While in Hong Kong on behalf of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots I had the opportunity to spend a few hours with the Government Flying Service and came away very impressed.
Government Helipad on Hong Kong island, next to the Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wan Chai
Judge Tudor Owen
Kowloon side in the background
Previously the Royal Hong Kong Auxiliary Air Force, it became the GFS in 1993 and is a department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It provides 24 hour SAR cover over the South China Sea up to 700 nm from Hong Kong (including the HK FIR) although most operations are within 400 nm. The helicopter rescue range is extended by refuelling at oil rigs or floating production storage and offloading vessels. Other ops include medevacs, fire-fighting, police air support, anti-terrorist operations and assisting in missions initiated by the Civil Aviation Department and the Maritime Rescue and Coordination Centre.
The GFS has a fleet of ten aircraft: 3 x AS332 L2 (Super Puma L2), 4 x EC155 B1, 2 x Jetstream 41 and a Zlin 242. The helicopter fleet flies about 5000 hrs per annum and is mainly used for SAR, air ambulance, fire fighting, police air support, lifting loads and internal cargo, airborne monitoring in the event of a nuclear accident and carrying government passengers. The Jetstreams are used for initial search in long range SAR ops, as well as other roles.
Judge Tudor Owen
GFS Headquarters at the south-west corner of Hong Kong International
L - R:
Former RAF pilot Capt Trevor Marshall (Chief Pilot - Training and Standards)
Myself and my partner
Capt Michael Chan (Controller of GFS). Capt Chan was a QFI at CFS while attached to the RAF.
Capt Tony Fung (Our Regional Chairman, a Cathay B777 Training Captain)
Carmen Fung
Capt West Wu (Chief Pilot - Operations)
Capt Emily Wong
Aircrewman Officer Wallace Yuen
Capt Howie Chun
Capt Michael Ng (Jetstream).
Judge Tudor Owen
The GFS is a very impressive organisation and I'm very pleased it accepted an invitation to become one of the affiliated units of the
Honourable Company of Air Pilots.
Does anyone here fly for them?
Or flown for them in the past?
Tudor Owen