Sluicegate.....bet your Liver looked like a Rugby Football upon return!:oh:

Big Al. Mr Biles on sick 212 in Nigeria (Eket?)

http://i1299.photobucket.com/albums/...psd133cfc3.jpg

I think the Shell logo and the overhead (but intact) wires overhead give a clue to this event. Suspect PH early 90s - how not to do an air test.

Missing overhead green transparency, evidence of high RoD on impact, tailboom top mounts weren't 'big enough', Seat pins sheared (18g AFAIR) I think AB can tell us how far down the 'Hell Hole' the Main TXMN was.

C'mon Oldlae, I know its Sunday morning but .. you could at least have cropped the photo square! ;)

Would be interested to know a little more about what happened. A Bristow fishing trip gone wrong perhaps!

TOD

Wasn't that SJ's famous air test? The Doc and 212 Man would know I am sure.

I think Doc was still scrabbling around the rivers in a well used Jet Ranger and (young) 212 Man was still hiding in ABZ before being dragged out to Eket a year or so later. I was up in Warri at the time; yes the SJ event.

It's just as well that OLAE cropped the TR off, there wasn't much left anyway

TOD

And the punishment was a transfer to Trinidad....as the culprit was a Bristow Trained British Cadet.

Getting out of PHC to Trinidad was something a lot of folks had been begging for but it took a Hijacking and being held Hostage for some to make the escape. (With a resulting cut in pay).

Umm SAS, I normally agree with you on 90% of things but I'm afraid this is in the 10%. I am a little bemused by your contradictory statement that Trini was desired by thousands - but you got less pay so the thousands didn't want to go?! As you know, I am one of those BTBCs. I don't recollect SJ having a long career in BHL after the event, but then my memory is probably not as good as yours :p

It was off to Trinidad with him.....which somehow seemed a bit short of an adverse entry into his personnel file for writing off an aircraft due to sheer stupidity....not to mention nearly killing the Engineer that was along for the Air Test.

if you recall, another Pilot at the same base was sacked over a "Low Flying Complaint" that did not result in damage to the aircraft.

You failed to tweak to what I said.....After being Hijacked, held hostage, and asking to be posted, the fellow took a huge pay cut upon being sent to Trinidad. Sounds like a strong sense of loyalty to the folks who had been with the company for 20 years or more.

SAS you are off the mark. SJ Spent quite a time in a spine cast having had his licence and logbook confiscated by the NCAA staying was not an option.

Bellboy.....I firmly agree.....staying was not an option....I would have tied a Can to his Tail and sent him down the road. People got the Sack for much lesser Sin's than writing off an aircraft through stupidity.

It caused the company a lot of bother with Shell when added to some others. I think that was when they got the "if another accident happens, Bristow will lose all the Shell contracts" speech.

Port Harcourt, after flying through wires on an air test

Way, way back in about 1968/9 a WS55III out of PH for, I think, Warri went into the bush, I believe the pilot, (nickname 'Bentnose'), said he got a mis-match when changing from auto to manual throttle control. Shell threatened to take away the Nigerian contract then and give it to Aero Contractors! Threatening to change suppliers is, I am told, a standard Shell practice.

PH Bell 212 air-test accident & Warri hijack
 

At Eket we used to fly a regular 'bus' run to the Shell IA in PH. I recall seeing the sad outcome of that accident parked in the hangar with a tape 'fence' around it - scary to see a cracked 'I' beam pushed up through the cabin floor!

SASless - As another product of the Redhill FTS I recall that we were all being painted with the same 'tar brush' as S.J. by the other pilots following that accident. This accident lead to the Company Policy on 'Indisciplined Flying'. The pilot, a very senior company pilot and not trained by the FTS, who was sacked over the famous PH 'Santa Claus' event had previously had a warning for a similar event. I was based in Redhill at the time when he was invited in for an interview without tea & biscuits, and he asked for a fellow colleague to sit in on that interview.

The 'Indisciplined Flying' policy also led to the sacking of one of your fellow countrymen when he beat up the Mobil beach compound at Eket. If you recall the previous Mobil manager used to request a helicopter to fly-by on a Sunday afternoon to entertain his guests, but that Manager had been replaced before the above event. I readily admit doing at least one wing-over (not a torque turn and without passengers on-board) at that beach compound before the 'Indisciplined Flying' policy, and other pilots including non-FTS products did something similar. Brightened up life in Eket at the time.

With regard to the Warri hijacking and subsequent stay 'up country' I recall a slight variation to your version. I was in Warri doing a standards visit at the time of the hostage negotiations, and was back in Redhill when the 2 pilots had been released and flown out of country. After company medical checks the Company Doctor advised that they did not return to work in Nigeria, so the company looked at relocating them. The British pilot having a CAA licence could easily be relocated to another 212 operation worldwide (cannot remember where), however the American pilot did not have a CAA licence so his only option was Trinidad, thus it was a drop in pay or no job.

I remember you dropping me off at the beach after a couple of wing overs, as I exited the aircraft with towel under my arm the germans trying to chat up the latest girlfriend (Patti, now wife for 14 years and mother of two sons) decided if I can arrange that type of entrance I wasn't to be taken likely!!!!

S

.. or even lightly!

Happy days Stacey!

Were you not also driving the Israeli road grader with Barry on the beach which meant I had to climb up a bit before a wing-over! Fortunately no photos exist (that I'm aware of) although it was the end of my 'Indisciplined Flying' displays!!

Wing-overs and low-level beat-ups are things of the past sadly. I am glad that I experienced fun flying before the days of trial by mobile phone and youtube.

Adroight

How true. I was lucky. In China eveybody thinks a helicopter belongs to the PLA so they're not going to complain.

5N-AQW and the wires
 

I was actually meant to go on that airtest; it was a quick whiz around the block after a swashplate & scissors change (when engineers were allowed to do such things), but there was delay for some reason so I made a cup of tea and ARK went instead. The take off was normal but the circuit was low and fast, disappearing behind the Grand brewery on the downwind leg. They were wazzing down the river to the east of the IA and hit the static line of the power lines running along side the railway bridge. I watched (fascinated) from the engineering office door as the aircraft reared up, yawing violently left and right before disappearing again behind the tree line about a mile and a half to the east.

Matt Ward and I cranked up JU and went over there, getting in underneath the wires in the picture. I jumped out and waded 50-odd yards through 3-4 feet of mud and water and found both of them still strapped in but both seats had 'stroked' and then collapsed. They were both in a lot of pain but I didn't dare try to get them out for fear of further injuring their backs; quite apart from which, there was nowhere to put them. 'JU came back a few minutes later with a doc from the Shell Med centre and we got them out and on to stretchers. He didn't give them anything before we moved them in case they needed surgery so it got pretty noisy for a while. The floats had been blown manually by the pilot (whose name escapes me) in an effort to cushion the impact although I'm not sure it would have made much difference. That said, I'm quite sure going into the water saved their lives.

The static line they hit had passed between the pitot tubes and the wx radome. The wire broke about half a mile to the left where they hit it and as they continued moving forward, the cable effectively sawed through the nose until it came up against the battery otherwise it would probably have continued 'sawing'. IMHO, if things had stayed that way they'd have probably gotten away with it but as the broken end of the cable came to the aircraft it took out the tail rotor and the TGB departed.

As SASless has said, the I-beams were poking up through the cabin floor and the transmission mounts had sheared allowing the whole assy to tilt forward 20 degrees or so.

The ac was recovered to the IA later that day by which time my tea was cold (but just where I'd left it). I went home, had a couple of large whiskies and considered the effect that apparently minor decisions have on our lives.

I have a video somewhere of the wreckage; I'll try to dig it out and post it.

G-BCLD
 

I was traweling around my old hard drive and found a few pics of G-BCLD when it cam back to the UK and also G-BDIJ

It used to serve our Jack-up Rig out of HUY. I was owndering how do Ipost the pictures.

UAY: See this thread: http://www.pprune.org/rotorheads/145...ips-gurus.html

Basically, photos must be hosted externally on another site and then 'pasted' into your PPRuNe post.

If you still have problems then PM me.

For anyone who does not want to set up a photo sharing account but wishes to contribute to this thread I would be happy to upload your images to my photobucket account & provide you with the links you need.

fred knott
 

hi i am looking to get in contact with fred knott in this photo if any one know his where abouts please contact me on [email protected]

You are right, these stingers had been build for uranium research in the Iran 1976/78. There was much more equipment inside and outside the Bell 212.
You may read here:
http://downloadportal.prakla-seismos...eport_77_2.pdf
Go to page 12.
Sorry, but the potos there are not colored.:ooh:
Equipment and personnel had been evacuated from Iran in Operation Sandstorm in 1979.
This post belong to page 67

First EC175 and S-76D at Heli Expo
 

Here's my offering from Las Vegas a month back :)

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psd1ea6fa1.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...ps6de6369d.jpg

Cheers

Bristow AW189 a la Paris
 

Also from my trip to Le Bourget here is the AW189 in Bristow colors :)

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psd89c4a94.jpg

http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g2...psac8a1036.jpg

Cheers

Floats
 

There probarly be the floats and live raft the helicopter needs when ditching in the sea.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/hkediti...0e84b42a04.jpg

http://www.diamond-executive.aero/Us...helicopter.jpg

http://images2.sina.com/english/chin...0219223153.jpg

I am familiar with that concept Dirt, (just) although floats and life rafts are rarely integrated (Apical excepted). I would have thought that AW could have designed something a little more elegant, whatever these are, they look like an afterthought.

Agree
 

Yeah sorry didn't know you knew.

But yeah for Italian design something went wrong :P

@AW -> yes we finished the helicopter on time!
@Customer -> were are my floats?
@AW -> CRAP ok hold on .!#@$@!$!@ (something in Italian)
@AW -> here you are ;) match the lines of the helicopter more or less.

Old Bristow Photos
 

If anybody is interested in old Bristow photos and happens to find themselves at the Bristow Training Centre in ABZ, look in the back right corner of room A2 in the simulator hall. There are several boxes of old Bristow photos there of both aircraft and people.

They've been there for quite a while, so if you ask around somebody might be willing to let them go.

Icing trials?
 

In 82 - 83 they had a Puma doing icing trials. Had some French blokes to ride along. They were officed' in the old UAS buildings at ABZ. After a particular 'icy' ride they used to fight amongst themselves to my great amusement - the youngest lad used to get the worst of it, he would literally be bounced off the walls. Don't suppose he has any happy memories of Sconny Botland.........

Bristow De Havilland Dove (Devon)
 

Following on from some of my previous posts about my dad and Biafra, I have been trying to find more info on the Dove from the Biafra war. Well Dad (Patrick O'Mara) was the engineer for the aircraft. I have managed to find some of the papers for it. Will post next. It shows Patrick O'Maras Airframe manual for the dove. I also have his flying log and a photo of it in Bristow livery but they are archived. Will post them soon as I have it. Also I found a photo of dad and an armed Nigerian soldier standing by one of the Bristow Widgeons. Bare with me as it will take time to access this information.

P.O'Mara's Dove Airframe Manual
 

A Dove at War.....there is some mileage to be had with that!

Dove.
 

Probably why the Military version was called the DEVON. Im sure they saw the Irony in it. Although the one in Port Harcourt was a Dove that they applied the camo too. Good name for a book :)).

At least Stringbags had class....but going to war in a Dove/Devon....now that takes Cojones grandes!

Thats a Riley Dove, a McAlpine conversion (minus its Lycoming engines), that used to belong to Bristows, before the Biafrans stole it.
Came to grief at night when it collided with a "Mammy Wagon" on take off, hence the damaged wing tip.
The picture shown looks VERY like the one I took in 1970, and appears in the book "Shadows".
Tony

Dove
 

Hi Tony.
Yes the image in the top right is your image. It's appears back in this thread.
Sorry I should have asked your permission but I was just using it to make a point. My father was the engineer for this aircraft ( we have spoken about this from memory)and I have managed to find references to it now in his papers plus photos of the dove and other aircraft prior to being taken by the Nigerian airforce. I thought people would be interested as little or no records exist on the dove but I have some. When I get access to the images and log book I will post it. They are buried in boxes in my lockup. But the above images shows dads manual and some drawings which i found in our attic in Ireland last week. These are for the Bristow dove in your photo.