Stace: Well that is remarkable! She will be 44 this year and I had no idea she was still 'active' - wonderful! I would imagine though that she carries very few of her original parts. Is she flying with ADA or some other outfit?
I would be much obliged if you (or indeed anyone) were able to source a photo of her as A7-HAO as it would be most interesting to see her again.
Ciao Dennisimo! Welcome back. Yes I
was going to mention about Gen. Franco .. in fact Albacete became the headquarters for the International Brigades .. Franco's avowed enemies.
Thanks for the details on BEYA and the 500's. Most interesting that someone would request a 'downgrade' to a C18. I don't think I could ever convince myself to value economy over power but there we are .. I'm a lover of powerboats and probably viewed by most of my friends as something of a 'petrolhead'!
Never realised that HSKY had a mid-air! I think it was from a fellow Rotorhead (probably 500 Fan) that I learned about the rear passenger skylights being wider on the Cayuse than on the civilian 'C' models and which begs the question .. was HSKY ex-mil? Will keep a look out for G-HUKA.
Along with the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee this is also a big 'round numbers' year for you Dennisimo! All the best and keep going strong.
Adrian, Its a brilliant shot!
Seeing as P6 Driver has said he can "never get enough" of the Blue Eagles Siouxs may I suggest that, whenever possible, you post some more images and which I am sure we shall all thoroughly enjoy!
RAF Gazelle ZB628
On the 9th September 1993 an RAF Westland Gazelle SA341D HT3 ZB628 was one member of a three-ship flight which departed Frosinone in Italy bound for RAF Strawberry (aka Shawbury) in the UK.
While flying off the coast of Imperia the flight encountered a severe 'tropical' rainstorm forcing two of the Gazelles to a beach near Cannes. ZB628 did not make it to shore but instead struck the sea and sank. Her crew and passenger survived and were promptly rescued by the Italian coastguard.
An excerpt from the
Accident Report reads:
The Board of Inquiry determined that the accident was caused by the failure of the crew of ZB628 to notice an inadvertent loss of speed and height in time to prevent the aircraft from striking the sea. Contributing factors identified by the Board included: the bad weather conditions, lack of windscreen wipers, the limitations of the low height warning system connected to the Radar Altimeter; the lack of formal guidance on crew management procedures for operation of Gazelle aircraft with two qualified pilots; and, the failure of the crews to reduce the spacing between aircraft in the formation on encountering bad weather.
On this latter point I must say that I am in sympathy with the RAF crews inasmuch as I was taught the opposite .. that upon encountering reduced visibility for formation would become 'loose' or indeed break-up.
When serving a 3 year contract in Africa for the UN (mid-80's) we would regularly fly in formation (as opposed to in company) mainly to get in the practice. Our Lead Pilot always gave the brief that if visibility deteriorated he would give the call "formation break" and at which point each aircraft was to peel away in a pre-arranged sequence according to their position. If we were in a five aircraft form (and this was mixed helicopter and fixed-wing) the two outermost craft would break to the side while the next two would initially break vertically (according to the available space depending on the weather) and then to the side and the centre craft would remain on heading.
Back to 628's accident; foul weather over the sea is a horrid experience and one would do well to take measures to avoid such encounters. As written a while back .. when a driver reaches that point in his/her career where they decide to put their foot down with regard to flirting with marginal weather .. life becomes much easier - and safer.
Reading between the lines of 628's accident report I am surmising that there might have been a bit of a 'fight' between the two drivers aboard and which, again, does not help!
Westland SA341D Gazelle HT3 ZB628 at Middle Wallop on 5th July 1984 (Photo: Don Hewins)
There appears to be a Manfred Mann 206 in the background of the above photo and so I shall ask 'The Don' whether, perchance, he managed to capture this as it would doubtless make a nice addition to the Mann Thread.
In 1998 a small fishing boat accidentally hooked ZB628 off the Bordighera coast where it was discovered in a deep ravine. The wreck was then moved to a new location with a depth of 35 meters where it has become a diving attraction.
This is what 628 looks like now:
ZB628 - now a 'diving attraction' off the Ligurian coast in Italy
628's Panel
628's Collective lever
Diving on 628
With special thanks to Gazelle enthusiast Zishelix for suggesting this post and sourcing much of the above material.