Heliday - Weston Super Mare. Should there be more Helidays?

[Tony Chambers]

Unfortunately i did not attend the heliday in weston but by all accounts it was a fantastic day. Do you think there should be some more helidays around the country to help promote helicopters both civil and military including the opportunity for private owners to attend and meet up with their helicopters.

[jellycopter]

There's going to be a fly-in at Skegness aerodrome on 21/22 Aug this year. Not on the scale of Helidays but should be worth a look. (It'll be open to planks as well - if that floats your boat). I'll be posting full details in due course when the organiser lets me have them.

J

[whatsarunway]

Any Pics?
What kind of helis were there?

[Pat Malone]

This really was a fantastic day.
While I was there on Saturday afternoon they had to start turning away helicopters because the seafront was full; people were diverted to the Helicopter Museum.
I counted 41 helicopters on the ground at that time, not counting the two Polo 206s that were flat out running joyrides down on the beach.
Types - from memory, obviously all the 22s and 44s, a lot of JetRangers, Gazelles, a Brantly, an Alouette, several Bell 47s, 500s, a 269, a couple of Squirrels, two Bell 412s, one from a German rescue unit, a Lynx, a Chinook from the Netherlands, a German military Bolkow, a Scout, and a few I've forgotten.
The most wonderful thing was the reactions of the people who'd paid their money to go into the helicopter enclosure and see these things close up. (Security was good, too. I didn't see anyone get too close.) They absolutely loved it. I was in a crowd who were watching a Gazelle fire up and take off, and they were thrilled to bits, especially the younger ones.
Who says the public have a problem with helicopters? On this showing, they can't get enough of them. More of this, please... why (when you can stage an F1 show there) should it not be possible to do something similar in central London?

[amanoffewwords]

link with some pics here (http://www.hmfriends.org.uk/hd04gallery.htm)

[Tony Chambers]

shame i missed it i would like to put into action a heliday with plenty of static and flying displays covering civil, private, mil and hems.

[WhirlyGirl Sarah]

Hi everyone!

Just want to say what a fantastic time we had at the HeliDays. It was our first time and we shall certainly be going again. Have LOADS of picures. Check out these links...


http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4286114237


There should most definitely be more Helidays. We were there in an R44 from the Saturday to the Sunday, and it was a truly unforgettable experience. :-)

WhirlyGirl

[ppheli]

Tony, it looks like you are volunteering ;)

[Orange Arm Waver]

It was indeed a brilliant time - I was there working the security at night for the helicopters.
I made it just over 60 helicopters but I know I missed some and those at the museum on the Saturday.
The party was good including the various cultural food and liquid exchanges!!
This was my 7th :confused: I've worked and I've enjoyed every one including last years in the wet.

Thanks to Claire and Co. as always.:ok:

For those interested, present were...

Military:
German: 3x Bo105, 1x CH-53G, 1xUH-1D
Dutch: 1x CH-47, 1x AB412
Belgian: 1x A109
Itallian: 1x AB212, 1x HH-3F
UK: 1x Sioux, 1x Allouette, 1x Griffon, 1x Squirrel and 1x RN Lynx (from HMS Endurance)

Civil types:
R22, R44, B47, B206, Gazelle, Enstrom, Brantly, MD500/H369, H269 that I can remember

[Orange Arm Waver]

Back to your original question as to whether there should be more Helidays; Kemble had one two years ago which was ok and they tried last year to have an airshow in it but most of the military pulled out and it was downgraded to a fly-in and I think I recall it flopped.
IMHO I think there can only be one Helidays - that at Weston. It is a unique event and to try to copy it would not necessarily work as it would be compared to the W-s-M one all the time and may also have a detrimental effect on it too - drop in flying visitors etc.
Just my 2d
OAW

[Banjo]

Got to say I think only one Helidays a year is probably best. The setting is good not being at an airport as it attracts people who otherwise would not attend an airshow type event.

The weather on Sunday could have been better but at least it stayed fairly dry to the end. Thanks to Whirly Girl Sarah for the pictures, I wanted to get a few myself but ended up flying most of the weekend so missed out.....maybe next year.

[Tony Chambers]

thanks for the replys people im not lookin to replace or copy the weston show but it would be nice to get the good old joe public interested in the heli and have a few more shows around the uk.

[RS2]

Weston does provide a unique atmosphere for the gathering of helicopters and I love the event, but this was my first time back for a number of years, and as a keen photographer I found a few things a little frustrating compared to my previous visits.

I havent been to Weston for Helidays for three or four years so these changes may have occured a few years ago.

Since my last visit you are no longer allowed to stay in the fenced area as the helicopters depart. I realise in these days of litigation Im sure its done for safety reasons but literally one side of the fence to the other doesnt seem to make that much difference apart from making it impossible to take shots of the helicopters lifting. I did see some enthusaiasts with ladders, and by the end of the day I could see why, they were resting against the fence with them and shooting over the top of the fence as the aircraft lifted.

Ok Im sure you would suggest that I took my pictures as the helicopters lifted above the fence but then street lighting, etc starts to interfere with the picture and by the time the helicopters are clear of that, you are looking at pretty boring underside shots. Also the uniqueness of the shots at Weston is the fact that they are lifting infront of the buildings / hotels etc.

One possible solution would be to move all the spectators within the enclousre, south of a departing helicopter. This way photographers could still get unobstructed photos but remain away from the aircrafts departing flightpath.

The second thing which was slightly disappointing was the low number of civil movements on the Sunday. Previous recollections had various types coming and going all day, but apart from the Air Ambulance and Police EC135 there seemed to be little in the way of arriving aircraft / swapping airfraft on the Sunday.

Of course my frustration and disappointment at not being able to capture thge pics I had hoped to, was more than made up for by the types on display and the impromptu fly bys on departure. (The BO105s and A109 stole the show, does anyone have video of the A109's final run down the parking area after all the visitors had departed?)
:ooh:

Tony,

In reply to your first question I do think there should be a few more helicopter orientated events.

I thought the gathering at Kemble a few years back was excellent. Run along the lines of a flyin with a few short displays, the visitors park was open to Joe Public (me) for a couple of hours to wander around and take pics before it was once again made sterile to allow the helicopters to depart.

Excellent stuff.

[Orange Arm Waver]

RS2

The change came about, as you rightly guessed, in the last year or two. This year was especially tighter as they had H&S people on site all weekend. The CAA have also been in attendance in the last couple of years too.:(

Sunday was desperatly quiet indeed but I think the weather stopped many people coming by air. Some of the hover taxi-ing on Saturday was hampered by the wind and it was a lot stronger at times during the day on Sunday.:uhoh:

Still a good event:ok:

OAW

[Tony Chambers]

what i would like to see although it would be difficult, but with the right contacts, is the return of the massed approache i flown as a pax in a couple of them at middle wallop and it would be great to see another massed approach some time in the near future.
as for the getting close to the helis to take some photos 'are they for personal or press' use?