HELICOPTER LIFESUMMER 2008 / £3.99 www.helicopterlife.com CzechCzech PADPAD TWO SCARY TAILS HAI HELIEXPO FIDAE IN C HILE H ELICOPTEROS DEL PACIFICO H ELI-SKIING IN SAINTE FOY HELICOPTER LIFEis theHIGH LIFE HELICOPTER SUMMER 2008 LIFE COVER STORY Show & Tell Guide 4 Czech Police Aviation shows and conferences. Aviation Unit 32 Jakub Fojtik The Editor’s Letter 5 reports on the his - tory and experi - Aerial Forum 6 & 10 ence of the Czech Sven Atkin expresses his heartfelt views police since their inaguration in Letters to the Editor 7, 11 & 16 1948 until today Flying Crackers 8, 9 Fabulous FIDAE 40 Helicopter Life visits the biggest and most popular Two Scary Tails 12 airshow in Latin America, and watches the A380, Philip Amadeus has the Bone and others beat the air been involved in two major and Helicopteros del Pacifico 46 potentially fatal hel - Georgina Hunter- icopter crashes, he Jones visits a fire- explains how it felt fighting and spray - and what he learnt ing helicopter from these funda - company in the mental experiences south of Chile and sees how they Heli-Camper 18 work with the Helicoptet Life discovers the 1970s and 80s Hueys they bought dream of a Winnebago Heli-Camper from Germany PremiAir @ Battersea 22 Chilean History & Wines 52 Helicopter Life Helicopter Life visits a selection of vineyards and reports on how hotels along the length of Chile PremiAir Aviation and Von Essen HeliSkiing 56 Group are improv - Georgina Hunter- ing the 1950s built Jones visits Sainte Battersea and how Foy in France where they see its future a new ski company, role in London Venture Ski, are heli - copter skiing from The Cholmondeley Pageant of Power 24 their beautifully built A new rival to Goodwood’s Festival of Speed chalets, all of which are in tune with the HAI HeliExpo Hits Houston 26 local environment Georgina Hunter- Jones looks at this Helicopter Futures 61 year’s helicopter show in Texas and Book Reviews 62 examines what was new and what was Accident Reports 64 simply a revamping of older helicopter House & Helicopter 66 technology! HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer 2008 3 SHOW & T ELL HELICOPTER G UIDE 14 July - 20 July 2008 FARNBOROUGH INTERNATIONAL AIR - LIFE SHOW Tel: +44 (0) 1252 532800 SUMMER 2008 Email: [email protected] Website: www.farnborough.com HON. EDITORIAL BOARD Captain Eric Brown, CBE, RN 7 october - 9 october 2008 The Lord Glenarthur, DL HELITECH EUROPE 2008 Jennifer Murray Airpot Cascais, Estoril, Portugal Michael J. H. Smith Tel: Barney Payne: +44 (0) 20 8439 8853 Wing Cdr. Ken Wallis, MBE, RAF Email: [email protected] EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOT Website: www.helitecheurope.com Georgina Hunter-Jones [email protected] 3rd August 2008 CREATIVE DIRECTORS SKEETER HELIMEET [email protected] Eastleigh,. Hampshire COPY EDITORS Evangeline Hunter-Jones, JP Email: ChrisThomashelimeet@east - John Wilson leigh.gov.uk CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Website:www.eastleigh.gov.uk/ Philip Amadeus, Sven Atkins, Ian Hentley, Jakub helimeet Fojtik, Barry Pearson, John Wilson CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHY 9th August - 10th August 2008 Philip Amadeus, Sven Atkins, Sanna Cobb, John Garon, Alan Norris, Helicopteros del Pacifico, Ian CHOMONDELEY PAGEANT OF POWER Turner, Jiri Svatos, Ivo Bilek, Frantisek Cervicek, Cholmondeley Castle, Cheshire Pavel Nehybka, PCR LS, Venture Ski, Patrick Ticket hotline: 01264 882215 SPECIAL THANKS TO Dave Smith CPL(H), René Acklin at Termas Email: [email protected] Cauquenes, Françoise Massoc at Calyptra, Silvia Website:www.pageantofpower.com Vogel at Alpacas Machali, Vilma Vega at FIDAE ADVERTISING Telephone: +44-(0)20-7430-2384 11 November - 13 November 2008 [email protected] DUBAI HELISHOW 2008 SUBSCRIPTIONS Mediac Communications & Exhibitions LLC Go to our website or turn to page 16 Po Box 5196 Dubai UAE [email protected] Tel: +44 (0)1293 823779 WEBSITE Fax:+44 (0)1293 825394 www.helicopterlife.com Email: [email protected] COVER PHOTOGRAPH Website: www.dubaihelishow.com Czech Police Aviation Unit by Jiri Svatos, a technician at CPAD 22 February - 24 February 2009 HAI HELIEXPO 2009 HELICoPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd. orange Convention Centre, 59 Great ormond Street Anaheim, California, USA London, WC 1N-3 Hz . Phone (703) 683-4646 Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd. 2008. ISSN 1743-1042. Fax: (703) 683-4745 All rights reserved. opinions expressed herein are not neces - Email: [email protected] sarily those of the pub lishers, the Editor or any of the editorial Website: www.heliexpo.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, Summer 2008 T HE EDITOR S LETTER hile is a young country,” said which has a long history here, and the winemaker Françoise Massoc, Chileans are very in tune with avia - C“and I find that exciting. Chile tion and its importance. At FIDAE it very much seems a combination of was also clear that they are becoming old World sophistication and New very aware of environmental issues, World experimentation.” particularly in the southern region Even to a visitor, Chile seems like and towards Antarctica. Moreover, an interesting combination of past the government is very sympathetic and future. The economy is stable, towards foreign investment, and has unemployment is low and, thanks to been for a long time. copper production, in which it leads However, it is important to remem - the world and has 54% of the market, ber that ‘Si’ in Chile means “Yes, I Chile has no debts. Strangely, Chile’s hear you,” not “Yes, I agree”! wealth can be attributed to two for - In Chile, I found Miracle in the lower ground where he believed they mer presidents, neither of whom Andes by Nando Parrado, which tells were. There were no good communi - receives a particularly good press: the story of the october 1972 crash of cations, no mobile phones, no excel - Salvador Alende and Augusto the twin turboprop Fairchild FH- lent radios, so it was impossible to Pinocet. Alende nationalized the cop - 227D. The Fairchild was carrying the “phone home ET!” And yet, there per mines, and Pinocet put in place Uruguayan rugby team, the old were helicopters, so it was possible to the incentivized tax regime, using Christians, to Chile, and it crashed in rescue the survivors once the site had young economics students whom he the Andes. The survivors were forced been found. Without helicopters, even sent to Harvard for training. This to become cannibals to stay alive, and if it had been known where the sur - regime remains in place today. they ate those in the plane who had vivors were, it would not have been Travelling around Chile, you have not been so lucky. possible to rescue them. the feeling that there is a lot of room Their story is well known, but this However, what has not changed for growth in the helicopter market, book, written in 2006, is by one of most of all through the ages is the in both the private and commercial the survivors, who climbed the incredible will of man to survive spheres. There are large local compa - 17,000 foot high mountains, and was against all the odds. This same nies, of which Helicopteros del finally rescued seventy-two days after instinct makes us create planes and Pacifico in Temuco is one, and the crash, despite having himself been helicopters, and continue to improve Spanish and American companies unconscious for three days. our environment when all else seems have interests in the market. Rescue arrived by helicopter. Bell lost. The miracle, of course, is man’s However, most helicopter flying is 47s were used to search for the plane, enduring will and imagination. done by the military and the police, and Hueys for the rescue itself. This spirit is obvious in many of and the civilian companies seem to be Ironically, on the first day of the res - the stories in this magazine: Philip limited to the same areas. There is cue, the weather was so bad that Amadeus surviving two major inci - fire fighting and spraying, air ambu - some survivors had to remain at the dents; the Czech police aviation unit’s lance, some heli-skiing and some crash site by the plane for another changes through communism and fishing-related tourism, but there is day, waiting for good enough weather capitalism; the changes, however little use of small general aviation to enable the helicopters to fly, but commercially inspired, in avalanche helicopters, and helicopter schools eventually they made it. Eight people control, in the HeliSkiing story, and are rare. died, nineteen survived. the SpitfireWomen in the early days on the other hand, Chile is well This is an incredible story of its of female fliers. suited to helicopter flying, as it is a era. There were planes, hence the That same spirit makes us want to long, thin country with fairly stable crash, but they were new to that sort fly helicopters, to make aviation work weather patterns. There are many of high altitude low density flying in for our environment, not against it. areas, particularly in the fjords in the bad weather. The pilot underestimated south of the country, where only heli - the strength of the wind, and this led copters can land. There is a lot of pri - to the plane’s descent in the middle of vate flying, but mostly fixed wing, the mountains, instead of on the HELICOPTER LIFE, Summer 2008 5 A ERIAL FORUM North by North West Sven Atkin has always wanted to be a helicopter pilot: The website for Heli-North West said, ‘Drop in for a Cuppa and talk Helicopters’ And he wanted to find out more.