Rotor Torque

More Sydney Restrictions

More restrictions have been placed on helicopters operating over Sydney Harbour as part of the Federal Government’s campaign to reduce aircraft noise. The night before the City to Surf fun run in mid August the Civil Aviation Safety Authority banned helicopters from towing advertising banners over Sydney Harbour on weekends due to it being a populous area. Meanwhile the Minister of Transport Laurie Brereton has announced that helicopters operating in the prescribed helicopter operating lane R409 east of Sydney Harbour Bridge are now required to fly at 1000ft, instead of 500ft. While this decision has been made to look as though coming from the minister’s office in the interest of noise reduction, the higher ceiling limit was in fact earlier proposed by the HAA. CASA is also reviewing all approvals for low level helicopter operations in Sydney, and all new approvals will have to be justifiable on environmental and safety grounds. Further, Mr Brereton has called for compulsory limits on hovering times over residential areas in all major cities.

Lloyd’s Melbourne Heliport

Lloyd Helicopters plans to establish a $25m major operating base at Melbourne’s docklands over the next five years. The first stage of development comprises a commercial heliport, hangarage and component overhaul and repair workshops. The new centre will provide Lloyd’s with a Melbourne base for its current and future Victorian flying activities (Lloyds is the preferred bidder for the Victoria Police helicopter contract), plus its work in the rest of Australia and South East Asia. The Melbourne base could be operational next year, and as it is built up over the coming five years it could employ up to 50 staff.

Funding Agreed For Canberra Rescue Helo

The ACT and NSW Governments have agreed upon the funding arrangements for a rescue helicopter service based in Canberra to serve the ACT and southern NSW. The NSW Government has adopted the findings of an independent review it commissioned into the State’s aeromedical helicopters, which suggested that funding for one of the three Sydney based helicopter services be transferred to a new Canberra based service. The NSW Government will provide about $2.2m in funding per year and the ACT Government will provide around $280,000 (including reallocating the $130,000 currently spent each year on leasing a Melbourne based helicopter for fire spotting to the rescue helicopter). The balance of the funding would come from corporate sponsorship and private donations. The two governments have called for expressions of interest to operate the service. The helicopter could be operational by July next year, or even earlier if a Canberra based consortium, Vee H Heli Service, is successful in winning the tender. The tenderers have the option of either using the Sikorsky S-76 Dick Smith donated for this purpose, or trading that machine in on a smaller aircraft and using the surplus funds to help finance the operation. The new helicopter rescue service will be able to reach a population of 700,000 people within one hour’s flying time from Canberra. The combined ACT/NSW arrangement also means that the Canberra region will have access to the remaining two Sydney services if its helicopter is unavailable, and vice versa.

Comprehensive notes Study at your pace at home No classroom attendance Study at your convenience May be Tax deductible where appropriate Free Call 1800 Help Line included For details and cost, phone or fax 1800 636 830 or 047 544 461 or write to: SECOMBE AVIATION 3 Mujar Place, WINMALEE 2777 82 Australian Aviation October 1995 ing a Melbourne based helicopter for fire spotting to the rescue helicopter). The balance of the funding would come from corporate sponsorship and private donations. The two governments have called for expressions of interest to operate the service. The helicopter could be operational by July next year, or even earlier if a Canberra based consortium, Vee H Heli Service, is successful in winning the tender. The tenderers have the option of either using the Sikorsky S-76 Dick Smith donated for this purpose, or trading that machine in on a smaller aircraft and using the surplus funds to help finance the operation. The new helicopter rescue service will be able to reach a population of 700,000 people within one hour’s flying time from Canberra. The combined ACT/NSW arrangement also means that the Canberra region will have access to the remaining two Sydney services if its helicopter is unavailable, and vice versa.

R44 Passes Blade Clearance Testing

The Robinson R44 has successfully completed a joint FAA/Robinson test programme to determine if there are any manoeuvres or flight conditions within the approved limitations that could result in unacceptable clearance between the blades and any part of the airframe. The testing involved three test pilots, two from the FAA and one from Robinson and a fully instrumented test aircraft. Data from the test instruments was collected using onboard oscillographs which recorded events to within one hundredth of a second, while a chase plane was equipped with a state-of-the-art 500 frame per second video camera to record blade movements. Flight conditions explored included roll reversals, low-G pushovers, simulated power failures up to VNE, panic quick stops, large abrupt cyclic control inputs and extended control input delays after a throttle chop. In the more than 60 different manoeuvres and flight conditions investigated the minimum clearance between a main rotor blade and the tailcone was still 66cm (26in), with a maximum flapping angle of the blade of 8.2 degrees. This occurred after a throttle chop at 180kt (240km/h), followed by a delay before the pilot started to lower the collective. The R44 was at the most critical forward CG and at max continuous power. Robinson says that initial analysis of the test results “shows no evidence of excessive blade flapping or any other rotor blade instability.” Further, the aircraft responded appropriately to all recovery techniques.

Helimuster Reunion

Caloundra based Helimuster is planning a past and present staff and associates reunion dinner dance for mid January next year. The dinner dance will be held at the Caloundra Civic Centre on Saturday January 13, with the cost $55. Registration is on a first in first served basis, so if you’re interested, phone Helimuster on (074) 91 9190, or fax (074) 92 6860.

Germany To Get More Lynxes

The German navy looks set to order additional Lynx helicopters and to upgrade its current Lynx fleet due to the acquisition of additional frigates and further delays and stretched out deliveries of the NH 90. The German navy originally planned to retire its fleet of 17 Westland Lynx in 2003, when they would have been replaced by sufficient numbers of the 38 NH 90s on order. However the German navy will not now receive its first NH 90 until 2004, with deliveries stretched beyond 2010, thus creating a need for additional Lynx helicopters. It now seems likely that Germany will acquire seven new Super Lynx, plus upgrade its current Lynx fleet to near Super Lynx standard (including increasing the airframe life to 10,000 hours).

Study Surveys Us Military Helo Industry’S Health

A US DoD study has found that despite over capacity, declining sales and increased overseas competition, the US helicopter industry will remain capable of supplying US military helicopter needs for the foreseeable future. The Industrial Assessment for Helicopters reports that the US helicopter industry will remain capable of meeting US military helicopter requirements in the face of reduced US DoD research funding because of revenue from civil and export helicopter sales, and civil and military upgrade, maintenance and repair work. In particular the study predicts that demand for large twin turbine civil and military helicopters will begin to grow again, despite the stagnation of the last few years. The assessment also notes that by the end of the decade there will be just one US funded military helicopter production programme, the V-22 Osprey, down from the five production programmes currently funded (CH-53/MH-53, AH-1, UH-60, AH-64 and SH-60). The study also predicts that worldwide spending on military helicopters will fall to $US4.6bn in 1997, stabilising out at $US6.0bn in 2001. The peak year was 1987, when $US9.4bn was spent on military helicopter production.

Briefs

A RAN Sea King crashed into trees and broke in two at Bamaga on the Cape York Peninsula in late July. The seven people on board were all injured. Turkey plans to buy an additional 30 Eurocopter AS 532 Cougar (Super Puma) medium lift helicopters with contract signature expected imminently at the time of writing. Turkey previously ordered 20 Cougars in 1992. Queensland Emergency Services is leasing a Reef Helicopters aircraft for aeromedical duties at Mackay until a community based helicopter rescue service can be established. The UK has offered Malaysia the results of its evaluation of contending attack helicopters in the recently completed programme for the British Army. Malaysia is likely to include the acquisition of an attack helicopter in its next five year plan, which starts in 1996, with a procurement decision likely in 1997. Likely contenders include the AH-64 Apache, Eurocopter Tiger, Bell AH-1W, Atlas Rooivalk, Eurocopter Tiger and Mil Mi-28. Early this year two Helicopters (NZ) Squirrels operating in the Antarctic set an operating record of 145 flight hours in three and a half days when unloading the Italian supply ship Italica. Sydney radio station 2UE has replaced its JetRanger with ex Channel 10 Twin Squirrel VH-XTV. The AS 355F1 has been reregistered VH-UEE. The Hunter Valley’s Westpac Dauphin rescue helicopter made an emergency landing in a paddock near Newcastle when the drive shaft malfunctioned, forcing the pilot to make an autorotation. The Dauphin suffered only minor damage. Kaman is currently carrying out a two month long trial with the US Navy to demonstrate the suitability of its K-Max aerial crane helicopter for vertrep (vertical replenishment at sea). The trials may also form the basis for the US Navy contracting out its vertrep work to civil operators. The NSW RTA is tendering for the disposal of its well known orange and white Agusta A 109A and its Mascot hangar. Symonds Travers Morgan and Cornish Aviation Consulting are currently undertaking a review of SA Police’s aviation operations. The review will look at SA Police’s aviation requirements, current effectiveness, investigation of potential alternatives, evaluation of the most cost effective method of delivering aviation services, and assessment of the requirements of emergency services agencies.