Happy New Year to all.
Just to put the record straight. Contracts come and go. Yes, some have left North Denes recently. Not surprising when you appreciate how much work was being done out of Denes. That said a lot of profitable ad hoc work is being picked up. Ironically, some of it to support the lost contracts.
North Denes is an unlicensed aerodrome. It has two instrument approaches (for approved operators only) based on the NDB at Denes and the DME at Norwich. The DME at Norwich is associated with the ILS. Denes is aprox 23 miles east of Norwich. Denes is also at Sea level which puts it about 110 ft below the runway at Norwich.
The MDH at Denes is 320ft for runway 27 and 340ft for 09. The ILS DH at Norwich is 200 ft. As the weather for most of the year is similar at both the cloud base makes little difference to the day to day practicalities of operating for one over the other.
Visibility does on the odd day have an effect. Minima for Denes is 1000m Met vis and at Norwich it is 500m RVR for the ILS. But on those odd day when viz hampers recovery to Denes, the crews can use Norwich.
Fog occasionally affects both Airports. Radiation Fog affects Norwich on more days a year than Denes as the coastal effect helps at Denes. Sea fog some times hinders Denes. On some occasions the coastal effect allows Denes to continue when Norwich ops can’t. Swings and roundabouts really.
The upshot of this is that the fact that Denes doesn’t have an ILS of its own is no real operational hindrance. On the very odd occasion it’s needed it’s available at Norwich. Of course the associated costs are only incurred when needed.
Another thing to consider is that Denes crews can also plan to use Norwich as an IFR alternate. Denes is not routinely available to Norwich crews as a weather alternate. This has payload implications for the customers.
And, of course the customer has to pay for the extra 10 minutes each way per flight when operating eastwards out of Norwich.
Many (not all) of the Offshore workers prefer Denes too. The diner is cheaper and they don’t have to compete with fixed wing passengers in the terminal.
Crews can rotors run refuel at Denes not at Norwich. They don’t normally have to wait for a bowser. Denes can be used 24hrs a day, 365 days a year, unlike Norwich. Freight can quickly and easily dropped off for offshore. All still X-rayed of course. All in all less hassle than a ‘real’ airport.
The truth is that the only thing Denes lacks is a hard runway. The main grass strip has “tank matting” underneath it through which the grass grows. It offers a firm and stable surface to reject on to. Rejects are regularly practiced on it. Of course should an aircraft suffer the likes of a tail rotor control problem the runway at Norwich could be used.
ATC operates from Denes Tower from 06.30 to 18.30 seven days a week. Out of hours is Air to Ground from Operations at Denes. Radar sevice is available from Anglia and Norwich.
Contrary to what may seem to be current popular belief the Heliport at North Denes works very well and has done for some 30 years. It has a lot to offer the Offshore companies.
CHC also seem to be spending some cash on it too (new hangar doors on both the old Bristow hangars, new office and training block, new fire truck access roads, improved fencing around the fuel farm etc). Who knows what the future holds. Maybe a differential GPS approach.
It might even make a good East Coast SAR base.
Denes is somewhat unique, in that CHC own the real estate and therfore incur all its fixed costs as well as the variable costs of operating the business. In the future the bean counters may prefer the concept of higher variable costs with minimun fixed costs. By that I mean concentrate on operating helicopters rather than an aerodrome. In which case who knows what the future holds for Denes.
On the other hand CHC may see the fact they own the airfield as a huge advantage and plough even more money and resourses into it. Who knows they may even invite other operators back in, and compete against Norwich.
I guess we will just have to wait and see.