Posted on another forum a while ago....
Day in the life of a loadie at Shawbury in the late '80s....
07:55 Test of station crash alarm wakes you up, rollout of bed into boots and gro-bag placed next to bed, sprint to Sqn Crew Room.
08:00 Morning Prayers, (ops & Met brief)
08:30 check roster and speak to first hop's Captain about flight.
08:45 Briefing with Instructor on flight profile
09:00 over to Station Ops to make map, check Notams, plot route and obtain detailed Met (Captain returns to Mess for light Breakfast)
10:00 Check which aircraft you will be using and go through Form 700 for Green, Amber and Red lines (defects)
11:00 Pre-flight Briefing, I outline route, Initial Points (IPs) and confined areas brief. I also outline aircraft defects
11:30 I go out to the aircraft to start External pre-flight (Captain has coffee and Gauloise)
12:00 Internal Pre-flight and Cabin Prep
12:15 Captain comes out to the aircraft, kicks the tyres and straps in.
12:30 20 mins of pre-start checks, I check that Captain carries out checks correctly, then we light the fires.
13:00 lift off! off we go for a jolly good wheeze around Shropshire, picking up Concrete blocks from one woodland clearing and dropping them in others, I have to talk the captain in and out of the confined areas whilst managing the load
14:00 Land, I stand out the front, whilst the Captain slows the Rotor head, watching that the stops go in.
14:10 Captain returns to the Crewroom for a Coffee and Gauloise, I put the covers on and tidy up the aircraft
14:30 return to Ops to discuss the defects with Ground crew
14:45 Return to Crew room for large Coffee and sandwich...
That about sums it up!