Rotor Torque

Club members are expected to wear the tie or to have their membership card available at all times. If they are challenged by a fellow club member and are unable to produce either item, club rules require a fine of $A10 to be paid to the coffers of the Royal Flying Doctor Society.

If you qualified and made it to the AGM in Perth, you would have been invited to drink to the immortal memory of Humpty Dumpty’ who, in common with the members of the club, had a great fall. If you did not get there and want to know more, write to the secretary, Mr Allan Hale, 125 St Georges Terrace, Perth 6000.

New Western Suburbs Heliport for Sydney

The personable owner of Uncle Pete’s Toy Supermarkets and a beautifully restored Bell 47G381, Peter Piggot, is constructing a new heliport at his Blacktown toy store in the Western Suburbs of Sydney.

Pete is planning to open the Heliport in August 1986 and will make the facility available for public and general industry use. It will be fully approved by all the relevant authorities and should be fully operational before the fate of the Sydney Central Business District Heliport is decided.

Helicopter Association of Australia Industry Exhibition

The 1986 Annual General Meeting of the Helicopter Association of Australia will be combined with a Helicopter Industry exhibition between 22nd and 24th October, 1986.

The exhibition will be the first of its kind in Australia and will be held at the Canterbury Racecourse, Sydney. This site has been chosen because of good undercover display facilities and because it will be possible to conduct flying operations during the exhibition. The National Council of HAA intends to run the exhibition along similar lines to that of the annual convention organised by the Helicopter Association International in the USA, although on a smaller scale.

A range of lectures and papers dealing with such subjects as community acceptance of helicopters to aviation medicine will be delivered during the exhibition. Major helicopter manufacturers have indicated that they will support the event by staging static and flying displays of helicopters. Maintenance and equipment seminars will also be presented.

The President of HAA, Peter Vincent, said that while plans are not complete at press time, the HAA is hopeful that this expo will become an annual event and the premier helicopter exhibition for the Australian and Pacific region. He reported that HAA membership is continuing to grow and as well as individual members now include over 25 companies representing operators and support organisations.

Sydney CBD Heliport

The Sydney Central Business District Heliport, temporarily located at Pyrmont, on a harbourside wharf, is becoming a highly emotional issue with the residents of East Balmain, on the opposite side of the river.

They have held public meetings and even extracted a promise from Premier Neville Wran that the Heliport would not remain at Pyrmont. If this is so, we seem to be back at square one without collecting any prizes.

As reported in the last edition of Australian Aviation, the NSW Lands and Environment court had imposed limitations on the operation of the temporary heliport, following a successful court action by the residents of East Balmain. However, an Environmental Impact Statement, completed by consultants, on behalf of the Public Works Department, has now been published and states that the Pyrmont site is the most suitable of all those examined.

The EIS examined three alternative sites in the area and found that they all met the State Pollution Control Commission criteria for residential areas.

The noise levels were measured specifically at locations in East Balmain were many of the noise complaints had emanated. The EIS goes on to say that the alternative sites failed to meet DofA requirements for an unrestricted heliport and would additionally create greater environmental problems for larger areas of Sydney than the temporary heliport which has been designed to minimise environmental impact on surrounding areas.

The original court order required that the Pyrmont Heliport should close by 1st March, 1986. However, following the publication of the EIS and an application from the Maritime Services Board, the controller of the wharf site, the Land and Environment Court, has extended the deadline till 1st May, 1986. This will allow all interested parties to study the EIS and make submissions for consideration.

Meanwhile, the residents of East Balmain have now gained the support of the Waterside Workers Union which objects to the establishment of a heliport anywhere in the Port of Sydney if it occupies a wharf site. They claim that the NSW Government is not giving priority to the development of the shipping facilities and are concerned about losing additional work if these facilities are actually reduced. The WWU has held stop-work meetings and at least one strike in support of their claim and meetings have been arranged with the Minister of Public Works and Ports, Mr Laurie Brereton, to discuss the issue.

So as we go to press, a public heliport for the business district of Australia’s largest city is still very much in doubt.

Doubt About the Production of the Bell 400 Series Helicopter

The future of Bell Helicopters’ entrant in the light twin-engined market, the 400 Twinranger, has been threatened as a result of continuing problems at the new factory at Mirabel, outside Montreal, Canada. The prototype is reported to be operating to the designers’ satisfaction but other difficulties have caused the programme to fall a long way behind schedule and many industry observers are saying that the light twin helicopter market is already saturated.

Original launch dates have been postponed several times and Bell’s most recent plans to introduce a flying model of the Twinranger at the American NBAA show and subsequently at the January HAI show also failed.

It is now reported that less than 100 preliminary orders have been received by Bell Helicopter Textron for the type.

It is further understood that the Canadian Government, as joint venture partners with Bell Helicopter Textron in the 400 programme, are keen to delay the launch until the new Pratt & Whitney light turbine engine is available. Therefore, the original plan to deliver the early units with twin Allison 250 turbines may be shelved.

New Entrant in Australian Helicopter Industry

Commodore Airlines of Adelaide, have secured a 3 year contract to service the Government Lighthouses on the coast and islands around South Australia. The contract, which is competitive, has been held successively by Lloyd and Jayrow Helicopters, over the last few years.

Commodore Airlines is a family company headed by Mr Geoff Senior. They have been operating a fixed-wing commuter and charter service for many years, within the State of South Australia, but have planned to enter the helicopter market over the last five years.

The company commenced operations and maintains a base at Port Lincoln, on the West Coast of St. Vincents Gulf, SA, but has now constructed a new hangar and two-storey office complex at Adelaide Airport to cope with the planned expansion and entry to the helicopter market.

South Australia’s only other helicopter operator is Lloyd Helicopters who have held all the significant contracts in the State, to date, including the provision of helicopter services to each of the local television stations. Commodore’s new hangar is alongside the existing Lloyd facility on Adelaide Airport and Mr Senior has indicated his intention to compete openly for any helicopter business available.

Mbb b0105d for Surf Life Saving Association of Australia

A Bo105D was due to enter service with the Surf Life Saving Association of Australia Helicopter Rescue Service at their Melbourne base at the end of April, 1986. This could be the forerunner of others to follow for other SLSA bases around Australia, as the service moves toward twin-engined equipment.

The aircraft is fully equipped for its Rescue and Emergency Medical Service role with complete IFR instrumentation, floats, winch and ambulance configuration. It was previously operated by Bond Helicopters of the UK.

Sikorsky Sweetening Australian Helicopter Deal

Offset contracts worth between $A55 to $A65 million, a service centre for Sikorsky helicopters and the introduction of technologies and skills to create business opportunities for the local Australian aerospace industry, have been offered to the Australian Government if they proceed with the purchase of an initial 14 Sikorsky UH-60A helicopters.

United Technologies Corporation Senior Vice President for defence and space systems, Mr Bill Paul, made this offer in Canberra on 11th March, 1986.

With the Australian Government’s current trade imbalance and raging deficit, it is likely that this could be a decisive factor when the Federal Government makes the final choice between the Aerospatiale Super Puma and the Sikorsky Blackhawk, to re-place the aging Bell UH-1s currently in service with the RAAF. It will be interesting to see what counter offers are forthcoming from Aerospatiale.

BK117 to Tour Australia

The Australian agents for Kawasaki are to import a BK117 helicopter to Sydney at the beginning of May for demonstration to the NSW Police Air Wing and other interested operators. The aircraft will be accompanied by a Japanese pilot and engineers from the factory, who will be taking it on an Australia-wide demonstration tour.

The BK117 is seen as the most likely helicopter to be selected for NSW Police operations to replace the Air Wing’s single-engined Bell Jetrangers.