Landing on a Light House

[enstrompilot]

I have just rented a Light House (Royal Sovereign) with Heli Deck, 7 mile off shore southern England, Great Views!.
I am interested to hear views and advice of the best method to approch and depart.
I operate an Alouette II (light turbine)
Thanks

[whopwhop]

fly out to lighthouse land. Take off from lighthouse depart. Sorry if im rude but if you need advice on landing and taking off ask your instructor or just stick to the circuit

[hihover]

Enstrom,

I don't expect smart ar$e answers help you in any way.

I've never landed on a lighthouse but I wouldn't expect it to be different to any other confined area or off airfield landing. I would just give it a good recce before approaching, wind, obstacles, options, wind etc etc and the wind. Obviously, the more you know before you go, the better. If someone can provide you with a photo, that might help ease your concern.

Perhaps the people you are renting it from can put you in touch with a previous pilot who landed there.

Sounds like fun. The Alouette is a lovely old machine isn't it?

[Arm out the window]

A couple of quick ones - hard to know what needs covering without knowing the situation, but:

If it's an elevated pad without much terrain around it for reference, find out the elevation and plan to get yourself to a 'gate point' about 300 ft above and say 500 m out from the pad at 60 kts. Fly in level on finals until you're approaching what you judge to be a comfortable approach angle, sight down and across the pad to something in the distance you can line up gunsight-style, and fly a gentle decelerating descent to get your backside over the pad as you reach the hover. Go round if you don't like it and start again.

Get a brief first and do a diligent recce to ensure you know where any wires are (going to outbuildings or whatever, or maybe guy wires).

Probably windy there, so be aware of where it's coming from and whether you're likely to get turbulence from structures or surrounding terrain, have a power margin to cope with same.

If it's a small deck you may lose some reference to it when you're over the top of it, so see if you can pick some fore-and-aft and lateral markers to satisfy yourself you're landing where you want to and where the rotors will be clear of obstacles.

If your machine breaks down on the pad, are there alternative means of getting in and out, or is there enough room to land two there?

Departure - if there's a nice drop-off, it will probably be tempting to nose over and head off like a diving seagull - don't do this unless you're absolutely sure there's no wires to spoil your fun. Otherwise a normal departure or a level-ish airspeed over altitude type one would be good.

How are you off for flotation gear, epirb, ditching brief etc - 7 nm doesn't seem far but it would if you were swimming in the cold water.

[sss]

http://www.trinityhouse.co.uk/interactive/gallery/royal_sovereign.html

is this the place

[ppheli]

There was an article in the Telegraph about this back in October 2006, see here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/main.jhtml?xml=/property/2006/10/28/plighthouse28.xml). So when you say "just rented" it, either you mean some months back to give the chance for this article to be written, or you are another Alouette owner in the UK (a select group, no doubt) subletting it from the Mr Casselden in this article, who has safely landed his Alouette on the deck, see photo below. The article does mention that he plans to rent it out, but does not mention that his Alouette replaces Enstrom G-BYKF

To save you looking at the full article, the photo in it is:-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/graphics/2006/10/28/plighthouse28.jpg

(edited to make the photo work and not be a link)

[enstrompilot]

yes !

it includes a purpose made helideck (up to 32,000 lbs)

should be fine when its not too windy !

:)

[enstrompilot]

The article was written late last year.

One reason for the thread was to seek comment and views (and perhaps safety tips) from any oil rig (or similar) pilots, who, no doubt, have plenty of experiance on these structures.

Replys like the one from 'arm out the window' are just what I hoped for, this is very useful, may help me, (or other visiting helis !).

[Revolutionary]

"Departure - if there's a nice drop-off, it will probably be tempting to nose over and head off like a diving seagull - don't do this unless you're absolutely sure there's no wires to spoil your fun. Otherwise a normal departure or a level-ish airspeed over altitude type one would be good"

If it's an elevated pad (like a toadstool), may I suggest that you don't just move forward from a five foot hover. If the engine were to fail just as you clear the deck, your tailboom hitting the pad would cause you to head nose first into the drink. Better to go up vertically to about fifteen feet or so and then move into forward flight -an 'offshore' take-off.

[enstrompilot]

its Ex German army on the Hungarian Reg (full EASA CofA)

great to fly - solid

a liitle slow, quite noisy, quite thursty

but 5 place, good lift

VERY reliable, parts are available, no need to count starts

[vo540]

Excellent! I have been on the Royal Soveriegn many times, we used to change the crews every 2 weeks using a Bolkow 105D out of Shoreham. Brings back fond memories, indeed, I look back on the flying I did for Trinity House as some of the best flying of my career, it was a privilege to have done it.
As for the RS, the deck is a decent size so you should have no problems. There seems to be a big myth about landing on offshore platforms, if you can execute a decent approach and landing to a helipad onshore then doing the same offshore should present no problems in daylight and good weather.
You will of course be single engined over the sea and will need to carry the appropiate survival equipment. It would be a good idea to have it clear in your own mind what actions to take should you be unfortunate enough to have to carry out an autorotation to the water.
Sorry if that last passage sounds a bit gloomy but I do hope you enjoy.

[enstrompilot]

hi

any time you fancy a revisit just email

[email protected]

:)

[Farmer 1]

A lot of people think that if you can land on a lighthouse you can land anywhere, but the reverse is the case. If you can land anywhere you can land on a lighthouse.

You are guaranteed no obstructions, you can always land into wind, and the deck is stationary. The Royal Sovereign is not your normal lighthouse; it has the obvious light tower in the corner, but then again, the deck is huge, relatively speaking.

[Langball]

If the photograph on the Trinity House web site is current then it would appear to be covered in guano (i.e. bird-5****)*. This is, in itself, a major problem with unmanned installations. The landing circle and H appears to be obliterated. I work for an offshore oil & gas operator and this is the point where the pilots begin to refuse to fly there (in low light conditions anyway).

If the guano is that bad then it hits you in the back of the throat the minute you step off the chopper (but this is another story for another day).

* Someone may confirm that it’s a silver or aluminium deck, and I'm talking crap myself.

[topendtorque]

Landing on a Light House


A real pain in the arse, requiring the bestest ray bans if done at night when joining the action below. best to land aways a bit or beside it!


come on old mate AOTW you are joshing us aren't you? always maintain the integrity of the uncirculated air by climbing into fresh air.

Departure - if there's a nice drop-off, it will probably be tempting to nose over and head off like a diving seagull - don't do this unless you're absolutely sure there's no wires to spoil your fun.

I know you wouldn't teach diving into translation even if you end up descending a bit, you could end up on the rocks.
tet

PS I know one dude who writes here sometimes who did just that, but then you may be reminding us all of that incident, if you knew the illustrious driver concerned.

[griffothefog]

Flown that 105 a fair bit, but for Bond. No idea that BCAL had it before them or was it on loan? As regards the thread, the sovreign is probably the easiest offshore lighthouse to land on and a normal offshore approach and departure will keep you good, however the bird droppings will not endear you to any of your guests! The smell(if it has not been manned for a few years) will seriously make you gag and if the deck is wet.......
If your looking for difficult, try the sevenstones lightship on a neap tide!! Good luck:ok:

[griffothefog]

Wow... thanks for that info.:D

[nigel f]

Looks a great fun place to land, at least there is plenty of space on the deck

Nigel

[Hummingfrog]

enstrompilot

Looks like an interesting place to be. May I offer the following advice based on a few yrs of landing on and shutting down on offshore platforms.

Plan your sortie thoroughly bearing in mind the following:-

1. Brief yourself on the weather at the platform - wind direction being the most critical - is it going to stay in the same direction and speed while you are out there.

2. The approach is relatively easy if you use the constant angle style of approach. Give yourself a decision point where you are committed to land - if you don't like the approach go round before this point. This may also be the point, should you have an engine failure you can still make the deck, before this an auto into the sea may be safer as landing short is not an option as you will wipe yourself out on the deck edge or leg.

3. Take off should be with the edge of the disc at the deck edge with a positive application of power giving you a vertical ascent - at a suitable height (in my case 20ft in a twin) positively lower the nose and transition away. This should keep the tail away from the deck edge should the engine fail after rotation - but you will still be in a dicey position as you try to auto onto the sea.

4. While on the deck and shut down do you have tie downs and blade ties as the wind offshore can be quite strong and we have had at least one helicopter blown over while left on deck, not tied down, due to a squall going through changing the wind by 90deg and doubling its' speed.

5. Do you have a plan to get off the platform if the helicopter is u/s on start? My company does not allow us to shutdown if the installation doesn't have a crane capable of lifting the helicopter off the deck onto a supply boat and this does happen!!

6. Stock up with food and water - just in case you are stranded. Only last week while starting up offshore the fog came in and 3ml viz became 20yds in about 5 mins:eek: but we have a fully stocked galley (and sat TV):ok:

Good luck anyway

HF

[HELOFAN]

So....the questions that immediately come to mind are...........

why would one want to rent out a light house ...with or with out a heli pad ?

Isolation perhaps? ....... Pesky relatives that always drop in at the most inappropriate times or are always borrowing something?

always wanted a spiraled cone shaped house...with light & just trying it on ?

:E

HF

[Arm out the window]

"come on old mate AOTW you are joshing us aren't you? always maintain the integrity of the uncirculated air by climbing into fresh air."

TET, don't know the bloke you were talking about - I wouldn't dive into translation, just talking about being in the departure with a bit of IAS and a drop-off below you, can be a temptation to stick the nose down and have a bit of a yahoo - more of a problem off a hilltop pad where that sneaky wire gets you, I s'pose.
When I wrote the previous I didn't know what the lighthouse pad looked like - thought it might have been on a high rocky outcrop or whatever.

[AlanM]

LUCKY LUCKY Bugger!!

I love lighthouses.... and would love to live in one.

Now, if you ever need some pictures mate... air to air... let me know!

[enstrompilot]

hummingfrog

thanks for the great advice

the cupboard is stocked with fray bentos steak pies (1980 dated) and there is a large stock of out of date cerials.

Sounds like a visit to asda is needed !

re the crane, I do have large external start batteries (with solar charger) out there and a very friendly maint engineer who (I Hope) will come to the rescue.

I will strap the machine down from now on, I do ccover the ebgine intakes asap to minimise salt air intake

thanks again for the very useful comments

Ian

[enstrompilot]

AlanM

come for a visit some time, bring cakes, I'll put the kettle on

it not hard to find, I'll leave the lights on

send an email ([email protected]), we'll fix a date
:)
Ian

[Oogle]

Enstrompilot

See what happens when you ask pilots for their advice?

Two pages of what to do, what not to do, ........

All good advice but three things to remember:

1. Into wind
2. Take it slowly; and
3. Don't be afraid to go around.

[lartsa]

ian
does spr go out there ?
steve

[enstrompilot]

spr looks after the allouette (both in the UK and Hungary)
after much pain (and expence) with airfield based maint orgs (for my previous enstrom) SPR provides great service

not yet needed, the allouette ahs been VERY reliable, but on standby (I hope)

[HELOFAN]

No so really, why have you obtained a light house?

other than fishing what does one do ?

Study I expect?

This has got my interest.

I will take PM's to keep the thread to a minima.

Cheers

HF

[Whirlygig]

other than fishing what does one do ?

Have you no imagination, HELOFAN?? :}

Sounds like an ideal place for a crap musician like wot I am; one feels reluctant to subject the neighbours to a poor rendition of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto!

Cheers

Whirls

[Helipilot1982]

Is it considered good practice (in a single heli anyway) to make an approach to the side of a platform like this and then slip it on sideways?

To me it would seem sensible, if the wind permits of course, just in case the good old engine goes right at that critical moment - so you have an escape method to avoid the platform!!

Hows things Ian?

[bolkow]

AND, it was sold on to south africa in 1998 and on 31.12.97 it had 10206 airframe hours completed.

Hows zat?

[Twisted Rigging]

Bolkow,

I remember flying FD just before it went to Court, if memory serves it and a 76 was exchanged for a 61.

Any idea if it is still flying?

[dogpaddy]

enstrompilot,
I'm curious about your Allouette rating, chiefly because I am toying with the idea of getting rated on this type. If you wouldn't mind answering a couple of questions for me:
Are you allowed to fly all the helicopters in that family with the one rating(i.e. I, II, III and the Lama)?
Did you do the rating in the UK? If yes, would you recommend them?
Thanks
dp

[Helipilot1982]

Dogpaddy

As far as i am aware, the only place that does an Allouette type rating is heli services at High Wycombe - but you need to provide the aircraft!!

[spinwing]

Might I just add that when positioning the aircraft on deck (for o'night tie down) try to place it such that you can reach the T/R assy in order to inspect it as may be necessary for post/preflight.

Having the aircraft positioned on deck (with its arse out over the edge) such that you cannot inspect the whole aircraft is folly. AND you don't want to be standing on/near the safety net trying to check stuff out!

Looks like fun though .... enjoy ...

Cheers :D

[bolkow]

can you tell em what the fuel capacity and hourly burn rate is on the alouette 2? The reason I ask is that some say it exceeds the twin engine bo105 which seems awfully high and expensive to my mind? I was wondering what it actually is in real life.

Felix

[bolkow]

no idea if its still flying after it went off the UK register, but I'd be mighty surprised if it was not.Most of the bolkow fleet in the UK have between 10000 to 20000 airframe hours up now.

[hihover]

Bolkow,

I operated an Alouette II a couple of years ago and if I remember right, the tank held 125 gallons and it burned about 50-55 gallons an hour. Quite a thirsty thing. It was, however, a lovely old machine to fly.