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miller745
28th Sep 2018, 19:18
Does this happen on trips to the north sea oil rigs and back with 2 pilots for example? From what I've seen the routes are 60-90 minutes each way so it's probably not necessary
In the UK are there mandatory breaks after so many hours flying for refreshments when working single pilot, say load lifting?
I have a minor peanut allergy, with a report from an allergy specialist who said I can fly solo no problem but the AME has given me an OSL (OML equivalent). So my thinking is, no eating in flight = 0% chance of any issues. (pax eating around me is no problem)
I'm trying to word a letter to appeal to the CAA..
I would have posted this in the medical section but I'm only interested in helicopter ops.
Thanks for any help!

hueyracer
28th Sep 2018, 19:32
In the offshore world, there is something called "sterile cockpit procedures"-it usually means that there is no action allowed other the ones necessary for the safe conduction of the flight....

This usually applies below 5000 ft (or whatever is specified in the Ops Manual).


But i consider it very bad airmanship if a pilot eats during the flight (except for long distance flights, of course)...

Fareastdriver
28th Sep 2018, 19:45
Thinks have changed a bit since I was on the North Sea. The early morning trips to the Thistle were rewarded with the biggest breakfasts ever.

My company used to provide the meal trays and knaffling spanners for our helicopter crews.

212man
28th Sep 2018, 20:07
I would assume rig meals are still a normal part of North Sea ops. I was there at a similar time to FED, and flew with him, and round trips to the East Shetland Basin with RR refuel in Sumburgh each way could easily be over 7 hours. Even shorter flights like the Beryl (4:15?) or Brae (3:45) would be tied to another flight, the total hours would be quite high. So getting a decent full fried was the main attraction!! In the Southern North Sea it was bacon and egg rolls in the morning - much shorter sectors but still back to back trips could add up to several hours.

DeltaNg
28th Sep 2018, 20:19
I ate a pasty in a Bolkow once.

SASless
28th Sep 2018, 20:26
I would assume to meslsxste still a normal part of North Sea ops. I was there at a similar time to FED, and flew with him, and round trips to the East Shetland Basin with RR refuel in Sumburgh each way could easily be over 7 hours. Even shorter flights like the Beryl (4:15?) or Brae (3:45) would be tied to another flight, the total hours would be quite high. So getting a decent full fried was the main attraction!! In the Southern North Sea it was bacon and egg rolls in the morning - much shorter sectors but still back to back trips could add up to several hours.



You seemed to omit the lovely nosh served up in Nigeria!

212man
28th Sep 2018, 21:10
You seemed to omit the lovely nosh served up in Nigeria!

Believe me - the Forcados Terminal sardine and egg sandwich in soft sweet bread, wrapped in cling film while still warm, was in my mind as I wrote it

John Eacott
28th Sep 2018, 21:46
But i consider it very bad airmanship if a pilot eats during the flight (except for long distance flights, of course)...


Oh dear: is this a sign of the Brave New World? Eating during flight is a prerequisite of a well rounded aviator :p

rudestuff
28th Sep 2018, 22:06
I ate a pasty in a Bolkow once.
Steak or traditional?

Vertical Freedom
28th Sep 2018, 22:25
I remember my ole instructor Buck Ryan forcing me to peel Oranges for both of us to eat on Navex flights during my student Pilot days, so legs wrapped around the Cyclic. Taught You many skills like both hands for folding maps on surprise diversions etc. :ok:

megan
29th Sep 2018, 03:39
I remember my ole instructor Buck Ryan Can't have been our Oz Buck Ryan, you're far, far too young VF.

Vertical Freedom
29th Sep 2018, 03:48
Can't have been our Oz Buck Ryan, you're far, far too young VF.

Hey Megan....'twas indeedly The Grand Master (always smokin') Buck, waving his baton around in the Queen of the Skies the '47 :8

Prawn2king4
29th Sep 2018, 04:08
Aaaah ...... those Forties breakfasts! What a sterile (yup, seems to be the right word) life it must be now.

industry insider
29th Sep 2018, 04:23
But i consider it very bad airmanship if a pilot eats during the flight (except for long distance flights, of course)...

Glad Huey isn't my manager. I could manage a full cooked breakfast between Leman and North Denes single pilot in the 76 when someone was kind enough to provide it. I would obviously be in big trouble now.

DOUBLE BOGEY
29th Sep 2018, 05:07
The Boys on the Clyde produced breakfasts that would kill a civvie!

However this reminds me of Mike Tingles chocolate eclair story............the best HOFO food anecdote ever.

OvertHawk
29th Sep 2018, 07:29
I remember picking up a bunch of miserable looking bears from a platform on a non-scheduled flight. As they boarded the HLO also provide plated meals which we scoffed (in turns) as soon as we could after departure. Only after we had finished did one of the pax reach forward and hand us a piece of paper - It was a note from the Offshore Medic to his doctor advising that he and multiple others had been suffering from a severe outbreak of food poisoning (Hence the extra flight ) which should be investigated immediately! Thanks for telling us in good time boys!

tu154
29th Sep 2018, 07:43
If you don’t eat in flight flying offshore, you won’t eat! Generally done in the cruise so regularly 2000 feet inbound. Other pilot manages aircraft and radios. Once one done, swap around! No time on turnarounds which may be rotors run.

belly tank
29th Sep 2018, 07:52
If you don’t eat in flight flying offshore, you won’t eat!
Exactly!. Nothing like being handed the good old plastic bag full of surprises off the HLO.

I watched a captain one day spill a nice chicken curry all over his nicely pressed white shirt in the cruise!, I just lifted my eyebrows looked over and smiled as he carried on with the expletives, was very funny indeed. :{

Fareastdriver
29th Sep 2018, 08:55
Late seventies. A British Airways Helicopter doing a double to the Claymore. After leaving the Claymore on the first one the crew complained to the radio operator that a sandwich wasn't enough. The operator apologised and told them that the camp boss had decreed that was all they could have.

They replied stating that as they hadn't received a proper lunch then they would shut down for an hour at Aberdeen in order to do so.

The word got around the platform and the camp boss was nearly lynched by the second rotation.

finalchecksplease
29th Sep 2018, 09:55
Believe me - the Forcados Terminal sardine and egg sandwich in soft sweet bread, wrapped in cling film while still warm, was in my mind as I wrote it

I sat at the bar @ Warri Shell once with the manager of Forcados Terminal and asked why we got these lovely sandwich combinations.
He agreed they were weird combinations of ingredients so said he would check. True to his word the next time I ran across him he said it was apparently our AQM's that had told the catering staff we wanted these sandwiches. Must have something to do with most of us giving our sandwich to the AQM's rather than eating them.

DeltaNg
29th Sep 2018, 10:15
It was a traditional.

Some pilots SMOKE in flight :eek:

Fareastdriver
29th Sep 2018, 10:20
Some pilots SMOKE in flight https://www.pprune.org/images/smilies/eek.gif

I always did when I flew the North Sea and later on in China. I could never could get lost offshore; just follow the floating dogends back to base.

Hot and Hi
29th Sep 2018, 10:23
I remember my ole instructor Buck Ryan forcing me to peel Oranges for both of us to eat on Navex flights during my student Pilot days, so legs wrapped around the Cyclic. Taught You many skills like both hands for folding maps on surprise diversions etc. :ok:
... or to take the odd picture :oh:

miller745
29th Sep 2018, 11:31
Thanks for the insight into commercial ops and the stories! Keep 'em coming :ok:

Blackhawk9
29th Sep 2018, 11:52
In Australia most of the rigs give food bags to the crews, what they don't eat we engineers demolish, usually sandwiches, fruit, maybe chocolates - Mars Bars etc (left for the Engineers to stay in their good books), biscuits and a drink .

BluSdUp
29th Sep 2018, 12:03
Apropos chicken curry go to waste.
My FO was looking forward to his homemade curry , piping hot.
For some strange reason a lot of pilots were I work choose to use the Teck Log as a table, a hard plastic cover job.
That day the crew -coordination was not good . And as the Cabin Crew let go of the dish it started sliding towards the center pedestal.
In slow-motion, the Fo compensated with a hard right bank on the glass dish to avoid total avionic meltdown.
Now it was heading towards his crotch, which he deftly avoided by a hard left bank and nosedown with the Log as the dish promptly left and did a forward half Lomchewack or something like that and impacted the floor inverted.
Clean up operation continued well into the descend.
Nothing to do with helicopters , except maybe for the split second the dish auto-rotated inverted.
This all took place at 37 000 feet some were over France.


Regards
Cpt B

John Eacott
29th Sep 2018, 12:20
In no particular order:

North Sea shuttle, SP in a 212 and lunch was served during a running refuel: airborne to discover a (very) large plate full of rice and curry along with eating tools. Only solution was to drop the window and turf the lot :sad:

Rig support off Eire where a chance comment to the cook that the smoked salmon sandwiches yesterday were much appreciated, led to a routine sandwich with more smoked salmon than bread. We'd take the lot back to the hotel and have a proper feed later!

Nigeria where the ice cream from the American rig was to die for, but no room for anything else ;)

Bombay High where the curries were akin to a nuclear sunset: to be consumed at your own risk.

10 hour day flying SP in a Wessex from northern WA to just off Timor-est and back, sandwiches and lots of liquid in 37C :cool:

12 hour days on fires throwing water at the ground where any food and water is welcome, often provided by supporting locals who value the work done to protect their homes. That's always humbling.

Lots more spring to mind, but anyone who considers eating in flight to be 'poor airmanship' is living in a dreamworld.

SASless
29th Sep 2018, 13:44
anyone who considers eating in flight to be 'poor airmanship' is living in a dreamworld.

I have eaten while flying...from cold Army C-Rations to proper meals from first class catering during VIP events.

There is one particular Bristow S-58T crewman, later he went on to SAR duties, that if he knew how many smoked Salmon sandwiches I ordered up (he would only eat boiled ham sarnies and would invariably hand up his Salmon feasts to me, he would beat me to death.

One has to be aware of choking hazards during single pilot ops....or perhaps spoilage concerns if the food items are saved for the. next ground stop if Ambient Temps are high.

But....as that Eacott fellow says....in a most polite way....if you really think eating is bad form....you have lived a very cloistered life.

PlasticCabDriver
29th Sep 2018, 14:01
But i consider it very bad airmanship if a pilot eats during the flight (except for long distance flights, of course)...

Fairly normal day:

Take off at 0700, report at 0600, leave house at 0530, breakfast (if you can face it that time if the morning) about 0515-ish?

land at 1000, rotors running turnround, off 1045–ish, to land again at about 1330/1345-ish.

Without eating anything at all since 0515.

I would consider it “very bad airmanship” to not eat something during that period.

griffothefog
29th Sep 2018, 14:46
Forcados gave up giving fodder years ago TF....

SASless
29th Sep 2018, 15:08
Griffo.....if you consider that which was offered up by Forcardos.....fodder....you are sickerr than I ever thought.:=

pilot1234567
29th Sep 2018, 15:27
But i consider it very bad airmanship if a pilot eats during the flight (except for long distance flights, of course)...

That's extremely naive. There are lots and lots of reasons to eat during a flight. I have worked extensively where I haven't shut down the helicopter for 12 hours straight. Should I not eat for 12 hours?

cafesolo
29th Sep 2018, 16:04
pilot1234567. After your 12 hours without shut down,was there any lub oil remaining ?

fijdor
29th Sep 2018, 17:01
pilot1234567. After your 12 hours without shut down,was there any lub oil remaining ?

I have seen days of 12 and more hours without shutdown in Canada while fighting fires, get it going at sunrise and shut it down at sunset, double crewing of course. One pilot starts the day (single pilot here) and the other one finishes it Sometimes only one shutdown for the day for a quick briefing to the next pilot and it goes again. Hot fuelling is legal here in Canada so we uses it.
Soo, breakfast and lunch while you are flying is mandatory just about.

Pilot1234567 is right.

JD

whoknows idont
29th Sep 2018, 19:36
Certainly a very illuminating and entertaining thread so far!
However, I have not yet read anything about any (minor ;)) peanuts so far, please correct me if I'm wrong?
Come on guys and gals, a fellows career plans seem to be challenged by mundane bureaucracy here. Lets take it a bit serious if possible. This whole peanut deal seems a bit bizarre to me, to be honest.

megan
30th Sep 2018, 02:07
from cold Army C-Rations You got into the wrong line of work with that twin rotor thingy SAS, Huey you just placed the can on the engine deck while you flew a few more insertions and lunch was good to go, hot.

SASless
30th Sep 2018, 02:59
The Combining Transmission had a horizontal ledge that worked a treat for heating C Rations....or just put them into the Exhaust of the engine and motor the starter for a bit. The engine starters were hydraulically driven thus no time limit on motoring.

We carried a five gallon Igloo Water can filled with water and a big block of ice so we had cold sodas and beer to go along with the C Rations.

pilot1234567
30th Sep 2018, 04:33
pilot1234567. After your 12 hours without shut down,was there any lub oil remaining ?

Plenty.

Despite constantly dripping oil, the 212 will work all day, every day without complaint. I check the oils when I'm out taking having a pee, but as long as they are at the appropriate levels at the start of the day there are generally no issues.

John Eacott
30th Sep 2018, 05:05
pilot1234567. After your 12 hours without shut down,was there any lub oil remaining ?

Just the same in Oz, I’d multi crew for campaign fires and the machine would run 12 or more hours without a shutdown; hot refuels were the norm. Never, ever an issue with oils or any other components from sustained running.

Going even further OT, RN Sea Kings on extended ASW exercises would only shut down briefly every couple of sorties (8 hours running) for an oil sample to be drained for SOAP analysis, again never any need for lubes to be topped up even after the few millilitres were drained for the sample :ok:

hueyracer
30th Sep 2018, 06:10
You guys saw the thread title, right?

"Commercial pilots eating in Flight".

Not "Utility pilots", not "military pilots".

Those days of 12-hour flying time is long gone even for Offshore-pilots......

Again i bring up the term "sterile cockpit procedure"-if you´re doing short hops, you dont eat-period.

If you´re doing long legs, you usually get a break in between nowadays....


If one of my engineers would call me, saying "we have to ground the helicopter tomorrow, as we need to pull the radios out to remove the spicy chicken soup one of the pilots poured over it", i would kick this pilots ass..

Twist & Shout
30th Sep 2018, 06:40
You guys saw the thread title, right?

"Commercial pilots eating in Flight".

Not "Utility pilots", not "military pilots".

Those days of 12-hour flying time is long gone even for Offshore-pilots......

Again i bring up the term "sterile cockpit procedure"-if you´re doing short hops, you dont eat-period.

If you´re doing long legs, you usually get a break in between nowadays....


If one of my engineers would call me, saying "we have to ground the helicopter tomorrow, as we need to pull the radios out to remove the spicy chicken soup one of the pilots poured over it", i would kick this pilots ass..

Oh, this should be good.
Fuel added. Flames fanned.

Fareastdriver
30th Sep 2018, 08:44
"we have to ground the helicopter tomorrow, as we need to pull the radios out to remove the spicy chicken soup one of the pilots poured over it",

They can do that whilst they are cleaning the ash trays.

BluSdUp
30th Sep 2018, 10:19
Good Sunday Morning.
It sounds to me the need to put food in on some of these operations was taken care of in a practical way.
I have a few 1000 hrs on Beech 200 that was certified for Single Pilot operation, no toilet. 7 hrs range!
It had a pee tube under the Cpt seat mind You.
I , fortunately have Long Haule Blader and never had to use it.
( We operated less then 2 hrs generally and with 2 crew.)
Had some Pax in an awfull hurry at destination some times , mind You.

Regards
Cpt B

John Eacott
30th Sep 2018, 11:01
You guys saw the thread title, right?

"Commercial pilots eating in Flight".

Not "Utility pilots", not "military pilots".

Those days of 12-hour flying time is long gone even for Offshore-pilots......

Someone hasn’t understood that ‘utility’ or ‘aerial work’ ops are Commercial. Indeed you won’t find anyone without a CPL or ATPL on the fireline be it flying a Helitack or a Firebird.

And where you get the idea that 12 hour flying (or duty) days are long gone indicates that you are leading a very sheltered aviation life. :rolleyes:

Hughes500
30th Sep 2018, 11:04
blimey how else would I keep my racing snake shape on 12 hour days ?

megan
1st Oct 2018, 01:07
If asked nicely I think 212man has a photo taken during a helo ferry flight to Africa showing inflight cuisine as it should be.

SASless
1st Oct 2018, 01:11
The glass of fine French Wine and cloth serviette was the final touches weren't they?

212man
1st Oct 2018, 14:08
If asked nicely I think 212man has a photo taken during a helo ferry flight to Africa showing inflight cuisine as it should be.[/

Indeed (been off my laptop a couple of days so slow to upload)!

Rig meals are all very well but I far prefer Air France Catering - Gravlax starter (on the fork), game terrine for main and a cheese board, all washed down with a nice Cote d 'Rhone which they kindly opened in advance..... :ok:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1460/inflight_catering_7b0734d3a59de897ee7480daa93c83cfddd6f532.j pg


(PS. Just in case anybody is stupid enough to think we actually drank it in flight - no we did not, we waited until the end of the second leg in our hotel in Tangier and enjoyed it there. You can never be sure these days how easily outraged people can be!)

SASless
1st Oct 2018, 15:47
Dang! There I was thinking it was Forcardos Fare!

Fareastdriver
1st Oct 2018, 18:30
Yonks ago I flew a Puma HC1 to Rome for a kind of liaison visit. I think that the Italian Air Force was expecting somebody more important than a flight lieutenant because the bemedalled welcoming party evaporated. However the rest gave us a good time in Rome.

On the return trip we had a lunch box provided for us. We cruised up the west of Italy and just before crossing into France we opened up the box. There was a superb selection of rolls and cheeses plus a bottle of Chianti.

We thought about it for a moment:

When in Rome.........................................

Sir Niall Dementia
2nd Oct 2018, 10:34
The good old days of two squares from platforms and two packs of twenty per pilot per rotation, the best breakfast was the Fulmar and the best food all round was from the Asian galley on the DB102.

And despite the warnings on the packets smoking saves lives:

AS332 Aberdeen to the Basin , 3000' outbound on top of the usual January low stratus level, I was in the P2 seat doing the paperwork, P1 passed me a cigarette as I was about to start the power assurance. Sliding window open, the smoke and ash went nicely out and no-one was much the wiser. Cigarette ended roughly at the same time as the PA. I flicked the stub out of the window and saw what looked like a HISL, but could'nt see an aircraft in the glare, I looked in blinked and looked out again. A fisheries protection Cessna was about to come through my window, I yelled "PULL!" and P1 yanked the cyclic back, we vaulted over the Cessna and missed him by not a lot. If I hadn't had that cigarette and thrown the stub out at that moment I'm pretty sure we would have hit, ergo, smoking saves lives (well thats one of my many excuses for never giving it up)

I also loved the chemical analysis of a liquid that had buggered the SAS on an S61, The full spectro of tea was quite something to see.

SND

DOUBLE BOGEY
2nd Oct 2018, 11:43
Indeed (been off my laptop a couple of days so slow to upload)!

Rig meals are all very well but I far prefer Air France Catering - Gravlax starter (on the fork), game terrine for main and a cheese board, all washed down with a nice Cote d 'Rhone which they kindly opened in advance..... :ok:
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1460/inflight_catering_7b0734d3a59de897ee7480daa93c83cfddd6f532.j pg


(PS. Just in case anybody is stupid enough to think we actually drank it in flight - no we did not, we waited until the end of the second leg in our hotel in Tangier and enjoyed it there. You can never be sure these days how easily outraged people can be!)
I am outraged...…..no bloody rank slides, tut tut.

pants on fire...
2nd Oct 2018, 16:59
Rig meals were the primary sustenance for the commuting crews, in fact if they didn't provide this food, there is a good chance they might have starved to death. Of course the truly frugal, not only survived on rig meals during the work day, but took any remaining food back to the company house and either ate it or froze it for future use!

You know who you are!

Fareastdriver
2nd Oct 2018, 18:02
One used to take his rig meals home, work out how much it would cost, then deduct it from his missus's housekeeping.

My dog loved rig meals. Beef, chicken, bacon and eggs, salad with picked onion, it didn't matter. Any rig meal was demolished instantaneously and we used to feed him pretty well also.

pilot1234567
2nd Oct 2018, 19:20
Those days of 12-hour flying time is long gone



Umm, I flew about 30 12-hour days last summer.

DOUBLE BOGEY
2nd Oct 2018, 19:23
Umm, I flew about 30 12-hour days last summer.

Then you really ought to get a life bud! 12 hours is just too much.

SASless
2nd Oct 2018, 19:53
I forget....there is life outside Blighty?

Torquetalk
2nd Oct 2018, 20:47
I forget....there is life outside Blighty?

Just a myth that

You should try putting a goldfish bowl on your head with a reflective inner surface: does wonders for your sense of importance in the world. Ask Boris.

helimutt
2nd Oct 2018, 20:55
I'll try to keep this brief. Tasked with a flight out of XXXX to the furthest rig we serviced at the time, myself and another pilot had to fly initially to YYYY to pick up a much needed pump seal. It was winter. It was crap weather. It was night. We flew to YYYY, picked up the seal, flew up to the rig where the helideck team met us with two huge trays of roast dinner. It was late at night. We had finished the meals by the time we got back to XXXX about 4 hours later, thinking that was a fun old evening. (sarcasm). Shutting down the aircraft and climbing out for the night, I noticed the seal still in the envelope in the cockpit. Not one person asked about that seal and nothing was ever said. :)

Oh and if any of you ever flew offshore in Gulf of Thailand, I'm pretty certain you've eaten a tuna sandwich many times. :)

Sir Niall Dementia
3rd Oct 2018, 09:38
Oh and if any of you ever flew offshore in Gulf of Thailand, I'm pretty certain you've eaten a tuna sandwich many times. :)[/QUOTE]

They were awesome off Malaysia, those or nasi lemak for breakfast.

SND

ericferret
12th Oct 2018, 11:01
Have not seen fag ash on the floor of a North sea helicopter for 20 years. I remember Bonds chief pilot pulling the ashtrays out of any 105 he flew in prior to launching them into the farmers field at Strubby As to eating in the cockpit today just look under the crew seats. You could grow spuds under some of them.
Now and then a pilot complains. More than happy to show him where we keep the vacuum cleaner.

For 139 pilots the MCDU screens are not sealed and therefore make poor stands for coffee cups. Spill anything there and it rapidly goes into the expensive bits.

Fareastdriver
12th Oct 2018, 13:02
Have not seen fag ash on the floor of a North sea helicopter for 20 years.

I retired from Bristows twenty years ago. With me went the best airfield homing aid--a trail of dog ends leading to the runway.

SASless
12th Oct 2018, 13:09
You had some fierce competition.....I recall a couple of old timers that set the standard.

One, who always wore the same dark blue suit, maintained an appearance that looked like he used his suit coat front for an ash tray.....and the other from Down Under could maintain an ash on his fag that completely defied gravity and the inability of the Engineers to track rotors.

Boslandew
16th Oct 2018, 12:29
I'm surprised to hear it's considered to be a problem, it certainly wasn't in my day, 1975-1999. Whether it was five hour plus flights in the Chinook or shuttling around the Leman/Indie in 61's or 76's, a good scran was always high on the priority list. The Magnus used to do a smashing fried breakfast and we had one co-pilot who could finish his by the top of the climb on the way home.

industry insider
16th Oct 2018, 14:43
and the other from Down Under could maintain an ash on his fag that completely defied gravity and the inability of the Engineers to track rotors.

....And who used to train instrument flying in Great Yarmouth on the 206. When reading the initial approach checklist during instrument training, when it came to no the item smoking and seatbesgn he would say as he was lighting another B&H “don’t worry about that crap, just concentrate on flying the approach”. What a great instructor he was though, taught me a great deal, the old Digger.

SASless
16th Oct 2018, 16:40
So true Shag!

212man
16th Oct 2018, 17:35
I was in Redhill being quizzed by a CAA FOTI as the final stage of my TRE test, when he asked if a pilot could be a TRE after reaching 65. I was slightly taken off guard and paused for a moment, looking out of the window as sagely as I could, when a Honda Civic parked outside and who should step out with his characteristic fag hanging out! In immediately remembered he was a TRE at Wycombe Air Park (after retiring from from BHL). Question answered!

Canuck Guy
17th Oct 2018, 17:34
Rig food is always a fun gamble. Had everything from a lovely T-Bone steak to a stale sandwich with green moldy mystery meat.
You quicky become wary of every fart!

On topic, I wouldn’t worry much about peanuts. Those are a healthy food, which you’re not likely to ever find on a rig :}

Fareastdriver
17th Oct 2018, 18:37
There was a major upset on the S76A when they introduced the second dinghy. It was installed against the captains door and it blocked the car type ash tray assembly that was built in. I had to go to Halfords and buy a stick on car ash tray to keep me going.

I was bringing a S76A GBJVZ from Antwerp to Redhill. It was a very early S76 with a small centre consol and old fashioned instruments and OBS which didn't work. As the weather was a bit iffy I flew back in formation with Avgas who was flying the other fully equipped one.

The normal place where I put my fags and lighter was not available to I tucked them against a ledge which had a blanking plate for the Loran or something. All went well until it was time to light up and my lighter wasn't there. Fingers found a big gap under the blanking plate which my lighter had dived in to.

We had a little screwdriver gismo around our necks to undo the Zeus fasteners on the cowling so I eased out of the formation a bit and removed the plate. There was my lighter nestled amongst all the cockpit's electronics' wiring.

I recovered it and at that point my maps migrated off the left hand seat down onto the floor by the collective. I needed my maps in case we got separated so I eased out to about four spans and did the old Bristol Sycamore trick when changing pilots.

I unstrapped, eased myself up and sat on the centre consol. swung my legs into the port footwell and pushed myself over into the left seat. I recovered my maps and reversed the procedure to get back again.

The aircraft did exactly what it was told; kept perfect formation.

Coming into Gatwick it was an ILS and my kit didn't work. I cleared it with ATC so I did a formation ILS (1/2 span) on Avgas and we broke cloud at about 600ft.

It took me back to my stovie days when we did formation GCAs on Bingo fuel.

SASless
17th Oct 2018, 21:26
Odd how your formation flying skills pick up at those kinds of times.....along with some severe muscle strain in the vicinity of your nether regions.

solitaire
24th Oct 2018, 18:09
Inbound after a long day in a S61. Checked box of food kindly provided. Nice curry but alas no cutlery! After much muttering and the odd swear word, discovered that the slide from the CRP5 computer (remember those?) makes a handy eating implement. Calm restored.

Happy days!

industry insider
25th Oct 2018, 10:27
I was bringing a S76A GBJVZ from Antwerp to Redhill. That ended up being my favourite S-76, it was the original North Denes aircraft, light and still had fuel pressure gauges for years!

Fareastdriver
26th Oct 2018, 09:42
The only one with four proper doors.