The police were doing their usual trick of selecting the cheapest option, they changed from Air Gregory at Denham to South Coast based Twyford Moors.... downgrading from 269C to 269B models that were a little challenged in the performance arena. This was a third performance related incident with the same helicopter in a week and it placed the Twyford Moors contract with the Metropolitan Police in jeopardy.
At 0740hrs the Hughes took off from Radlett piloted by John Evans and headed for Battersea Heliport where the helicopter landed normally at 0810hrs. The Hughes took off from Battersea without any problems arising. Unfortunately it had to return to the pad when the observer discovered that the police radio was inoperative. Once landed it was the work of only a few seconds to trace the fault to a loose connector.
As stated the second departure went wrong at 0845hrs.
About 30 yards downstream, 15 yards from the riverbank, G-AXXD hit the water heavily. It was fortunate that the tide was on the ebb. Amid much splintering of parts, the machine came to rest in 2 feet depth of flowing water.
A recovery team was brought in and by 1230hrs on a rising tide the shattered remains of the helicopter were clear of the river. The AAIB decided that AXXD was 50 pounds overweight for the temperature conditions that had crept up as the Hughes sat at Battersea.
So it seems that image of the Wessex was taken some time between 9am and Noon which tends to further suggest the likelihood that it was the h/c used on the Ted Heath flight.
Last edited by PANews; 14th Nov 2012 at 04:51.
Reason: typos corrected