Aberdeen Scotland to Broome Australia

[exlatccatsa]

As I write this GZZSO a Bristows EC225 (ER) is being readied for a marathon ferry trip from Aberdeen To Broome. The first leg to Norwich starts today.
I believe its a minimum of 30 days and 70 hours flying hopefully without problems. Could this be a world record ferry?
http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o187/cmorewood/GZZOSEC225ER.jpg

[kwikenz]

Isnt it only flying under its own steam to Malta and thence via transporter to Aussy to swap out with a 332?

[Fareastdriver]

No. Bristows did it donkey's years ago with a Wessex.

[Heliringer]

That's a long ferry. You would want to have a good book with you!

[topendtorque]

I tell you what, the crew have my admiration. Koepang to Broome in mid winter, possibly facing a stiff sou-easter. no nav-aids of much consequence other than NDB's.
and then they tool of another couple of hundred nautical down to karratha which back then should have meant a medal to even go there.

[P2bleed]

Possibly a record where one Oz pilot flew a W60 from Oz to Redhill (UK) and returned in a S61 from Aberdeen to Karratha. :ok:

[AdamFrisch]

30 days for 70hrs of flying time... What on earth - 2 hours of flying each day and then 10 hours tea break?

At least 6-8hrs should be well within the realm of possibilities to do daily.

[Bootneck]

Or the ferry pilot who turned up in Miri with a Puma claiming to have saved the company loads by staying at basic hotels, pushing on in order to complete in 10 days etc etc. Brurry iriot.

[Troglodita]

Dear Adam,

Between Blighty and Down Under (and let's not forget Africa!) ther are lots of Countries inhabited by poor people who have never heard of Political Correctness or the USA SEC or Codes of Business Integrity. They work at Airports for Immigration, Customs, ATC Clearances, Fire Services, Air Traffic Controllers etc. for a very small salary. They don't have very much in life in the way of material things but they do have POWER!
They decide when you can leave!

If your Company fills your pockets with non accountable used notes, it can be possible to achieve the 6 - 8 hours a day as you speculate by "taking care" of all these people but even in the halcyon days when this was the norm, it still wasn't unusual to get "trapped in Tamanrasset" or "banged up in Bombay" until your onward clearance was miraculously "found" or the Fire Service decided that they would work on the Public Holiday tomorrow (declared by them!) if you paid their overtime.

Amazingly very few Helicopters seem to go U/S in these awful places - that always seems to happen in Bangkok or Bali.

I would agree that 30 days seems a bit excessive but we must remember that these North Sea boys will need lots of OFF days if not a small leave if they are to remain compliant with CAP 437 :yuk:

[Troglodita]

Well said!

If the hotel didn't have five stars it wasn't good enough for a Bristow Ferry Pilot on his £7.75 a day Ferry Allowance (Why did the Engineers get £15.50?)

A ex Cavalry Chap did similar cheapskate deal on a run to Nigeria but he was too dim to suss out that by not "dashing" all and sundry en route he took 18 days rather than the normal 6 or 7 and the Company lost 11 plus days of Helicopter day rates as a consequence.

another Brurry Iriot!

[Senior Pilot]

Dave Whyte and Peter Manketelow took an S61 from Exmouth to Shannon in 11 days (including a day off) and 105 flying hours. Post #25, (http://www.pprune.org/forums/rotorheads/73949-whats-longest-distance-youve-flown-2.html) why would Bristow be planning 30 days for a faster aircraft, much the same distance :confused:

[biggles99]

Did this in 1999 in a R44.

No ground support.

4 hours over the Timor Sea was very soul searching, especially as our ferry tanks weren't working so well.......

Pretty sure I was the first person to do this in a single piston heli or even any single engine heli?

Big Ls.

[Bootneck]

Good try Biggles. :E:D

90/816 Aircraft, full-size, helicopter, Bell 206B Jetranger III, "Dick Smith Australian Explorer", VH-DIK, Dick Smith, USA/Australia, 1982, S/N 3653 - Powerhouse Museum Collection (http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/collection/database/?irn=110000)

[exlatccatsa]

Just found this on the Scotavnets website today.

Not long departed from Aberdeen to Malta is EC225LP G-ZZSO, although I do not know what route is being taken. It is going to Malta
to meet a Belfast which will then take it the rest of the way to Australia. For those with Mode S it is using Hex code 405B98

[Bravo73]

Just found this on the Scotavnets website today.

Not long departed from Aberdeen to Malta is EC225LP G-ZZSO, although I do not know what route is being taken. It is going to Malta to meet a Belfast which will then take it the rest of the way to Australia.

What, one of these? :eek:

http://img6.travelblog.org/Photos/46288/251616/f/2038124-Shorts-Belfast-0.jpg


Are any of them still flying? :confused:

[biggles99]

ahh, Bootneck.

i'll settle for first piston then.

one question: do you know whether Dick started in the UK, ended in Oz, and flew only in this JR between start and finish? I had heard he did it in stages, with flights home to Oz in a more normal mode at various times?

Big Ls

[Lt.Fubar]

Wouldn't it be cheaper and faster to put it on a ship ?

[OzPax1]

Bravo73...check this link mate....HeavyLift Cargo Airlines (http://www.heavyliftcargo.com/Bcaps.htm)

:ok:

[zalt]

What is the coffin / surf board lump on G-ZZSO RHS under the logo?

[SASless]

Single Piston?

Sounds like a clunky sort of thing to me!

Some shrimp boats I sail about have those kinds of engines...."ka thunka....ka thunka....ka thunka...ka thunka". Granted their single piston looks like a thirty gallon oil drum.

[Bravo73]

Bravo73...check this link mate....HeavyLift Cargo Airlines (http://www.heavyliftcargo.com/Bcaps.htm)

:ok:

Well, I never. Blow me down with a feather. :O "Every day's a training day."


But, wouldn't it be quicker to break it down and transport it on the back of 1000 camels? :E (Although, of course, they might struggle to get off Malta...)

[Fareastdriver]

What is the coffin / surf board lump on G-ZZSO RHS under the logo?

The lump underneath the front logo is the starboard cheek tank. Under the rear logo is the baggage compartment.

[P2bleed]

And at the front Pod Tanks to increase the range with another 1000Lbs of fuel.

[T4 Risen]

ferry tanks...

[sycamore]

Any bets it`ll still take 30 days in the Belslow?

[nicknorman]

Just back from the G-ZZSO trip to Malta. I can confirm that its not planned to send it any further under its own steam, and already the blades, MGB and tailboom are off. I just hope it will fit into the Belfast!

We had a good trip but a slight problem going over the Alps - at 7000' QNH with jagged rocks just beneath, we got a GOV caption with loss of torque indication on eng #1. On Steve's suggestion we diverted to Marignane (30 mins away) to get them to fix it. Eurocopter are not used to having their customers dropping in for running repairs but to their credit, the paperwork issues were overcome and (after an EC lunch) we made it to Malta that night. IFR from Olbia (Sardinia) at FL100 at 150kts TAS, not bad!

We had to stay a day in Malta to move the aircraft off-airfield to the maintenance facility, 5 mins away, then a very pleasant afternoon aboard a yacht - thankyou Vince and Deborah. Its a hard life being a pilot...

Nick

[AndyJB32]

Back in about 2002-ish, one of Scotias L2's (i think G-PUMO), was to be used by a Brazilian company for some work there. For reasons that i can't remember now, it had to be registered as a Canadian aircraft, so 3 extremely lucky guys got to meet it out in eastern Canada (after the L2 had been shipped from Liverpool to Canada), do some air testing in Canada, before flying it down the eastern side of the American continent to Brazil. I'm friends with the engineer who went with them, and he kept a video diary for his daughter to see when he got back. All i can say is i'm normally not the jealous type, but having seen his video...........if only it had been me going as one of the ferry pilots! If i remember correctly i think they seem to have had been carrying a couple of snags that had to get fixed along the way, and the Caribbean Islands seemed a good place to have a few days to make these "essential" repairs!:D

[Wizzard]

Back in about 2002-ish, one of Scotias L2's (i think G-PUMO), was to be used by a Brazilian company for some work there

Hi Andy, it was G-MM and 2004 - stay on the bike mate!

Wiz

[Heli-Ice]

SASless

Now I can only picture you as a bearded captain at the Bubba Gump Shrimping Company :}

The single piston thing brought a story to mind.

A guy I heard of some yrs ago here in Iceland had a broken down lawnmover. He called a company that fixes these kind of machines and the clerk asked our friend what kind of engine the mover had, is it a two-stroke or a four-stroke?... well, he said, it has a single piston so it must be a single stroke engine.... :ok:

[AndyJB32]

Hi wiz, well remembered. Is MM in Brazil permenently now? I seem to remember it was on as a contract aircraft originally, but now may have been sold. Shame there was never a ferry flight back for another group to enjoy. I'm still waiting with baited breath for a desperate need for more S76's to be ferried out to Thailand - then again i guess there will be a fairly long queue for that.

As for the bike........i've decided the safest way to avoid suicidal elderly drivers is to give up and buy an estate car (sad i know!)

Cheers, andy

[Brilliant Stuff]

Bloody hell Andy, now that is too sensical. I remmeber you trying to doa test ride of a new bike in Blackpool but an estate????

All the best mate.

[bokaau]

heard it arrived in Broome today

[exlatccatsa]

Here she is.. pic on this thread
http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/191379-ec225-9.html

[Inverted81]

Hi All,

I trust you all had a good christmas! Spoke to an unusual callsign on Anglia radar this morning VH-ZFC, an EC225 routing from EGPD to EGSH. With the reg and the accent from one of the crew.... can i assume its heading down under??? :cool: :rolleyes:

81

[he1iaviator]

I believe you are correct. The second Bristow 225 heading for Oz after painting and mods in Aberdeen.

[exlatccatsa]

The next one is on its way VHZFC ex GZZSP left Aberdeen in the 27th Dec For Broome via Norwich and Tel Aviv, I believe, where the Belfast should reappear to transport it onward.

[Sandy Toad]

I thought it was arriving Dubai on 2nd to be Belfasted?? :confused:

[ecureilx]

I last heard that the Belfasts of Heavylift are registered in Philippines Registry.

Is that why they have to meet half-way, away from EU skies ?

And wouldn't an IL 76 be cheaper and easier to charter ? Is the volume of Belfast larger ?

Thanks.

PS: Sorry if this is considered a thread drift.