More Summertime ..
Another
Rayner Ranger was the Bell 206 G-BCCZ which joined the 'Reindeer's' fleet in April 1974.
This snippet from Flight International announced that in August 1974 the aircraft was to be engaged in an emergency services trial support operation:
Flight International 8th August 1974
For those who find the print troublesome, the text reads:
Helicopter on London Standby
A Bell JetRanger of Somerton Rayner Helicopters is to be kept at readiness to fly on behalf of the police, fire services and hospitals in the London area during the next three months. The aricraft will land on a barge moored by Kings Reach (immediately in front of the Flight offices) from where it can be positioned quickly to the scene of an emergency. Within two hours of arriving on site on July 31 it has been called upon to carry a seriously ill child to the Great Ormond Street hospital.
The JetRanger has been modified to allow easy loading of two stretchers and will not make any commercial flights from the river pad. Dispensations are normally granted to allow single-engine helicopters to fly over central London in case of emergency when human life is at risk."
Sadly, a year later G-BCCZ ended-up in the drink as per the following additional Flight clipping:
Flight International 14th August 1975
The text reads:
Helicopter Ditching
A JetRanger 1, G-BCCZ, operated by Somerton-Rayner Helicopters ditched in the River Thames on August 5. The aircraft had just taken off from a barge when it appeared to suffer a loss of power as it lifted out of ground effect . The pilot and three passengers were not injured and were quickly rescued from the water by river police.
HOF Comments: This incident points up the inherent safety of riverside helicopter pads in that there was no damage to property. Also, the passengers were uninjured and had time to climb free of the aircraft while it floated; the result might have been different had the aircraft crashed on land. It is to be hoped that the positive lessons of this incident will be learned, bearing in mind the general resistance to helicopters which appears to underlie the thinking of the Greater London Council. Flight is in favour of more trial riverside helipads to allow the helicopter to play its proper role in the London transport plan.
Interestingly Flight records that ..
"the passengers .. had time to climb free of the aircraft while it floated".
G-BCCZ being recovered from the Thames subsequent to its encounter with an episode of "losing power after lifting out of ground effect" in August in 1975 (Photo: Daily Mail archives)
Usually for a passenger to climb free of a 'floating' 206 .. the standby floats must be 'popped' but, in this case (at least to me) "CZ's" floats appear distinctly 'un-popped'!
I cannot find any evidence of an accident report for this incident .. anywhere!
The driver of 'Charlie Zulu' on the day of her swim was a John Thirst - does anyone have any recollections of this chap?