Excellent documentary - showed their bravery and skill to the max.

Well done the Beeb. Any kind of rescue flying is impressive but into those seas is unbelievable!

Do the RAF Sea Kings (or any other heli) have that "Auto hover" kit?

I doubt that the RAF sea kings have that sort of auto-hover kit as its mainly useful over water (where there is nothing to hit when hovering imc :eek: ). Maybe the navy does?

The new Jigsaw AS332L2 has Eurocopter's own kit which is superb and so far seems much better than the LN450 fitted to the S61s . The only other aircraft I know of that has that kit is a Hong Kong-based SAR outfit.

The helicopters featured in the documentary do have an auto hover system fitted to them. It is fitted to make life easier for the winch op, so the aircraft stays stable at the selected height, not to stop the helicopter colliding with anything.
It is a very good system (louis Newmark), which is controlled by radio altimeter inputs.
The helicopters featured are owned by Bristow Helicopters, under contract to the coastguard.

I totally agree with all the comments about the pilots and winchmen. They should all get medals.

Yes, they mentioned the auto-hover system in the prog.
Amazing to watch the power of the sea, tossing big ships around like they were little fishing boats. The SAR guys in the North Sea, pilots and winchmen earn their money as far as I'm concerned. I can see the excitement factor in SAR work but the winchmen are welcome to their job.

Terrific programme, but could someone explain to me 'positive air'.

For Eurochopper's benefit the RAF SAR and RN Sea Kings have auto-hover equipment similar to that of the Coastguard kit. While the earlier models may not have quite the same facilities as that of the S-61, the RAF Mk.3As have a much better auto-hover system, similar or better than the Coastguard machines.

I can only assume that they meant air temperature of more than 0.

It was a shame that the two-crew operation was not mentioned from a flying perspective. In particular, the program seemed to indicate captains did all the flying, and you had to ask yourself what that other bloke was doing in the LHS - since it was not mentioned. Perhaps it was the editing which is at fault, since having been in MU, that was not the impression I had of the cockpit, and interaction between captain and f/o. (I missed the first 5 mins, so perhaps it was explained then).

Wouldn't it make better TV than that dreadful airport program, or the one about that dreaful airline.

+ve air
 

so what happens in less than 0 air.

why can't they fly?

slow build up of ice?

The S61 has a limited icing clearance, the positive air temperature would be required in order to shed any build up in flight.

Basically, the aircraft has a limited icing clearance. As a pilot you should only fly in icing conditions if there is a positive temperature band which you can descend into to shed any ice if the icing buildup starts to exceed your clearance.

That doesn't mean you can't fly in temperatures below 0. You can - providing you can avoid any visible mositure which can be difficult at night. If the aircraft starts to collect ice and surface temperatures are below zero then you can't get rid of it. So you are then in the position of losing performance and eventually descending if the build up of ice continues.

I once heard a theory about 'supercooling the aircraft' to below -5 after which icing doesn't occur. I can't remember exectly how it worked or if it worked, so perhaps the panel can enlighten me on that one!

Viewers might be interested to know that ex-pruner REMMINGTON who was banned for no reason last week by Flapper Forty, invented and supplied the over winch cameras to Bristow for all the Coastguard S61's around UK

Stunning footage - Skitzoid thank Remmington!!

Icing did seem to dictate an awful lot of the routes choosen.

BHPS - 'better' how?

Anyone remember the BBC series 'Rescue' from the 1980s (circa 'Piper Alpha')?

Used to fly both OC and IU ( in BCALH colours )but only for a week at a time , didn't fancy living EGPO or Bumsurgh . Fantastic job great flying left in late 80s. l

zalt

Think Scottish Television might be upset if BBC gets the credit for Rescue ;)

Hard to believe it was way back in 1988 !!!

http://www.espotlight.co.uk/ukpplhnews/listings/16.jpg

One of the rescues shown can be found here.

Budding Rose fishing boat tribute

I echo the praise for all the rescue chopper crews working in the UK ... civil and military. A tough job but very rewarding and makes a difference to many peoples lives.

PPRuNe Radar: Its all come flooding back. I agree it does seem an age ago.

Pity the mighty Beeb can manage only a one off. Still I look forward to the next series of 'Holiday Airport Parking Inspectors' and other such classics BBC docusaps.

{Did plan to edit for spelling - but it is better as it stands!}

Missed the prog 'cos we were on task - must learn to put a video in the machine. Anyone able to say who was featured/ which SAR base they were looking at?

I believe that the reference to "positive air" is positive airspeed and not related to temperature.

LE

thanks hoge, missing piece and speechless two

Zalt

My comment "better" was that the Mk.3A Sea Kings have the facility to go from on top the target in to a pattern to the auto-hover, rather than having to be radar guided (or use a TANS Teardrop tachnique) to a position so that a transition down can be made into wind. The Mk.3A and the S-61's LN450 can both do this.

Hope that answers your question?

BHPS

CHC Australia have 4 s-76a++'s that have four axis autopilot system in them. They use doppler and accelarometers as well as rad alt to keep the acft on station. The acft will home in on a becon or radar fix, when you fly overhead you press the magic button and it will comput a circuit to bring the acft to a hover at a hieght you dial in, with the target at you 1 o'clock about 50m. All of this is done on auto pilot. the crewman can then fly the acft from the back to the target using a button on the winch pendant. All damned cool stuff.:)