Helicopter Life magazine - Spring 2023

WORLD HELICOPTER DAY

in August 2023 at a place somewhere near you or created by you. WHD was started to celebrate these magnificent machines and their varied use

20 May 2023

SPECIAL OPERATIONS EVENING AIR SHOW

Old Warden

Biggleswade

Bedfordshire SG18 9EP

https://www shuttleworth org

08 June - 10 June 2023

AERO ExPO

Sywell Aerodrome

Wellingborough

Northampton NN6 0BN

https://www.aeroexpo.co.uk

17 June 2023

BEST OF BRITISH EVENING AIRSHOW

Old Warden

Biggleswade

Bedfordshire SG18 9EP

https://www shuttleworth org

13 July - 16 July 2023

FESTIVAL OF SPEED

Goodwood

West Sussex UK

https://www goodwood com

8 June - 10 June 2023

ROTORTECH / CO-LOCATED WITH AERO ExPO

Sywell Aerodrome

Wellingborough

Northampton NN6 0BN

https://www.rotortechuk.com

Please note there may be changes to dates and times, venues and whether they are physical events or done by various other methods depending on the COViD restrictions at the time and place and also dependent on the war in Ukraine and elsewhere across the globe.

SPRIng 2023

HON. EDITORIAL BOARD

The Lord Glenarthur, DL

Jennifer Murray

Michael J H Smith

Malvina Nicca ATPL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF / PILOT

Georgina Hunter-Jones editor@helicopterlife com

CREATIVE DIRECTORS

art@helicopterlife.com

COPY EDITORS

Gerald Cheyne, Jean Dubourcq

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

David Oliver, Peter R Foster, Renate Buchner

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOGRAPHY

David Oliver, Peter R Foster, Lola Reid Allin, Renate Buchner, Gerald Cheyne

SPECIAL THANKS TO Gerald Cheyne, ADVERTISING

Telephone: +44-(0)23-9263-1713, advertising@helicopterlife com

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COVER PHOTOGRAPH

David Oliver reveals which aircraft will be the new face of the US military

HELiCOPTER LIFE is published quarterly by FlyFizzi Ltd Pyers Croft, Compton, Chichester, West Sussex PO18 9EX

Copyright © FlyFizzi Ltd 2023

iSSN 1743-1042

All rights reserved Opinions expressed herein are not necessarily 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

Financial services provider Remitly used global search data to discover which jobs people dream of doing the most Apparently most people in the twenty-five countries tested wanted to be a pilot. This was particularly true in America, the UK, Canada and Australia in Australia, and the UK, becoming a writer was second, followed by careers as a dancer, YouTuber and DJ.

it is arguable that becoming a pilot is the top job as people apparently believe that it has excellent pay, great job prospects and travel opportunities. Possibly there was little investigation into what actually ‘becoming a pilot’ means. For example, few flying instructors would claim their job had excellent pay and conditions

This issue also looks at the growth of UK and European co-operation with Ukraine and the countries around its borders and how their governments are sharing helicopter knowledge and equipment.

For anyone who is interested in visiting Spain in June PavCon have their latest conference in Bilbao. A unique networking experience in troubling times

Georgina

Exercise Brave Defender 85 Supporting the ‘Terries’

A Shaggy Dog Story that nearly caused embarrassment

by Peter R Foster

The role of the UK Reserve Forces although having diminished in size over the years is probably now even more important than it was during the Cold war period in augmenting the regular force with highly trained personnel ingrained with years of experience behind them

Towards the end of the Cold War the UK had a sizeable reserve force and this was so ably demonstrated in their participation in Exercise Lionheart in the fall of 1984 when Britain saw its biggest mobilization of forces at any time since the end of the Second World War as it deployed a force the size of the entire population of Oxford to defend the 1(BR) Corps section of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR). The size of exercise that is never likely to be seen again.

To maintain the reserve forces as a credible force and building on the lessons of Lionheart 1985 saw Exercise Brave Defender on the training calendar.

According to Lord Trefgarne at the time "Brave Defender" was a national military home defence exercise The aims of the exercise were to test plans and procedures for the ground defence of vital establishments; liaison between the military and civil authorities over military home defence matters; and to demonstrate the Government's commitment to Home Defence it was planned that about 65,000 servicemen, both regular and reservist, who would have a home defence role on mobilisation, would take part. The Territorial Army, including the Home Service Force, would have an important role to play in the exercise.

There would also be some United States forces involved in the exercise.

The exercise, which comprises two phases and a preparatory period, took place between 2nd-13th September 1985 in various locations around Great Britain, to test the revised Home Defence Plans

described in the Statement on the Defence Estimates of 1984.

i am not sure quite where the Territorial’s were playing on this day in 1985 but they were being supported by the Westland Wessex helicopters from No 2 Flying Training School at RAF Shawbury The ‘cabs’ were being flown by both instructors from the school and those assigned to the Central Flying School (CFS)

At the time i was covering the role of the FTS’s for another publication and in the morning i had been flying with the Gazelles but the PM sortie on this day i was assigned to fly with the crew of Wessex HC Mk.2 XR516. Our tasking was to take a maintenance crew to ‘somewhere in the Hereford area’ to repair another cab that had incurred a minor technical problem.

We weren’t actually informed of its precise location so we set off over the ‘Marches’ towards Hereford. After around 25 minutes the errant Wessex was sighted sitting on the pan outside Army Air Corps 8 Flight hangar in the middle of Stirling Barracks

Sitting in the left hand seat wearing a non descript coverall and wearing trainers i can remember the look on my pilots face when he saw exactly where the errant Wessex, XS676, was positioned He turned to me and asked one question “Had i ever signed the Official Secrets Act?” to which my answer was in the negative to which his response was “i think you had better leave your cameras in the cockpit!”

We duly touched down and the ‘GE’s’ went to work on the other cab. We, the aircrew, made our way over to one of the Mess’s and i can remember John Streeter, my pilot, giving a low whistle when we walked in and remarking that there was more ordnance hanging on the wall there than there was in the armory at Shawbury!

My attire including trainers and more than regulation length hair probably fitted in quite well with the bulk of other personnel i noticed around and about so perhaps i didn’t stand out and i certainly didn’t attract any undue attention But then perhaps as i had arrived by air people thought i should probably be there!

After the customary coffee we made our way back to our cab but i just couldn’t resist a visit to the 8 Flight hangar where one of the pilots seemed more than happy to show me over one of the units Agusta A.109s. i wonder what the attitude would have been had they realized who i was.

When it was time for both Wessex and i to depart back to Shawbury i duly strapped into the left hand seat and as we lifted off i just couldn’t contain myself and i had to take one shot of the pair of ‘Agustas’ on the ramp. To be fair this has never been published before and of course the unit has now both reequipped and relocated to the former RAF Credenhill so i think it poses no issues as neither does this somewhat shaggy dog story

M D Helico pt ers Police D eal MD Helicopters (MDH) is pleased to announce the delivery of its first of three MD 530F helicopters to the Huntington Beach Police Department (HBPD). The helicop-

scheduled to be delivered in March and April of this year at the rate of one a month.

Each HBPD MD 530F helicopter is custom configured with a full law enforcement package, crash resistant fuel tanks, and an advanced NViS interior designed to enhance safety during nighttime patrol, surveillance, and tactical operations Their upgraded glass cockpit avionics feature the Garmin G500TXi Electronic Flight instrument System (EFiS), Howell instruments Electronic Engine instruments and Crew Alert Systems (EiCAS), and Garmin GTN 750 Touchscreen NAV/COM/GPS.

H145 family helicopters in service, logging a total of more than seven million flight hours Powered by two Safran Arriel 2E engines, the H145 is equipped with full authority digital engine control (FADEC) and the Helionix digital avionics suite it includes a high performance 4-axis autopilot, increasing safety and reducing pilot workload. its particularly low acoustic footprint makes the H145 the quietest helicopter in its class, while its CO2 emissions are the lowest amongst its competitors. Photograph

ter was delivered in a special ceremony at the MD Helicopters factory on Tuesday before flying to its new home in Huntington Beach, California.

“The Huntington Beach Police Department is excited to continue with the ongoing operation of MD Helicopters in our Air Support Unit,” says Eric Parra, Chief of Police for Huntington Beach

“These new helicopters will continue to ensure the finest service for police officers and citizens in the cities of Huntington Beach, irvine, Newport Beach, and Costa Mesa.”

HBPD ordered three MD 530F helicopters to replace its aging fleet of MD 520N’s. The purchase agreement included a full fleet replacement package, which includes MDH facilitating the sale of the department’s current aircraft, offloading NOTAR specific spares as well as providing a comprehensive training program specifically tailored to the department’s pilots and technicians

HBPD’s next two aircraft are

Norwe gian Air Ambulanc e Buys Airbus

The Norwegian AA has bought two more Airbus 145s to join their cur-

rent fleet of five and to continue their life-saving missions Today, Norwegian Air Ambulance operates all 13 HEMS bases in Norway using a 100% Helionixequipped fleet of H135s and H145s The organisation's mother company, the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, was the first operator in the world to take delivery of a five-bladed H145 in 2020. in total, there are more than 1,600

by Anthony Pecchi

1.7 M illion o f Funding Boo st fo r Ork ney Based N et Zero Re gio n

Survey Sho ws Pilo t is Dre am Jo b Around the Wo rld

Remitly, a leading digital financial services provider for immigrants and their families, has revealed that taking

Unscrewe d Air S yste ms

Schiebel and Thales have been awarded the Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS) contract “Peregrine” by the UK Ministry of Defence. This prestigious contract award will deliver the unrivalled CAMCOPTER® S-100 UAS, fitted with a powerful naval surveillance sensor suite, to provide a comprehensive maritime capability protecting Royal Navy ships on operational tasks. Schiebel, together with system integrator Thales, will provide the operationally proven S-100 with a range of high precision intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (iSR) sensors and systems The Thales i-Master radar, an EO/iR camera, and an Automatic identification System (AiS), all fused with the CarteNav’s AiMS Mission System enables an allweather detection and identification capability of unknown targets

to the skies and becoming a pilot is the number one dream job for people around the world, having topped the wish-lists of 25 countries

The concept of a ‘job for life’ has changed dramatically in recent years, with new generations much more likely to seek a career switch and not ‘settle’ for a job role they dislike. Taking this into account, Remitly looked at global search data to find which jobs are proving most popular with the inhabitants of each country. This was achieved by analysing the annual search volume for phrases commonly associated with researching a new career such as ‘how to be a pilot’ - the most searched for job within every country

Becoming a pilot, known for its excellent pay, great job prospects and travel opportunities is a clear favourite for everywhere from the United Kingdom and Australia, to Cyprus and Montenegro With almost one million Google searches per year around becoming a pilot, it's the ultimate dream job, however a career as a writer isn’t far behind, topping the wish lists of countries including india, New Zealand and South Africa. Careers in arts and culture proved popular sector with writer, dancer, actor, singer and DJ all featuring prominently worldwide. Jobs in social media and online are also hugely aspirational, with YouTuber, influencer and programmer all featuring in the top 10. Becoming a YouTuber is the dream career for those in Mexico, Uruguay and Bolivia, and influencer the top choice for residents of Spain, Argentina and Colombia

Embry -Riddle New Re mo tely Pilot ed Airc raft Syst em

Reliable Robotics, a Californian based automated aviation firm in collaboration with Embry-Riddle’s Arizona students has tested its remote communication system in modern infrastructure by taking on the roles of both pilot and ATC

Working closely with the FAA, NASA and aviation stakeholders they are researching the potential for advanced autonomy in the National Airspace System The way in which they are working with the automated system is showing up safety issues and intfrastructure weaknesses to enable researchers to test and improve the system.