PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Overkill at the Olympic Games
View Single Post
Old 28th Oct 2008, 06:23
  #30 (permalink)  
Runway101
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: airport
Posts: 343
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Here is another bit of info what exactly happened during that helicopter operation at the Olympics 2008 for those who are interested. I found this hands-on report in the newsletter of the Hong Kong Aviation Club. One of their members worked in Beijing on the helicopters.

Note: I am just the one who is posting it, I am not affiliated to the person or her views etc.

Here is the PDF:
http://www.hkaviationclub.com.hk/doc...008.pdf#page=4


Beijing Olympic Experience 2008
by Teresa Wong

As a Chinese, a Hong Kong Chinese, it is my honor for being able to serve in the first Chinese Olympic. As a PPL, helicopter pilot, this is a wonderful experience in my life to work with the Chinese Air Force and the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Team.

I was first informed that the job would last for about one month, it would be very tough and very stressful to deal with a lot of multitasking, not only aerial instant interpretation, but also the daily schedule arrangement to coordinate the Air Force’s pilots and their logistic support, a team of interpreters who are professional airline pilots, as well as aerial shooting camera professionals. I said no problem, because I have been managing the most demanding and tough CEO for 22 years, my husband! Before I went to Beijing, I had to prepare myself to fit in that post, including improving my mandarin skill as I am not a professional interpreter, I have to familiarize with the Beijing map in details and the bearings of the new stadiums as well as the military air base. I bought a book with the helicopter’s jargons in Chinese. I have to memorize all the names of the contact persons coming from all over the world, including French, German, Chinese, Canadian and American. Many friends asked me how I got this honorable job, this is because I have a friend knowing BOB.

On 27 JUL 08, about 1100hrs, right after landing Beijing, I rushed to the headquarters of BOB (Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Team). It was the exclusive team for broadcasting the event to the world. It had the ground team with cars, motor bikes and the helicopter team for aerial camera shooting which I worked with.

The first 7 days planned as rig days which were for installing the camera head and radio transmission systems for 6 helicopters. It was unexpectedly tough because the hangar was huge and the weather was hot and dry. I always felt thirsty no matter how many bottles I drank. My workload should have been supported by another 4 persons but I was alone for everything. I was totally exhausted everyday, but I still felt good. It was until when the team arrived I felt relieved. Thereafter I collapsed and had a fever for two days.

In one occasion, I was asked by the Air Force Company Commander why I worked so hard in the Olympic, away from my family and stayed there for a month. I said, because I am a Chinese, and this is my honor to serve my country! He was very impressed and even invited me to join the Communist’s Party!

All helicopters were made in China, 20 plus years old, same as those used in Shek Kong. For aerial shooting, we had to fly very close to the trees, the wires, the poles, the barricades under poor weather condition. We always applied radical steep turns to rush for the best position because there was no “taketwo”,

All air force pilots were young, quite handsome! They were temporarily transferred from Bao Din Airbase, where the best fighter pilots are retained to protect the capital city of China. When flying, they switched on as if in the war zone, they were under stress because they did not want to fail the expectation of the nation. They were well cooperative to the demand we made and made sure that the flying position created the best angles for aerial camera shooting.

For operating 6 helicopters, there were 60 crew members including the Chief, pilots, maintenance team, gatekeepers, control tower and the security team. Apart from BOB’s helicopters, they also have to take care of CCTV’s helicopters, which has long hour of shooting and more frequent sorties for Olympic. They took the shooting from early morning to midnight, not only covering the games, but also for the subsequent documentary. The locals said they were capturing the historical record for the whole nation, so they would do as much as they can. In an occasion, we had to ask the tower to force them to land before we can take off because they were just hanging around our flying route.

I was an interpreter between the pilot and camera operator. BOB employed a French company to set up the transmission system as well as the intercom system in the cockpit. Unluckily, it was not function well as planned. For all the interpreters on board, we have to wear 3 sets of hearing devices. First one was an earpiece for listening to the camera operator only. The second one was a headset hung around the neck for using its speaker to communicate with the camera operator. The third one was the old style headset for communicating with the flying crews. It was an unpleasant experience to hear many voices speaking at the same time, different languages at one moment, and choosing the correct language to answer the right persons, one by one.

Moreover, most of the time, we were very busy for the operating tasks, communicating and identifying for the leading racers, giving out instruction to the pilot. We had to find the most suitable route for tracking the racers, without disturbing the competition and compromise the safety issues. There was no retake, no waiting. To respond immediately was the most important element because the helicopter can’t be flying too slowly or it needed time to go around to the right position again when one shot was over. Each helicopter carried 6 people on board including pilot, copilot, mechanic, camera man, radio transmission technician and interpreter. We didn’t have much cockpit space, worse than any economy class in the world. Sometimes, we had to be on board over 3 hours of flying. Everyone on board was exhausted.

During the game time, we woke up at 0400hrs and arrived to airbase at 0530hrs. We even could enjoy the moment of sun rising and fresh air with a thin layer of fog subside. We usually finished the work by 2200hrs, and after the dinner, I needed to prepare works for the next day. All our land traveling was provided by Beijing Olympic, we had the privilege to keep away from congestion, as our vehicles could use “Olympic special motor lanes”. We could go into any stadiums, free of charge, and get the best viewing seats, as our leisure after works.

The whole 4 weeks in Beijing, I was inspired by the Chinese’s team work, making that first class Olympic in terms of the organizing power of the whole nation, the manpower and also the money power. The attention to details in every segment was well planned and prepared. As a company director and a mother of two kids, I could see that in the coming decades, there would be a lot of opportunities in China.
Runway101 is offline