Larry Thimmesch is Vice President, Bell 525 Relentless Sales for Bell Helicopter
Our guest today is Larry Thimmesch, Vice President Bell 525 Relentless Sales. Larry has been involved with the 525 for the last 5 years from the program’s very earliest days.
The 525 is Bell Helicopter’s largest helicopter to date and weighs in at 20,000lbs or 9000kg. It has been created off a completely clean sheet design and will be the world’s first commercial fly-by-wire helicopter. In this interview you’ll get to hear about the background to the design process and a run down of the technology and advances built into a whole range of the aircraft’s systems.
When Larry first started at Bell Helicopter as the VP of Commercial Programs there was a goal of growing the commercial side of the company in the face of decreasing defence budgets.
From the outset the program aimed to incorporate capabilities developed from recent Bell Helicopter military design experience and to include the best of current technologies avaliable.
A review of the most common causes of rotorcraft accidents was undertaken with a focus on identifying where technology could add value and safety – whether that was Bell internal technology or what was currently in the marketplace.
[Tweet “Fly-by-wire design – 3 completely independent electrical, hydraulic and actuation systems #bell525”]
Bell 525 Flight Test Vehicle 1 – hard to see in this smaller image but the signatures of the customer advisory group have been painted on the tailboom. Photo Credit: Bell Helicopter
A customer working group were invited into the design process and came up with a Christmas shopping list of features they wanted which included a <20,000lbs MTOW, more baggage volume, safety and a non-negotiable CAT A performance along with many more key requirements. 6 months later the Bell 525 program team were able to show this same customer group a full scale wooden mockup of the design.
With 10,000 all new designed parts, the Bell 525 Relentless is a helicopter that they are planning to last in the market for the next 10, 20 even 30 year period.
At the time of recording Flight Test Vehicle 2 (FTV2) is being shown at HeliExpo 2016 with a third aircraft to join the certification phase shortly.
[Tweet “Aircraft maintenance data can be passed via satellite connection back to base engineers while in flight. #bell525”]
01:45 HeliExpo 2016
02:15 Larry Thimmesch – Boeing, Bombardier, Bell Helicopters
05:20 Customer advisory panel 2011 – 85 different kits/layouts
08:00 Developing the value proposition and getting the message out
09:30 Coming up with the name and model number
11:10 Expected roles and industries
14:00 Clean sheet design – how you do that
18:25 Full scale wood mockup of the aircraft 6 months later
21:00 Size of the program staff – up to 500 people at peak – and cross specialty input
25:10 Early performance figures – range, loads, Vne
27:36 Engine powerpack and rationale
30:00 APU – customer design request to have cabin cooling without blades turning
31:10 Triple redundancy, voting fault tolerance, integrated maintenance recording system and fleet wide data
35:50 Cockpit design and IR field ‘touch’ screens
39:10 Philosophy for fly-by-wire control approach
41:50 Cat A departure engine failure self recovery by autopilot
43:33 Canted tailrotor design – hover attitude and CoG envelope
45:20 Flight controls/joysticks with force feedback
47:10 MFD / PFD layout and presentation
50:10 5 bladed rotor disc – large diameter to achieve Cat A performance
52:00 Gearboxes – 7 transmissions total, engine RPM is stepped down before main transmission, specialized materials
55:00 Lift assist tailboom patented design – extra 400lbs of hover capability
57:55 Crashworthiness and egress features
1:03:30 Maintenance and support planning
1:05:45 Training approach, simulators, courses
1:08:10 Standing up a capability from day one with operator
1:11:40 Future milestones over next few months and certification
1:18:15 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com – LinkedIn tip about vanity URLs
[Tweet “It takes a while to design an aircraft from nothing. We have 10,000 parts on this aircraft & they are all brand new. It is a daunting task. #bell525”]
The ARC Horizon flight deck system and side positioned fly-by-wire controls make the 525 Relentless cockpit appear sparse. Photo: Bell Helicopter
Dave Blackwell, CEO of Spidertracks has a freight industry and engineering background. The company’s tracking units are installed in over 5000 aircraft around the world.
Spidertracks is a New Zealand company that produces a real time tracking solution for general aviation allowing owners and operators to know exactly where their aircraft are and to greatly increase the speed of rescue if something should go wrong.
Dave Blackwell is the CEO of Spidertracks. In this episode he talks about the technology behind real time tracking and Spidertracks including the Iridium satellite network. Dave was a managing director of a US freight business for 7 years before returning to New Zealand and formalising his qualifications with an engineering degree. He was hired on as the operations manager at Spidertracks, then chief operating officer and now CEO.
The event that triggered the idea and development of Spidertracks was a 2005 EC120 helicopter crash in New Zealand. The helicopter crashed mid-morning but the search was not started until that evening. An ELT was fitted but the antenna was broken in the crash. The SAR effort lasted 15 days and cost over NZ$1,000,000 before the wreckage was found.
[Tweet “With nightfall coming on & absolutely no idea of where to start the search the RCC launched a SAR effort”]
The company has clocked over 5 million flight hours of flight following since 2007 and have their products in 99 countries around the world.
Plug & play setup of a Spidertracks unit. The device needs 12V power from the aircraft and then can be mounted with adhesive strips in the cockpit. Once paired with the operator account through the website setup is complete.
01:00 Heliexpo
02:10 Listeners in 118 countries
03:00 Competition for custom aviation drawing
03:45 Dave Blackwell bio
04:32 Spidertracks real time tracking
05:45 Who is using it and market growth
09:10 2005 EC120 helicopter crash in New Zealand
11:40 Creation of the first product – GPS receiver and Iridium modem
12:40 Early take up of Spidertracks – first 100 units
14:10 Office locations and core team of 13 people
14:40 What Spidertracks looks like and installation
16:20 Iridium satellite constellation – 66 satellites
18:08 Alaska charter flight case study
20:10 Use of Spidertracks in accident investigations and ownership of the data/privacy
22:00 Aircrew interface on the units – 3 buttons – SOS, Watch, Mark
29:30 African parks use of mark feature
30:20 Web/phone app display dashboard
31:25 Insurance rebate possibility
32:50 3rd party integrations and data feeds
35:45 Future features planned
38:20 Real time tracking doesn’t have to be complicated
39:50 SpiderTxt new feature for messages through satellite update
40:40 Opensignal.com mobile phone coverage around the world
41:30 Kayla – winner of custom drawing, a Hiller 12C
42:45 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com – Instagram tip
43:50 AHIA Rotortech2016, Sunshine Coast, Queensland May 2016
[Tweet “Pole to pole coverage, always a satellite within view, 100mins to orbit the earth”]
Video – Spidertracks unit sent into space.
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Dashtop screen showing flight tracks of paired spidertrack units.
Congratulations to Kayla Segerstrom Perez from Texas for winning the random draw from Episode 39. Her Dad is a dual rated CFI and taught Kayla’s 2 brothers to fly helicopters with Kayla to finish her training sometime soon too. Her first helicopter flight was in a Hiller 12C that her dad still owns. Kayla is the owner of an aviation industry marketing and airshow production company – Rotorwash Media
Kayla(Right) was the winner of the competition from Episode 39 and has won a custom drawing of a Hiller 12C owned by her Dad (Left)
Marc Veenendaal has drawn a Hiller 12C for Kayla and that will be in the mail to her shortly. Thank you to everyone that entered.
Pete Gillies is a legendary, 18,000-hour helicopter pilot who has previously been honored as the Helicopter Association International’s instructor of the year.
The difference between an expensive falling brick and a helicopter is rotor RPM. Pete Gillies talks about the importance of aft cyclic in autorotation entry to conserve rotor RPM in this episode.
Depending on where you did your training this might come across as ‘yeah, of course, doesn’t everyone do this’. If that’s you then fantastic and this interview will give you an in depth refresher on the ‘why’ behind it. If you’ve been out of regular autorotation practice for a while or didn’t have this emphasied then you’ll walk away with a new understanding to take on your next flight. There are a number of links further down the page that go on to show that this knowledge may not be as widely spread as it should be.
As with any flying advice you should discuss it with an instructor that you trust if unsure and apply some sense in how to use it – Pete is obviously not trying to say that aft cyclic must be used religiously for example in a hover engine failure.
[Tweet “A bad ending of an autorotation is usually survivable, but a bad beginning is usually not”]
“The Best Kept Secret in the helicopter industry is how critical it is to immediately apply aft cyclic the moment a loss of power to the rotor system is detected. I have been doing my best to spread this word since analyzing the cause of two law-enforcement helicopter accidents that occurred four months apart in 2002. I call it Cyclic Back.
Very few helicopter pilots realize that if, with a total engine failure, the rotor rpm is allowed to fall more than about 5% below low green, the flight is over. OVER. There is no recovery possible regardless of what actions the pilot may take or how high the helicopter is above ground. This fact is not mentioned in the sales literature for helicopters nor in the approved rotorcraft flight manuals. It is not mentioned in any of our FAA publications having to do with how helicopters fly and how to fly them. It is treated as a deep dark secret, unfortunately.
When power is lost to the rotor system, THE MOST IMPORTANT FLIGHT CONTROL IN THE COCKPIT IS THE CYCLIC! It must immediately be brought aft so that the flow of air is upwards through the rotor system. Bottoming the collective does only one thing: It reduces the rate that the rotor rpm is falling. That’s all! It NEVER stops the fall of rotor rpm.
Once the rotor rpm has dropped below the critical point, recovery is not possible. The helicopter continues to descend as the rotor rpm falls towards zero and may, in the case of free-turbine engines as used in the EC135, be seen to turn backwards. The rotor blades will show little if any damage when the wreckage is examined.
And as the rotor rpm slows towards zero during the descent, retreating blade stall enters the picture. The normal Vne chart does not mention rotor rpm; it is assumed it is normal for the standard mode of flight. But when rotor rpm falls, Vne falls with it, so Vne is very possible at airspeeds much below those computed via the chart.
This in turn means that as the rotor rpm is falling during the autorotation, the helicopter will roll in the direction of the retreating blades, or to the left in the case of the EC135. Any attempt by the pilot to correct this with opposite cyclic simply adds additional pitch to the blades that are already stalling, thereby increasing the amount of roll.
When a helicopter pilot is faced with a sudden unannounced engine or drive-line failure, here is what must be done:
1. Cyclic back and pitch down, simultaneously or in that order.
2. Pick a place to land.
3. MAKE THAT SPOT!
What about indicated airspeed. At the beginning of the autorotation, the ONLY speed that matters is that over the wings, meaning, of course, the rotor blades, and this is a function of rotor rpm. Pitot tube airspeed (indicated airspeed) is not important at that time, but yes, once the rotor rpm is solidly in the green, indicated airspeed can be helpful in extending the glide or reducing the rate of descent.
Finally, this: During a normal power-off autorotation, the helicopter will respond to all flight-control movements the same way it would if the helicopter is in a flat-pitch descent with the engine running. The only thing it won’t do is a sustained climb. But it will stop, back up, turn in any direction, etc. So when I say MAKE THAT SPOT, I’m saying use the maneuverability of the helicopter just as you would if the engine was running. There is more to life than straight-ins, 90s and 180s!” – extract from a post that Pete made on PPRuNe in 2013 (with a typically PPRuNe spirited debate that runs to 28 pages)
As for in Pete’s earlier interview back in Episode 39 we have Douglas Williams to thank for capturing this audio.
[Tweet “The pilots had not applied aft cyclic at the time the engine quit, they had gone for airspeed – Pete Gillies”]
In the episode:
02:04 Competition for a custom aviation drawing
03:00 Listener comment Andy, 28 SQN OCU
04:20 B206 engine start clip last episode
05:50 Old Bell Helicopters magazine article, 1975 – ‘Keep the rotor in the green’ – redundant?
09:20 Studying accident reports – LAPD Astar overrunning clutch failure
11:15 MD500D ran out of fuel then crash wreckage
15:40 1992 MD500E engine failure on takeoff with crash onto busy road
20:55 Sherif MD600 steep 180 turn following engine failure
25:10 Law enforcement recurrency training using crash photos – lightbulb moment!
28:40 “Immediately put the collective down and immediately nosed over to get airspeed”
30:20 The aircraft were turning left due to below green rotor RPM – retreating blade stall
33:00 Impact on Vne of low rotor RPM
35:00 Emphasis at the time on airspeed in RFM
36:30 Fixed wing comparison
38:45 Reaction time and immediate actions
41:00 Overrunning clutch – engine overspeed but rotor blades slowing
42:00 ‘Aft Cyclic’
44:10 Autorotation training changes
48:15 Completely consumed with the mission and not thinking about engine failure
50:10 The helicopter is happiest in autorotation
51:30 Multiengine helicopters and applicability of ‘Cyclic Back’
53:20 Engine off vs engine idling training autorotations
1:00:20 ‘Aft cyclic’ to be in print, training programs and RFM
1:02:30 Advice on a real world engine failure from Pete
1:08:50 Thanks to Doug Williams
Chapter 43 ‘Autorotation Concerns’ of Helicopter Aerodynamics Volume II by Ray Prouty also cites Pete Gillies when talking about the need to instigate airflow into the disc during autorotation entry in forward flight.
The following is an analogy penned by Randy Rowles, 2013 HAI Instructor of the Year, that provides another approach to discussing the application of aft cyclic in an autorotation entry. “First, I would like to add to Mr. Pete Gillie’s (Chief Pilot, Western Helicopters) comments regarding the importance of applying aft cyclic when entering an autorotation. As a longtime flight instructor, I couldn’t agree more with Pete as I’m sure most experienced instructors within the helicopter industry would as well. The key to getting the point across on such subjects is providing an example that is relevant to the topic.
I would suggest we provide an example taken from a baseball analogy. Applying aft cyclic when entering an autorotation is a key consideration because you want to present the rotor system to the changing relative wind. This is very similar to explaining HOW to catch a ball in a glove. In simple terms, you MUST present the open glove to the ball for the glove to function.
To properly catch a ball, the glove must be open and presented so that the ball will hit the glove in the pocket. If the glove is face down, the ball will hit the glove and be driven to the ground. If the glove is held upside down, the ball may roll up the glove and hit the person in the mouth, both non-desirable outcomes.
So you see…an analogy of catching a ball in a glove presents the reader with a basic fundamental principle of the interaction of the ball in flight, and how to properly engage the design of a glove to catch the ball. The rotor system works exactly the same way. No matter what the speed of the aircraft, the rotor system MUST immediately be presented to the airflow through the use of aft cyclic during all autorotative entries.”
Custom drawing competition – Final hours
Your chance to win a custom aviation drawing my Marc Veenendaal is almost gone. Leave a comment on Episode 39 about your first helicopter experience to go into the draw.
Do you have an opinion on ‘Cyclic Back’ or additional information to share? Perhaps you’ve had an engine failure and can share how it turned out. Join in the conversation below in the comments
Texas Rotorwing Academy operates 2 of the 8 Cabri G2 helicopters currently in the United States.
The Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter has a lot going for it. One of the type’s biggest fans is Joey Arena of Texas Rotorwing Academy. Joey operates two Cabris with another two on order.
The Guimbal Cabri G2 is a two-seat light piston-engined helicopter designed by Bruno Guimbal, a former Eurocopter engineer. The aircraft are built in a factory just down the road from Airbus in France and incorporate many of the design features found in larger Airbus helicopters.
In this episode Joey talks us through some of the things that make the Cabri G2 different from other 2 seat training helicopters and the general anatomy of the design.
Joey got into the flying game in 2008 after working in other industries for a number of years and using the global financial slowdown as the push to make a change. Several years later he made the 2,300 mile trip from Texas to Precision Helicopters in Oregon to check out the first Cabri G2s in to the US and was hooked. He then put an order in for 4 of the machines at the next Heli-Expo.
[Tweet “I decided to be a helicopter pilot when I was 6 years old – Joey Arena”]
01:25 H-37 Mojave helicopter photo
02:45 Westpac Life Saving QLD BO105 live hoist training
03:10 Top 10 Helicopter books for helicopter aircrew
03:30 Competition to win a custom aviation drawing – episode 39
04:40 2 seat training helicopters increasing choices
05:20 Joey Arena is a big fan of the Cabri G2
05:50 Rotating the helicopter sound clip before the interview
07:05 Getting to a helicopter career
08:28 8 Cabri G2s in the United States
10:04 Visiting the factory in France and factory training
11:47 75 aircraft a year production rate, 3 construction bays
13:30 First time seeing a Cabri and overview
16:10 Relationship between Airbus and Guimbal
18:00 Maintenance requirements
19:11 Lycoming O360 Engine – 1 magneto and 1 Electro-plasma system
20:05 Automatic carb heat system
22:00 Engine governor, throttle detent and collective correlation, fuel burn
25:10 Fenestron tail rotor design – ducted fan
27:20 Main rotor system
30:26 Autorotative potential energy, rotor inertia
32:20 Straight in auto procedure
35:00 Availability of parts and support, back order
37:45 Cargo space and Weight&Balance – 611 lbs useful load
38:50 Cabin layout and control feel
43:20 Dashboard and instrumentation
46:10 Engine mount and rotor engagement hydraulic ram
47:35 Landing gear, attachment points to fuselage, slope landings, ground resonance
51:30 Fenestron fan safety features
53:05 Crash protection design of the seats – rated for 2200fpm impact and 95% chance of survivability
57:40 Build process video showing the factory process
58:05 Win a custom aviation drawing by commenting on episode 39
58:40 World Helicopter Day
59:28 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
[Tweet “If you look at a Cabri your jaw hits the ground because it is absolutely stunning”]
Video – Building a Cabri G2 at the Guimbal factory in France
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Cockpit layout in the Cabri – you can smell the ‘newness’
[Tweet “The Cabri G2 is certified to hover in a crosswind of greater than 50 kts”]
Sling load training in the Cabri G2
This is another image from the Instagram account of aviation artist Marc Veenendaal. Leave a comment on the Episode 39 blog post to go into the random draw to win for your own custom image from Marc.
Pete Gillies is a legendary, 18,000-hour helicopter pilot who has previously been honored as the Helicopter Association International’s instructor of the year.
Imagine the flying experience, tips and tricks that you would pick up in a helicopter career spanning 5 decades. Pete Gillies has just retired from full time work in the industry and in this episode he talks about his first experiences of learning to fly a helicopter in the 1960s and passing his commercial helicopter flight test.
Pete Gillies has been a long time Chief Pilot at Western Helicopters in California, USA. He is also a regular contributor to the industry’s leading helicopter publications and a distinguished speaker at events for airborne law enforcers, professional helicopter pilots and the industry at large. He is sought after as an expert witness and for challenging wire pulling, external load and mountain flying operations.
A big thank you to Douglas Williams for recording the audio that you hear in this episode and helping with the setup and photos you see here. Doug trained at Western Helicopters and obtained his PPL/Rotorcraft-Helicopter certificate in December of 2013. Western pushed him to also complete the certificate for Advanced Ground Instructor. Douglas is a past president of EAA Chapter 845 in Redlands, CA where he continues to serve as ground instructor for the Young Eagles events. Douglas is also currently building a Rotorway Jet Exec (turbine conversion) experimental helicopter, and hopes to be flying the skies soon!
Despite his Dad being the Vice-President of Flight Test Engineering at Grumman Aircraft and his Mother being a WASP[Women Airforce Service Pilots], Pete was more interested in a career in electronics initially. He did pick up fixed wing licences but it was 15 years as a technician before Pete showed any interest in helicopters.
The interview in this episode is the story that Pete tells of his first helicopter flight and the start of a distinguished career in the rotary wing world.
Doug Williams and Pete Gilies standing in front of a Sikorsky S-58T helicopter
Pete on the tarmac with some MD500sPete speaking at the 50th anniversary celebration of Western Helicopters at Angel City Air’s hangar, KWHPPete Gillies with Bob Spencer(Chief Instructor, Western Helicopters) and a Whirly-Girl scholarship winnerFuel stop at KHMT during a flight that Doug did with Pete
In this episode we also mention the hobby Instagram account of aviation artist Marc Veenendaal. It is well worth checking out his drawings on his account. Leave a comment on this blog post to go into the random draw to win for your own custom image from Marc.
Do you know Pete or have flown with him? Use the comments below to leave a public tribute or thank you to Pete Gillies. Also don’t forget our competition for this week – leave a short story or comment about *your* first helicopter experience to win a custom drawing by Marc Veenendaal.
Randy Sharkey is the chief organiser of the Rotors ‘n Ribs Fly-in in Indiana.
Billed as the largest Helicopter Airshow in the US (possibly the world?), Rotors ‘n Ribs is in its 5th year running at Goshen Airport, Indiana. In this episode we chat with event president Randy Sharkey about what he and his team of directors have in store for attendees.
Randy is the Chief Pilot at Indiana Helicopters and serves as the president of the not-for-profit group that has run the Rotors ‘n Ribs Fly-in for the last 5 years. In the interview you’ll hear many of this other achievements/appointments and aviation interests.
In 2016 the event will be on 15,16 July and will host a wide range of activities and displays including: Shockwave Jet Truck, the original TV series Batcopter and Batmobile, Sky Soldiers Hueys and Cobra displays and joy flights, a 5km run on the runway, BBQ, safety seminars, helicopter manufacture displays and vendor ground sites.
The team will also be having a crack at the Guinness World Record for the Largest Helicopter Formation Flight which currently stands at 30 helicopters set over Baghdad in Jan 2016.
In this week’s episode:
01:30 Ice on UH-1B Rotor Hub – Facebook
02:10 Exploding Helicopter website and podcast
04:30 Helicopter events coming up in the first half of the year
05:20 Randy Sharkey and Rotors ‘n Ribs
07:25 Great Lakes area and climate
08:40 The first Rotors ‘n Ribs and getting the event started
10:52 Committee and Director responsibilities for fly-in
12:30 First day (Friday) schedule and events
14:20 Hoosier BBQ and Shockwave Jet truck
17:15 Bat Copter
17:40 Saturday main event schedule and exhibitors
20:10 Huey and Cobra joy flights / HAI Safety Seminar
23:30 World record attempt at the largest helicopter formation
26:30 Dropping a car from external load / longline
32:15 Listener question – Keith – Military to Civil industry transition
35:50 Movie trivia answer – most helicopters destroyed
36:20 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
Which movie has the most helicopter explosions? Take a look at the Exploding Helicopter blog for more exploding helicopter trivia and critical ‘reviews’
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Credit: Bell Aircraft Museum – Display parking at Rotor n’ Ribs 2015
Got a question for Randy about Rotors ‘n Ribs or do you have feedback for Keith around tips for transitioning from the Military to the Civil industry? Continue the conversation in the comments below.
Francis Meyrick has a wealth of knowledge about tuna flying to share.
Look online for information about helicopter operations in the tuna industry and it won’t be long before you see mention of Moggy’s Tuna Manual. Author of the manual Francis ‘Moggy’ Meyrick is our guest in this episode of the Rotary Wing Show.
Francis is Irish born and had a number of years helicopter flying experience including a stint in the North Sea before venturing out to the tuna fields in the Pacific. His first day on the job saw him get a quick check out in a Bell 47 before being told to fly out and find his boat that had already steamed out of port. The rest of the job he learnt as he went with some close calls along the way.
Tuna fishing is big business and a good net full of tuna can pay back weeks of helicopter hire cost in one go. A ship’s helicopter is used to scout for signs of tuna schools over a much larger area than would be possible otherwise. They are used for herding the fish during the netting operation and for general hash and trash flights.
Frequently the pilot may be the only english speaking person onboard the ship and the operations are remote from support and facilities. That small helideck on top of the bridge could well be the only dry landing spot with in fuel endurance and to make things even more exciting it might have moved a considerable way since you last saw it at takeoff.
There are lots of traps waiting for the unwary green pilot on their first trip out. For instance Francis spend a lot of time in the ‘Manual’ about tiedowns and as he puts it, ‘trying to external load a tuna trawler with an MD500 and a rear right tiedown strap’ and the predictable results on the attitude of the helicopter.
Before you ring [helicopter operator] read every word of “Moggy’s Tuna Boat Manual”.
It should be compulsory reading for aspiring Tuna Boat pilots — apart from saving your life one day, the wisdom and experience it contains is presented in a very readable fashion.
For sheer entertainment (some of the stories are hilarious) grab a cold one and enjoy “Blip on the Radar”.
Moggy you have saved lives with “Manual”, and enriched lives with “Blip”.
– Hunter8 , 2012, bladeslapper.com
Once you get past some of these things then tuna boat flying just might be some of the most interesting that you get to do. Life onboard and steaming around Pacific with a mix of nationalities is also sure to give you bar stories for years to come.
Francis went on to be Chief Pilot for Tropic Helicopters and in this episode he shares this thoughts on the industry and ways that you can be more prepared.
01:30 Moggy Intro
02:20 Tuna boat flying is a thing
03:45 Prior flying experience – Puma’s in the North Sea, Instructing, A&P Mechanic license
05:00 First landing on a tuna boat
07:10 How do they pay for a helicopter to help with fishing
09:20 Herding fish with a helicopter
10:30 Conditions onboard the vessels
12:00 Operating areas and main companies
14:20 Licences required, maps / charts
15:00 Navigation at sea and keeping track of a moving boat
19:40 Zero accidents goal is possible – caution caution, don’t let people push you
21:15 A tuna boat helideck setup
24:10 Weather conditions and aircraft exposure
25:25 Underwater breathing bottle carried on you
27:20 Flying clothing and dress code
29:10 Key people onboard and getting on with the crew
34:10 Observer’s role
37:20 Dealing with pressure
41:10 Culture and asking for co-operation
43:30 Radio buoys and logs, autorotating over water
51:10 Caution the advice ‘just learn on the job’
53:30 What makes a good log?
55:20 How to prepare for a tuna boat trip
1:01:50 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
Matilda & The Fox II – a youtube clip of tuna boat flying
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Got a question for Francis that we didn’t cover in the episode or have you read Moggy’s Tuna Manual and want to leave some feedback? Continue the conversation in the comments below.
John is the UK military’s chief instructor in Land, Sea and Extreme Environment Survival. In this episode he talks about the priorities of survival should you find yourself forced to land in a remote location.
How much attention do you pay to what you wear or carry on you when you go flying? For some of us our organisation or company might mandate what equipment is carried – and that can start to add up, personal location beacon, knife, pocket flares, first aid kit, mirror, pistol, HEEDs bottle, whistle etc if you are military.
For many of us though it’s a wallet, keys and mobile phone. This episode will challenge you to think about what you will do if you get forced down due to weather or mechanical problem in a remote area and need to wait for rescue or recovery.
[Tweet “Most important thing is to have a good #rescue beacon with you. #helicopter”]
John takes us through the key elements of survival and how that relates to helicopter aircrew. As an ex-Puma pilot and now someone that trains UK military personnel including aircrew on survival John is able to talk about specifics such as using parts of the aircraft to help out.
I probably wouldn’t have thought of using the aircraft battery to help getting a fire going for example. Another key lesson is don’t go anywhere without a 406Mhz beacon.
[Tweet “Stay with the airframe if you can. Much bigger footprint for search teams.”]
In this week’s episode:
01:43 John Hudson bio
03:20 Sergey Ananov rescue in the Arctic Circle Jul 2015
05:33 RAF helicopter training – Puma
06:40 Full time role as Defence survival instructor
08:35 Overseeing the training of other survival instructors
09:40 SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape)
11:30 Extreme survival environment training – deep snow, jungle
15:14 ‘Dude you’re screwed’ TV series on Discovery channel
18:16 Camera operators on the show while ‘surviving’
21:15 Training around the world for groups
23:00 Mental preparedness is a key factor
25:00 Make a cup of tea, allows time to think, glucose, heat to boil water
26:30 Muscle memory training – fire on start, aircraft evacuation, emergency briefing
29:50 Protection, Location, Water, Food
30:30 Protection – first aid, clothing, shelter, fire (fire first in cold environment)
34:46 Location – 121.5MHz no longer satellite monitored, want a 406MHz beacon, big ground signals, flightplan before you go
39:10 Water – limiting factor in longer survival, must be clean but…. , ‘big bubbles, no troubles’, methods of sterilization
41:30 Food – glucose type sweets don’t require water to process
42:35 Practical equipment to take flying, cutting tool, grab bag, signal mirror, compass on your watch strap
46:30 Resources you can repurpose from airframe – radios if they still work, battery to start a fire, tires for black signal smoke, insulation fabric, fuel for fire and cooking, piping/ducting to carry or store water
50:30 Leadership and passengers – 75% chance that any individual will be stunned and bewildered. Panic is not that common but contagious. Give them tasks to keep busy.
55:10 Books – South: Sir Ernest Shackleton, Antarctic survival story from early 1900s, When I Fell From The Sky, Juliane Koepcke, survived 10,000’ fall into jungle, Royal Marines Survival Handbook by Colin Towell
58:40 Top take away ideas from the interview
1:00:00 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
Snippet from a Dude You’re Screwed episode – John making a cup of tea
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John training in the snow with UK military
[Tweet “Make a cup of tea, allows time to think, glucose, heat to boil water @jhsurvival”]
[Tweet “Survival is not one huge task, it’s a series of little tasks”]
Got a question for John that we didn’t cover in the episode or a survival tip? Continue the conversation in the comments below.
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”]
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.
Flying long range assault missions at extremely low altitudes on NVGs with a cabin full of special forces soldiers is all in a days work for the men and women of the 160th Special Operations Regiment. Mike Durant was a Blackhawk element flight lead with the ‘Night Stalkers’ and in this interview talks about his flying career.
Mike Durant is the only surviving crew member of Super Six Four, a special operations blackhawk shot down by RPG fire in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. He was severely injured in the crash and then captured and held hostage for 11 days.
The events of the mission were later captured in the book and movie ‘Blackhawk Down’. Prior to 1993 the 160th organisation was almost completely unknown even within US Army Aviation circles.
MH-60 of the 160th SOAR (A) with a variety of mission equipment fitted.
You might not know that Mike returned to flying duties with the 160th after recovering from his injuries and continued to fly in the unit for a number of years after that.
His career leading up to joining the Night Stalkers and prior to 1993 is also fascinating stuff and an insight into the skills and attitudes that it takes to get right to the top of the rotary wing pecking order. He took part in the US invasion of Panama in 1989 and was the first helicopter to shoot at a SCUD missile launcher in Iraq. Mike was also instrumental in the development process of the Direct Action Penetrator armed Blackhawk.
These are an amazing group of aviators and their support teams.
Some of the currencies they need to keep up: Instrument flying, NVGs, Formation, Aerial gunnery, Rappelling, HALO, Suspended extraction, Air-to-air refueling, Deck landings, HUET + more
Mike recovered from his injuries to return to active service with the 160th SOAR (A) and served out several more years. He now heads up Pinnacle Solutions as the company CEO.
Books co-authored by Mike Durant about his experiences and those of the 160th SOAR
01:10 Back from Rockhampton and flight in 212 Single
01:50 World Helicopter Day update – now added Tanzania and Panama
02:33 Mike Durant intro
04:08 1993 Operations in Somalia – part of life that happened a long time ago
06:50 First introduction to flying
08:45 Soloing through Army flight school at 7 hours mark
11:41 Medivac posting in Korea – Hueys and Blackhawks
14:39 101st Aviation Regiment – multi-ship, NVGs, sling loads, tactical operations, air assault
16:25 Instructor Pilot course and formation lead
17:10 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment assessment – green platoon, physical requirements, ground nav, air nav without GPS -+30sec, terrain following radars, aerial refueling, IF
21:00 SERE training and stories from the book ‘In The Company of Heroes’
22:10 Progression to Flight Lead
23:15 What it feels like to strap in
24:30 Operational experience prior to Somalia
29:10 Chip light in middle of mission
31:17 Direct Action Penetrator Blackhawks – Hellfire, 30mm cannons, rockets and miniguns, air-to-air missiles
36:35 Pet hate of the Blackhawk
38:55 Flight profiles in Somalia – 15-20 ship formations over the roof tops, 50/50 Day vs Night
43:45 Mission on the day of being shot down
48:56 Looking down at full left pedal but yawing right
51:12 Hit the ground still spinning
55:25 Ground battle and actions leading to posthumous Congressional Medal of Honor for Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon, Mike is only survivor and carried away by mob
59:45 Other aviation stories from the mission
1:06:30 Piracy in modern day Somalia
1:09:45 Transition back into civilian life
1:11:50 Pinnacle Solutions – Mike’s company pinnaclesolutionsinc.com/
1:14:30 Flying advice to pass on
1:18:10 Episode Sponsors trainmorepilots.com
This is a recording of a talk that Mike gave to the US Army War College about the military background and lessons learnt from the operations in Somalia. They had requested a tank as the Search and Rescue vehicle but had been denied.
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00:25 into this video you can see the Littlebirds making an approach to the roads in Mogadishu and the dust being through up.
DAP Blackhawk Firepower Demonstration
If you’ve been inspired by Mike’s career or have a question about the episode then keep the conversation going in the comments below.
