Hong Kong
 

EC155 of the Hong Kong Government Flying Service
http://www.info.gov.hk/gfs/photo1/ec155/ec15508.jpg

couple of shots taken during our latest adventures last month.
dr

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...onmemorial.jpg



http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/mandalay.jpg

heliport: took those shots with a pocket digital, sony dcs72, so there is no fancy equipment, have loads of pictures, if people are interested and blenderpilot does not mind posting them then we will send them through.
dr

the washington dc pictures were taken from falcon 1 which is metro pd's as-350 and the vegas pictures from md 530f. our company specializes in special operations equipment, flir, nightsun mounts etc for law enforcement and paramilitary groups so we get alot of good photo oportunities. here is one from last week with border patrol, these guys are the unsung heros, tough job, but the crews are dedicated and most professional.
dr


http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/bortac.jpg

Are you sure Goldsmith is still alive - thought he died last year!

And now, let's dredge up some memories from you pros....

For those who learnt to fly on a Bell 47, here's my baby. Now on Private Cat in the UK, fully restored and in great nick, and does about a hundred hours a year (and probably 200 hours a year cleaning and fettling!).

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/G-BFEFB47G.jpg

A perfect day's pleasure flying.... Crossing Ullswater quickly to avoid the military traffic always screaming down the middle of the lake.

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...swater2002.jpg

Here she is in the late 60's/early 70's. She is an Agusta machine, a G3-B1 Sioux, one of the first 150 the AAC took in 1964. (50 from Agusta, 100 from Westland). Anyone remember her (XT 132)? and does anyone recognise the location?

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/XT132-3.jpg

I've traced 18 ex AAC pilots who have her in their logbooks, most of who learned to fly on her. One of the pleasures of owning a classic machine is making contact with those who flew her. If you have any AAC B47 memories it would be great to hear them (we could start another thread).

Latest trip
 

I spent last week in the Pacific Coast with some developers looking for a spot to build a new airport, I took the following pictures and I hope you like them.



My favorite helicopter, and his improvised caretaker
http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...liguardian.jpg



This place belongs to an englishman named Goldsmith, he flies here in an executive 757, and brings and english helicopter pilot to get him here from Manzanillo airport (mmzo), maybe someone knows who he is?
http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...mithsplace.jpg



This is MMZO airport
http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...zanilloapp.jpg



Mexican Pacific Coast has more than 1000 kilometers of deserted beaches
http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...cificcoast.jpg


Hotel area of Manzanillo, Mexico
http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...dasmanzani.jpg

Carlos, I'm ready to move. Do they have any rice or cotton so I can make a living?
Barryb

PS: Great looking 412. Bet they would make a great crop duster.

Ah heck....he gone and done ruined it for us!

I have been looking for just such a place like that to retire....was gonna put a shovel and a tail rotor blade over my shoulders....and start walking until the third person asked me what those things on your shoulders are. At that exact point....I was gonna dig me a big ol' hole.....throw the shovel and tail rotor blade into it.....kick the dirt over both of them and call that location my final resting place.

I thought if no one knew what a tail rotor blade was....they knew nothing of helicopters.....and if they did not know what a shovel was....they knew nothing of hard work! And....that fellow Rotorheads sounds like Paradise to me!

B47,
Those are some really nice pictures! And that is one piston helicopter (the only one) I would absolutely love to have! Congratulations!

Crop Duster,
Actually while at the airport (taking pictures of crabs), I could hear piston planes buzzing near the airport, I asked and was told there is lot of them around working on Banana, Papaya and Palm plants, I was told it was mostly Piper Pawnees.

A Bell 412 a crop duster? Never seen one, there is a about 5 Bell 212's cropdusting around here, spraying herbicide on pot and amapola for the federal police. It makes my skin crawl to see them work, they spray fields up in the mountains, hidden between trees, and upslope, so they start at the bottom with some airspeed and end up at the top with a pedal (almost hammerhead) turn, and as it manuvers like a bird, you can see the downwash mixing up with the chemical coming out of those loong spray booms while listening to that 48FT main rotor spinning those almost 2FT wide blades, I can't help to get a grin on my face.

I have to get some pictures of that.

Manzanillo port is also a popular stop for tuna spotting boats.

Blender, I flew a Pawnee about a hundred hours one summer. Alot of fun to fly empty but loaded with 120-130 gallons at 3000 feet elevation it was a dog. No comparison with the 500 gallon 1000 hp Thrush I fly now.

That sound you mentioned from the rotor of the 212 is even better when you're sitting there doing it. Just after daylight and just before dark, it'll give you chill bumps all over.

Those guys that are spraying the drugs must have big gonads or could be over half nuts. A couple of guys from here in north La. are down south doing it in Thrushes and AirTractors. Not worth the $115,000 they make.

North Sea
 

Having a quiet weekend at home scanning photos, I thought these may be worth sharing. In 1976-79 Bristow operated 4 Bell 212's in the Brent Field to shuttle the workers around the field, and I had an engine mishap one morning. Not wanting to fly 100 nm back to Sumburgh, and denied the largest pad (Brent B) because a 234 Chinook was due in later, I put down on a spare deck and awaited the black hand gang. I landed to one side so that North Scottish could get in with a Bo105.

The engine was deemed U/S, but after defuelling we had to wait until cooler evening temps to ferry single engine back to the maintenance hangar that we had on Treasure Finder (IIRC). I was assured that Redhill had approved the S/E ferry, and was daft enough to believe the engineers!

When we got to Treasure Finder, no such approval was sought nor given (young and gullible?), then the engineers showed me the shrapnel holes in the tail and tail rotor :eek:

Anyway, it was a salutory lesson, in making a judgement call to "do the right thing" and get the 212 to our hangar facility.

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/2...on+deck+02.jpg

The turbine :(

http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/2...ne+failure.jpg


http://www.eacott.com.au/gallery/d/3...S+B-105+02.jpg

Thought y'all might like these photos: The World Trade Center photo I took while in a CH-46E while on a formation flight to NYC back in 1993 - guess I got lucky with the camera. The CH-53E is a nice, politically incorrect camo job that a friend sent.


NEVER FORGET

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PP...YC1993CH46.jpg


OLD SCHOOL

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/53eldy3.jpg

Hey John,
....that takes real BALZ to ferry a machine home OEI!
(get it? balls/balz....:p ....no? well I thought it clever)

Thanks, Steve, don't give up your day job ;)

FWIW, G-BALZ was one of the 212's featured operating in Iraq for the UN weapons inspectors, with photos in this thread. Wonder if their engineers looked as plug ugly & threatening as our two culprits :eek:

John,

They shave most days anyway, but most of them were still the same guys from way back then!

:E

B47,
Having just unearthed my old military logbook from under a pile of dust and cobwebs, I find that I flew old '132' four times during my time with 'Advanced Rotary' at Middle Wallop in the mid 70's. Good to see that it's still flying and being well looked after.

Well done, fly safely,
Chopperman.

John,
The hairy engineer in your photo of BALZ is Ray Farnes who finally retired from Bristow in Nigeria 2 years ago. He looks just the same now, except that his hair and long whiskers are rather greyer. He, like BALZ is in fine fettle.
;)

Now this is history
 

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/Bell47.jpg

I crewed and maintained this HO3-S in the Coast Guard. It was resurrected from the boneyard and completely overhauled to flight condition. It will be placed in the Smithsonian Aircraft Museum later this year. Prior to entering Coast Guard service the Sikorsky was operated along with five others by the Greyhound bus company which employed them as a taxi service in the Boston area.

http://homepage.mac.com/helipilot/PPRuNe/H3.jpg

I also crewed and maintained this HTL-1 picking it up in Miami and flying in it to Floyd bennett Field in Brooklyn, NY where we installed floats. We later flew both the HTL-1 and the HO3-S to Boston and placed them aboard the CGC Eastwind for her cruise to Greenland in 1952. The HTL-1 crashed after the cruise killing the pilot and the flight mechanic.

:ok:

Sorry, the pictures got switched