Does anybody know if back in the mid eighties there was a gazelle (civilian) on the Irish register. Saw one once with a cameraman perched on the side of it in the Rosslare area filming shots of a house and later at the ligthhouse Tuskar Rock for an advertisement for sandtex, apparently botht he house and lighthouse were a that time recently painted with this substance. Did'nt get close enough to see the registration (whether UK or Irish) but dotn recall ever seeing a gazelle before that point or since. It was dark in colour but a fantastic sight to see as it come down into a hover in a field nearby to take a shoot.

There is no Gazelle listed as ever being on the Irish Register, as far as I can tell. I guess the only Irish Gazelles were those flown by the Irish Air Corps.

Rotorspot is currently showing BO-105CBS EI-LIT as Withdrawn-From-Use.

500 Fan.

thanks for that 500 fan. I guess the gazelle may have been UK machine then. If IH or CHC sell BLD I wonder if their intention is to use LIT or bring it back into service as a back up to ILS. As far as I am aware its only got around 10000 airframe hours, and as it is a stretch bolkopw it would possibly be better as a back up than BLD which was always tight on legroom in the back. My understanding was that a condition of the contract was that a back up machine had to be available in the event or the primary being down for any reason including overhauls but I may be incorrect.
Just checked that site and read LIT is permanently withdrawn? A young airframe hours wise and its a stretch, maybe its just me, I thought they would go on forever.

G-UZEL
 

It was probably G-UZEL, Joe Keelings machine (of Keelings fruit)
Based in Knocksedan from around 1990-94ish
John Tickner(ex Army Air Corps) flew it for him
I got to ride in the back while they did the tracking whilst on school work experience in 93
Nice machine, navy with red stripes
Went on to "star" in an East 17 video

Looked up a pic of that gazelle shane and from the look of it it could well be the one I saw that time. Did'nt know there was one based in Ireland at all apart from the Air Corps machines that 500 fan mentioned, but it sure was a sleek and fast looking piece of kit.

How about exG-WMAN Photo of Aerospatiale SA341G Gazelle, G-WMAN, James Wightman Not in the EI Register, but was there (Ballynahinch) at the time... right?
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Oups, my bad, WMAN wasn't before Aug99 :O

wman was the wrong colours, though I cant be certain of the coulour it was dark.

G-UZEL
 

This video came out just after G-UZEL had left after a good few years in Ireland. G-WMAN came to Ireland more more recently.

Perhaps there were other foreign reg Gazelles in the country before that but I had never heard of any. Anythings possible though.

Enjoy the great video ;)
Best shot of the aircreft is 3 minutes in

"We could do an initial demonstration within 12 months, and within the order of £10 million [$15.8 million],” Howitt said at the Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEi) exhibition in London."

You just know these people are working with government money and don't live in the real world with that sort of number.

What on earth can cost £10 million using an available airframe, which the MOD already have available for sale for around £100k.

I'll do it for £5million, with a guarantee of giving £4million back if it doesn't work. This is after all only a demo version.

And people wonder why the country is bankrupt.

EddieHeli - Don't disagree, but bear in mind the basic platform is only a fraction of overall air vehicle costs. The MQ-8B Fire Scout, based on a $1M S-333, has a unit cost of $9-10M (that's per air vehicle, with three UAVs per system).

To paraphrase Mel Brooks, in the world of UAVs it's good to be the system integrator.

I/C

Gazelle Aircrew Manual
 

i know it has been aired before on the forum some time ago, but does anyone have a copy electronically of a Mk1,2,3 aircrew manual? Am in the process of making an offer for an ex MOD aircraft and need to refresh my memory on a couple of issues....

If you mean the tri-service AP101 aircrew Manual - its available as a CD on ebay for about seven quid.

Thanks, I'll take a look. Last one I looked at was paper only and sold out.

I just searched "gazelle manual" on ebay and found it.

We are the same age - are you also an ex Gazelle driver?

sent you private message if you reply with your details i will email to you

yes, ex RN, CFS(H) last job in the 80's!!

One of yours then fake sea lion

Steve

What are available options after that, in case that helicopter is under EASA Annex II
:E

there is only one option to overhaul it but as it is the astazou 111B which is a yugoslavian licenced engine you proberbly would have to send it to serbia or whatever yugo is known as now

111A,XIV/H goes back to turbomeca agents

but it would be very expensive

Yes indeed - Just sent a PM :ok: