LHR27C From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 1267 posts, RR: 22 Posted (7 years 6 months 1 day 6 hours ago) and read 3273 times:
Hi everyone, my first TR for a.net. Pictures all linked from MyAviation.net, and the movie URLs are at the bottom.
Introduction
For a brief summer break we decided to visit the beautiful island of Tresco, which is part of the Isles of Scilly, some miles off the tip of England at Land’s End. Travelling to Tresco either involves taking the 20 minute British International helicopter service direct from Penzance (the nearest town to Land’s End), or a 3 hour ferry ride on the Scillonian 3 from Penzance to the largest island, St Mary’s, and a small boat transfer across to Tresco. Not surprisingly we picked the first option . Scheduled helicopter flights are few and far between, and I had only taken to the skies in a “chopper” once before.
The tickets are quite expensive for such a short trip: £84 per adult return on the special offer, not including airport taxes which are another £15. I suppose this reflects the high cost of maintaining such a small fleet and breaking even on the services (the S-61s seat about 20 people and on the way there were only 8 on the flight)
BS 6020 Penzance (PZE) to Tresco (TSO)
Sikorsky S-61 Registration: G-BFFJ
Scheduled departure time: 1540. Actual departure time: 1543
Scheduled arrival time: 1600
Actual arrival time: 1601
We arrived at the heliport in Penzance, home base of British International, with good time to spare and entered the terminal, if you can call it that – a single story building to one side of the hangar. Above the hangar was the ATC control area, and everything overlooked the helicopter operational area: a large tarmac helipad in front of the hangar with long grass areas to each side. Strictly speaking this means Penzance Heliport has a runway, 09/27 because it is orientated east-west, although only about 500ft long. Would be interesting to see a fixed wing aircraft attempting an emergency landing there .
The check in desks consisted of a desk with two weighing machines on each side, though no sign of conveyor belts! Our flight to Tresco was being checked in, and also the earlier flight to St Mary’s. We were asked to place all our baggage on the right hand weighing machine to confirm it was within the weight limitations. It was, phew. The only form of hand luggage permitted in the cabin are small items such as cameras, and in my case airband radios too . I handed my laptop over in its case, which was placed in a special metallic container labelled “Fragile”. Then all the other luggage was heaved off the weighing machines by the baggage handlers and put on their baggage carts behind the desks. I was disappointed to see no luggage labels with an IATA code TSO.
Next we made our way into the departures lounge, basically a room with seats, magazines and a drinks machine. A few windows at the far end provided a good view of activities of on the tarmac, but they were misted up and I decided a much better vantage point would be found outside. I headed out and round the side of the terminal to the fence, which had a very convenient hole large enough to fit a camera through. I tuned into the Penzance frequency of 118.10 and waited.
Not long afterwards the hangar doors opened and G-ATBJ was pulled towed out of the hangar, one of British International’s two Sikorsky S-61s. It seems that ‘Bravo Juliet’ is only ever used on the Penzance-St Mary’s route, likewise sister ship G-BFFJ ‘Foxtrot Juliet’ is always flying the Tresco runs. The only explanation I can think of for this is that Tresco has a grass landing area whereas St Mary’s and Penzance have tarmac – perhaps ‘FJ’s landing gear is better able to cope with the softer landing terrain.
Today as usual ‘BJ was operating to St Mary’s and this was the start of her afternoon run. A power truck was towed up, and the baggage cart, and various mechanics and ground staff began climbing aboard. Soon the pilots appeared and after 5 minutes of checks started up the engines – though not the rotors. When the engine was running smoothly the rotor blades were also fired up and soon the noise was reverberating all around the heliport. A short while later the doors of the terminal opened and passengers were ushered out towards the Sikorsky. All the while I was snapping away with the camera. When everyone had mounted the steps the doors were closed and ‘BJ requested the wind status from ATC. The all clear given, the engine strengthened and she slowly lifted off into a hover taxi and backtracked down 09 to the end of the field, then turned around, a roar of the rotors and she was away, climbing off above our heads before turning out towards the sea and St Mary’s. I decided that, assuming the wind remained westerly I would sit on the right hand side for the best view during climb-out.
At this point an announcement was made to all passengers travelling on BS315 to Tresco, to come into the safety briefing room. I rushed back into the terminal and followed the rest of our party in. To my surprise, besides the seven of us there was only one other person – a fairly empty flight. The safety briefing consisted of a short video , 90% safety and 10% British International propaganda, but when isn’t that the way ? The video duly ended and we sat and waited for ‘FJ to arrive back from the previous flight. It seemed she was expected earlier, as all the baggage personnel were assembled with their carts and members of staff were glancing out of the windows. At about 3:30 the radio crackled, informing ATC that ‘Foxtrot Juliet’ would be with us in two minutes, and a short while later she appeared on the horizon as a speck. The wind still westerly as expected, she flew to the east of PZE, descending all the time and then swept in for a hover and touchdown almost exactly on the “H”! Instantly the heliport became a whir of activity as green-overalled officials ran up to the helicopter, opening doors, plugging in leads and the tiny baggage truck was driven up. Turnarounds are 10 minutes at Penzance, 5 at Tresco/St Mary’s, giving FR a run for their money . Passengers de-boarded and were led out of a gate round the terminal to an area marked “Baggage collection point”. Meanwhile we waited expectantly to board. The boarding card was simply a laminated sheet with a number, no flight time, date, destination, passenger name etc, so as to be reusable.
Finally the doors of the briefing room opened and a member of staff appeared to take our boarding cards. We formed a queue and were shown out onto the tarmac towards ‘FJ, rotors whirring as usual (the engines/rotors are not switched off during turnaround). The noise was very loud indeed, and climbing the steps it also became very warm, due to the rotor downwash apparently. I took a seat on the right that was not obscured and looked out of the window back towards the heliport. When everyone was aboard the stairs were shut and the sole flight attendant walked through the cabin pointing out the emergency exits, and asking to keep seat belts on until the signs had been turned off, the usual stuff. Interestingly, try as I might I couldn’t see any such signs, though I have a feeling some grey luminous panels on the ceiling might have had something to do with them.
Our pilots requested the wind and then we began to climb into the hover, about 3 feet off the ground, the grass and dust all being blown up. The noise was certainly not as intense as outside, but considerably louder than any airliner I’ve been on. Like ‘BJ we turned down towards the 27 end of the field and then “lined up”. The camera was flicked to movie setting and up we went, climbing very fast and moving out of Penzance across the bay, giving a superb view of the town and surrounding area. We reached the cruising altitude of 1,500 feet (at local QNH I assume) and, passing Penzance, began crossing the Land’s End peninsula, quite literally the last piece of England. We were flying fairly southerly over it; I had been wanting to look out for the LND VOR but it is on the north side of the peninsula and so too far away to get a good view. Nevertheless I was pleased to see Land’s End/St Just airfield (EGHC). Soon we crossed into the sea, past a final lighthouse and into the Atlantic.
Even over water there were some interesting things to see – an aircraft heading back presumably from St Mary’s airport, and ‘BJ to the south also flying back. Unfortunately by the time I had pulled out the camera they had gone .
The interior of the helicopter is very clean and the seats give good legroom, they are arranged in a 1-2 layout, however it does feel quite old and dated. There was no inflight magazine/cabin service, the FA just took a seat beside the door, but this is only to be expected on such a short flight.
In no time at all we began to descend into Tresco as we crossed the first island of St Martin’s. The Scilly Isles are quite amazing, looking more like lush South Sea atolls than a few islands 20 miles off the coast of damp England: very blue seas, white sands, exotic plants and a lot of sun! I had changed the frequency to Tresco ATC on 132.30, the dialogue suitably official but friendly: “Tresco, Foxtrot Juliet with you in two minutes.” “Foxtrot Juliet roger, the wind is two two zero degrees seven knots, QNH one zero one three millibars, temperature one niner.”
The ground grew nearer and I had the camera on for movie again as we swept in over the beaches on Tresco’s east coast, past the Abbey and lakes and down into the heliport where people were sitting at picnic tables watching us arrive. A road crossing the heliport had barriers down at each side and flashing lights. We tilted up into a hover and gently touched down on the grass opposite the Tresco terminal. After the rotor blades had steadied ground crew ran up to the helicopter and opened the stairs. Switching off the camera I asked the FA if I could take a brief visit to the cockpit. The answer was yes . Knowing the need for a quick turnaround I walked up the cabin to the front. The flight deck doesn’t have a door because really there wouldn’t be space for one, and it is obviously quite a clambering job for the pilots to get into their seats: the central pedestal extending back to the front of the cabin! I leaned in, and above the noise greeted the captain and FO who were very friendly. In my small experience of helicopter flying I have been able to grasp the basic instrumentation and cockpit features, so I was able to identify the collective, a large stick in the centre rather like the handbrake on a car, and the cyclic which is just like a yoke. The cockpit was, as expected, a real steam gauge affair with no EFIS in sight. There was GPS but with a sign strictly forbidding primary navigation with the GPS. I get the impression these flights are mostly a “hands on” affair. I took a few photos of the cockpit, the FO said “Have a great holiday” and I walked off the helicopter towards the terminal.
Round the side the baggage wagon was parked, and we took our baggage off it and loaded it into the back of the “tractor bus” which would take us to our accommodation. By the time everything was sorted out ‘BJ had already departed again back to Penzance. She’d be returning to Tresco one last time before nightfall!
BS 0315 Tresco (TSO) to Penzance (PZE)
Sikorsky S-61 Registration: G-BFFJ
Scheduled departure time: 1140. Actual departure time: 1142
Scheduled arrival time: 1200
Actual arrival time: 1203
The week on Tresco was fantastic, a lovely island with outstanding weather and very nice people. It's also a good position for ACARS monitoring and I was able to pick up several messages from G-VROS taking my good friend a.net member BA777 to BGI, more on that in a week or two I'm sure.
All too soon it was time to return. I had been up to the heliport a number of times during the week to watch the flights and take photographs (the pilots waved at me ). The helicopter in use was always ‘FJ, although other private helicopters for VIPs I suppose were quite frequent visitors.
The next Thursday morning I went down to the heliport to watch the previous flight departing to check where I should sit to get the best view. Again the winds were westerly and this would mean backtracking “runway” 09 and then taking off in the 27 direction. After the flight had departed I went into the terminal in time to meet the rest of the party arriving on the tractor bus with all the luggage. This terminal was even smaller than the Penzance terminal, though quite new, with a wooden finish and a stylish interior. The ATC room is part of the terminal, having previously been located in the garden shed at the nearby Abbey Gardens (yes, really). It makes quite a comparison with the Visual Control Room at LHR tower! Even now the gardeners have to juggle their duties in the garden with fire training at the heliport to CAA regulations . At the check in desks the bags were again weighed and carried through while we took seats in the departure lounge. Soon afterwards we moved into the safety briefing room to watch the same video shown on the way out. It ended, but ‘FJ was yet to arrive, and I took the opportunity to check which passengers would be travelling with us – there were about 18, so quite a few more than the previous trip. Just before 11:30 a familiar voice came on my airband radio: “Tresco, Foxtrot Juliet two minutes”. An update on the weather, QNH and temperature followed as usual. The ATC staff at Tresco are not actually qualified ATCOs, so I believe they are not allowed to issue take off/landing clearances, instead they can advise information such as weather conditions. Following the message, the warning lights began to flash and the barriers around the heliport closed.
The noise of the approaching helicopter grew louder and louder until ‘FJ flew past at about 50 feet, nose up and in full landing configuration. She hovered above the landing spot and turned around so that the doors were angled towards the terminal, then touched down. Various heliport staff ran out followed by baggage trailers, etc, the doors opened and passengers from the previous flight began to deboard. Then as the last of them passed through the gate by the terminal, our door was opened and, like on the way out, we formed a queue, handed boarding cards to the personnel and walked out to Foxtrot Juliet. I took my usual seat on the right behind the door. All aboard, the steps were shut and the FA again pointed out the emergency exits. The wind was given as 260 degrees at 6 knots, and at 1042Z or 1142 local time we rose into the air and hover taxied back down the field, turned at the end, up went the collective and we climbed steeply into the air. At about 1,000 feet and heading westerly, we began to turn to the left to head back east towards the mainland. Established on course, St Mary’s was passing below to the right as I had guessed, and catching sight of the airport on the other side of the island I quickly tried to photograph it, though the zoom on my camera isn’t brilliant.
The FA on this flight was much friendlier, explaining some information including I think the name of the captain. Unfortunately for the most part we could only guess what she was saying as even over the microphone she was drowned out by the engines. There was also a guy in the back who had been seated when we entered and seemed to be known by the crew, the FA sat beside him and chatted with him for most of the flight. Perhaps he was non-revving?
After 10 minutes of cruising at 1,500ft over the Atlantic where a multitude of vessels, large and small, were visible, the Land’s End peninsula came into sight on the left hand side and the pilots advised Penzance ATC of an arrival in 5-10 minutes and that we would be commencing descent shortly. This flight path was more southerly, routing over the sea south of the peninsula rather than crossing it. All the passengers on the left therefore had an excellent view of the scenery whereas I was left with just sea, no problem, the views on take off and landing would be better for me.
The FA again made a brave attempt at the microphone, pointing out well known landmarks and even brief histories as we flew down past the peninsula. Fragments of speech such as “last lighthouse”, “harbour of Mousehole”, “attacked by the Spanish” were just about audible although for the most part ‘FJ’s engines were too loud. We were now flying at 1,000 feet and began the turn into the bay of Penzance for a 27 direction landing. Penzance ATC advised of a QNH of 999mb, wind 290 degrees/8 knots and a temperature I didn’t catch. The FA concluded her talk with a “thank you for flying British International” and took her seat by the door for landing. We swept past a castle, crossed the coast and turned steeply inwards to line up with the heliport, losing height fairly rapidly. I switched on the movie recording and we sped in, with quite a high angle of attack, over B&Q and some busy roads, past the heliport car park and down for a smooth touchdown on the tarmac. Back on the mainland!
There wasn’t much point bothering the pilots this time having seen Foxtrot Juliet’s cockpit before, so I followed everyone else down the steps onto the ground and by direction of the ground staff, round the corner to the (in)famous baggage reclaim area. Quite a novel idea compared to most airports, whereby the baggage truck is parked, you take your bags quick and if not they get dumped in a heap . We were quick enough and then negotiated our way back to the car. Meanwhile ‘FJ was boarding again and departed just in time to let ‘BJ touchdown back from St Mary’s. After de-boarding her engines were shutdown and she was towed back into the hangar. The whole operation is obviously very carefully planned, and with such short journey times each way, Penzance is in fact quite busy, even if only frequented by two different helicopters!
So all in all, an interesting ride, stunning scenery in both directions and an old but well kept helicopter in the form of G-BFFJ. Both flights were on time and the cabin crew were fairly good. I’d rate British International 8/10 in total.
Next up for those preferring something more conventional, LHR-JNB-LHR with SAA in a little over two months.
OK, movie time. None of these have sound I’m afraid as they were filmed with a digital camera which doesn’t have a microphone. All movies are zipped up and roughly 10.6 MB large, 40 seconds long in .MOV format.
Sabena332 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (7 years 5 months 4 weeks 1 day 14 hours ago) and read 2736 times:
Hello Oliver,
an excellent and very detailed report, reading and watching was a real pleasure. I liked the report because it was something different, there are not many reports about heli flights.
Until now I had only one heli flight in my life, during my civilian service I was allowed to fly on a brand new rescue helicopter (EC-135) from one hospital to another, it was a great experience, unfortunately I had to take the tram on the way back.
Phatfarmlines From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 1269 posts, RR: 5 Reply 4, posted (7 years 5 months 4 weeks 1 day 3 hours ago) and read 2704 times:
Good first trip report. I definitely liked the uniqueness of this trip report. Is British International a pure helicopter company?
LHR27C From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 1267 posts, RR: 22 Reply 5, posted (7 years 5 months 4 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 2687 times:
Patrick - sounds like an interesting experience, thanks for your comments.
Phatfarmlines - yes British International are pure helicopters, quite an interesting little company. I've always thought the "International" in their name is a bit peculiar considering all their flights are domestic!
Once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned forever skyward
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 1267 posts, 
. Scheduled helicopter flights are few and far between, and I had only taken to the skies in a “chopper” once before.
.
. I handed my laptop over in its case, which was placed in a special metallic container labelled “Fragile”. Then all the other luggage was heaved off the weighing machines by the baggage handlers and put on their baggage carts behind the desks. I was disappointed to see no luggage labels with an IATA code TSO.
.
). The helicopter in use was always ‘FJ, although other private helicopters for VIPs I suppose were quite frequent visitors.
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From United States of America, joined Sep 2001, 1269 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
