Hong Kong GFS receives pair of Airbus Helicopters H175 in public service config
 

Looks fast, hope they work well for them.

Things that I'm hearing about the Oil and Gas machines however isn't as good.

Unless they are on a maritime SAR mission they are not going to be far from home.

They aren't a particularly attractive looking helicopter...interesting choice of "hi-viz" paint job. Not!

Looks like they missed the pilots window emergency exit marking on one of them too!

They are Airbus. It's an optional extra

Who said it had to be a high-viz paint job anyway? Some GFS roles definitely do not require it, in fact the very opposite.

Having spent a bit of time stooging around in the crud HK quality air, a high viz paint job would help with being visible to other traffic.

What is that thing that looks like stainless tubing around the read undercarriage?

They have had 332L2s for several years. The were used during the Sichuan earthquake.

Flotation firing cables?

Yeah, I understand that....but the clandestine cloak and dagger stuff they do is only occasional, and mostly at night, right? Anyway, they got their new ride, it's about 15 years past the accident and things seem to be ticking along nicely for them.

So what do you expect them to do - respray the aircraft for short notice night flying? You clearly don't fully understand the less publicised nature of their business.

I once unintentionally upset one of those on secret government business types when he tried to fly under my auto from 3000' in a jetbanger. No chance of collision though because I could see the gold in his teeth from miles away.

Hoist Cable Deflector

What I'm saying is, if they were in a more visible paint job it would be easier for "see and avoid" with other traffic. If they were painted canary yellow - like many EMS/SAR or public service helicopters - it shouldn't interfere with their clandestine night stuff. Sure, Zone would always give us traffic on GFS, but heck, they were sometimes difficult to eyeball through the HK haze. Like some jungle operators who I never understood why they painted their helicopters in jungle green.

I flew the 332L1 in the same airspace for several years and that involved a fair amount of winching offshore. As public transport operators we had to restrict the winching AUW to HOGE OEI, That's about six people with 1,000 lbs fuel. SAR does not need those requirements. If they did then you can bin all the S92s around the coast.

A 332L will hover OGE at 20,000lbs/9,100kgs zero wind at 30 degrees because I used to do that in the Solomon Islands.

For those throwing their hands up in horror that configuration is permissible when sling loading.

Hoist wire guide to prevent it snagging on the wheel when the winching gets a bit sporty and the wire starts to get dragged aft, E.G. trawling the winchman. N.B. Educated guess