330J Puma Offshore Performance Data
 

I need to get some offshore performance data for a Puma 330J helicopter. Is there still companies anywhere in the world that operate the Puma offsfore?

I looked at the 330J Flight Manual and it would appear that there is no offshore limitations (OGE) to operate the Puma at 16300lbs (7.4t) MSL.

Any Puma drivers out there?

Cheers,

CJ

I should think Pelita Air Services in Indonesia are still using them offshore - we used to go out a long way from Natuyna Island in South China Sea and I know we operated at 7.4t but it was a different Century. :-)

Starlite Aviation, Durban based RSA

May be irrelevant to civilian ops but if my memory is correct the RAF used to have a regulation that allowed 7400 kgs but for aircraft ferrying only; i.e. no pax.

At 7400, I guess that would be with Steve Stevenson as the crewman.:ok:

CG

Yes Pelita Air Service still fly them, I see them come over my house on occasion. I think the contact as a maintenance man is Tony Franken, at Pondok Cabe, but its a long time since I have seen him. I think he is the only westerner there.

MBJ did you ever run into Dennis Keys?

In the North Sea during the late 70s - early 80s 16300lbs was the normal operating weight. Fuel capacity was a problem so we used offshore diversion. That meant that if Scotland was socked in as long as you had sufficient vis. to get airborne you could use the Claymore platform as your T/O diversion. It also meant that you spent a long time with insufficient fuel to return to an airfield.
Brilliant in icing conditions. It was cleared to fly in snow below Zero and if you did pick up ice on the blades it would periodically shudder as it threw it all off. The barn door in front of the engines was painted blue and looking through the mirrors as long as you could see a thin blue line around the packed ice you were OK.
Without exaggerating I landed on a rig in the Ekofisk field once with 3 inches of ice on the radome, sponsons, mirrors and even the door hinges just as the blades decided to shed. The helideck crew had to flatten themselves as shards of ice went spearing all over the deck.
The last one I flew was GBERG when I took it from Redhill to Southampton to catch a slow boat to China.

ShyTorque:

Absolutely correct (and also with an USL), but it was to do with the limited SE performance of the Turmo 3C4 engines. The 330J has 4C4 and does not have the 7t restriction.

Regards

PCD

PCD, thanks for the correction. Memory's not too bad though - my last HC1 flight was nearly 15 years ago.

[I got as far as trying to open my licence on the J model but the CAA had removed the type from the civil register just as it was my turn for the aircraft tech manuals. I had the dubious pleasure of phoning a certain JE that his two weeks of evening self study in Stavanger were in vain (what a terrible waste of Stavanger time; I could almost hear him sobbing).]

Evergreen is currently renting some 330J from Roberts Aircraft for their operations. As far as I remember at 7,4T, if the N1 are within the limits and the pitch angle less than 16,5 OGE, it's fine. The torquemeter is just fitted for information as it is just useless, not reliable at all on this machine.
Drakkar

Piggybank,

I worked with both MBJ and Dennis Keys in Indonesia, plus Dennis was my neighbour in the UK.

I had seven copies of the 330J manual copied (single sheet A4) by SHQ in Aldergrove in 1978. They may have been the ones you were talking about. GBERG sculled around in China for a few months and then went to Australia. When it went on to the Australian register it was the last G-reg one so the AS 330 subsequently came off the the British civil aircraft list.

Rumour has it that during the intervening period Bristows wanted to train some pilots on the 330 but without any in the UK it was slightly difficult. They approached the OCU at Odiham but the price quoted was horrendous so they dumped that idea.

The torquemeter was calibrated in Dynanewtons or something like that and was absolutely useless. It looked like something from a 1912 laboratory experiment and was only a fob for the CAA who wanted a torquemeter. It used to tell you you were overtorqueing the gearbox in the cruise.

As far as I know the Australian Pumas went to an American operator resupplying US Navy vessels.

FarEastDriver, I think your copies had disappeared long before but I found a set of very dusty but properly bound manuals in their manufacturers covers lurking in the Odiham TTF library. I borrowed them on behalf of three of us who were in the process of getting our CAA licences in the mid 80s.

SA330F is definitely still on the JAR list though, opened my licence with it! Not sure if the J is still there though.