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Aviation History
1960
1960 - 1069.PDF
far :":•.'£,•' -:—-•-:-:• FLIGHT, 15 July 1960 . in 1958. Up to now, about 5,000hr have been flown by ANAand Ansett-ANA helicopters, mostly on charter work and crop- spraying. One big contract is with the State Electricity Commis-sion of Victoria, which takes 25hr each month on a Bell, patrolling powerlines. TAA's most experienced helicopter pilot is Capt Ray Hudson,who ran their helicopters until a few weeks ago, when he returned to line flying. Though ANA ordered the first helicopter to operatecommercially here, TAA's Hiller 12C was the first to fly in Australia (April 30, 1956). TAA got contracts for oil-searches inthe North, which so impressed its main client, Consolidated Zinc, that the company bought a Hiller itself. Two more 12Cs werebought in 1957 and 1958; one from Consolidated Zinc crashed on Macquarie Island in the Antarctic Ocean. Last December andJanuary, two TAA 12Cs went to the Antarctic Continent, but one was wiped off. While two 12Cs were in Antarctica, the TAAmanagement did a deal which traded-in 12Cs against two new Hiller 12Es, both of which are now in operation. A third is coming.One of the mysteries of Australia is why the two airlines have not bought Alouettes, for most of the experienced helicopter pilots towhom I have spoken seem to want them. The Alouette was demonstrated here several years ago without a sale. The third organization which has been operating helicoptershere is Helicopter Utilities, of Sydney, which has been doing well on charter work for three years with Bell 47s. L. C. Williams, whoruns this firm, was with Fairey. The Bells are very busy on Army surveying contracts in NW and North Australia. So much for the commercial aspect. The military side isalmost as vague with promises. The first helicopter to be operated in Australia was an RAAF S-51. The RAAF bought three, buttwo have been wiped off and the third is kept flyable (but not flying much) at Richmond. The RAAF actually did most of thepioneering here, bringing helicopters to the public attention before 1956 and even performing the first crop-dusting from helicopters.But helicopters never had any priority in RAAF commitments. The RAN has bought eleven Sycamores over the years and stillhas six operating with the Fleet. The Army has ordered eleven Bell 47Gs, to be operated by Army pilots. It is policy for theAustralian Army to have the same equipment as the US Army overseas, which made the Bell a certainty. 93 The RAAF and the Army now have a requirement for a heavyhelicopter, mostly for Army use, but to be operated by the RAAF (there is a weight limitation on the Army). The S-61 and Vertol107 are being evaluated. The Bristol 192 has one big strike against it—no big rear loading door. What a fascinating fact it is: noBritish helicopter has a rear-loading door. So we come back to the C-130 problem again: the Australians will just have to buyAmerican. This situation is a little complicated by the Australian's loveaffair with the Caribou. The khaki types would like Caribous and 107s or S-61s. Finance being what it is in Australia they willprobably have to settle for one, and that one would almost certainly be the helicopter, which could do both jobs and more besides. Theadvantage would be that the 'copter could also interest the RAN, which needs something for minesweeping. The same helicopter for RAAF, Army and RAN would makesense. It would also make a nice fat order, and it would have some effect on the civil side. The Electra/C-130 tie-up definitely affectedthe Lockheed success here. The same might very well occur with the big helicopter. The situation here is that by Ansett-ANA's£A5,000 interest, the Sikorsky people have the lead of the field. The Vertol agents are at work to push the 107, with the advantageof earlier delivery. Where is the Rotodyne? As far as I can see, it is too far awayfor any operator to be really interested other than theoretically. The potential for the helicopter operator in Australia still mustbe proved with machines now available. That could very well lead later to the Rotodyne, which is ahead of its field. In the smallhelicopter class, there is a very great need here for a twin-engine type with 2, 3 and 4 seats. Take the case of the Melbourne engineerwho bought one of the traded-in TAA Hiller 12Cs. He will use it for business, but he will have difficulty in securing permission tofly over the city. If this aircraft had two small engines, he could do anything with it. There is a big market here for a small heli-copter—say the Hughes type, at that price [$22,500—Ed] and economics—with two small engines. This would make it possibleto operate in the built-up areas and would start a rash of roof-top heliports. The trouble is, of course, that two engines might pricethe helicopter out of the field, but there should be some solution to this. The Australian problem cannot be unique. WESTLAND MAINTENANCE SCHOOL SINCE its foundation in 1948 the Westland Aircraft helicoptermaintenance school at Yeovil has trained just over 1,000 engineers to maintain Westland helicopters. Many of the studentshave come from the RAF, some from the Fleet Air Arm—although the FAA tends to train its own technicians—and the remainderfrom areas as widely dispersed as Japan, Brazil, France and the Persian Gulf. Westland set out primarily to train qualified aircraftengineers in the maintenance of their helicopters both to assist the operators and to ensure that the machines are correctly caredfor after leaving the factory. On satisfactorily passing the course, the engineer receives a certificate and is able to complete all fieldmaintenance up to check 4 standard. Some 70 per cent of an operator's staff is generally trained in this way. Intervals between courses are sometimes employed to giverefresher training; and a special five-day course is provided for ARB surveyors requiring helicopter experience. The main burdenof school work now concerns the Whirlwind, used by the RAF and civil operators, and the Wessex, which is entering servicewith the Fleet Air Arm. A four-weeks' course covers the Whirlwind while a similar course on the Wessex airframe is supplemented by a three-weeks' course on Wessex electronics andautopilot. Dragonfly and Widgeon courses are still occasionally run.The school has several well-appointed, modern classrooms equipped with comprehensive ranges of components and workingdiagrams of complex parts. In another special room is a complete Whirlwind centre-fuselage and transmission, the fuselage floorbeing separately displayed to illustrate the complete fuel system and techniques for location and repair of various forms of damage.Nearby is a complete set of parts, an assembled transmission, soon to be sectioned, and the rotor head and tail-rotor of a Wessex.The actual components are well supported by drawings and dia- grams and comprehensive lecture notes are issued to and kept byeach student. The school is controlled by Capt H. A. Traill, the WestlandGroup service manager, who has now also become responsible for equivalent schools run by the companies which have recentlyjoined Westlands. Chief instructor at Yeovil is Mr T. Crockett, formerly an RAF instructor; and Mr B. Cunningham, formerlywith the Fleet Air Arm, assists him. Two instructors at the Westland school (left and second from right) explain the Wessex tail rotor and main rotor-head to students; below (I to r) Capt Traill, Westland Group service manager, Mr T. Crockett, chief instructor, and Mr B. Cunningham, instructor in one of the classrooms; and below (right), students examining the Whirlwind transmission and rotor head in situ, with some of the components of a Wessex transmission on display
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