Papa Benedetto
 

A small tribute to the outgoing Papa Benedetto XVI .. but whom I shall always remember as Cardinal Ratzinger:

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Pope Benedict XVI boards an HMX-1 VH-3D Sea King upon his arrival at JFK International Airport in New York on 18th April 2008 on his way to deliver an address to the UN General Assembly

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Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Randwick racecourse, in Sydney, Australia, (via an 'Aussie S-76) for the final mass of World Youth Day on 20th July 2008. He was rumoured to have said: "These Australian helicopters are very small"

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Pope Benedict arrives courtesy of an Italian Army (Esercito Italiano) Grifone at the village of Oies, in the Dolomite Alps of north-eastern Italy on 5th August 2008, from where 130 years ago Joseph Freinademetz departed for China to work there as a missionary until his death in 1908

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Pope Benedict XVI arrives via Super Puma at the Antoine Beguere stadium in Lourdes, France on 13th September 2008

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The Vaticopter approaches Venice on 7th May 2011 carrying Pope Benedict on his official visit to the City

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Pope Benedict XVI surveys the Cristo Rey sanctuary from a Mexican Presidential Super Puma as he arrives to lead a celebration of Holy Mass at the Parque del Bicentenario in Silao, Mexico on 25th March 2012

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Pope Benedict XVI boards the Vaticopter (aka the Holy See King - an Aeronautica Militare SH-3D/TS) at Rome's Ciampino airport after arriving from Cuba on 29th March 2012. Pope Benedict left Cuba on 28th March at the conclusion of his first trip to Spanish-speaking Latin America which included a visit to Mexico

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Pope Benedict XVI makes a night landing (courtesy of an Agusta-supplied 109S) in the courtyard next to Saint John's Basilica in Rome

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The Holy Father surveys the successor to the Vaticopter, an AW139. It was rumoured that he said .. "One is not amused" ;)

Which was the first Pope to fly in a helicopter, Savoia? The Vatican was looking into the possibility of having a small airfield built in the Vatican 'enclave' in Rome around the end of WWII but I imagine peace and the invention of the helicopter made it unnecessary, although there was a chance that Italy would go communist in the late 1940s. (And which was the first Pope to fly fixed-wing?

If he felt the S76 was small, wonder what he said about the 109?:O

Yoyo: Great to see you back on the forum! :ok:

I am researching 'Papal Flying' and hope to be able to answer some of your questions (ie. the airfield and fixed-wing practices) in due course.

But, for now .. the first (recorded) rotary-wing excursion by an incumbent Pontiff was during the regin of Pope Paul VI (1963-1978 his Pontificate):

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Pope Paul VI embarks on the first officially recorded helicopter flight by a Pontiff. Here the Pope is seen inside an Italian Air Force Agusta-Bell 204 which had landed in the garden of the papal summer residence (Castel Gando) and went on to take the Pope to the central Italian cathedral town of Orvieto

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Italian Air Force Agusta-Bell 204 departs Castel Gando with Pope Paul VI aboard .. the downwash necessitating the Swiss Guard to hold onto their helmets (no sordid comments please :p)

This flight took place on the Feast of St. Alphonsus, 1st August 1964 (Lammas Day in Britain).

When his Private Secretary informed him that they were about to land .. he said: "But we only just took off!"

Two Vatican 204s ended up in Iran, for Bristow Caspian sea operation IIRC.

ATN

I reckon His Holiest would rather be an Apache pilot :ok:

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Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer, or let me take off the blindfold while I drive

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"Bene, ifa you bums are takin' ma re del mare and givin' me this pizza crap instead, ima outta here!" *

I/C

* That's how Popes talk, right?

Its ok folks, we got the new T/R blades :E

Farewell Papa!



We were hoping that they may have used the Holy 'See' King one last time but .. he was relegated to the 139 instead. A sad ending indeed. :{

Pretty impressive, that last flight at low level, sightseeing over Rome at about 300 feet.....did any of you rotor heads see that extended footage? I happened to catch it live from takeoff right through the landing at Castel Gondolfo....what are the rules for sightseeing over a major metropolis, while being filmed by another helicopter?

Reminded me of the James Bond sequence flying with HM through the middle of Tower Bridge....which meant that there were two helicopters performing, as one was filming....in the sort of places mere mortals are seldom permitted to venture.

Some comments emerging suggesting that Benedict's rotary-wing departure (particularly the Colosseum over fly) was 'choreographed' - I have no idea.

What I can say is that the Colosseum is pretty much en-route Vatican > Castel Gandolfo:

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Route: Vatican City > Castel Gandolfo (Red dot marks the Colosseum)

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Yellow square (Vatican City), white circle (the Colosseum), red arrow (direction to Castel Gandolfo)

With a northerly departure from Vatican City followed by a right turn .. you would pretty much come out over (or very close) to the Colosseum.

Mary: Rome has restrictions over the Presidential Palace and Vatican City and has the usual built-up area resrictions .. I'm not sure what 'zoning' restrictions apply from Fiumicino to the west.

Government helicopters (of which there are many in Italy .. different departments) and of course the 'Vaticopter' are permitted over the City.

And the latest comment .. "was the white smoke from the helicopter a sign that God wanted Benedict to remain in office" .. and which I found highly amusing!

I think however that the answer may have something to do with residual oil:

All I can say is that the Pope's helicopter certainly did not fly in a straight line from takeoff to landing; it meandered all over the place, at low level, before after about 12 minutes of local sightseeing, climbing to a safe altitude and proceeding to destination. The total flight took more than 20 minutes, that's for sure, and I was watching it live on the BBC news channel. Not BBC 1.

It was a government helicopter, flown by Italian airforce pilots, so said the comentator.

This, I am sure, will have been to acknowledge well wishers on the ground (across Rome) who had come to witness the Pope's departure.

This is what I was always told about the remaining machine that I think you may have been flying around in! :) I was discussing it with Al Biles earlier today, a Gnome powered monstrosity.

Manchester
 

Very funny, I missed that when I looked at the photo initially.

Tam

I'm flummoxed with your 'small' comment, but that was Packer's S76B at Randwick.

When someone is familiar with swinging several cats in a Sea King / S61N everything else seems small and cramped John. When we changed from the S61N to the Puma the passengers were horrified.

So much for a 2 minutes cool down at idle before shutdown.
That was likely allowed by a Papal dispensation and might explain the "Holy" white smoke.
Savoia just kidding, the white smoke was likely caused by the flight crew removal of electrical power before the compressor stopped turning thus re-opening the fuel valve (not the shut off) and allowing fuel to trickle from the high pressure engine driven fuel pump back into the (still hot) combustion chamber.

Mary, depending on "who" you are in Italy altitude restrictions are a mere suggestion.

Aaaniway, "Viva er Papa!" as any true Roman would say.