Pilot in the (bird) ****e - Big Time

[Ned-Air2Air]

Mercury Island landing a ‘catastrophe’
By: ADAM HARTMAN

THE landing attempts of a Kenyan-registered helicopter on Mercury Island off the coast of Lüderitz was described by the Namibian Coast Conservation Management Project (NACOMA) as the “most important catastrophe for coastal biodiversity in decades”.

The project released a press statement on Friday in which more light was shed on the damage caused by the helicopter sight-seeing tour on April 22 at Mercury Island in the Spencer Bay area.

Hundred of nests of the most endangered seabirds – Bank Cormorant, African Penguin and Cape Gannet – were destroyed.
This amounted to the killing of around 600 incubated eggs and chicks. All three species are only found in this region and are at risk of extinction, according to the statement.

Mercury Island is Namibia’s most important seabird-breeding site for and home to nearly three quarters of the world population of the endangered Bank Cormorant and the largest Namibian colony of African Penguins.
“[The incident] highlights the dangers that fly-in tourism (and low flying in particular) can cause to our environment and biodiversity,” the statement read.

“While aerial tourism has greatly developed in recent years in Namibia and along our coast in particular, … this disaster shows that misbehaving pilots can cause very severe environmental damage indeed, hence the need for strict regulations of this activity over sensitive and protected areas.”

Helicopter pilot Ben Simpson, working for Tropic Air in Kenya, Namibian tour guide Andre Schoeman and three tourists were said to be participants in low flying over the Namib-Naukluft National Park and the Namibian Islands Marine Protected Area (NIMPA), before attempting to land twice on the island and finally landed in the vicinity of the seal colony near the wreck of the Otavi inside the National Park.

According to the statement, the pilot’s actions were in blatant disregard of several regulations of the Directorate of Civil Aviation, the Nature Conservation Ordinance and the Marine Resources Act.

The Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Bernhard Esau, last week told The Namibian that all the ministries of Transport, Environment and Fisheries were working together in compiling a final report that would pave the way for possible legal action.

The incident has attracted much criticism, with some calling for those responsible to be sued, and the income used for the rehabilitation of the area.

[farmpilot]

There are two sides to every story.

[Senior Pilot]

One newspaper article is quoted, relying on a report from what is likely to be a biased party. The location (Mercury Island) is neither a National Park, nor is it shown as a bird sanctuary or as a Restricted Area on local charts.

I suspect that the pilot's side of the issue may shed a significantly different light on the incident. Until we hear from him, or a report from an independent authority, I suggest the dramatic knee jerk reactions be tempered with a bit of common-sense and patience.

[SilsoeSid]

So why isn't this sort of thing looked at as part of the evolutionary process
Taking the story on the initial post, it's not much different to the actions of cuckoos for example.

But as always, there will be a different side to this.
When I read the statement;
All three species are only found in this region and are at risk of extinction
I know we are being Greenwashed!

[topendtorque]

I know we are being Greenwashed!


Like that, I'll give that some currency for sure. :ok:


So why isn't this sort of thing looked at as part of the evolutionary process



Thinking, evolutionary, Darwinian etc, why not send the whole operation to do tourist work on the OZ northern rivers, and secluded coastal billabongs, catching Barrramundi for example.

Before long they would be croc bait and just another front page item on the NT News along with other skinny dippers jumping on croc cages, other yobbos swimming beside the large reptiles etc.

Besides the biggest chopper that the crocs have snapped with their choppers has been a skinny little R22. It would make real big headlines if'n they could be seen to be chewing on a real 'chopper'.:{

heh heh.
cheers tet

[chopper2004]

Silly question, forgive me for not realising the obvious, how did the nests get destoyed by the pilot? Unless there was a group of nests with chicks/eggs got blwon away by his downwash? Or crushed by the landing?
IMHO, looks like the authorities are over reacting.....but as most folks have stated wait until we hear the pilot's version of the story.

[Aubrey.]

I know that sometimes when distressed by loud noises etc, some birds can destroy their eggs, perhaps that's what did it. I'm interested to know what the pilot has to say though, we cannot judge until we've heard his side of things.

[Nubian]

The pilot's version from elsewhere:

Re: Rogue Helicopter
It has come to my attention that there is a growing online media storm surrounding the Mercury Island incident.

I'm Ben Simpson, the pilot of 5Y-BXE and I submit this report to add the human story behind the event.

Before I begin, I'd like to point out that during the flight planning stage sometime before this flight took place, I enlisted a local pilot/guide to accompany us throughout our safari in Namibia, as the country is new ground to me.

On the 20th April we set off from Wolvedans to explore the southern coast with a focus on finding interesting wrecks and whale skeletons.
As we neared Mercury Island my guide suggested crossing the water ad landing there - myself and my clients were interested so we flew to north end of the island. There's a building on that end and a guy appeared from the building and waved to us in friendly way. At this point our guide suggested we land. We thought it might be fun to offer the island man a cup of tea and find out what he was doing there. As I got in to the hover behind the spot, I realised there were some cormorants and a few penguins in the LZ, so I aborted after approx 10 seconds of hover flight and proceeded across the water to land at the beach opposite where there is an interesting wreck. Fully aware of the seals, I approached from the south and landed 300 meters away without a spooking a single seal into the water.

On landing in Luderitz an hour or so later, a live phone was handed to me and I was reprimanded by a researcher from the department of fisheries. I made my sincere apologies and explained as best I could how the error of judgement was made. I also offered to donate funds to the islands conservation project to do what little we could to right the alleged destruction caused. Needless to say I was shocked that the short hover could do the damage reported. I made clear that we weren't a bunch of hooligans tearing up Namibia for our own pleasure. In fact the week prior we donated 5 hours of heli time to Save the Rhino for their conservation efforts in Damara Land. The guy I spoke to was actually very good about it all, though did say he wanted to raise awareness among pilots and would contact the DCA. I gave him my reg and name as I'm not one to hide, and endeavor to face the consequences - after all despite "expert" guiding the responsibility does lie with me.

It actually turns out the island is not gazetted a "bird sanctuary" and in fact is not a proclaimed a National Park, which explains the lack of prohibited area markings on the chart.

Incidentally, the question about "what is a Kenya registered helicopter doing in Namibia", no less than any other South African operator, of which there are many, anywhere in Africa.

I just want to end this by saying - I am hugely involved with conservation in East Africa, much of my work is within sensitive areas and I do my best to avoid negatively influencing animal behavior or indeed destroying it. I'm mortified over the incident and only hope this will not prevent other operators from undertaking helicopter trips of a similar nature . My apologies to all rotor heads - as you know you don't always make friends flying helicopters in remote parts of Africa.

And finally be sure to give Mercury Island and all seal colonies in Namibia a wide berth!

Sincerely,

Ben Simpson

The are always 2 sides to a story........... at least!

Cheers

[TorqueOfTheDevil]

how did the nests get destoyed by the pilot?


Sometimes the birds can get so scared that they simply flee the breeding site never to return, leaving the eggs/chicks to die. There is presumably a chance that the adult birds will survive to breed again next year.

What I find surprising is that the birds are nesting at this time of year - surely it's autumn in the southern hemisphere?

[Senior Pilot]

Mercury Island breeding season for cormorants (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5X-3WGXN9H-6&_user=10&_coverDate=01%2F31%2F1999&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1333225661&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=1f019e1c8daf3a9b550801411532888c) is November to April. Penguin peak season is January.

There is also a report available at Africa Geographic (http://www.africageographic.com/newsroom/index.php/2010/05/06/mercury-island-helicopter-incident-feedback/) along the lines of Nubian's post:

Mercury Island helicopter incident – feedback

http://www.africageographic.com/newsroom_image/mercury1.jpg

Africa Geographic has been following up on reports that a helicopter landed on Namibia’s Mercury Island, an important nesting site for cormorants, gannets and penguins, causing severe damage. Simon Espley, Africa Geographic director, reports on his latest findings.

I had a lengthy telephone discussion with Ben Simpson, the pilot of the helicopter. The purpose of my call to him was to obtain the human story behind the growing online social media chatter and legal posturing going on behind the scenes. This is a summary of Ben’s explanation. Ben was unknown to me prior to this phone call and I do not offer an opinion on this version of events. I will say however that I found Ben to be a sincere man who spoke candidly with me.

The first point to note is that Ben accepts responsibility for what happened. He is gutted and remorseful. Ben is from Kenya and although he is a very experienced bush pilot he does not have detailed knowledge of Namibian conditions. For this reason he hired a local guide to accompany him and his guests. The guide suggested to Ben that he land on the island. After crossing the water and hovering for 5-10 seconds he realised that he could not land (because he had noticed all of the birds underneath them) and so he flew back to the mainland. He did not touch down on the island and is confused how 300 nests could have been destroyed by his actions. On the mainland he landed after making sure that no seal colonies would be affected *or* stressed out. He and his party then walked along the beach and visited the ship wreck. Again he is confused about reports that the seal colony was negatively affected by his actions.

He and his company do extensive flying for various conservation projects around Africa – they are experienced pilots who understand the implications of what they do. They often operate in very trying circumstances during their conservation work and have plenty of experience in manoeuvring the helicopters with wildlife in the area.

I am left with the feeling that Ben made a terrible mistake and is now very remorseful about the implications of his actions for the wildlife. He has offered to make good and has opened dialogue with the necessary authorities in this regard. I suspect that he and his company will be dragged through the legal implications of this unfortunate event, and so it should be. Hopefully at the end of this the bird colony of Mercury Island can somehow benefit?

Simon Espley, Africa Geographic director

[CYHeli]

Well done Ben in the mature and responsible way that you have handled this.
I take my hat off to you.

It takes a brave man to stand up and do this. I hope the authorities go easy on you.:ok:

[delta3]

Having flown across Namibia myself just recently, I was warned several times of the sensitivity of low flying in areas that are not formally marked as Park or Prohibited, and were operators made agreements with land owners and/or the government about conduct, something that is as far as I am aware of not published for "outsiders".

Examples are even found north of Wolvedans, and of course around the Rhino's in Damara. Namibia has a long tradition of using small planes with something like 200 strips, but heli's are still kind of new.

Let us hope that common sense is used. From what I read the Pilot already displayed a lot of common sense and responsibility.

d3

[delta3]

Just thought it is funny to see this post from the African Aviation thread

"C210 clips its wing doing low-level!!!!??? (http://www.pprune.org/african-aviation/414077-c210-clips-its-wing-doing-low-level.html)

Jeepers!!! I heard a 210 clipped its wing doing low level from WE to SM!!?? Apparently the pilot walked away with only a cracked ego and a busted wing tip!!!??? Any info on this!!!??? (And this shortly after the Sefo 210 broke up in mid-flight) Crrrraaaaazy!

WE = Windhoek Eros,
SM = Swakopmund

To put things in perspective...

[DBChopper]

I suspect that he and his company will be dragged through the legal implications of this unfortunate event, and so it should be.

"And so it should be?" :ugh:

It does make one wonder what the writer expects. To praise the pilot's sincerity, candidness, experience and feelings of remorse (all the writer's own words) and then immediately apparently condone legal action despite Ben's indication of his intention to offer funds to the conservation project and his complete admission of an honest mistake does leave you thinking, what more can he do? How will legal action benefit any person or the wildlife?

[SilsoeSid]

Good job a $$££ human ££$$ caused this incident, what on Earth would they do if 'the damage' was done by seals or other such preditors...or even by disease!

In 1979, this disease caused the deaths of about
5000 Cape Cormorant Phalacrocorax capensis chicks and 100
Bank Cormorant P. neglectus chicks at Mercury Island, Namibia

http://www.marineornithology.org/PDF/37_3/37_3_193-196.pdf


If I may be allowed to refer to the first post in this thread;

Hundred of nests of the most endangered seabirds – Bank Cormorant, African Penguin and Cape Gannet – were destroyed. This amounted to the killing of around 600 incubated eggs and chicks.

It's the old human/nature 'who does the most damage' argument again, only nature isn't much of a $$££ giver in the courts!



p.s. Don't miss the bit in the article that mentions that increased scientific research leads to the introduction of disease to remote locations.

[Coconutty]

Can someone elighten me - What has the pilot ( Ben ) actually done wrong here ?

What rules / regulations / laws have been broken if the place is NOT a National Park or Protected Area, and it is not marked on official charts as an "avoid" area ?

What, precisely, are the "legal implications" that he and his company might be dragged through ??

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/coconut11/Coconutty.jpg

[Tarq57]

Can someone elighten me - What has the pilot ( Ben ) actually done wrong here ?

What rules / regulations / laws have been broken if the place is NOT a National Park or Protected Area, and it is not marked on official charts as an "avoid" area ?

What, precisely, are the "legal implications" that he and his company might be dragged through ??

+1.
If you don't want people flying through a "protected" area, how about informing them via the approved channels/legal process of the areas' status.

Sounds almost "scammish" on the part of the authorities, this sort of bluster. (They wouldn't do that, would they?)

[extreme 500]

Can someone pick out the site he was going to land on at Mercury Island??? Without the aid of Sir Chris Bonington? It looks about as welcoming as to land on as an Iceberg. :eek:

[rotorrookie]

Can someone pick out the site he was going to land on at Mercury Island??? Without the aid of Sir Chris Bonington? It looks about as welcoming as to land on as an Iceberg.

Icebergs are actually far better spots to land at.
http://www.bluetonguehelicopters.com.au/pprune/ib2.jpg

I find it very hard to believe that he could have made such impact on the birds and the nesting grounds by " hovering for 5-10 seconds" like pilot states
but like described in the arcticle it is “the most important catastrophe for coastal biodiversity in decades” sounds like bit drama or hysteria to me, there must been something more to it. It is just always easy to blaim it on the pilot or the helicopter, this is just same story everywhere with this environment hysteric people, you cannot or may not do/go nowhere by any means of motor driven transportation, only right way to travel is by foot, I call em Goretex-Fascists

I landed (with permit) in middle of protected gannet nesting ground on a reseach mission on the rock Eldey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldey), just approach slowly and the birds did not move at all, eventually they had to be pushed out the way with the skids, same story when filming for the film "Home" we where circling the island for an hour very close, the gannet was not bothered by us at all.


http://www.gannetlive.com/webcam from that rock

[Hell pirate]

Ben well done. (re your response were ever that came from ! )
You probably did flatten a few nests and up set a few birds. But if there is any blame to lay, it will be on your guide. He was guiding you and the clients through Namibia.
You say you did a flight plan so you would of seen the restricted area's. Diamond area 1-2. National Parks. Air law along the Namibian coast while flying 500 feet and below. There is only one thing to watch out for and that is kite fisher man (fish flying). Its one of the commercial air law questions. The rest are requests to the general aviation community. Which most respect and adhere to these rules.
Stand up to these people in Namibia as they are people that have there own ad-genders. Each one of these so called PROJECTS.. is funded by overseas people who donate funds to there Trusts. Now don't get me wrong here, there is some very good work done by a small hand full of these so called trusts. 90% of these trusts are run by Namibians for there own financial gain. Go check them out in Swakopmund and the rest of Namibia. New houses and Game farms, 4x4's, boats and holidays to go and retrieve these funds.
Namibian Coast Conservation Management Project (NACOMA) Being one of them.
One of the biggest things here is your so called brothers/companies ( their being only one. The rest are pilot /owners) who fly in Namibia. (Helicopters) They just hate seeing a machine registered from another country. Yes very talkative when you meet over a beer or 2 but once your off the deck you have probably felt an itch or 2 in your back. And if you didn't speak Africaans well...
I very much doubt anything will come of this as the DCA is in turmoil. What with one of the ICAO people helping out their was sacked.

My 10 cents worth.

[ricksheli]

Heli Pirate, well done for putting the other side of the story out there.:ok:

Ben, your response to this has been very professional, I wish you all the best for a sensible outcome to this, give my regards to Jamie and Philippa. Miss my African flying, but not the politics.

[fly911]

CLICK BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO v
Helicopter reportedly disturbs nesting seabirds at Shell Key Preserve | Tampa Bay, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota | WTSP.com 10 Connects (http://www.wtsp.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=134595&catid=8)


Pinellas County, Florida - Environmental activists worked hard to transform Shell Key (http://www.pinellascounty.org/Environment/pagesHTML/envlands/el1040.html) from "party central" into a peaceful bird paradise. Much of the barrier island off the Pinellas coast is now preserved for birds.
This is an important nesting time for birds, so a report of a helicopter last week buzzing the birds there is ruffling some feathers. "The county should never do this again," says environmental activist Lorraine Margeson.
Pinellas County did issue a permit for a Sea-Doo commercial to be shot on the public areas of Shell Key, but staff members say use of a helicopter was not included.
Margeson says an eyewitness told her that the chopper was low. "Apparently, this helicopter was so close to the ground that it was kicking up a dust cloud," said Margeson.
And later, a visitor to Shell Key found scattered and broken eggs and just a few black skimmers, where there used to be hundreds nesting. "When the parents leave, there's no protection anymore," said Margeson. "No protection from the sun, no protections from predators."
10 Connects spoke by phone with the helicopter pilot involved Preston Ewen (http://productionhelicopters.com/index.html), but he would not answer many questions. Ewen emphasized that he violated no FAA regulations. However, he admitted to doing a "high hover" over Shell Key for about "five seconds" while he dropped a tape down to production crew members.
But even with no helicopter, Margeson says Shell Key is no place for a busy commercial production.
"There is no reason for these people to be on that island," she says. And Margeson says she'll push Pinellas to restrict similar activities there in the future.
Pinellas County Assistant Administrator Elithia Stanfield tells 10 Connects that the county is still investigating the complaints. She says the county has also notified the Federal Aviation Authority and the state Department of Environmental Protection.