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In terms of wealth probably nothing says you’ve made it more than owning a superyacht – unless of course its owning a superyacht with helicopter landing facilities. In this episode we find out about the section of the helicopter industry that operates off these exclusive vessels.
Gareth Ross from Superyacht Aviation served 26 years in the UK Royal Navy before finding himself working with crews and owners of superyachts worldwide helping them to safely and efficiently operate helicopters from their floating mansions.
About 3% of superyachts have the ability to land a helicopter on them. The number of such vessels has been growing 10% per year for the last 10 years. Helicopters offer these high net worth owners a quick way to ferry pax and cargo from their yachts to maximise time aboard.
For the yacht crews it brings a range of new considerations now that they are involved in aviation. From the flying side of things it means operating at sometimes short notice, often operating away from fixed mantenance facilities and to a moving deck.
[Tweet “Superyachts over 100m long with 2-3 designated helidecks – possible tiltrotor platforms in the future”]
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In this week’s episode:
00:59 World Helicopter Day 2015
03:45 Brisbane Aviation Careers Expo
05:25 Listener correspondence
06:30 Gareth Ross – Superyacht Aviation
08:23 26 years in the UK Royal Navy including Flight Deck Officer on HMS Ark Royal
10:21 What are Superyachts?
11:34 3% of Superyachts have helidecks with market growth at 10% per year for last 10 years
12:15 Crewing arrangements
14:30 Types in the helicopter fleet
16:00 Qualifications required and training
20:10 Procedures and approach profiles
21:40 Helicopter storage onboard and tiedowns
23:17 Spare parts and handling equipment
24:20 Onboard refueling options
25:40 Non-flying tasks onboard and notice to move
27:00 Entry experience required
27:55 starspeed.co.uk example of helicopter management and pilot/crew placement agency
29:00 Getting a foot in the door
32:35 Top 10 helicopter books for helicopter aircrew
32:55 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
33:15 Competition – Photo with you, helicopter and Rotary Wing Show sign, post to Facebook to enter
Links from this week’s episode:
Gareth’s company Superyacht Aviation
Book:The Night Stalkers: Top Secret Missions of the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Aviation Regiment
[Tweet “(Superyachts) Sling loading quad bikes via #helicopter vs putting on to a tender”]
[Tweet “Lots of starts/stops with short flights. Extra battery pack & generators good idea for spares. @yachtaviation”]
Helicopter landing on a superyacht in the Bahamas
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Have a question or comment on either this episode or helicopter ops on superyachts in general? Keep the conversation going in the comments below.