www.helicopterlife.com Autumn 2012 / £3.99 Lnow includinIg gyroplanFes E
HELICOPTER LIFE is the HIGH LIFE HELICOPTER AuTumn 2012 LIFE COVER STORY First Flight Show & Tell Guide 4 Hands-on Safari 32 Aviation shows and conferences. Georgina Hunter-Jones flies the AS350 Astar in The Editor’s Letter 5 Kenya across the Rift Valley to Lake Naivasha Aerial Forum 6 & 7 and Loisaba to review Gerben van Beek Safari parks, animals and survival techniques. Letters to the Editor 10 World News 56 & 18 Flying Crackers 8 & 9 A variety of writers, look at how companies New Technology from Airbox Aero 12 in the old world work to G Hunter-Jones beat the recession and puts the latest Airbox how the new world is software, the Runway benefitting from the HD on her ipad and growth in and use of evaluates its usefulness helicopters. as a navigation tool, a Olympic helpmate and Wings 4 Warriors 40 a survival aid. Georgina Hunter-Jones talks to a company Manchester’s New Helipad 14 whose very reason for Sven Atkin visited the exisiting is to help former Barton injured ex-servicemen Manchester airport to train up to ATPL level see how it has adapted and get a new career in to having Manchester’s the helicopter market. newest landing site in its gounds and who EDA Hotblade 2012 44 uses the heliport. Alan Norris KISS my Helicopter 22 Training - Learning to fly in SA 48 Thomas Skamlijic Malvina Nicca goes to Itay to fly a most unusual looking Syton ne Rotorway 50 helicopter, the brain - Thomas Skamlijic child of Marcelle Nino, spots an unusual look - a racer, engineer and ing ‘son of Rotorway’ great believer in the and goes to Italy to fly power of general avia - it. This is his view of tion. the turbine version of the old favourite. Helicopters save Shetland 26 Georgina Hunter-Jones Book Review 58 sees how important helicopters are for the Helibus Driver by Ralph Arnesen 62 most northern place in the British Isles both Accident Reports 64 for SAR and for the oil and gas industry. House & Helicopter 66
HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 3 S how & T ell G uide HELICOPTER
15th September - 16th September 2012. LIFE HELI CHALLENGE Wolverhampton Airport Limited AuTumn 2012 Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport HON. EDITORIAL BOARD www.helichallenge.org Captain Eric Brown, CBE, RN The Lord Glenarthur, DL 24 September - 30 September 2012 Jennifer Murray NATIONAL AIR AMBULANCE WEEK Michael J. H. Smith Telephone: 07817 536440 Wing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF www.dsairambulance.org.uk EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOT 6 November - 8 November 2012 Georgina Hunter-Jones [email protected] THE DUBAI HELISHOW Contact: Julia Cuthbert CREATIVE DIRECTORS [email protected] Mediac Communications and Exhibitions - UK E-mail: [email protected] COPY EDITORS Evangeline Hunter-Jones, JP http://www.dubaihelicoptershow.com Gerald Cheyne CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 24 April - 27 April 2013 Sven Atkin, Gerben van Beek, Thomas AERO FRIEDRICHSHAFEN Skamlijic, Ralph Arnesen, Arjan Dijksen, www.aero-expo.com Malvina Nicca, Alan Norris +49 (0)7541 708367 CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHY [email protected] Sven Atkin, Gerben van Beek, Thomas Skamlijic, Ralph Arnesen, Gerald Cheyne, Malvina Nicca, Alan Norris 5 March - 7 March 2013 SPECIAL THANKS TO HAI HELIExPO Dave Smith ATPL(H)IR, Las Vegas, Nevada ADVERTISING http://www.rotor.org/Events/HELIEXPO2013.aspx Telephone: +44-(0)20-7430-2384, [email protected] 31 May - 2 June 2013 SUBSCRIPTIONS AEROExPO (UK) Go to our website or turn to page 54 Sywell Aerodrome [email protected] Northamptonshire WEBSITE for more information contact www.helicopterlife.com Paddy Casey on +44 (0)20 8255 4218 Blog http://www.helicopterlife.blogspot.com 9 May - 11 May 2013 See Helicopter Life on Facebook & Twitter EUROPEAN HELICOPTER SHOW (EHS) Hradch Kralove LKRK Czech Republic COVER PHOTOGRAPH 0044 208 549 3917 AS350 crossing Lake Nugardi in Kenya cour - Email: [email protected] tesy of KIDL Helicopters. Astrid Ayling Inset: Giraffe by Gerald Cheyne Tel: 0044 208 549 5024 HELICOPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd. Email: [email protected] 59 Great Ormond Street London, WC 1N-3 Hz . 24 September - 26 September 2013 Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2012. HELITECH ISSN 1743-1042. All rights reserved. Opinions expressed herein are not neces - Duxford near Cambridge, UK sarily those of the pub lishers, the Editor or any of the editorial http://www.helitechevents.com/ staff. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form whatever, is strictly prohibited without specific written permission of the Editor.
4 HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 here are apparently 250 fewer T he e diTor ’ S l eTTer helicopters in private hands in Tthe United Kingdom and Ireland than there were in 2008. bers will now be added to the unem - Many schools say helicopter training ployed. The helicopter service was an is down by half, some are even clos - employer in Cornwall, one of the ing their helicopter sections, and poorest areas of Great Britain. there is a noticeable decrease in the Average earnings in Cornwall are number of helicopter hours flown. It 25% below the rest of the country. might be that helicopter general avia - At the time of going to press we tion would wither away and that heli - heard several rumours about potential copter flying would become the per - start-ups to replace the helicopter ogative of the mega-rich were it not service but nothing certain. for inventors like Marcelle Nino and However, in sectors of the com - his Kiss helicopter. mercial helicopter industry there is Nino, like Bruno Guimbal, who good growth. The oil and gas indus - featured in the last issue of Helicopter try is expanding again and supporting ‘all three’ basis or in separate lots of Life, and Frank Robinson in the helicopter companies in the North one and two. The contract will start in 1970s, is an enthusiast, an engineer, a Sea are now vigorously recruiting 2018, although the results of the bid - racer and someone who passionately pilots. New oil wells have been found ding process should be known by the believes in the dream of the light hel - west of the Shetland Islands and mil - Spring of 2013. From July 2013 until icopter, the everyman helicopter and lions of pounds worth of investment the start of the permanent contract the future of General Aviation. He has has already been made. Helicopter SAR will be covered by the interim created the KISS helicopter and is Life went to Scatsta Airfield on the GAP SAR project. looking at the potential for many Shetland mainland to visit Bristow Kenya again features highly in this more. Thomas Skamlijic went to Italy Helicopters and to see their oil sup - issue of Helicopter Life as, in spite of to visit his Fama Helicopter Company port industry. its decrease in tourism, it is a growing and to fly this unusual looking small The Shetlands were also famous in area for helicopter use. This is partly helicopter. the Second World War for the because geological studies have There are some exceptions to the ‘Shetland Bus’ which took agents in shown the liklihood of oil in the general aviation downturn in Europe and out of German occupied Norway. northern parts of Kenya and there is and the USA, one of these is the This was made into a movie in 1954 consequently a lot of research there, Midlands in Great Britain, which starring Leif Larsen, a Norwegian partly because helicopters are used in according to the Office of Regional sailor who took part in the real opera - the burgeoning film industry in Kenya Statistics, now has 6% of the UK’s tion. It is reputed to be being rewrit - and partly because of the poor infra - GVA (gross value), which it attributes ten as a modern movie. structure and dangerous roads, which to the area’s greater dependance on Other important helicopter work in have led to the use of helicopters to manufacturing. The result of this is the Shetlands includes search and res - avoid trouble. As we saw in previous that helicopter training in this area is cue, these helicopters fly from issues the latter was also the case in also doing rather better than in other Sumburgh Airfield near Lerwick, the Sao Paulo in Brazil. areas of the UK. capital. This, of course, is very signif - London Air Ambulance is trialing a One surprising victim of the reces - icant at the moment with the UK new scanner which can ‘see’ inside sion is the helicopter route from SAR-H long term contract once again the patient and help with diagnosis. Cornwall to the Scilly Isles which is coming up for tender. See page 11 for details of the way due to close on 1st November 2012. Three companies, Bristow, Bond things are changing in medicine. This ferry service has been in opera - Offshore and CHC Scotia are short - For the future Bell Helicopters has tion for forty-nine years and flown listed for the £2 -3 Billion contract a new distributor in the UK, Heli t more than 2.5 million hours. MD which will be divided into three Charter at Manston. See the winter o i l l Tony Jones spoke of his sorrow, not ‘Lots’ and will be announced in early E issue of Helicopter Life for the Bell n y 2013. The three ‘Lots’ cover all the r just at the end of this historic busi - 407GX test flight. B h ness but for the people of Cornwall Search and Rescue areas in the P a r
g and the employees, who have lost a United Kingdom and companies will o t o wonderful service and whose num - be allocated the contracts on either an h P HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 5 A eriAl F orum Joint Helicopter Pilots A netherlands organisation to promote helicopter awareness
Gerben van Beek gives a pictorial view of their safety day
oint Helicopter Pilots (JHP) is an organisation for then it is vital that they know how they can best assist helicopter pilots in The Netherlands. They create you.” Jvarious events to bring helicopter pilots together, and With this in mind, Joint Helicopter Pilots invited a provide usful helicopter-relevant information through training team from the Fire Brigade to come and see how their web site, including links to EHEST (European it was done and together they prepared a number of sce - Helicopter Safety Team) safety material. narios. These included: how to evacuate passengers from On 18-Jun-2012 JHP arranged a special helicopter a helicopter filled with smoke, how to evacuate a heli - safety and rescue event. As they state on their web site: copter with rotors turning, how to approach a helicopter “Rescue teams in the Netherlands (outside airports) do and switch off electricity and so forth. Both the fire very little training with civil helicopters. As a helicopter brigade and the pilots were really enthusiastic about the pilot or passenger you hope to never have a need for fire event, especially as they received information about vari - brigade, police or ambulance, but, should it be necessary, ous helicopter types that were not well known to them.
6 HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012
F lyinG C rACkerS
Scillies Goodbye ing the sale of the land to After 49 years of service the Scilly Sainsbury’s and created too many Isles helicopter service has come to uncertainties for the passenger serv - an end. British International ice to continue. BIH has repeatedly Helicopters confirmed it is to close stated publicly that the land needed its domestic helicopter passenger to be sold in a reasonable time frame route between Penzance and the Isles to release the capital required to con - of Scilly, effective 1 November tinue the service. 2012. The planning application for the The company will honour all cus - redevelopment of the heliport site tomer flights booked up until 31 was submitted in March 2010 and in October 2011 Cornwall Council’s the 2012 London Games. October 2012. Anyone with a flight The executive lounge, branded booked after 1 November will be Strategic Planning Committee voted to consent planning permission for a ‘Stobart First Class Lounge’ offers store, Park & Ride and business executive and luxury services to units. The decision was then referred passengers, with complimentary to the Secretary of State as a matter WiFi, iPad stations, daily newspa - of course. However a challenge was pers and magazines, hot and cold made to that decision which resulted drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) in a delay of six months which BIH and snacks, as well as luxurious could ill-afford. seating, massage chairs and 24 hour BIH remained committed to finding television news. The lounge wel - a suitable relocation site in West comes Gold Circle Club Passengers, Cornwall. However, at the end of Business Class & Flex Fare 2011 BIH reluctantly withdrew their Passengers (Aer Lingus), and application to relocate the heliport to Priority Pass Members, or, for an St Erth on the back of mounting entry fee of £18.95, passengers can given a full refund. The closure of access the lounge by paying upon the heliport will affect employees public and stakeholder pressure. This application cost over £300,000. entry or via annual membership. and the company has entered a for - Lakers Bar, situated on the upper mal redundancy consultation Since starting this process in 2010, financial pressure on the company floor of the departure lounge and process. named after founding father of MD Tony Jones, said: “This is an has been compounded by the falling number of air passenger visitors to accessible air travel Freddy Laker extremely sad announcement for (who launched his fledgling busi - BIH, its employees and its customers the Isles of Scilly. At the same time the majority of costs have risen. ness at London Southend Airport in - in fact the whole of West Cornwall 1949), is open daily for passengers Taking all these factors into account, n o and the Isles of Scilly. Unfortunately i t
flying from the airport. a BIH has no alternative other than to i we had no alternative.” v a
close the route from 1 November t r
The decision to close the route was a FB Heliservices to Albania B
2012. From that date the heliport o finally triggered by legal action t Cobham Aviation Services joint ven - s
will be safely secured for the inde - d
taken by Tesco and two private indi - n ture FB Heliservices has been award - a terminate future. s
viduals. These legal actions chal - E n
ed a two year contract to provide heli - o J
lenge the process undertaken by - r
copter flying training to the Albanian E
Southend New Lounge t
Cornwall Council and Secretary of n Ministry of Defence. FB Heliservices u London’s newest international air - h
State when planning permission was a n port continues to extend and will provide a series of courses which i g
granted. r
will provide multi-engine type con - o improve upon excellent service and E
These legal challenges at this very g
quality products with an all-new version, glass cockpit familiarisation, h P
late stage of the planning process a instrument flying and Search And r bar and executive lounge in the g
have prevented BIH from complet - o t
passenger terminal, opened before Rescue training to 12 Albanian Air o h P 8 HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 F lyinG C rACkerS
Force pilots and SAR training only to four helicopter nance, this has been compensated for by new, first time users crew members. who have come away with a positive impression about Training will be delivered on a combination of the FB Oxford Airport and London Heliport,” said James Dillon- Heliservices Agusta A109 and Bell 412 HAR2 air - Godfray, Business Development Director. “Furthermore, we craft. These courses are designed to provide essential are still seeing that the majority of operators at both airports training for the pilots and crew before they operate are booking merely a day or two ahead of schedule, so no newly delivered Cougar helicopters to the Albanian real change in their habits.” Air Force. The courses will take place over the period of July 2012 to June 2014. Local Area Flying for Battersea Heliport This contract is the first between the Albanian A 6-month trial of London Heliport Local Flying Area (LFA) Ministry of Defence and a British company. began on 1 December 2011. The aim of the trial was to allow 'Battersea Tower' to autonomously issue clearances to and Barclays London Heliport from the south/southeast of the heliport independently from The Barclays London Heliport reported a notable London Terminal Control. The trial period was extended by increase in activity in the week before the Games, a one month; the applicable procedures have been further 63% increase in what is normally the quieter 'holiday extended to 31 August 2012 pending the LFA’s permanent season' period. The heliport welcomed new visitors, including Games sponsors and corporates who were taking advantage of the fact that the heliport is the only central London landing site permitted for private and chartered helicopter use during the Games. In June, London Oxford Airport announced new
establishment. UK AIP Supplement 029/2011 states that the weather minima for the LFA are equal to the heliport weather minima detailed at AD 3-EGLW-1-5. EGLW AD3.21 states that ‘For inbound and departing helicopters, the weather minima for the London Heliport are a reported Heliport meteorological visibility of 1000 m or greater and a cloud ceiling of 600 ft agl or greater’. Whilst this is appropriate for operations immediately Barclays London Heliport in the vicinity of the Heliport it is not considered to be so for the remainder of the LFA. Therefore the in-flight visibility incentives to halve landing fees for jets and helicop - a for the LFA will be 3 km; this is consistent with the arrange - n i g ters when London Heliport originated or destined air - r ments for the Denham, Fairoaks and White Waltham LFAs. o E craft interline with jets utilising London Oxford g The LFA will be depicted on Edition 15 of 1:50000 chart f o Airport. ‘London Helicopter Routes in the London Control zone’, to y s E t We all were waiting to see what the 'Olympics effect' be published on 20 September 2012. The LFA will not be r u o was going to be this summer, and despite the fact that depicted on other VFR charts. c s s E h many UK-based owners of aircraft booked their annu - LFA procedures will be incorporated into the UK AIP on 18 P n a o r J - g al vacations or temporarily migrated overseas over the October 2012 (AIRAC 11/2012), on which date UK AIP r o E t t o n period, some putting their business jets in for mainte - Supplement 029/2011 will be withdrawn. h u P h HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 9 l eTTerS To The e diTor
59 Great Ormond Street, London WC1N-3Hz, England. Telephone: 020-7430-2384, Email: [email protected]. Please include your name, and email or phone.
Atlas Heights? New planes, new logo, same MAF
Dear Editor, Dear Georgina I wanted to write to you about my experience with This year, MAF has taken delivery of several Cessna Atlas Control during the Olympics, not as a complaint 182s with a converted SMA Diesel engine. but more as a way of pointing out, should the CAA With Avgas supplies being limited in many countries considering implementing such proceedures again, that where we work, the small diesel-powered Cessna will they need to be better thought through! be more cost-effective and means that vital flights will I registered for the service. No problem so far. Then I not be hindered waiting on supplies of Avgas. tried filing my flight plan. There were oddities here - The diesel powered C182 was trialled last year in our for example a Bell 206 is a B06; why? My flight plan operation in Western Democratic Republic of Congo was rejected because I put in too many - or was it not and has proved to be a very welcome addition to enough - spaces. After three goes and a very helpful MAF’s worldwide fleet of 135+ light aircraft. This man on the telephone it finally went through. year, the Chad and Madagascar operations have also A couple of days later I initiated the flight - by which received the aircraft, with a further two heading to I mean I called Atlas on the radio from my private site Angola. - and, as expected, could not get through: we live in As well as being more fuel efficient, the small plane the hills! Once airborne I called again. This time I got will help provide travel for smaller local and national through. However, when I gave my code phrase they groups and missionaries while still being able to deal did not recognise it. They told me not to enter con - with the rough and rugged terrain in which we operate. trolled airspace until they had located the problem - This year, as we look to new ways of operating, MAF this was clearly impossible as my site is within the groups worldwide have chosen a new common identity restricted zone. I explained and they told me to carry – enabling us to share resources as well as a common on. After perhaps 15 minutes Atlas located the problem look in all countries where we operate. The new look and explained: was unveiled on 15th August 2012. When my rejected flight plan had been cancelled the As we look to the future, we have new planes, a new number that attached to it had not. Consequently, when look but the same vision – to use aircraft for good – to my improved flight plan had been accepted it carried reach isolated people in need across the developing the number of the rejected flight plan, which had then world. Reaching isolated people and places with vital been texted to me, while Atlas itself had received, or help and hope, MAF operates a fleet of 135+ light air - generated perhaps, a new number not given to me. (As craft in more than 30 countries in the developing Danny Kaye would have said the vessel with the pestle world: Places where road travel is not possible due to was the pestle with the vessel!) huge distance, insecurity, poor or undeveloped infra - It did not matter, of course, and as we now know the structure. Olympics, (totally brilliant though it was for anyone For more information about our work; not Australian!) actually reduced the tourist numbers. www.maf-uk.org If the skies were as empty as the roads, quite likely Best wishes, Emma Stewart considering the weather, the recession and the Olympics, I doubt Atlas had much to do. Lucky old Atlas, only hope they didn’t get too bored and had plenty of time to watch us winning all those medals! Best wishes, John Martin
10 HELICOPTER LIFE, Autumn 2012 London Air Ambulance Trials New Portable Scanner
Five portable, pocket-sized visualization devices that can help physicians identify fluid presence as well as other life threatening condi - tions are being trialed by London’s Air Ambulance charity. For an eight week period, GE Healthcare’s Vscan, roughly the footprint of a smartphone, and housing ultrasound technology, will enable London’s Air Ambulance team to visually and non-invasively inspect the inside of patient’s body prior to transport, assessing the presence of fluid, and potentially speeding up clinical decisions and enhancing survival prospects. The Vscan is intended by London’s Air Ambulance to be used for FAST scanning (focused assessment with sonography in trau - ma), a technique used in emergency medicine to quickly assess the presence of fluid (blood) in the abdomen, pelvis and pericardium – the outer covering sac of the heart. Such a build-up of fluid (a possible risk after a blunt trauma injury) can cause cardiac tamponade, or com - pression of the heart, an emergency condition that often requires emergency surgery. Currently, London’s Air Ambulance clinicians rely on clinical assessment rather than imaging to detect cardiac tamponade, or palpation (feel - ing for abdominal distension) to detect internal bleeding. Vscan enables visual assessment of internal fluid from ruptured organs or major blood vessels, even before clinical signs typi - cally appear, and can therefore be used to help evaluate how severe the internal bleeding is. Professor David Lockey, Research and Development Lead for London’s Air Ambulance, explains: “London’s Air Ambulance prides itself on delivering medical innovation to increase the survival and recov - ery of its patients. Vscan should enable our team to make faster and more accurate clinical decisions – when time is of the essence. We have used portable ultrasound devices before but the size and image quality provided by the Vscan has the potential to make a difference to our patients.” London’s Air Ambulance experienced increased demand during the Olympic Games and again during the Paralympic Games period when London saw a significant increase in for - eign visitors.
HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 n ew
T eChnoloGy For The ipAd
RunwayHD from Airbox Aero
unwayHD is the latest piece of software to come from Airbox Aero and I was given the ipad version Rto test. To use this software you will need either the Tom ipad2 or the ipad3 but you must have the 3G version as Hedges and that is the one with the GPS in it. The product is touch- William screen with overhead pulldown menus. It does also run on Moore air - the iphone if you need a back-up or just because you have borne with an iphone and not an ipad. the Met Police As it happened, I started testing the software just before the Olympics and this was particularly useful as not only did the helicopter package come with Olympic airspace alerts, but when flying in the local area of airfields which, like Denham for example, were on the edge of the Prohibited Area but had a specially designated local flying area, I could draw the boundaries on the map and thus be certain I would not stray outside their edges. This also led Flying through the to a slightly more relaxed ATC service! prohibited zone One very good thing about the Airbox software is that it P runs on CAA maps, which is not true of all the competi - h o t o
tors, and that you can change between various map sizes. g r a
You can increase the size by pulling the screen, as on most P h c apple products, or you can go into the pull-down menu and o u r t
decide which map you would prefer. I also liked the short E s y
and easily understood instructor video for moments when o f a
the intuitive software was not intuitive enough for me. i r B o
With the RunwayHD software you can either plan a x a E
route from your current position (the software knows r where you are) or from somewhere else. The simplest o
12 HELICOPTER LIFE , Autumn 2012 method is from your current position and to do this you just plotting the route, however, the software sorts it out touch the screen where you want to go and then set up the route and gives you a complete picture for each leg. using the overhead icons. Alternatively, you can plan a route Nice things about the software include information from a distant airfield. To do this you have to delete any routes about an airfield when you touch the screen, and from the current position, then put the place you want to plan details of its approach and landing patterns. Weather from in the search box, and click on the starred aircraft. To put and NOTAMs can also be brought up on the screen, in the destination aircraft you put that name in the search box although I prefer words for the weather rather than and again click on the starred aircraft. Once the route is set up pictograms I can see that this is a shorter way of see - you will need to delete your current position, however, if you ing the weather and easier to read in the air than a don’t the software simply gives you a different coloured route large amount of writing. back to the current position, and, of course, when you move to There is also a scratch pad for writing down fre - the new airport the software will too. quencies, airfield data and so forth which you can use You can also set up a course with multiple waypoints, without a pen and which works very well - I liked although at first this is a bit complicated giving you lines from that feature more than pads where the keyboard flips one place to another across the screen, once you have finished up as it is much easier to write longhand while bouncing around in the air than type on the keyboard. There was, however, one I did not like so much as the rest of the software, this was the use of icons instead of labels in the pull-down menu, which I do not find intuitive - but this is only a personal taste. William Moore, the designer, flies himself and reads the pilot’s forums and so is very aware of what users are saying about his product, and willing to cor - RunwayHD from Airbox Aero rect faults. Even in the short time I have had Runway it has had at least one update, and I gather from other iPad versus the users that Runway has got a lot better in the last year. big screens Worth trying. " " #! #!
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