British Helicopter Championships (incl pics)

[Heliport]

2005 British Open Helicopter Championships

Heythrop Park, near Chipping Norton : This weekend

http://www.heythroppark.co.uk/images/pics/map/lrg.jpg

By Air:
Enstone is very nearby if you can't get permission to land at the hotel.
http://enstonevillage.co.uk/broadband/enstone_map.gif

Enstone Flying Club: 01608 678204
Website: here (http://www.enstone-flyingclub.co.uk/)


By Road: (approx)
London 1hr 20mins
Birmingham 1hr 30mins
Bristol 2hrs
Oxford 30mins

Sunday is the only day worth going. The Precision Flying events start at 10:30 and go on all day.


Anyone competing?
Or going to spectate?

Good opportunity for Rotorheads to meet up.

[Tony Chambers]

what time does it finish on sunday and entry cost? May attend i near salisbury on sunday.

[Heliport]

Late afternoon.

It's free.

[diethelm]

What is the championships. What are the events. Is there a website. What other countries have the same event?

[Flying Lawyer]

I'm going on Sunday.


Diethelm

Civvy and military teams compete. Navigation competition on Saturday, precision flying competitions on Sunday.

Some pics here - 2004 Championships (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132792)

[cyclicmicky]

See you there folks, I will be flying in about ten am, bringing a Raven 44 with 3 mates.
Barbi lunch is £16.50
:ok: :ok:

[Bertie Thruster]

Work as usual this weekend so can't make it. No doubt I will attend some sections of the "Lincolnshire Sunday precision driving competition"

[Heliport]

diethelm

The British Championships are a qualifier for the World Helicopter Championships.
Military, civvy professional and PPL teams all compete on equal footing.

Saturday: Long Nav-ex
30 minutes) to plot 20 odd OS grid refs, turning points and a 50 sq mile search box. A bomb drop on route and a lapsed time to complete the exercise. Points deducted for late/early arrival, not finding waypoints, incorrectly identifying locations and not being at the correct altitude!


Sunday: Best spectator day

Water bucket:
Negotiating a water bucket at the end of a 15 metre rope, through twelve 1 metre wide gates in 3.5 minutes. Placing it on a tabletop target with the rope extended to 25 metres. Points deducted for water spilt.


Fender:
Three barrels in a tight area – time limit 30 seconds per barrel, to get a boat fender on varying rope lengths in each barrel. 50mm difference between the size of the fender and the size of the barrel.

Precision Flying
Manoeuvring the helicopter within “tram-lines” 1 metre wide, set out in a large 75 metre square, keeping the same heading throughout, with 2 different length chains attached to the undercarriage. One chain remains on the ground, the other must be off the ground at all times. Complete 2 - 360 turns at given points during the exercise, all with time restrictions. Land the helicopter precisely on a line afterwards. Points deducted for height infringements, going outside the tramlines, changing heading and exceeding time.

Some of the detail might be inaccurate - but that should give you the general idea.

[swordfling]

Does anyone know what time it starts on Sunday?

[Heliport]

Sunday is the only day worth going. The Precision Flying events start at 10:30 and go on all day.

[swordfling]

:O That'll teach me to read it properly!

Thanks.

[hemac]

If I can persuade my wife then I will definately be there. Sounds fantastic.
Are other PPruners going to be recognisable, apart from the wild look in there eyes and the desire to disagree with every statement they hear.

H.

[AlanM]

I will be there....... wandering around with camera!

Alan

http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/32321756.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/32321460.jpg

More Here (http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography) see the Flying Aircraft section

[md 600 driver]

i went sat in the gazzer should be busy tomorrow steve

[Heliport]

The competitions start at 10:00 on Sunday

NOT as posted previously

[md 600 driver]

any one got the results
steve

[AlanM]

Sorry - had to shoot off before the presentation.

Some pics though...... more if you want some!

http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700474.jpg http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700477.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700480.jpg http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700486.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700487.jpg

[Flying Lawyer]

I also had to leave before the prize-giving so don't know the results yet.

______________________


Superb pics Alan :ok:

Thanks for getting the first one for me. The 'crewman' will be a very happy lady when she gets home - excellent shot.

Tudor

[AlanM]

Plenty more of the said crew-woman! (in fact hundreds more of the other 20 competitors!)

WIll get them on my website asap - just the pressing matter of an overdew tax return to do first...... :(

FL- The first of these is for you!.....

http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700478.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700485.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700476.jpg
http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700473.jpg http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography/image/44700482.jpg

[Heliport]

Wonderful pics Alan. :ok:


Heliport

[swordfling]

Managed to get there in the afternoon and take a few pics...
here (http://photobucket.com/albums/a27/swordfling/British%20Helicopter%20Championships%202005/).

Rather hopeless zoom on my camera sadly, and the operator's not much better either! :{

Not nearly as good as Alan's excellent ones! :ok:

[HeliEng]

Does anyone know who was piloting MD the Jet Ranger???

[AlanM]

G-OSMD was Andrew Taee and Mike Buckland as nav - according to my programme.

Nice pics Swordfling :)

[Flying Lawyer]

Thanks Alan.
You gathered I like Gazelles then. ;)


Tudor http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v146/FlyingLawyer/MWgifresize.jpg

[AlanM]

I think you did mention it!! :) :):ok: (but hey - who doesn't like them?!?)

Over 200 pictures from Sunday 12th Here (http://www.pbase.com/kbmphotography)

[reacher]

Sounds like a great event! Does anyone know if there is a similair event held in Australia?

[Tony Chambers]

I attended for a couple of hours on sunday afternoon, this was the first time i have visited this event. It was a great afternoon some great flying, great location, great atmosphere.
I don,t know the results but i believe that the 7 Regt Gazelle was in the lead.
Well done to all those that participated. :ok:
Great photography by Alanm and swordfling.

[AlanM]

Still no news on the results??

I would imagine that Mr W from the AAC (Number 1 - Schumacher style!) won - as I think he was leading going into the fender test (I think) - Having said that, he missed the "in" gate which was very uncharacteristic on Fender A so who knows.

[Anne Tenner]

Yes Alan, competitor number 1, Ron Watkins, was the overall championship winner. (Great photos, by the way!)

There were 19 teams at the British Championships this year, 7 of them were military. The overall standard was very high, as teams had clearly been putting in a lot of practice in advance of the World Championships, in the hope of selection for the British team, which will be decided over the next few days.

Although Ron was the overall champion, it was a nail-biting finish as Caroline Gough-Cooper did brilliantly well in the final fender event and it was thought possible that she had won. Ron had performed exceptionally well throughout, but unusually had an “off day” when it came to the fender. Even so, he won. Well done to him and his crewman

Caroline, as the reigning World Champion, gave as polished a performance as ever, despite having apparently had little time to practice. She is a real asset to the team, not only because of her flying skills, but by her willingness to share tips and advice to less experienced teams who are trying to improve.

So many trophies were given out that my memory has already blurred as to exactly who won what, so I had better not risk being too specific until I have re-checked.

One team that stood out was Russell Harrison and his crewman Paul. Russell is a fairly new member to the HCGB and I do not think he has nearly as many flying hours as many of the other competitors, but they had put in over 40 hours of training in the run up to the championships, and it certainly showed. After last year, which was their first try at the competition, when they gave a fairly inauspicious performance, Russell and Paul walked away with armfuls of trophies this year. These included being the overall winners of the “club” event which is limited to non-professional aviators.

Everyone was pleased to see Russell and Paul’s success as it is difficult to think of two more likeable people. Not only were they good fun, but having use of a fully set up course not far from Heythrop, they gladly offered it to other training teams, with Russell even turning up with a hand held radio to see if he could help one visiting team to train.

Well done to all of the winners, and also to all of the judges who stood out in fields for hours on end, as well as all the people who put in long hours to organise the events. (Shame the hotel produced such a rubbish lunch on the Sunday though!).

[jellycopter]

Chaps/Chapesses;

As some of you know, I had to disappear before the final event to go flying around Europe so didn´t get the opportunity to see the final scores and no-one from the club has e-mailed the results to me yet. If any of you have the results + the breakdown of scores for each event I´d be very grateful to get a copy. If you are able to PM me I´ll be able to collect from an internet cafe on my travels.

Is it true that the Russians are not competing in Rouen this year? If not, I think the team truly stand a good chance of picking up some silverware.

Thanks,

JJ

[md 600 driver]

jj
i take you didnt win then
steve

[md 600 driver]

yes there for the float kit