Wiltshire 429
 

G-WLTS, the Bell 429 with the Wiltshire Air Ambulance Trust is now fully operational from its Devizes base. Helicharter were awarded it's 429 and HEMS approval at 1600 today. This is great news, with a great team, the first UK Hems 429 in the UK!

Good news, best wishes to all :ok:

Well done to the boss of Helicharter for posting about his first success.

Good to see them operational of course but they still have glitches including hand held Tetra radios to resolve. All about learning curves.

longbox - I was told earlier, but wondered if it was a rumour, that your company moved its Ops Office from Manston to Devizes to help make this happen. True or false?

Devizes is another operational base in addition to the main base at Manston, so no not true

Well done to the Helicharter team. :D

longbox - that wasn't what I said. Of course you still have an operational base at Manston, but I heard your Ops Manager had to move office from Manston to Devizes for CAA to give signoff. True or false?

Good Luck!! Hope serviceability stays good!!

PS. That's quite a harsh questioning technique...........

Ppheli yet again wrong, both bases are approved without moving staff, would beg the question by moving a Form 4 post holder to gain approval would render the remaining base inop, so again false, maybe a better source of info needed

A very well done to Helicharter. You proved a lot of critics wrong, that is why there has been very few post on this. I wish you and your team all the success in the future.

Give it time to bed in. This is a very very brave step by Longbox as the 429 is unproven in the UK and for very good reason - the cab's got "issues" with payload and space. That is why no-one else has touched it.

I hope he proves them all wrong and it is a step in the right direction.

but people have touched it, bought it and more orders will be on the way soon. Grid are delighted with theirs, a private owner seems happy with his and the Air Ambulance should prove the same (I know of at least one air ambulance who is keenly watching the Wilts cab).

Congratulations to Gary and his team.

I flown Bell products for many years and out of Eurocopter, Bell and MD, Bell seem to get the fewest whinges and the happiest customers. You can get spares when you need them and they don't pull your pants down quite as far when it comes to paying for them.

Perhaps one day I'll get to fly a 429! :o)

I agree with Misterbonkers, nice cab and alot bigger inside then the 135 and 902. The payload issue is not a big deal, as it stands its slightly better then the 902 and alot better then the 135. The increase of weight may happen or not but that does not matter. The important thing here is the increase of space in the back for the paramedics.
Good luck to them!!

Misterbonkers: I should have been more succinct: The cab (429) is wholly inadequate as a police cab specifically because of its payload/space in the back. Less of an issue for HEMS - though I did DD on it for both these roles several years ago and it didn't meet our specs then for HEMS config. Perhaps something has changed since then.

In addition ANYONE who becomes the lead customer for something like this - takes ALL the hits whilst it beds into industry. He has a double whammy on his books - good luck.

I have absolutely no doubt (with its pedigree) - it will settle in nicely as a private aircraft or a light utility for the energy companies.

and HEMS!!!
Why would you say not big enough in the back when its bigger then most a/c of its class and dont forget its been bought round the world to forefill HEMS contracts.

Misterbonkers and KK thank you, as you both point out correctly, the 429 is popular and successful in all roles around the globe, with over 70 flying in Europe, 5 of those in the UK in the last two years. Production line numbers are now approaching 250. The 429 is a proven Police platform across the globe, NYPD have four, the Turkish Police have 15 on order to name a few. As a HEMS platform it is well established and has been for over four years, the first operational 429 sold was a HEMS ship. Air Zermatt are operating their 429 very successfully around the Matterhorn as a rescue and HEMS ship and rave about it. Misterbonkers send me a pm always happy to get you up.

TC

Now that NPAS is flowing its quite clear that they don't need lots of helicopters that can do everything - they need a small number of aircraft that could carry, for example, 24 counter terrorism armed to the teeth blokes on fast ropes (to keep the Met happy) and the rest off the fleet needs to be able to cost effectively carry a camera system, 2 TFOs, night sun, downlink and a collection of radios to a required location. Occasionally they need to carry two more and often this is once fuel has been burnt off. The 429 can manage this easy - I do not know however what the hourly rate is but I do have an idea of what comparable twins cost. So if the 429 is cheaper then it would be a no brainer.

I love the MD902 but MD have plain and simply let the product down by not supporting the product. Of course I judge all aircraft in comparison to the venerable Bell 47 - a tough one to beat!

Longbox - pm on the way!

TC - just what features of the 429 lead you to think it will settle in nicely as a private aircraft?

Anyone seen this, published by the CAA on the last day of April 2020? Uncommanded yaw and trim runaway on G-WLTS: Link