Olympic helicopters

[Heliport]

Just passing on some questions ..... Just passed the old Athens airport and could not help noticing that all the rotary aircraft stationed there (there were 12 on the ground when I went past) ready to film the Olympic Games are G-registered.

Is anybody able to throw and light on why this is?

How long does it take to get an AS335/355 from Blighty to Athens?

And how long does it take before your arse stops vibrating when you get out? Can anyone help?

[SASless]

Simple answer....depends upon how much expense money you have to spend.....speed over the ground increases as bosses expense advance decreases.

[John Eacott]

Because the contract to provide aerial filming was won/awarded to a UK company ;)

Jerry Grayson & Helifilms (www.helifilms.com ) have been mastering dealing with the Greek Olympic commitee, various UK operators, and all the camera ball suppliers in the world for the past months from Melbourne. Quite a logistical achievement :ok: :ok:

[delta3]

AS355 between 9:30 and 10:30 depending on conditions and how you cross the Alps, plus 3 stops

[Hedski]

G-HOOT, G-LENI and two of Aeromegas were amongst them. Thats as far as I know. :cool:

[Flying Lawyer]

Pete Barnes is flying a Twin Squirrel with a Wescam.


FL

[SASless]

Is this the legendary Peter "Plod" Barnes of Scatsta fame?

[2Sticks]

I hope the boys out there are getting paid. I know of a consultancy contractor to the Olympics that has pulled out since they were not getting their invoices paid. Trouble is, if you don't get your cash, who do you sue when it's all disbanded - would probably be a bit of a nightmare chasing it!

2Sticks

[sling]

The task is huge and dealing with the Greek Olympic Organising Commitee makes it more so. Jerry Grayson took down 4 twins and 6 singles to cover the Opening and Closing ceremonys, the cycling, sailing and all the down linking for the event. I think the only other helo is dedicated to NBC.

I believe they finalised the contract in late May, early June so a massive logistics effort to get all the equipment together and co ordinate with the Greeks.

Well done to Jerry and the team from Helifilms.

[GroundGirl]

I believe that Cabair have some aircraft there too - G-OHCP was supposed to be headed that way.

In the kids film (with the two MD900's) Pete has a great talking part (dubbed with a wonderful american accent!!) his head was the size of the entire screen - we nearly fell out of our seats laughing. Well done Pete!! I think that he was flying the Blue 900 in the Bond film with Mark Wolf in Kadiz - Spain

NIce work if you can get it:D

[JerryG]

Hi guys!

Thanks for your interest and your congrats.
Yup, just safely returned ten Squirrels to their UK bases after a month operating in Athens.

I would definitely characterise it as having been a "challenge". It's correct that we didn't finally sign the contract until May and then had to put together a team of 30 to operate three singles and seven twins, plus setting up a helipad operation at the old Athens airport "Hellenikon". David Voy at Starspeed UK selected crews and machinery whilst the team at Helifilms concentrated on the Greek and Olympic requirements.

The aircraft travelled down as a ten-ship and arrived on 6th August. For the record these were:-
Singles:- G-OGOA, G-EJOC, G-TATS.
Twins:- G-LENI, G-BYZA, G-BYPA, G-HOOT, G-OHCP, G-JETU, G-BPRL.

The task involved both Wescam work (using five systems from ACS) and relay work; rebroadcasting comms and pictures from motorbikes on all the outside sports. We shot and relayed the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Sailing, Marathon, Triathlon, Time Trials, Cycling Road Race, Rowing, Canoeing, 20km Walks, 50km Walks and Mountain Bikes. Each event obviously featured both men's and women's. Just under 1000 flying hours later we all arrived back in the UK last Friday 4th.

I won't bore you with a full crew list but if anybody needs an exceptional team in exhausting and very trying circumstances I couldn't recommend anybody more highly. The pilots chopped and changed between roles, venues and events with a lot of mutual briefings and shared experiences. The engineers coped with just about everything a Squirrel could throw at them and out of 450 launches we only missed one take-off time. The Ops team were pulled and pushed in every possible directon by a veritable waterfall of requirement changes from most nationalities under the sun, habitually about ten minutes before a five-ship launch.

An incredible team of aviators across the board and I'm very proud to have worked with them all. We're all a bit older, wiser and thinner, but it was the experience of a lifetime (and we even got paid in full!).

If you're contemplating doing something similar, drop me a line and I'll help if I can. On Day One I thought I was ready and prepared for just about everything - wrong!!!!

Thanks and best wishes to all who took part.

JerryG




JerryG
Welcome to the forum.
Could you post some pictures here when you get back to Oz?

Heliport

[farmpilot]

Hi Jerry

Well done on the olympics, since I saw what you were doing on this thread I went and watched the coverage for the first time!

I'll have to get you down to Cape Town for some work there......

Hope you're all well

Best

Skip

And Heliport I really will post some pics when I'm back in the office - sorry!

[magbreak]

SASLESS it's not the Peter Barnes you are thinking of. (I know I've met both!!)

[John Eacott]

I found these photos on the Aerial Camera Systems (Aust) web site of the Athens operation, posted with their permission:

http://www.aerialcamerasystems.com/athens2004/large/Helicopter-landing-sunset.jpg

http://www.aerialcamerasystems.com/athens2004/large/Wescam-16-landing.jpg

http://www.aerialcamerasystems.com/athens2004/large/AS350-G-OGOA.jpg

http://www.aerialcamerasystems.com/athens2004/large/AS355-G-JETU-&-G-OHCP.jpg

http://www.aerialcamerasystems.com/athens2004/large/AS-350AS-350-G-TATS.jpg

[Gibbo]

Cheers John, almost looks inhabitable!
Gibbo