NATS SSR Helicopter Trial January 1980
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: In the shadows
Age: 80
Posts: 290
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
NATS SSR Helicopter Trial January 1980
Does anyone remember this NATS trial?
On the clear nights of 22nd, 23rd and 24th January 1980 I spent 5 hours 35 minutes flying a Bolkow 105 helicopter on NATS SSR trials at Heathrow. If I recall correctly this was carried out at about 7 locations within 10 miles of LHR. Each location had an Army searchlight team stationed there and a pencil beam of light was shone vertically upwards by them. My task was to hover at 500ft AGL alongside the beam and then slowly climb vertically upwards to 5000ft using the beam as a reference – a fairly difficult and daft bit of helicopter flying if I may say so! Hovering in free air at 5000ft by day is difficult enough, let alone at night.
All the time we had to shine a searchlight fitted in the cockpit at a point on the ground near LHR which in turn was shining one at us so we could see their reference point – presumably so the elevation angle of the ground based light gave our height above ground at any one time.
I remember it being rather difficult to keep station on the army’s searchlight beam and several times we ran out of tail rotor authority whilst hovering and climbing crosswind trying to keep our onboard light shining at the ground reference station and I had to dive away and start again. It was also damned cold with the doors open to facilitate our cabin based searchlight and my logbook recalls it was -13C at 5000ft.
I never did know in detail what we were trying to achieve and after 32 years it would be good to understand!
On the clear nights of 22nd, 23rd and 24th January 1980 I spent 5 hours 35 minutes flying a Bolkow 105 helicopter on NATS SSR trials at Heathrow. If I recall correctly this was carried out at about 7 locations within 10 miles of LHR. Each location had an Army searchlight team stationed there and a pencil beam of light was shone vertically upwards by them. My task was to hover at 500ft AGL alongside the beam and then slowly climb vertically upwards to 5000ft using the beam as a reference – a fairly difficult and daft bit of helicopter flying if I may say so! Hovering in free air at 5000ft by day is difficult enough, let alone at night.
All the time we had to shine a searchlight fitted in the cockpit at a point on the ground near LHR which in turn was shining one at us so we could see their reference point – presumably so the elevation angle of the ground based light gave our height above ground at any one time.
I remember it being rather difficult to keep station on the army’s searchlight beam and several times we ran out of tail rotor authority whilst hovering and climbing crosswind trying to keep our onboard light shining at the ground reference station and I had to dive away and start again. It was also damned cold with the doors open to facilitate our cabin based searchlight and my logbook recalls it was -13C at 5000ft.
I never did know in detail what we were trying to achieve and after 32 years it would be good to understand!
Not sure of the exact date, but it could have been to do with commisioning the HSA 23cm radar which had a co-located SSR head on T1a car park (that's the one that's about to be de-commisioned!)
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: S -UK
Posts: 12
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Frank Day was the Engineering Manager of the trial and Nic Nicolas was the trial ATCO. I missed out on this trial - probably elsewhere in the country since radars were being upgraded on a grand scale.
Contacted my colleague Janice, a usual fountain of all knowledge re 'old' radar flight trials, and even she has failed other than:-“I cannot remember any report or what happened, all under wraps as I remember, but during that time there were calls of sightings of UFO's around LAP which, I think, were in the press!!”
RaRadar - CAAFU Hs748 for the actual trial of the H23. Seem to recall we upset the residents of Bedfont when ATC put the aircraft in a low level holding pattern while you undertook approach to the old cross runway.... it was in the middle of the night!!
Contacted my colleague Janice, a usual fountain of all knowledge re 'old' radar flight trials, and even she has failed other than:-“I cannot remember any report or what happened, all under wraps as I remember, but during that time there were calls of sightings of UFO's around LAP which, I think, were in the press!!”
RaRadar - CAAFU Hs748 for the actual trial of the H23. Seem to recall we upset the residents of Bedfont when ATC put the aircraft in a low level holding pattern while you undertook approach to the old cross runway.... it was in the middle of the night!!
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: In the shadows
Age: 80
Posts: 290
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks for the replies so far - I can see how folk thought we were a UFO. It must have seemed to them as though a stationary UFO was shining a light vertically downwards from 5000ft!!
