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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1351.PDF
746 FLIGHT International, 7 May 19(4 AIR CO E R C E Rotors Over St Mary's By the Air Transport Editor REMEMBER that, Bill," said the Land's End airportpoliceman to a BEA loader as the last Rapide flighttook off for the Scillies on May 1, "Cap'n Nicolle and 'YC—the last flight." No bands were playing, as there would have been in America; in fact only a small group of airport staff watched, while the VIPs obliviously drank tea in the marquee. Except for one other controlled sentiment during the day, which will be recorded in a moment, that one did honour to the affection in Cornish and Scilly Islands hearts for the Rapides with which BEA and their predecessors have faithfully maintained the link between the mainland and the islands of the Duchy of Cornwall for 25 years. But as Mr Anthony Milward, BEA chairman, told the hundred or more guests, the occasion was a christening as well as a funeral. In a sense Mr Milward, too, was a guest; for this day marked the christening of BEA Helicopters Ltd, BEA's new £lm sub- sidiary, and of the two 25-passenger Sikorsky S-61Ns (two GE T58 turbines) which account for nearly, three-quarters of that £lm. The hosts were really Lord Balfour of Inchrye, chairman of BEA Helicopters, and Capt Jock Cameron, the corporation's No 1 helicopter expert. Two S-61Ns representing a total investment of some £700,000 are an entirely different economic and operational proposition from the three wooden biplanes which have fetched, so it is said, one two-hundredth of that amount on the secondhand market (their purchaser is believed to be British Westpoint). What are the reasons for this financially prodigious leap vertically upwards? And will it pay off? The reasons are fourfold: (1) The Rapides are nearing the end of their days, and have to be replaced before the inevitable time—a year or two hence perhaps—when Mr Hardingham of the ARB is going to say "sorry, no C of A renewal"; (2) BEA have a social- service obligation to fulfil on this route; even the VIP schedules on this day had to fit in with a Rapide ambulance flight from the Scillies; (3) the expanding Scillies tourist business has already put a strain on the small seven-seater Rapides; and (4) there is no economical way of enlarging St Mary's, the Scillies airport, to handle larger modern fixed-wing transports. So BEA, an airline that is no stranger to helicopters (they operated the world's first scheduled public transport helicopter services 14 years ago) settled for this mode of transport in principle and for the S-61N in particular. It is an excellent, well proven machine, with twin-engine security for this mini-transatlantic service and floats just in case. Type 61s are in service in numbers, both with the US military services and with the helicopter airlines of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Pakistan. Inside, the S-61N feels like a real airliner—more so than the Vertol 44 which we flew in three years ago—a helicopter which in turn was much more of an airliner than the S-58 we flew in seven years ago. The windows are huge, giving a wonderful view of the rugged Cornish coast, of England's loneliest lighthouse, and of the beautiful Scillies as you beat 500ft over the waves at 120kt. The seats and ceiling are turquoise, the carpet green, and the walls cream. There is a safety leaflet, to which a just-audible pilot draws one's attention over the p.a., and a lifejacket under each seat. Sikorsky are to be congratulated on the S-61N's vibration level, which is remarkably good considering all the machinery that is going round; it is only mildly pronounced in the rear seats during the ground-cushion hover before touchdown. Noise level is pretty high—about the same as in the Rapide—and passengers new to helicopter travel may find the longish pounding before lift-off a little disconcerting. Procedure at the moment is to embark the customers before starting engines, and the passengers wonder what is happening while the two pilots do their take-off check. Perhaps as experience is gained this can be done with engines running; US helicopter lines embark passengers with rotors turning, which is quite acceptable provided you hold on to your hat, lifting off directly the door-stairs shut. Lord Balfour charges just over £2 for the single journey, or about Is 4d a mile. This is very cheap—about a third to one quarter of the rates charged by American helicopter operators, and apart from £180,000 a year allowed by the Ministry for 200hr flying, the subsidy will come from the parent BEA. Without knowing the operating cost the size of this cross-subsidy is hard to determine, but even a superficial assessment suggests it may be high. There is the cost of depreciating these expensive machines; the cost of two pilots and a stewardess, compared with one pilot on the Rapides; the overheads of the servicing hangar at Land's End, even though it has been made as cheaply as possible out of polythene sheet and scaffolding, and of the new helicopter station in Penzance (opening in September to save the boring road journey Flight "International" photographs From the thirties to the sixties: rotors take over from wooden biplane* on bEA's route lin- ing the Scillies with the mainland. Weather minima, as for J"e Rab/des, are 300ftj,*"eA at St Mary's (above) and 200ft/imileatLandstna
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