End of an Era for the Bolkow :{

Trinity House
 

sadly Bond lost Trinity House contract to SAS, MD 900, c/n 900-00085, a 2001 vintage machine.

Bond still have NLB contract, 135T2 CGPI replacing 105 BUXS.

Trinity House
 

Good luck to SAS as they start the Trinity House helicopter contract today. :D

cgpi? Anyone know any links to a pic of either this EC135 or G-COTH (Trinity house new machine) or preferably both?

Most things BAS/PAS are on A View from the Cafe - an unoffical Gloucestershir

Recent articles may be of interest

• Northern Lighthouse Board EC135
• Charity buys two Bo105s for rat eradication on remote island (South Georgia)

Sadly, owing to slightly unpleasant weather in the N and NE over the past few days, G-BUXS was unable to complete her final tasks on behalf of all the Bolkows that have served NLB over the past 30-odd years. However, she was able to make it back to EGEG so that the handover to G-CGPI could be completed. Many thanks to the Stornoway SAR crew who brought the contractors off North Rona in her stead.

Herewith a couple of pictures from not-too-snowy Glasgow:

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...nsPIatEGEG.jpg

http://i200.photobucket.com/albums/a...leetatEGEG.jpg

..and DeltaNg, very best wishes on whatever you get up to post-Trinity!

Great Stuff TAB! :ok:

When the time is right please feed back to us some of the operational handling comparisons between the 135 and the 105. Would love to hear about it.

Earl

End of Trinity
 

Thud,

I'm pleased to report that the Trinity helicopter completed final tasking on Tuesday with a trip to Wolf Rock off Lands End, thus bringing to an end 30 odd years of service.

Incidentally, Wolf was the first tower lighthouse to have a rooftop helipad, so it seemed fitting to finish the contract in the place where it started.

Over to SAS ! :ok:

thanks T&B for posting those pics, much appreciated.

The top photo with all the snow at the bottom would surely be a good contender for the Calendar one month, Mr Eacott what do you think ?

An era which, for the NLB and to the best of my knowledge, began with this Ferranti Bo105 G-BATB:

http://lh3.ggpht.com/__dRpfF8qlVM/TP...XY0/G-BATB.jpg

(Photo courtesy of PPRuNer Speechless Two)

S.

I'll need to check sources, Savoia, but my engineer for the last week told me that Bond had the contract for 5 years before briefly losing it to Ferranti.

HB-XFD
 

QTG asked about HB-XFD. This aircraft was originally leased from it's Swiss owner. It had a leather, executive interior and an avionics suite, the like of which the Bond Pilots had never seen !! Which was OK except spares were not readily available. It was of course a Bo105C and was bought by Bond in Aug 1981. It was modified to CAA Specification (D Model) and became G-BGWP as a 105DB, it was never modified to DBS standard. It eventually ended up at PAS as G-PASA and was withdrawn from use in April 1993.

Hope this helps. Sq :ok:

bolkow
 

pic as requsted:

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5250/...c986e9fd_z.jpg

Just needs engines, blades, floats, hook, mirror, seats etc etc

Nice photo, taken on 16 Dec i see. Not bad for a contract starting on 1 Dec. But then again anyone who can start a contract with 4 weeks of standby is doing well. Hope that Trinity's lights are coping well in this weather; certainly NLB's lights have been benefiting from the services of a 135 which started on contract on time proving it's benefit from day 1 :O

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image75.jpg
Snowy Sumburgh early 80s Dave Clare flying, I think in the other front seat is the late Terry Roworth
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image74.jpg
On Belford Dolphin (?) Ninian South
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image72.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image69.jpg
Probably MF at Stoer Head
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image68.jpg
MF at Cape Wrath during Ninian Central 'float-out' operation
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image66.jpg
XO on Sedco 704 (late 70s?)
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image65.jpg
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image64.jpg
On the Zaria, the Auk platform in background
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image63.jpg

http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image59.jpg
TI at Strubby
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image57.jpg
on the Auk platform
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image55.jpg
Note the flares ! !
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image54.jpg
On Viking Piper along Claymore during construction
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image53.jpg
Martin Edwards (?) about to get in
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image31.jpg
Lifting poles for the electricity board from just outside Strichen
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ri/Image30.jpg
Hooking up, Brian Izzard flying
http://i221.photobucket.com/albums/d...ari/Image4.jpg
Probably Ninian North, possibly Harry Joy flying

Many thanks for that pic of COTH DeltaNG. I assume its now in its final colour scheme for the lighthouse contract. Incidentally its interesting to see the NLB have opted for the EC135 as did The Commissioners of Irish Lights, but I expect they will notice it has an issue with a very small boot comparend with the bolkow that things tend to drop out of as you open it, as Irish Helicopters have noted. Heath and safety guys were getting all excited as soon as they noticed apparently.

These photos bring back some great memories. It's good to see some old 'friends' that are no longer with us. I remember HB-XFD when I started at Longside. Very nice yellow and blue machine with the leather interior. She was the first a/c I got to look after solo on an offshore contract, as BGWP. She is still flying, in spirit anyway, as she became the donor for the stretch conversion that became BUXS.