Police Aviation News SPECIAL EDITION ©Police Aviation Research SPECIAL EDITION JULY 2012 PAR Police Aviation News July 2012 2 PAN—Police Aviation News is published monthly by POLICE AVIATION RESEARCH, 7 Wind- mill Close, Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 3BQ UK. Contacts: Main: +44 1992 714162 Cell: +44 7778 296650 Skype: BrynElliott E-mail: [email protected] SHOWS JULY 2012 FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW Farnborough, Hampshire, UK 9-10 July 2012 Farnborough, one of the major shows in the aerospace calendar and yet in the main one not too kind to the Airborne Emergency Service sector of business. The large size and im- personal nature of Farnborough and its ilk are the main spur for the niche air events – not always shows – including PAvCon, NBAA and Heli-Expo. Visitors are drawn to see displays covering nearly 3,500 square meters from hundreds of international companies housed under cover in a number of vast halls and chalets con- structed at great expense – others being left to the vagaries of the weather without cover or in their own tents and caravans. And this year the vagaries were decidedly nasty as Britain endured the worst summer in living memory. The poor weather clearly affected visitor num- bers early in the week. As the browned grass testifies, Farnborough 2010 was a far drier affair than this year. © Aviation-images.com via FI2012 Front Cover Image: The Bell 525 Relentless has ‘Oil Industry’ written all over it and it may never feature as an emergency services aircraft. That said it has features that could one day appear more widely—including the pilots seats. They run on tracks from the forward position into the main cabin and remove the need for separate crew doors. Access into the cockpit is vastly improved and there have been some very positive comments on the new side stick controls. The 525 mock up launched at HAI earlier in the year has been much improved and now actually works as intended—further enhancing its purpose. [Item page7] PAR image. Police Aviation News SPECIAL EDITION 3 The large companies, aloof in their giant stands and securely guarded chalets did their best to deter potential customers from seeking an audience with senior executives or even the lowly salesmen who had drawn the short straw for manning the exhibits from dawn to dusk. Nonetheless many small companies were there displaying their products in the hope that they may be noticed. For some the vast cost will prove wasteful. Uninhabited pipe dream The ‘imminent’ arrival of unmanned craft flying in public airspace continues to grab the headlines. Simply because there are thousands of projects, many of them little more than bits of foam and duct tape, there is an assumption that all is well and that soon airspace will open to give access to commercial operations. It all remains an illusion that is constantly hyped up. Its day will come but not yet- awhile. The BAE Jetstream flying test bed mentioned in last month’s edition of Police Aviation News was on the Farnborough flight line and its purpose has regularly ap- peared in the news media over the past month. Same story but just written in a dif- ferent way. It was no small shock to discover that the When is a UAV not a UAV? When it is still apparently pristine finish featured in the image issued developing the technology that everyone by BAE in June was an illusion. The Jetstream has a thinks is already here! very drab matt finish, a paint job that is already around a decade old. The aircraft is a tool and intent on making the best of some very limited funds under the ASTRAEA scheme and it is unlikely to resolve all the outstanding issues – mainly the development of a finite and trustworthy electronic ‘Sense and Avoid’ capability – without further funds being identified. Unmanned of all shapes and sizes—but not many of them Police Aviation News July 2012 4 At a recent police aviation conference where they were promoting the Herti UAV and the so called ‘South Coast Project’ BAE stated that they believed they would have an unmanned craft over the 2012 Olympics. A nominal wager [£20] was riding on the claim and it is now due for payment. Recently Herti and its larger stable-mate, the twin engine Mantis, have been pushed into the hangar at BAE Warton to gather dust. Mantis will reappear later this year on testing but Herti, potentially the only ‘affordable’ BAE project likely to be for police use, is likely to just fade from view forever. Herti, little more than a remote-control light aircraft, was only just affordable if shared by the multitude of operators that the South Coast Project briefly brought together; any- thing more complex is going to take a step change in central government funding. Looks as if the pilots can be sure of their jobs for the foreseeable future. Police Aviation News SPECIAL EDITION 5 I mentioned headline grabbing and even as I was formulating the words I found an article in the July edition of the US magazine that made its name in placing Bell Heli- copter at the top of the ‘best in support’ year on year. The staff of this magazine compiled an article based on the words of Michael Toscano the CEO for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International [AUVSI] and added images of the Bell Eagle Eye tilt- rotor and the lightweight quad rotor UAV operated by Merseyside Police as illustrat- ing typical success stories. If they had checked their sources they may have real- ised that the tiny police craft dived into the River Mersey two years ago and they chose not to replace it and, although potentially a comeback kid, the Eagle Eye was cancelled from its starring role with the US Coast Guard years ago. This was not To- scano’s fault just misdirected editorial and not even relating to the text. Such errors are potentially damaging to the long term credibility of all types of unmanned craft. There is a wish to see ‘cheap’ unmanned craft serving the needs of the police but wishing something does not necessarily make it happen as a long term tool fit for ‘everyman’ - as proved to be the case with the hovercraft. The number of UAV promoters at Farnborough were lower in number this year and the indoor flight in a cage displays muted, certainly there was no longer talk about flying a full size machine on the flight line, that ‘me first’ competition has already run its course and the Paris Air Show took the prize flying the Schiebel S-100. That is not to say there were no flights outside, the Portuguese Tekever Group was demon- strating their craft the AR4 Light Ray, and caught the attention of the BBC in its show coverage. Tekever subsequently claimed the type to be the first fully autono- mous UAS to perform outdoor flight demonstrations at the Farnborough Interna- tional Air Show. Police Aviation News July 2012 6 The US aviation industry was represented by hundreds of small companies as part of more than 20 state groups at the show, often as a result of a scheme which assists small to me- dium-sized businesses in their exporting efforts and among them were those feeding the current frenzy in the USA to get unmanned craft in among the civil air traffic. Although it was far from clear in the presentations aimed at getting business at all costs they too face ex- actly the same technical problems as exhibited by the efforts of BAE in Europe. The US Government has plans to set up a number of remote areas as unmanned test areas and a number of states have plans to ensure that it is their own little used airport or bit of scrubland that the government should pour their money into. Quite where Farnborough fits into this major plan is unclear but part of the US thrust in the show included individual states building a business case in their own favour via anyone in the media that would care to lis- ten. One such was Oklahoma, specifically they spent a great deal of effort with printing informa- tion sheets, arranging interviews and flying in talking heads, politicians and former military figures, to put over their case. I came away from one such meeting wondering to myself “What was that all about.?” I can only assume some politician thought it was a good idea. Whether this activity undertaken in the UK, even though associated with the AUVSI, will ever greatly advance the cause of un- manned aviation let alone an individual state is open to question. What would the Ameri- cans think of say the Government in Wales attending a similar event promoting the use by UAV’s of an isolated airfield in West Wales to the media in Wyoming? Bell Helicopter In terms of complete airframes Bell Helicopter brought examples of the Bell 429 and 407 to the show and naturally highlighted the handful of V- 22s operated by the US Marines, particularly as they were seen flying regularly. In addition the company brought along their mock- up of the 525 Relentless. It had been tweaked somewhat since HAI Heli-Expo and the sticky trackwork for the pilots front seat and the back passenger door that failed to fully open were now fully fixed. Bell has announced the latest list of key suppliers for the Bell 525 Relentless, the world's first "super- medium" helicopter but there remain a number of others to be added to the list as the design is final- ized.