BEags: Yep! Helicopters aren't natural.... although I do like the Wokka. I feel dirty for publicly admitting that......

She passed over Newbury at around 1615 on Sat, heading north - rather more quickly than usual transit speed from my observation.

Ah yes, that old challenge. Fuel critical... Do I throttle back and aim for better economy or do I open her up and try to get back before fuel is exhausted :eek:

I saw the aircraft heading roughly SW from my car on the A34 south of Oxford and it did not seem to travelling any faster than normal but in fairness it was probably not on its way back at that time.

I doubt the "Shall I go faster etc." argument was likely to have played any part in the captains thinking as he was not far from Brize and had several large airfields on his way back to divert to.

ACW