Police helicopter crashes onto Glasgow pub

[Art of flight]

Sycamore,

"AOF/FO2/SS, Anyone care to answer;with 400kg ,was the a/c at MTOW on t/o...?
At the end of the first part of the sortie ,the a/c was within 10 miles of Edinburgh Airport...why not drop in for a top-up rrr/f,5-10 mins,as most of the other tasks seemed to be non-urgent,or casual,would have allowed more free time..

Old Jungly saying, Never pass- up free fuel...."

The reason that police aircraft don't routinely dispatch with fuel to MTOW is for 2 reasons. Firstly, you just never know when with little notice you'll be expected to take something/someone with you on the next task, ie negotiator, dog handler, special branch or just a visitor (police) etc, so many units allow payload capacity to carry one extra pax. The second reason is that this single aircraft is crewed by pilots and TFOs of different weights so the unit management will have decided on a 'standard' fuel load for that unit to allow for the heaviest shift/crew combination. This fuel load can and is adjusted upward according to the situation during the shift and according to the task.

To explain further, the aircraft sits on the pad ready to go at 400kgs fuel, a task is accepted to fly some distance to a missing person search, the crew decide to put in more fuel to MTOW to complete the task. Just as you take off the misper is found, you now have too much weight for the next crew to take the aircraft if another task doesn't come in by the end of the shift and they're not going to be happy, nor is the boss. There is no way to defuel the 135. It's a balancing act as to having the aircraft back to it's 'standard' at the end of the shift or leaving a note explaining why the aircraft in the hangar is over weight for the mornings crew.

Some might suggest taking off anyway and burning the fuel......not a popular way of getting rid of the public purse. As for going in to Edinburgh Airport, I've not checked to see if it was open, or if the police have an account with them. Do they charge a landing fee, and how much more expensive is their fuel. These sound like very petty reasons not to use it, but management will want an explanation as to why you've landed them with a bill if not authorised in advance as part of the 'system' and not in an emergency. You've already seen at least one police pilot explain that he always went back to base for fuel, he didn't say wether he ever had to turn down requests for further tasking because of this.

This taken from a UK website, can't verify its contents, but certainly the police may have a deal to mitigate this cost, but equally may be a reason bosses wouldn't be happy with their pilots dropping in for extra fuel just in case.


“This aerodrome has a serious issue with its landing, security, and handling fees. Expect over £220 in fees for a Cessna 172.
This is an extremely serious issue that needs to be addressed.
The airport bosses must not be allowed to grow fat.
”