Silverstone

[moosp]

The helicopter parking lot at the GP looked very impressive on the telly. Such shots of these machines doing what they are good at, is only good for the industry. And the more there were this year, the more others will want to use one the next.

Any comments from those who were there as to the ATC control, parking organisation, landing fees, ease of access to the grandstand etc? And are private machines allowed to land and park for the afternoon?

Good race too!

[on21]

my brother liver 19 miles NE of Silverstone, but commented that he had not seen a single helicopter all weekend. He said he usually sees loads over a GP weekend.

Were they using a different approach than other years?

[EESDL]

Southern procedures were used.

A lot quieter than previous years.

Weather was too nice! Not silverstone weather.

[Droopy]

Whoever was doing the microwave relay....you have my every sympathy :ugh:

[farmpilot]

I know I was there - poor pilot! Top cover looked really boring.......

Did the medivac get airborne at the start too? And is this normal?

[EESDL]

Do you reckon that the pilot was handed a fistfull of 'short straws'?

Good to see that the usual suspects didn't stick to the procedures. There were some strange QNH settings being used by some!!

[Special 25]

Every year it seems to get a bit quieter - Last year was incredibly quiet - I wasn't there this year - How did it compare ?

[Daifly]

Any idea why they had both of the Police Heli's airborne at the start, I was starting to get *slightly* nervous...

[ShyTorque]

Because it's a good view from up there?

[TimS]

It was certainly quieter than last year - my assumption is that the vastly improved road access over the last three years has reduced the demand for helicopters.

I left Silverstone at 1730 and moved slowly but steadily to the M40 (made it in about an hour and a half). There were no serious delays reported all weekend - other than actually leaving the car parks - despite being absolutely sold out.

[Brilliant Stuff]

When I did Silverstone in 97/98 they had a few R22's in so from that I can only assume they allowed Private Helicopter's as long as the Pilot's were briefed.

[spinwing]

Farmpilot...


The "SOP" for the medivac chopper is ... to be started and rotors turning 3-4 minutes before race start, to confirm servicability, and to then continue running on the ground for at least the first lap or so until released (by Race Control) to shut down and stand-by until needed or race completed safely.

Cheers

[Stampe]

So does Silverstone justify all the airspace it is given ??if the rotary operation is much diminished.:ok:

[farmpilot]

Spinwing

Thanks for that, I thought it lifted and was just off to the side for the start, but maybe it was the other police ship.......

Still great to see all the machines and the Reds doing what they do best:ok:

farmpilot

[NorthSeaTiger]

When I was there in 99 it was unbeleivably busy, 1 pilot flying the machine thew other with his head out the window on the look out, it was described to me as the most dangerous place on earth due to the amount of helicopter movements.

[EESDL]

STAMPE
Yes!
Simply to stop non-participating aircraft having a closer 'butchers'.
Despite such measures, plank drivers still managed to fly through the zone, not talking to anyone - t055ers.

[uncle ian]

I've "done the BGP" almost every year for over 20 years in shuttle, ambulance and traffic surveilance roles (the later being under contract to the circuit but carrying a police observer). Movements peaked at around 3200 a few years ago but were down to around 1500 this year. Certainly it seemed a lot quieter than at any time in the past.

To say Silverstone is the "most dangerous place in the world" is quite ridiculous and belies the very high standard of professionalism displayed by 95% of the pilots, traffic controllers, ground handlers, refuelers etc involved. It is they who allow the 5% of idiots who believe their's is the most important job that day and consequently ignore the excellent ATC instructions that have evolved opver the past 20 years to get away without serious incident.

Despite movements being down there seemed to be just as many machines there as always and as always it was good to meet old friends (and helicopters) not seen since last BGP. I hope some of them will endorse this sentiment that the Silverstone weekend is a very public display of what helicopters can do for people and dismiss the nonsense about them being unsafe.

[TimS]

Was interested to learn the actual figures from Uncle Ian - which confirm my estimate of considerably dropping figures over last few years. As I said, I believe this is primarly a result of the considerably improved road access as total attendees and the amount of corporate hospitality increases yearly.

I am sure Uncle Ian's assurance of the present operating standards is accurate - but I know some consider it more than advisable to be locally experienced and/or initially supervised (it is one busy piece of airspace even at today's figures).

Is it a Cat C airfield (ie previously authorised/demonstrated) - please excuse me if my definitions are out of date (long time since I was involved in ops)?

I recall flying an Aztec in there back in 80 or 81 - claggy as hell, 1550-2000' cloudbase, all sorts of fixed wing stuff (with widely varying circuit and approach speeds) in 'visual circuit' and no real published procedures if I remember correctly, lots of 'VFR' traffic trundling low level under Daventry, Upper Heyford launching projectiles (on a different frequency obviously) and a batch of our foreign cousins in a confused state out of Oxford. It certainly frightened me - and the 'overshoot and divert' policy on a fairly short runway (becoming shorter as aircraft held at far end awaiting an instruction for a 'mass backtrack' if/when a gap appeared), based on 2 minute slots (I think), certainly got the adrenelin flowing. Frankly - that was bloody dangerous !

PS - this post got my nostalgia going, so went and checked - July 13th 1980, won by Alan Jones in the Albilad Williams FW07B (Cosworth powered - as they generally were then), Nelson Piquet (Parmalat Brabham) second and Carlos Reutemann (Alan Jones' teammate) third. Gerry Marshall crashed his Vauxhall Firenza in the saloon car event and was badly injured (my brain cells are slowly coming to life)

[Brilliant Stuff]

I agree with UNCLE-IAN, the whole thing is organised very professionally. And if you consider what they have to work with it's simply a testament to cunning planning.

To see all those Helicopters parked up during the Race is just mind blowing after all they represent an enormous proportion of all the registered helicopter in the country.