Life in the old girl yet? (S61 merged threads)

[heli1]

Phil is now with Vector in Vancouver in a senior management position I believe...hence his pix of the Carson flight deck which was done by Vector.

[unstable load]

Have Carson or Sikorski done anything about the Achilles Heel - the high speed inputs were 50's technology and could let the old girl down.

Mr Toad,
I spoke with a rep from Westland at the airshow in Cape Town and asked him that same question. He told me that the military boxes in the Sea Kings have been upgraded for a while already, so that may well find/have found it's way into the Carson ships.

[Torcher]

Mil Westland Seakings

The Seakings have modified input shafts with ball bearings instead of the old bronce bushing type. In addition it has ELS with up to 4 hrs running time after MGB lub pressure drop.

Torcher

[Outwest]

The babbitt bearings are not the weak link, as long as you have the ELS.

It is the freewheel units that need TLC to make overhaul.....gentle engagements and minimizing freewheel time all helps.

[Phil Kemp]

Here I am.

I post here every now and again. How are things Trog old chap? Haven't seen you in a year or two.

I am indeed with Vector Aerospace in Vancouver BC, and in fact just spent a very enjoyable week hosting the Sea King symposium here in Vancouver. The symposium proved that the Sea King and S61 is a long way from being gone, and most everyone there was busy planning into the 2020's and beyond. Pretty amazing! Also great to see so many old faces from around the world, some of whom go back to when I first started in the business, on the other side of the world.

We had operators, manufacturers, overhaul shops and suppliers from all over the world here and the level of activity is incredibly high. One of the highlights was Sergei Sikorsky's presentation on the life of his father Igor.

Carson made the announcement here at the symposium, and it will see many of the innovative improvements that Carson has created incorporated into the S61 and Sea King line. There are also stretched versions of the Sea King included in the program, as well as re-engining with the T58-16F, which GE is interested in certifying commercially - extra 250 HP per motor is certainly pretty interesting! Carson has operated the S61R inputs for a while now, and this certainly seems to resolve many of the issues with the N model inputs.

Thanks to everyone that came to the symposium, hope you enjoyed it and found it valuable - I know I did. See you at Sikorsky next year.

Incidentally, the glass cockpit S61 in the pictures is the former British Airways G-BEDI, which I brought over from the UK in 1987 when Croman and Erickson bought them from Aerospatiale!






And here is a picture of downtown Vancouver and Harbour taken from the self same S61 whilst heading directly to my house on Bowen Island!






First set of customer blades supplied by Carson when I was with VIH/Western.








And the second customer set, installed on the FIRST commercial S61 ever built and the prototype used for certification! And she is still going strong - currently in Angola!

[Outwest]

Nice shots Phil and all good news.

Do you have any info about an RFM supplement with a revised Cat A WAT chart?

[Troglodita]

Hi Phil!

Phil,

Good to hear you are still surviving in the Wild West.

With all this good stuff happening to the old beast I wonder if it's worth trying to renew my type rating?

I suddenly realised that it is 18 years since I last flew in one (with Al Streeter) - you could tell it was us up front 'cos the tail wheel wasn't touching the deck during taxi!

Trog

[RVDT]

"And next year we will fit shoulder harnesses, remove the church pews and fit seats"

[Phil Kemp]

One that might bring back memories for many people here. From late 2003, in Kerteh, Malaysia.

I was in Kerteh at the beginning, and by chance just happened to be there just before the end of the S61 days. In the last year I have seen all of the ex-MHS fleet in places as diverse as Ottawa, Korea and our hangar here in Vancouver.

[HOGE]

Any helicopter you walk up steps to get on, have room to eat your dinner in the cockpit, and can open a window to hang your arm out in flight gets my vote. Slow, underpowered, and never misbehaved. I'd love to fly one again.

[Phil Kemp]

One of the more recent arrivals here in North America is the former G-BCLC, which I, and apparently a few others on here, started out washing and loading baggage on in Sumburgh in the 1970's, when she still had that new helicopter smell. I saw her regularly in Sumburgh until very recently. Anyway, she is now fighting fires for a living and hopefully enjoying her new life.





And now, just in time for the holidays, she is getting a facelift and a little weight reduction!









What do you think some of the oldtimers would ever have made of that!

[leading edge]

PK

I take it from the photos that old "Elsie" is now shortened for her new career? Looking at the old log book, I have a few hours in her over the North Sea. Good to see her still flying and earning money for someone.

[Phil Kemp]

Those pictures were taken this afternoon in our shop in Langley, BC. I am going to buy myself a scanner for Christmas, and then I can pull out some of the thousands of photos from way back.

[verticalhold]

Phil;

I was in Kerteh in the early '90s and its nice to see the apron still hasn't dried out!

Many happy memories of Pakhar Wongs and the D Day bar.

VH

[jonnyloove]

Sicking

Its discusting what the do to the old girls by chopping them they should be shot for it. If they want that they should buy retired Seakings there are a few kicking about.

[Tail-take-off]

Very pleased to see Ex G-BCLC getting a new lease of life. I flew her from time to time when she was the SAR back up at Sumburgh in the 90s.

Have any of the other recently sold Bristow S-61s come your way? Three more have recently been sold to the USA:

G-BBHL (sn61712) now N364HH
G-BBVA (sn 61718) now N364FH
G-BGWJ (sn 61819) now N364DZ

If so will they get the same treatment?

[unstable load]

Its discusting what the do to the old girls by chopping them they should be shot for it.

As much as I would like to see the old girls left as original, I do agree with what is happening if it's to keep the ships viable for commercial operations rather than them going to the breaker's yards as washed out has-beens.

[Phil Kemp]

I am not sure what is going on with the 3 most recent ships that Carson purchased -although there is a good likelihood they will stay as conventional long S61's though. The activities taking place in the pictures above are at Vector Aerospace (the old AcroHelipro) in Langley, B.C., and is being shortened under our own STC.

Demand has always remained high for the old S61 and doesn't appear to be slowing. Add some Carson blades to the aircraft, maybe a rewire and glass cockpit and you are in business for some time to come!

Interestingly, one of the parts of the Sea King upgrade proposal involves lengthening the airframe to accomodate the longer engines and to improve the C of G of the machine.

[HAL9000]

Calling SAR-H

Is the Carson S-61/Sea King upgrade an option for SAR-H or has the headlong rush to waste £3-5B of UK taxpayers' money gained too much momentum to allow an injection of common sense?

Surely this kind of solution carries far less risk than a program involving totally new and unproven aircraft types (cf the pantomime that is the 139 on the south coast).

HAL

[Brilliant Stuff]

Phenomenal pictures there Phil.

Amazing what they do to these Queens.