb)

This varies with equipment

Max takeoff weight: 1,800 kg (3,960 lb)

Powerplant: Turboméca Astazou IIIA turboshaft 590 shp

(440 kW)

Performance

Maximum speed: 310 km/h

(168 knots 198 mph) @ Sea Level

Range: 500 + Miles

Service ceiling: 20.000 ft

Rate of climb: 12.2 m/s (2,400 ft/min)

Endurance: 3.5 Hrs

Gazelle

Luxury

console

Gazelle

Fenestron

37HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer 2009

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The Herm �sHelicopter

Louis Vuitton has bought Princess yachts, and now

Hermès is designing helicopters: what has hap-

pened to the world! We are in a recession but lux-

ury just goes on winning!

The first Helicopter by Hermes, pictured above, has

been delivered to Falcon

Helicopters in Abu Dahbi.

Eurocopter says of its new product:

“L’Hélicoptère par Hermès’ is a

singular experiment in collabora-

tive engineering and design which

was not founded on a straightfor-

ward combination of skills, (tech-

nical on one hand and ‘decorative’

on the other) but on a truly mutual

evolution on dialogue and research

between Eurocopter engineers and Hermès designers and

craftmen.

The key concept of “l’Helicoptère par Hermès” is: the

passenger is all important. Issues of style versus engi-

neering are resolved to provide an uncompromisingly

user-centric experience.

Based on the EC135, the world leader in the new gen-

eration of light, twin-engine helicopters, “l’Hélicoptère

par Hermès” unites the most advanced aircraft technolo-

gies developed by Eurocopter with

the savoir-faire of Hermès, which

has accompanied discerning trav-

ellers for more than 170 years.

Combining a spacious cabin with

a seating capacity for four passen-

gers, ample storage compartment

and lateral sliding doors, the EC135

- Eurocopter’s best-selling light mul-

timission, twin-engined helicopter

with an unusually low noise-signa-

ture - provided an ideal template for the Hermès designer

and craftsmen.

Hermès’ distinctive signature is apparent across the

aircraft’s exterior and interior design treatment.”


Dear Georgina,

I have just returned from playing with two fellow mem-

bers at Barton on Sea Golfclud, only to pick up

Helicopter Life and read your editor's letter. I hope you

were treated royally last December. It's a very friendly

club, with lots of wags! When playing, we see a lot of

light aircraft and helicopter activity in the skies above,

especially on a wonderful spring day like today. Should

you make such a precautionary landing again, please get

in touch!

With best wishes,

David Beeby

Dear Georgina,

I have just been told there is a helicopter designed by

Hermès, would it be possible to see a picture of it in

Helicopter Life?

Many thanks

John Martin

This is what you call quick response to readers queries!

Ed


40

It is nearly 1300 miles from

Redhill in England, to Jerez in

Southern Spain, about the same

distance as Washington DC to Fort

Worth, or New York to Palm Beach.

It does not sound too far, until you

plan to fly a small helicopter from

one to another, a helicopter, more-

over, with a true air speed of around

70 knots.

When Hans Nerlinger bought

GSBHH from Chris Padfield for his

school in Jerez, he asked me to fly

the H300 down there with a student

doing a type rating. on 7th March, I

met Mark Kengelbacher (a Swiss

ENT surgeon) at Redhill station, So

far the trip was going well!

Unfortunately, the weather at

Redhill Airfield was not so encour-

aging; 200 foot cloud base and a

visibility of less than 500 metres,

Forecast to clear.

Meanwhile, we were trying to pack

into the small cockpit our clothes for

four days, oil for the helicopter,

maps for three countries, the aircraft

documents and the GPS bag. With a

bit of creative thinking, and leaving

behind Mark’s towels (he is German

Swiss) we managed to fit it all in.

Then we needed fuel. For some rea-

son, although Redhill has a bowser

it will not drive to you (at least not

if you are a piston helicopter) you

have to fly to it; very cost effective.

By the time we had packed and

fuelled, found a smaller container

for the oil and got ourselves together,

The Long March

Two pilots fly a Schweizer 300 from Redhillin England through France to Jerez in Spai

Words and photogaphs by Georgina Hunter-Jones

HELICOPTER LIFE,Summer 2009

42

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the weather had cleared into a beautiful sunny day. We

had a easy and enjoyable trip to Bembridge, on the Isle

of Wight, where we were to fuel again and file a paper

flight plan.

The flight plan was not as straightforward as they used

to be. Apparently Swannick Control prefers you to file

on-line these days. My flight plan was rejected twice,

the first time because they could not read my writing,

the second time because the computer pointed out there

was no such helicopter as a Hughes 300; very true it is a

Hughes 269. However, it would accept the alternative

‘small helicopter’.

These flight plan problems are apparently not unusual.

We were told a story of one frustrated pilot who after

two rejections said, “Damn the flight plan,” and took off

without it. Another case of over-zealous rules leading to

a dangerous situation.

By the time we were ready to leave Bembridge, both the

beautiful sunny day had dampened and the wind had got

up; it was blowing from the south.

The trip across The Channel should have taken us 45

minutes, but with the southerly wind and our speed at

times down to 45 knots, it took us an hour and twenty

minutes. At one time an unbelieving air traffic controller

on the French side, asked, “Are you really still not mid-

channel?”

Wondering presumably why anyone would be fool

enough to fly such a slow helicopter from one country

to another.

We finally arrived in Cherbourg, to a quiet airfield, clos-

ing down for Saturday night. Re-fuelled, and got ready

to leave. However, it was already 5 o’clock local time,

we had another two hour stint to do, and it got dark at 7

o’clock. So, everything was getting a bit close to the

edge.

A look at the approach plate confirmed that Ancenis,

our intended destination, did allow night flying, so at

least that was a good thing. It was only later I remem-

bered that in France there is no VFR at night, so you

Arriving at the French coast

after a slow flight across

The Channel

Inset: Oyster beds

Lessay the morning after

our arrival

have to file a flight plan.

We left Cherbourg and turned on to Brest frequency.

They asked if we had filed a flight plan, and there was

some confusion when we said no. However, all this sud-

denly became academic: the night was not nearly as

much of a problem as the weather. The clouds were

descending rapidly and we were straying into worse and

worse visibility. After a look at the map, I asked Brest for

a diversion to Lessay, because of the weather, and they

gave us vectors.

We landed at Lessay, half an hour after leaving Brest and

in worsening weather. It was a good find. The Aero Club

was extremely friendly, and a very nice former Sikorsky

S-76 pilot gave us a lift to a nearby hotel. The hotel itself

(strangely called the Brit Hotel – but then in the twelfth

and thirteenth centuries this part of France belonged to

Britain) was large and clean, with hardly any guests, and,

naturally, had a superb restaurant, where later on I was

able to eat the local oysters.

We woke up the following morning to a deluge, and for a

while imagined we would be spending the day visiting

the delights of Lessay. But, as the hotel staff informed us,

the weather changes very quickly in this part of

Normandy, and by 9 o’clock it was a lovely sunny day.

our only problem was that this was a warm front and we

followed it down into France. on the plus side we had a

tailwind, and zipped down to Ancenis, arriving there in

less than two hours, and rather pleased with ourselves,

especially as soon after we landed another front came

through and drenched the airport.

We talked to Rennes and Nantes ATC on our way to

Ancenis, and for the first time there was a mention that

our transponder was not working perfectly. The ATC


43

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kindly suggested it might be because we were too low;

although we were at 1500 feet. However, by the time we

arrived at Ancenis it appeared to be working oK.

Ancenis had an automatic fuelling station, which is a

brilliant idea and worked perfectly with credit cards.

Instructions were clear and written in both English and

French, and we got a receipt at the end. Again there were

some friendly and helpful people on the airport, although

it was actually closed and had no air traffic control. And,

again, there was an excellent local bistro for lunch. This

one was interestingly set in what appeared to be an

industrial estate, and the view out of the window was of

a silent digger, but naturally the food was completely

delicious.

We walked back to Ancenis and discovered the door

code we had been given to get back into the airfield did

not work; probably it was my poor French that did not

work, but either way it was irrelevant as the last pilot had

left the back gate open.

The good weather having caught us up, we were now

able to take off for La Rochelle. Here we talked to

Nantes on the radio and La Rochelle.

To our surprise, although Jeppesen claims that La

Rochelle has both AvGas and AvTur, the air traffic con-

trol told us there was no fuel for piston helicopters and

we should go and sit on the grass at the back. Clearly we

were in the way, but this was sweetened by the fact the

landing fee was less than 5 Euros. (As a comparison

Biggin Hill in the UK is £37 pounds and at the time we

were travelling one pound bought you one Euro). The

fuel was not a big problem, although we had planned to

fuel here, as we still had two hours of fuel left and we

were planning to land at La Teste de Buch Helistation,

suggested by Jeppersen as a good place to refuel.

Along the coast around La Rochelle we passed oyster

farms, many of them, which accounts for the fact you

can eat oysters everywhere in this part of France.

once again we ran into bad weather, yet again we were

following the front. And for the first time the ATC got

shirty with me. I could hardly blame her though, for a

start the transponder was not working, then she couldn’t

hear my radio (I don’t know why, but perhaps because

Bordeaux is quite a long way from La Rochelle) and

she didn’t understand my English. With a combination

of poor radio, bad weather and less than full tanks, we

decided to make another diversion and land at Medis

Royan. In fact we landed there, saw the AvGas pumps

were covered with ribbons, suggesting they did not

work, and took off again, only to run into worse weath-

er and come back to the airfield. Besides, at this point

Bordeaux were so fed up with me, they were not

answering at all. And it worried me that we might once

again be flying in the dark with no flight plan.

Medis Royan turned out to be an excellent destination.

The people in the Aero Club were extremely friendly,

they spoke excellent English, there was a military Puma

pilot who was really kind to us, driving us to various

hotels, all of which were closed, this being down-sea-

son, and another man, this time a microlight pilot, who

finally found us a hotel in a nearby town. I don’t think

pilots arriving in England get nearly the kindness and

attention we did in France.

They also sold me a new map. This was highly needed.

Since we had left England in rather a hurry, and I was

trying to close the magazine as well as flight plan for

the trip, I had to buy my maps for the lower part of

La Rochelle had no piston

fuel for helicopters, we

landed on the grass to keep

out of the way of jets

At Ancenis the front caught

up with us with force


44

France from Stanfords Bookshop in

Covent Garden. I didn’t notice until

we were about to use them that

although the maps are sold as,

‘Aviation maps’ there was a sign on

them saying: ‘Warning. Not to be

used for peacetime navigation with-

in French airspace.’(Useful.).

As we had been about to enter the

crowded airspace around Bordeaux

before we turned back, I once again

thought it was a guardian angel that

led me not to go on and risk the

weather! The new map had all the

airspace we needed.

The guys at Royan also pointed out

that La Teste de Buch Helistation,

our next destination, was actually a

hospital! Clearly we had misjudged

that, and of course, there would be

no fuel there either.

However, it was also true that

Royan had no fuel. Indeed had not

had for some time, but there was an

alternative. All the pilots flew over

to Soulac, just over the inlet, to get

AvGas. This was useful and new

information for us; Soulac is such a

small airfield we hadn’t even

noticed its existence.

As this was Sunday night, Soulac

was closed. For a nasty moment it

seemed it might be closed on

Monday too, since many places in

France are, and we did not have

enough fuel to go any long distance.

But we were lucky. Soulac is closed

Tuesday and Wednesday, but open

Monday.

Again we had a delicious dinner (at

least I did, Mark did not eat seafood,

which made this part of the trip a bit

less than culinary delight for him) in

bizarre surroundings. This time the

restaurant was in a flamboyantly fun-

fair-style greenhouse but the seafood

platter with snails was something I

remember still!

When we left Royan it was French-

only on the radio, as does sometimes

happen in small French airfields.

Soulac gave no reply at all but was a

sweet airfield, shepherded by a

charming woman d’un certain age,

who kindly allowed us to use the tele-

phone to file our flight plan to San

Sebastian. This was the most trouble-

free flight plan I filed, quick, easy and

a helpful voice on the phone. once

again the landing fee was less than 5

Euros. Fuel was also about cheaper

than the price of AvGas in the UK in

spite of the strong Euro. It is no use

asking why, but I still do wonder.

The Atlantic Coast of France was

once notorious for pirates, now it is

known for the airspace restrictions.

But, thanks to a very helpful air traf-

fic controller from Bordeaux and

another from Cazaux and, amazingly,

a working transponder, we were able

to traverse the whole coast, only occa-

sionally changing height to dodge the

odd bullet (presumably) or low flying

jet. We passed one helicopter, a mili-

French Atlantic coast is

full of danger areas.

Inset: Soulac, where we

refuelled GSBHH

Picure Mark Kengelbacher

Royan, where the ATC spoke

only French and the Aero

Club was friendly and helpful

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45

tary Puma, but this was only a dot on her radar for the ATC.

Biarritz: just because its name conjures up the gaiety of the

twenties I really wanted to land there, but we had to go on to

San Sebastian, not just because we had a flight plan, but

because we were already clearly going to make a three day

trip, into four, and we needed to press on.

San Sebastian is the gateway to Spain at the edge of the

Pyrenees. The weather was given as 1500 feet broken, and

all the nines visibility. That was fine for the airfield, sitting

at sea level, but not so propitious for us, thinking about jour-

neying on through the Cameros (foothills of the Pyrenees).

The Pyrenees, we were told, are named after Pyrene, the

daughter of a Greek god, whose lover, Herakles, deserted

her here. She was eaten by wolves and her guilty lover set

up a tomb – the Pryrenees - in her honour. Pyrene means fire

in Greek. (Before anyone writes me a letter, this story is not

in Herodotus’s Histories.)

However, we need not have worried about the weather. It

took us so long to work out how to get fuel and, even

longer, how to do the flight plan, that the afternoon sun had

broken through the clouds by the time we were ready to go.

Everywhere you fly in Spain you have to file a flight plan.

These apparently have to be done on-line. There were plenty

of computers for us to use, but all the information is in

Spanish. oK we were in Spain but the aviation language is

English. You would have thought that a Swiss man and an

English woman could have managed this between them, and

in the end we did. But not quickly. It was not until we

reached Cordoba that a helpful girl told us you can change

the language on the computer. I suppose everyone else

thought it was obvious.

our next stopping and fuelling point was Logrono,

the capital of La Rioja wine region, This is clearly

a wealthy area, as the long, virtually unused, run-

way and huge terminal were surrounded by a myri-

ad of small planes.

The ATC and people in the terminal were again

very friendly, but, since our transponder had by

now virtually stopped working, the ATC was rather

keen to get us off their frequency and on to some-

one else. This happened frequently in Spain.

Probably because of our poor communications

equipment, we were constantly being sent on to

another radio, and usually one far too far away for

us to contact. However, since the GPS was very

good there was no likelihood of us busting air-

space or getting lost, unless the GPS failed, of

course. There was no internal GPS, simply a hand-

held one with batteries propped-up on the console.

The ground between San Sebastian and Logrono is

all around 5,000 feet, with some peaks over 6,000,

but the really high ground was to come; between

Logrono and Marid Cuatro Vientos where the safe-

ty altitude was 8200 feet. In fact we did not get

above 7000 feet, and even then the H300 seemed

to be running out of puff, with the throttle full

open and the collective up high. From time to time

we found ourselves drifting down and it was

impossible to fly above 70 knots. VNE decreases

at this height, and with the temperature now

around 20m degrees centigrade the pressure alti-

tude was probably around 9000 feet.

Leaving Logrono we were asked to report Sierra

point. Correctly assuming this must be the south-

ern exit, I looked on my map. Unfortunately, we

were back to Britain (and Standford’s) best, and

there was no mention of a Sierra point there, nor

on the GPS. So I guessed. It was not as though

there was any other traffic around. Incidentally,

before you think we were being too blasé about the

SanSebastian,

gateway to Spain

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The Pyrenees, created by

Hercules as a tomb to his lost

lover Pyrene (fire in Greek)!


map, we tried to buy one in San Sebastian and

they did not have any maps of Spain there.

Moveover, we were told, the ATC will tell you

what you need to know, when we showed them

our deficient maps.

As soon as I reported Sierra point I was asked to

contact Madrid. I tried, but the distance was again

far too far to get any contact. From time to time I

tried again, and eventually we did get contact,

only to come up against the problem of the non-

working transponder, and to soon be moved on to

another frequency. Which again was far too far

away to get contact. once I returned to the origi-

nal frequency to explain I had tried to contact the

new frequency, but was told to change back and

keep trying. Your problem, is not my problem, I

could almost hear them saying. And really, I didn’t

blame them. We had a GPS and we were fine, but

we were being a nuisance.

The route from Logrono to Madrid is beautiful, if

slow in a H300. There are snow covered peaks,

mountain ranges, hidden valleys with huge wandering lakes,

and the fiery red colour of the clay-based earth. Everything

you need on a scenic trip. Villages are few and far between,

and you get the sense that there is little flying in this region;

possibly just the occasional military jet or helicopter. It is the

sort of area that makes you want to land for a picnic; not real-

ly possible on a long journey, but nice to imagine.

After a few more attempts to talk to various air traffic con-

trollers, and by now certain that our transponder was not

working, we were told to, “maintain visual clues” and talk to

Madrid Cuatro Vientos. I assume they were so kind to us

because it was obvious we were where we should be, and thus

must have a GPS.

The flight into Madrid Cuatro Vientos is fascinating, passing

as you do two major Madird airports, and north of the city

itself. To the north of Madrid there are high mountains and

reservoirs which presumably give the city its drinking water.

To the south it is flat plateau, all the way to Toledo.

Cuatro Vientos itself is on the west side of Madrid, and is a

very busy general aviation terminal. It is a boon for helicopter

lovers having a fleet of Hueys, which stand like guardians at

the end of each row of fixed wing aircraft, and the police

Eurocopters. It also housed one of the kindest engineers I have

ever met.

True to our form, when we tried to start-up to leave the fol-

lowing morning the engine refused to start. It wasn’t even that

it was coughing and trying, it simply did nothing. Guessing

this was probably a loose wire, we looked under the helicop-

ter, but there appeared to be plenty of loose wires (as well as

the loose screw pilots?) We looked around for an engineer,

and amazingly found one, albeit a fixed wing engineer.

Unfortunately, he did not speak any English, and as mentioned

before we had enough Spanish to order a beer and (by now)

file a flight plan. However, he came over to the machine,

made lots of hand-signals, which we totally misunderstood.

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Logrono, capital of La

Rioja wine region

Terrain between

Logrono and Madrid

Went away, while we thought we were goners and starting

phoning hopelessly, and came back with tools. He then

fixed the wire, fixed the starter and we were free to go

with a working machine. And he did not even want to be

paid.

In Madrid I managed to buy maps for the rest of Spain,

which was a relief, so I now knew where Sierra point was,

when asked for it, as we indeed were when left the air-

port. In spite of this we were still pushed off quickly onto

another ATC, who also managed to get rid of us as soon

as possible.

We were now enroute to Cordoba. Again it was a long

trip, two and a half hours, and again through magnificent,

although considerably lower, countryside. There were

some danger areas to avoid here, but as they were on both

the map and the GPS, we had no problem with that, even

though no ATC wanted to talk to us.

In Cordoba the radio work was all Spanish, so we came in

effectively non radio, but we had been warned this would

be the case and so were unalarmed. As we arrived at lunch

time there was only one agricultural plane doing circuits

anyway, so we followed him in.

Fuelling was again easy and quick, and once again there

was a well maintained Huey on the airfield. Hueys seem

to be popular helicopters in this part of Spain.

The last flight was the hour to Jerez, and at this point the

GPS failed.

It seemed inevitable, but actually it was no great problem,

Mark changed the batteries and we had the GPS again.

Here, once again the transponder decided to work, for a

while. Seville Information could see our transponder

code, but Jerez could not.

The end of our trip. It took 16 hours flying and four days.

However, here in Jerez, of all places, I got a telling off.

For taxiing too fast. I thought I was clearing the run-

way, the ATC thought I was being a hooligan. Her

words were: “That is not funny, Lady!”

Cultural differences perhaps? And I thought that only

happened with other English speaking nations!

Madrid

CuatroVientos

Cordoba, where the

ATC spoke Spanish

The terrain between

Madrid and Cordoba

Hueys at Madrid

CuatroVientos

Madrid: the safety

altitude is 8200 feet

Words and pictures Helicopter Life team

49

HeliRussia 2009

50

The co-axial AP-55 is designed

in Irkusk, the designer hopes it

will be flying by 2011

If you buy from all over the

world, you will get customers

from all over the world. This is

the philosophy of Richard Booth,

founder of the Hay-on-Wye Book

Festival, which now brings in enthu-

siasts from everywhere on the globe.

This is something the founder of

HeliRussia, Mikhail Kazachkov

aspires to, but has not yet managed

to achieve.

HeliRussia is a unique and interest-

ing show, but it is not yet interna-

tional. Interesting absences from the

2009 show included: Sikorsky,

Agusta, MD, Enstrom and

Schweizer. Robinson was represent-

ed by Japanese dealer, Shizuka Saito,

who is also selling her Sumotor, heli-

moving wheels, and Bell was repre-

sented by an independent dealer

Alexey Doronkin. Eurocopter, on the

other hand, were there in force, in

the form of Eurocopter Vostock, their

Russian dealership as were

Turbomeca, the only foreign engine

manufacturer at the show. This, inci-

dentally, was commented on with

some warmth by the Bell dealer, who

pointed out there are 17 Bell helicop-

ters in the Russian Federation as

compared to some 70 Eurocopters.

However, the presence and absence

of manufacturers was not as clear cut

as the competition might suggest;

Agusta, for example, has recently

gone into a co-operative deal with a

Russian company oboronprom, a

division of the government-con-

trolled arms export company

Rosoboron Export, and, on the other

hand, Eurocopter, so I was told, has

no maintenance base in the Russian

Federation. Moreover, Sikorksy’s

absence may have had something to

do with Russian Helicopters plans to

build a Ka-92 and a co-axial Ka X-1.

That is not to say an international

presence was entirely missing,

Helipod from New zealand, was

there and doing good business.

Helipod was started in 1990 by Peter

Maloney, a pilot who had flown,

amongst other places in Cambodia

and Somalia. He now sells spray sys-

tems for agricultural use, including

the R44 system, which can carry 486

litres and is certified to fly at 125

knots. He is also developing a pod

for the R66.

of the International manufacturers

the one that has the most significant

recent growth in the Russian

Federation is Robinson. This, pre-

sumably, is partly because the

Russian manufacturers have no

equivalent piston helicopter, and

indeed have very little in the light

helicopter market, their smallest heli-

copter being the Mil Mi-2. one man-

ufacturer based in Irkusk is trying to

change that with their light turbine

AP-55. The designer, Sergey

Kayomov, said, “we are looking at

the Russian Robinson market, and

then, maybe aiming at the interna-

tional market.”

Abna Mpoekt are designing a four


51

place co-axial turbine helicopter, which uses an Allison

engine, and has some external features reminiscent of the

EC120. Sergey says they hope to have the first flight in

2011, sooner if they can find investors. He chose the co-

axial mode because he thought it was safer, and more stable.

“It is much easier to fly than the conventional helicopters,”

Kayomov said.

other new designs include the Kazan Ansat, a 10 place,

multi-purpose helicopter, currently on its 11 or 12 proto-

type, the company could not say exactly which because

most have been sold. The Ansat uses twin Pratt and Witney

engines, built in Russia under licence. They are aiming

particularly for the VIP and HEMS markets in Russia.

They would be happy to sell to the international market,

but that was not their intention when building the helicop-

ter. Kazan are a long established company, who also sell

Mils and Kamovs.

The Russian equivalent of HAI (Helicopter Association

International) is Russian Helicopters, who represent “all

the helicopter enterprises of the Russian Federation”. oleg

Ponomarev, Chief of Department, said. The company was

started in 2007, and represents Kazan, Kamov, Mil, Ulan

Ude, and all the other companies. Its aim is to help in the

introduction and operation of the development of new heli-

copters in Russia. oleg pointed out that, “Russian aircraft

plants are the biggest serial manufacturers of rotorcraft in

HeliPod spray unit

which holds 486 litres

and is certified to fly at

125 knots.

Top: Shizuka Saito and Mitsuo

Aoyana, designers of the Sumotor.

Below: PBC host of HeliRussia



the world, having produced 56 thousand rotor wing air-

craft with a take-off weight of one to 56 tonnes.”

Which perhaps explains why they don’t feel they need

to be part of an international market.

Shizuka Saito from Japan, selling the Sumotor heli-

mover said, “although I have always been very interest-

ed in Russia and it is very geographically close, I never

thought to come here, because it was too different.

Then I met Mikhail Kazachkov at HAI and he was

really interested in my wheels and thought they would

sell well.” She said, “we spent three years working on

variations of the Sumotor, changing the battery and

connections. We had advice from many, including

Frank Robinson.”

The Sumotor heli-mover is a mechanical addition to the

R44 wheels, enabling it to be pushed up at a distance,

without any human effort. It costs 3500 Euros with the

wheels or 2500 Euros without the wheels. Alpha

Aviation can also convert the basic R44 wheels.

Also on the international side, there were several heli-

copter trading companies including Q Aviation, from

Great Britain and Helipool from Switzerland.

Martin Rutty of Q Aviation said, “we have made sever-

al good contacts and we will see where they lead us.

We did not expect to sell something here at the show.”

Martin and his business partner Julian Palmer were

actually lucky to be at HeliRussia at all. Having misun-

derstood the regulations in getting a Russian visa, they

turned up at Heathrow airport with the Russian invita-

tion and evidence of their hotels in their hands, expect-

ing to be issued a visa on the spot. When they discov-

ered to their chagrin this was not possible they did not

think it would be possible to get to Russia at all.

However, thanks to the internet, olga of Intourist and

some great kindness on behalf of the Russian Embassy,

they actually managed to get a visa next day, change

their flight and landed in Moscow at 5.10 am the fol-

lowing morning, in time to get to the show. They only

missed one day of HeliRussia.

Gyrocopter in the

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The Fall from GraceKarlheinz StockhausenÕs

Helicopter Quartet


by Romina Ciuffa

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The fourth Festival of Science

was held at Rome’s Parco

della Musica in January.

There were 28,000 spectators over

the four days of the event. on the

Sunday 18th, the cosmic master-

piece of Karlheinz Stockhausen

litererally took off. organized by the

Musica per Roma Foundation, for

the first time in Italy: The Helicopter

Quartet by Stockhausen, was played

by four musicians and four helicop-

ters, which circled over the domes of

the Auditorium. It was an unusual

and spectacular performance, the

realization of one of the most vision-

ary dreams of Stockhausen, who had

always wanted to defeat the force of

gravity, experimenting the space ele-

ment in his music. on board each

helicopter there was a member of the

Arditti Quartet (two violins, viola

and a cello).

This is a flight and we are all fly-

ing. At the same time, it is a dream

and we are all sleeping: he has creat-

ed a delightful vision, the German

Karlheinz Stockhausen, eccentric,

narcisista, always his own man, the

father of modern electronics, and

one of the greatest composers of the

twentieth century.

“This piece is dedicated to all the

astronauts of the world”, said violin-

ist Irvine Arditti, “the piece asks for

a quartet of arches, of a kind that

could never have been written.

Except he dreamt of violins and

rotors, in a locked rhythm, the shov-

els of a helicopter on a par with the

violins. So, a quartet of helicopters.”

Stockhausen writes: “I had a dream:

I listened and I saw the image of

four musicians playing in four heli-

copters in flight. At the same time I

saw a vast number of public stand-

ing in awed admiration, both feeling

the music outside and experiencing

it inside, in an open public square”.

“For the majority of the time the

quartettisti played tremolii so that

the stamp and the rhythm of the pro-

pellers and the motors of the heli-

copters used, were stirred together

like musical instruments”.

“Then the genii in me showed me

that the feeling had been communi-

cated as something so deep from the

cosmos that I did not have to reveal

anything”.

one of greater and the more com-

plex musical intense activities ever-

realized was thus born as the

Helicopter String Quartet, and

became the third scene of the mon-

umental grand opera Thursday is

Light. The opera is a contrast

between a voluminosity with a depth

beyond the history of music, with

Violinist playing in

harmony with the rotor

and engine sounds


Even the cameras and the arches of the auditori-

um are part of the musical performance, as well

as the helicopters and instruments

Stockhausen’s exemplary interest in

the mathematical cosmology, formu-

las, the geometric proportions and

the allegorie. In its intentions,

Mittwoch represents the relationship

between conflict and reconciliation,

in the Quartet is the distance from

the earth to the sky, a travel from the

earthling towards utopia. The three

main elements of the cycle (Birth,

Love and Death characters) choose

the theatre of the sky in order to put

into the scene the metamorphosis

that gives to the terrestrial stage of

the War door the solidarity of its

celestial utopia. The musicians

inside the four helicopters -

Stockhausen specifies - must follow

the rhythm of the motors and the

rotor blades: they are therefore the

pilots of influence in the time of the

execution of the music. Every now

and then the four soloists are found

again executing the same rhythm

even though they are isolated from

each other both by distance and by

the walls of the helicopters.

In this way the helicopters

become the musical instruments and

the rotor blades create the movement

of symmetry. The sky is the record-

ing background.

Thus, just as before the world-

wide audience during the Dutch

Festival, which was flown over the

city of Amsterdam, again in Rome,

the four stockhauseniani, orange

helicopters were flown in the third

world-wide dispaly. Again they flew

over the city, this time Rome, and

they took off from the Auditorium

within of the Festival of Science.

The violinists of the Arditti

Quartet (two violini, one viola and a

violoncello) were audacious inter-

preters of a dream. They were as

visionary as their creator.

The whether it rains or shines is

irrelevant to the stockhauseniano.

They experimented with three dif-

ferent microphones: one for the

instruments, one for the voice, the

third outside the helicopter, to carry

the sound of the motor, and swish of

the relative airflow. The loudspeak-

ers of Know it Sinopoli returned a

rumble, while on the screen inside

the Auditorium the image of the hel-

icopter was shown flying above the

earth. Then, the other three helicop-

ters joined it and the quartet of the

mechanical angels traced a great cir-

cle in the skies over Rome in order to

make ‘music a heartbeat for all’. The

screen was divided in to two, one for

the helicopter, one for the musicians.

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58 HELICOPTER LIFE,Summer 2009

The event was introduced by the scientist Piergiorgio

odifreddi, who talked of dreams, skies, angels and the

mathematical calculations used to allow the sound to

slide in the space. one of the four engaged elicotter-

isti (helicopter pilots) was Gianni Bugno, twice world

cycling champion, today a passionate aviator. He is

our pilot. It is a long, hard performance of 18 minutes

and 36 seconds. The voices are indicated in the scores

in four various colors, like the shirts of the four artists;

the partition is complex, and the instruments do not

have a defined melodic procedure. A delirium.

It is true unattainable Stockhausen: the dream

space. omnipotent deliriums detach us from the track

when the helicopters take off and we are not returned

to sanity until they land. This quartet of helicopters

give action the indefinability of solid sound, violins

without harmony, deafening gravity in order to be pas-

sengers on the edge of the helicopter of a genius. The

music imitates with the sound of arches and rotor

blades the language of the cosmos; it is penetrated by

the magnificence of light. To dream of flight is to

imagine the symbolism of the climb, the reduction

and the fall from grace. Freud saw in flight the expres-

sion of an unsatisfied physical desire made real. This

has again been fulfilled by the composer Stockhausen,

in some way. That this is also the inspiration for most

of the sonnambuli.

59HELICOPTER LIFE,Summer 2009

Music and aviation might seem like a strange

combination, but in fact there are many over-

laps, many ways they complement each other:

Think Pink Floyd’s Learning to Fly, or the Music in the

Air festival at Middle Wallop where aircraft fly to the

rythmn of music, and become part of the performance,

or the Belgian musician Bruno Misonne, who like

Karlheinz Stockhausen uses sounds from flight in his

music. Here the beauty of flight is celebrated in sound.

We asked Bruno Misonne a few questions about his

motivation in bringing together music and aviation.HL: I see that you are a pilot or student pilot, was it

that that made you want to include aviation sounds

in your music, or was it that like Stockhausen you

had a dream of merging daily sounds into music?

B.M: I had no dream like Stockhausen did and I have

not started this project because I have been flying a

plane!

It's simple : I already was fascinated by planes when I

was a kid! Back in 2004 I was astonished to discover

when I ‘Googled’ the internet that nobody composes

music mixed with aviation sounds, so I wanted to be the

first to develop this virgin musical idea and till today I

remain the only person worldwide who has released an

entire CD based on this concept.HL: Having decided to include aviation sounds in

your music how easy was it to do? Both the practical

side of access to aircraft etc, and musically to mold

the instruments with the aviation sounds.

BM: To obtain the sound files is easy: I'm a member of

www.sounddogs.com and this site is wonderful when I

want to obtain very professional sounds. However, I have

also recorded some of the sounds myself, usually ATC

communications. Since aircraft radio communications

are anyway of low quality it does not matter that my

recording stuff is just of average quality! ‘Brussels

National’ and ‘Tarmac Activity’ are tracks that contain

my own ATC recordings and it sounds perfect!

Dark side of the Moon

Questions toBruno Misonne

To mold the aviation sounds with the music is difficult

and always a challenge. The trick is: When I compose

Aviation Music, I forget that the plane is just a sound

instead I treat it like a synthesizer. I have to make sure

that the plane ‘sits’ comfortably in the mix without com-

promizing the melodic part. And furthermore, a correct

volume tweaking of the plane and a careful selection of

instruments playing the melody is essential; ‘The louder

the plane sounds, the more powerful your instrument

must be’ is the general rule. For example, a Cessna

engine running idle could be mixed with a flute, while a

commercial jet flying-by would need to be mixed with

some trombones to get a balanced mix!

HL: Are you happy with the results?

BM: Yes, because the result is really good and I get a lot

of positive feedback from enthusiastic fans. I have never

heard that anyone was disappointed when he bought my

CD. Besides: If I were not happy with the results I

would just stop wasting my time doing this.

The best compliment I ever had was a pilot saying: “I

always think that planes can sing but with your music

they sing even better”! HL: Will you be making more music in the same

mode, or with other daily objects?

BM: In April 2009, I released a brand new track called

‘Hercules’ and more ‘Aviation Music’ stuff will be cre-

ated in the future! I definitely plan to release rather soon

a track featuring many helicopters sounds but will it just

be a regular track or in some kind of context like the

Vietnam war? Wait and see ...

I will not use other daily objects but what are other

composers waiting for? They can do this. There is a

goldmine of inspiring sounds out there!

I look forward to composing plane-free tracks as well in

the future for film and documentaries because aviation

sounds require complex mixing and limit your musical

freedom!

More information: http://www.brunomisonne.com


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Need Money to Fly?The Whirly Girls want to hear from you.

In today’s aviation industry, it is often difficult to fund

advancement, especially in the helicopter industry.

However, there are finanical opportunities out there,

and some of these opportunities can be found through the

Whirly-Girls organization.

The Whirly-Girls organization is a non-profit organi-

zation of International Female Helicopter Pilots. This is a

charitable organization dedicated to advancing women in

helicopter aviation through the industry’s largest pool of

annual scholarships, while providing women helicopter

pilots a forum for the exchange of information and

opportunities. Each year, the Whirly-Girls organization

attends the HAI conference and awards these scholar-

ships at their banquet.

So girls, get your pencils sharpened! It is now the

time of year to apply for Whirly-Girls Scholarships.

This year, the Whirly-Girls organization has put

together several new scholarships for Whirly-Girls mem-

bers in good standing with a minimum of one-year mem-

bership, as well as for non-Whirly-Girls members rated

in anything other than a helicopter.

The opportunity for scholarships has drastically

increased from previous years.

Scholarships are constantly changing and/or being

added. Scholarships are very diverse, they range from:

The Whirly-Girls Helicopter Add-on Fight Training

Scholarship, which provides $6,000 to assist a certificat-

ed female pilot who does not currently have a helicopter

rating in earning her add-on helicopter rating.

To a Bell Helicopter Flight Training Scholarship,

which gives the opportunity to attend the Bell 206

Turbine Transition Course at the Bell Helicopter Training

Academy in Fort Worth, TX, USA.

These are just a couple examples of what the Whirly-

Girls organization has to offer you.

Ladies,

START the application process now.

Applications and scholarship descriptions can be

found on the Whirly-Girls website www.whirlygirls.org

under ‘scholarships’. Applications need to be post

marked by october 1, 2009. Do not wait until the last

minute to apply! You can definitely apply for more than

one scholarship. It will increase your chances of receiv-

ing a flight training scholarship. Each scholarship you

apply for requires its own copy of the application form.

Last, but not least, continue to check the scholarship

website for new and upcoming scholarships. Apply and

spread the word! It is FREE money, which means FREE

flight time!

Membership is also open to all women around the

world who are rated helicopter pilots. So if you are not a

member yet, sign up!

After you have been a member for one year, you can

apply for these Whirly-Girls Scholarships too!

The Whirly-Girls organization is also open to anyone,

male or female, whether or not they hold a helicopter

certificate, as long as they are interested in helping out

with the organization. These are our ‘Auxiliary

Members’. Anyone interested in becoming a member, is

encouraged to refer to our website.

Even if you are not interested in becoming a member,

but are interested in helping the advancement of women

in the helicopter industry, we are always looking for

sponsors to help us raise money for scholarships.

Contact:

Pamela Gallina, VP Scholarship

[email protected]

Janice Cuneo, Scholarship Director

[email protected]

Patricia Calder, Scholarship Director

[email protected]

Teresa Quinliven, Scholarship Director

[email protected]


Ghosts of Helicopters Past

The Belvedere was the Royal Air Force's first twin

engine, twin rotor helicopter to enter service,

which it did in 1962, when six Belvederes were

sent out to Singapore by ship. However, the Belvederes

were all grounded in August as the result of a fatal crash

in Germany. They started flying

again in September ‘62.

In the services the Belvedere was

used both in Singapore and then in

Aden, before returning to Singapore.

It was mostly used for heavy lifting

jobs. While operating in the more

inaccessible parts of Borneo, the

Iban indigenous tribe nicknamed the

Belvedere helicopter ‘the Flying

Longhouse’ as it reminded them of

their tradional dwellings.

During its operational service Great Britain began the

slow (inevitably as they were dealing with governments

and bureaucracies) task of withdrawing from its Empire

and the Belvedere was involved in many of those opera-

tions both in the Middle and Far East.

The Belvedere was built by the Bristol Aeroplane

Company in 1958, and was based on an earlier design,

the Bristol Type 173. The Belvedere type 193 prototype

had wooden blades and was

designed for the navy. The fifth

prototype had metal blades. They

all had manual controls. It used

two 1650 shp Napier Gazelle tur-

bine engines.

In 1969, the last Belvedere unit,

the 66 Squadron based in Seletar

in Malaya (now Malayasia) was

disbanded and as a result flying in

the helicopters was discontinued.

The majority of the Belvederes

were then scraped.

The few remaining Belvederes can be found in the

THE WESTLAND BELVEDERE: THE FLYING LoNGHoUSE

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More than an Adventure

BOOK R EVIEW

by Hedi TannerA biography of the bush pilot Ernie Tanner

HeliMission

This is the story of the

foundation of

HeliMission, a Swiss

helicopter company supporting

missionaries in the field, it was

originally in German, by the

founder’s wife, Hedi.

The story itself is interest-

ing: Ernie Tanner had such a

belief in the efficacy of heli-

copters that he put himself

through gruelling rigors to

make the grade. By his own

account, he was not a natural

pilot, nor a natural navigator,

and yet in 1971 he trained to

fly first the Bell 47J and later

the JetRanger, he then flew the

Bell 47J out to Africa himself,

a low time pilot, with very

basic navigational equipment

and no fuss.

He even had a bit of a battle

with the church, who felt that

the money he was spending on

helicopters (which he and his

friends and family raised from

his flock) could have been

used in better ways.

Ernie Tanner first realised

the power of the helicopter

when he went out to

Cameroon in the late 1960s,

and walked between missions.

It took him several days to go

between one mission and

another, and he could see that

most of the pastor’s time and

energy was being used up just

travelling from place to place.

He therefore looked around for

ways to make transport easier. He soon realised

that in the district he was working in, only heli-

copters, not even planes, would be suitable for get-

ting across the high ridges and difficult terrain. He

approached MAF (Mission Aviation Fellowship) to

see how they used planes and discover why they

did not use helicopters. Unfortunately, the reason

was money: helicopters were too expensive.

Ernie refused to be deterred and decided to learn

to fly, raising the money from his loyal flock. As he

had five children and was himself a religious man

neither Ernie nor his wife Hedi ever had much

money, so they could not finance the venture them-

selves. Time and again though, a combination of

Ernie’s charm and the loyalty of

his congregation allowed him to

overcome the problems and he

started HeliMission in 1974.

Throughout the history of the

company Ernie and his wife met

what they would call challenges

which were often hard to over-

come, however they were all

propelled along by an over-

whelming faith in God, which

got them through time and

again.

These challenges include hel-

icopters crashing, and one, a

Bo105 stolen in Chile (thanks

to the insurance company he

gets it back, eventually). Sadly

some of his pilots and mission-

aries are killed, and there are

moments when even the charis-

matic Ernie loses faith and won-

ders if it is all worthwhile.

When he does, however, there is

always something to put him

back on track. This he puts

down to a miracle from God; the

less religious may ascribe it to

the triumph of the human spirit.

There is no doubt, though, that

HeliMission is a tribute to the

determination of one man, his

supportive family and the peo-

ple who do this work.

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A CCIDENT R EPORTS

still running. The engineers also found evidence that theengine cooling fan had moved on its shaft, which theyconsidered to be consistent with an overspeed event. As aresult of these findings the engine was sent to anapproved Lycoming engine maintenance facility for anoverspeed inspection. Clear evidence was found of anengine overspeed, with all cylinders having excessivelyworn valve guides and stepped valve springs. The pilot was 48 years old, had 378 hours, 350 on type.

AS332L2 Super Puma, G-CHCFA training captain was conducting an operationalProficiency Check. The pilot under training was requiredto demonstrate a clear area rejected take-off. The helicop-ter was equipped with a Training Idle System, which wasin use to simulate a failure of the left engine. The heli-copter took off on Runway 160 at Aberdeen, at 28 knotsthe commander simulated a failure of the left engine andthe take-off was rejected. The pilot flared the helicopterto reduce speed and descended towards the runway. Asthe collective lever was raised to reduce the rate ofdescent, the overspeed protection system shut down theright engine. Main rotor RPM decayed rapidly and thehelicopter touched down firmly before the rpm could berestored. The right engine freewheel unit had failed,causing the engine to overspeed; this was contained bythe overspeed protection unit shutting down the engine.Four safety recommendations have been made. The pilotwas 50 years old had 13,199 hours, 2,040 were on type.

Sikorsky S-76B Spirit, G-DPJRWhilst operating on a night positioning flight, the air-craft’s auxiliary system overheated, melting the surround-ing ducting and progressively filling the cockpit withsmoke. The crew declared an emergency and expeditedtheir landing. The smoke and heat subsided once the heli-copter had been shut down on the ground. The electroniccontrol box for the heater was removed and subsequentlyconfirmed to have failed, probably disabling the overheatprotection and the cockpit controls for the system. A rec-ommendation was made. The pilot was 45 years old, had6.210 hours, 1,356 were on type.

Robinson R-44 Raven 11, G-JGJCWhen the collective was raised on take off the helicopterbegan to rotate quickly. Unable to regain control the pilotlowered the helicopter to the ground where it rolled over.The pilot had raised the collective more quickly thanusual and it began rotating. He thought it was rotating tothe left and put in right pedal. The more usual way (and the

Robinson R-44 Astro, G-YIIKThe pilot lost control of the helicopter, after entering thehover at a private site in Lancshire. A large change ofwind direction caused the helicopter to rotate. The pilotmanaged to increase the height but it continued to rotate.At 200 feet the helicopter stopped rotating and the lowmain rotor rpm warning sounded. The pilot lowered thecollective and elected to land. Just before impact thepilot raised the collective lever to try and cushion theimpact. Nevertheless the pilot was seriously injured andthe helicopter damaged beyond economic repair. Thepilot was 48 years old had 360 hours, 21 were on type.

Robinson R22 Beta, G-BZYEThe day before the accident, a student flying theRobinson had a possible engine over-speed. When start-ing the helicopter, the student did not ensure that thethrottle was closed, and when the engine started the rpmincreased rapidly. Hearing the rpm increase, the studentautomatically closed the throttle, but could not rememberhow high the rpm had been. He continued his flight andlater told his instructor what had happened. After ques-tioning the student, doing a brief flight with no prob-lems, and talking to his chief pilot, the instructor formedthe view that the engine had probably not been oversped.He tried to contact the maintenance organisation, but, asit was a Sunday, was unable to. As the helicopter wasdue to fly to the maintenance organisation for a 100 hourinspection, he put a note in the technical log, and autho-rised a private pilot to fly to the facility the next day.The next day the pilot started the engine as normal.Checks were all as normal. However, after take-off, dur-ing transition from the hover into forward flight, the hel-icopter yawed violently to the right, the manifoldincreased and the helicopter began to climb. The pilotlowered the collective and applied left pedal to counteractthe yaw, but had difficulty maintaining control. He sus-pected a governor failure, so he attempted a slow run-ning landing, but with the engine surges this was diffi-cult and he had a heavy landing. The helicopterremained upright and there were minor injuries to hispassenger, but the helicopter sustained damage to theengine frame, undercarriage and both engine side panels.An inspection of the engine found that the plastic gearfor the left engine magneto was broken, which couldaccount for the rough running engine and the fluctuatingmanifold pressure. The maintenance organisation hadexperience of this failure, which was normally associatedwith an engine overspeed, or an inadvertent ‘dead cut,’where both magnetos are turned off while the engine is


handling difficulties, misjudgment, spatial disorienta-tion, distraction or a combination of factors. Therewere indications that the pilot had started a recovery,but with insufficient height with which to complete it,the helicopter struck trees in the valley and crashedkilling all four occupants (two adults and two children).Although there were no surviving internal witnesses,the adult passenger had a camcorder on which herecorded part of the flight, and the pre-flight checks.Several external witnesses saw the helicopter duringthe flight, although not the accident itself. one witnessdescribed seeing the helicopter climbing steeply out ofa narrow wooded valley, he described it as an unusualmanoeuvre giving cause for concern. Witnesses alsoreported the helicopter flying across the Clyde Valley,descending quite low as it did so. No one consideredthe helicopter was in difficulty and weather was drywith 15 to 30 km visibility.Witnesses, most of whom were used to seeing the heli-copter, reported the final flight path and speed asunusual and even alarming, as it normally made a slow,controlled descent to the helipad. This time itapproached from the west, made a brief right turnbefore banking steeply to the left and descending intothe valley. It adopted a marked nose-low, banked atti-tude as it descended, and was gnerally described as fly-ing much faster than normal. None of the witnesseswho saw the helicopter descend into the valley saw itemerge again, although some did see smoke risingfrom the site soon afterwards. The pilot was 39 yearsold, had 965 hours of which 490 were on type.Four safety recommendations have been made.

Enstrom F-28A, G-BRZGMoments after becoming airborne the pilot experienceddifficulty in yaw control. He landed the helicopterheavily a few feet from its takeoff position, and exitedthe aircraft uninjured.Engineering investigation showed one of the bladesbent inwards and backwards and exhibited a series ofregular witness marks consistent with the blade havingstruck a multi-stranded control cable. The failure of thetail rotor driveshaft was consistent with it having failedin overload due to excessive torque, such as might beexpected to occur if the tail rotor had struck a substan-tial object, but it was not clear how the tail rotor bladehad come to strike the cable. No pre-existing defectswere found which could have accounted for the yawcontrol difficulties experienced by the pilot. The pilotwas 63 years old, had 81 hours, 17 on type.

way the witnesses thought the helicopter was rotating) isright, so this exacerbated the problem. It was turning whenhe lowered it to the ground, and so it fell over. The AAIBdiscussion suggested that it was probable that the helicopterrotated to the right when the pilot lifted, and that it mighthave been possible to control the helicopter by applying leftpedal in the normal manner, but application of right pedalprobably increased the problem. The pilot was 48 years oldand had 104 hours, or which 21 were on type.

Robinson R-22 Beta, G-SBUTAfter completing several dual exercises, the instructorbriefed her student to fly his first solo circuit. Sheadvised him to apply additional forward and left cyclicduring takeoff to compensate for the lack of an occupantin the left seat. During the first attempted takeoff the hel-icopter yawed left. The student controlled the yaw byapplying right yaw pedal and landed. The instructorreturned to the cockpit and, speaking on the intercom,reminded him to apply forward and left cyclic control.When the instructor had moved away the studentresumed the exercise.During the second takeoff the helicopter yawed moreviolently to the left, while remaining in contact with theground. The student responded by applying right cyclicand yaw pedal inputs. He then felt the aircraft jolt andresponded by applying aft cyclic control, which causedthe helicopter to pitch nose up. The student attempted tocontrol this by applying forward and left cyclic and thenraised the collective in order to gain height. However, therear tip of the cyclic remained in contact with the groundand the aircraft rolled over onto its right side, causingdamage to the main rotor and a fuel leak. The pilot,whose right arm was trapped in the cockpit, vacated thehelicopter with assistance from the instructor, havingsustained a broken wrist. There was no fire. The studentwas 64 years old, had 31 hours, all on type.

AS350B3 Squirrel. G-CBHLThe accident occurred toward the end of a short flight,about 150 metres from the point of intended landing. Thehelicopter crashed in a wooded valley, while manoeu-vring at high speed and low height. It was intact prior toimpact and the available evidence indicated the enginewas giving power. The cause of the accident was notpositively determined. Although no technical reason wasfound to explain the accident, a technical fault could notbe ruled out entirely. However, it is more likely that thepilot attempted a turning manoeuvre at low height, dur-ing which the helicopter diverted from its intended flightpath. This may have been due to the pilot encountering

65

A CCIDENT R EPORTS


house at present. Her heir, the 7th Marquess, divides his time

between London, Cheshire and Norfolk.

The helicopter is a Hughes 369HS, built in 1970 by the

Hughes Tool Company, a company famous for being the

means that Howard Hughes got his

start into the world of Hollywood,

showmanship and aviation, which

he dominated for so many years.

The Hughes 369 was used exten-

sively in Vietnam during the

American Vietnamese conflict, and

in Laos and Cambodia. It features in

most period movies.

The picture was taken on 17th

April 2009, when G-HUES flew

into Cholmondeley as part of the

press day for the Pageant of Power,

which will be held on 18th and 19th

July 2009. Helicopters will get free

entry to the pageant.

Although the current castle is not the original house,

the Cholmondeley family have lived on the site

since 1200. The original house was burnt down,

and another house was destroyed by floods. one of the

Cholmondeley houses was destroyed by the

Roundheads in The Civil War. The current

house was then moved up from the valley in

the park (where there are still some arches,

now used for roses) to its current position on

the hill; this was better for defence and free

of flooding. As this dwelling was built by he

1st Marquess in the early 19th Century, he

took the Gothic inspiration of the time and

built a Castle with flamboyant turrets, which

competed with his neighbours.

Cholmondeley Castle is particularly noted

for its gardens, such as the Silver Garden and

the Camellia Walk, which were created by

the current Dowager Marchioness, the

widow of the 6th Marquess, who lives in the

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Cholmondely Castlea family home since the thirteenth century

HELICOPTER LIFE · intentionally break rules but quite likely, if rules are continually chang - ing, that pilots won’t always know them. Pilots are generally men of action, not

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