Does anyone do heli tours over lake district?

[manfromuncle]

Does anyone do heli tours over lake district? Any info on operators would be appreciated.

Thanks

[spencer17]

AFAIK not on a regular basis.
I had some nice trips in the Lake District flying for the National Trust doing pathbuilding (flying bags of stones).
Really a beautifull area.

Spencer17

[Barshifter]

You could try Carlisle Flight Training.They operate an R22.Not sure if they have access to anything bigger but may be worth a ring to check,

http://www.carlisle-flight-training.com/

[helicopter-redeye]

Blackpool could be an option as well (not far as the 206 flies).

Also I have heard of people as far away as Gamston doing tour flights to Cumbria.

h-r

[YOP]

Northumbria Helicopters based at Newcastle have done them several times. They've got both R22 and R44. Obviously there's the cost implication of the transit so it all depends where you're wanting to go from.

Just as an aside, if it's a straightforward sightseeing trip you're after then make sure your operator has an AOC. I might be wrong but afaik Carlisle Flight Training are just a training organization.

[JimBall]

I'd like to see an R22 on an AOC.........

[BHenderson]

Jim, the above mentioned company has an R22 on their AOC. If you only need one passenger to fly what's the point of forking out for a turbine!

[the beater]

I'd like to see an R22 on an AOC.........

Is it that unusual?
I know of a few.

[JimBall]

Exercise in cost-benefit ratio. Under the new CAA AOC charges keeping any helicopter on an AOC costs £££££. Depending on the size of your heli fleet, an R22 could cost around £1500 a year.

That's a lot of single-seat passenger revenue.

Of course, if our beloved governing body hadn't given in to the airlines and instilled a "per seat" charge for AOC, we might all be able to run our businesses at a profit. Surpised that there's been no discussion on pprune about these new charges - they will force a lot of small operators out of business.

An operator with 9 small helis on an AOC is facing an annual CAA bill of over £25,000 by April 09.

[YOP]

Jim your figures make scary reading and are correct for 9 single engined helicopters operating on a standard AOC. However, if you have a Restricted A-B AOC then its not quite so bad. Quoting the CAA:

"For the purposes of this charge a Restricted A-B AOC is one which is subject to restrictions which include:

• Day Visual Flight Rules (VFR) only;
• Only single-engine piston aircraft to operate under the AOC;
• All aircraft MTWA on the AOC fleet is less than 2,000 kg;
• A-B operations restricted to points within mainland UK."

If you're flying 206s or single squirrels then this is no use but operating an R44 and R22 fits nicely into this category for the sort of work we do and would replace the ridiculous annual charge of £8900 and £1130 per aircraft with a more manageable charge of £180 per month. Also the current variable charge of £1.03 per hour flown which we pay at the moment seems for some reason to have been withdrawn from 1st April next year. The only thing I can find for variable charges applies to aircraft in excess of 40 tonnes and is the seat/kilometer charge. The paragraph which dealt with aircraft under 40 tonnes has been deleted so we seem to have got out of that one.

Don't get me wrong we still need to generate the single seat passenger revenue to make it all worthwhile and I sympathize with those operators that have to pay the huge fees but at least for the small piston operator we're not out of the market just yet.

[JimBall]

As you have outlined correctly - pistons more manageable and cost-effective. But we all know that having just one turbine on the fleet makes big sense. And there's no gradation for this to happen.

BHAB rolled over and accepted the CAA figures without, it seems, a care for single-engine operators. So - they're losing our subscription for 08.