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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 0171.PDF
Light relief Senior British lighthousemen can still recall the perils of delivering supplies and relieving crews by boat amid rocks and raging seas. Harry Hopkins samples the modern alternative, which is rather less hazardous but just as skilful. mercury, even though there is now triple- redundant electricity generation. The 20th century Trinity House Corporation is responsible for roughly 90 lighthouses (more than half unmanned), 21 lightvessels, and nearly 700 buoys in the UK and Channel Islands. Boats still serve many of these, but much of the crew relief, provisioning, and maintenance now relies on helicopters, with 15 lighthouses and 14 vessels presently relieved by air. A Westland Wessex of Bristow Helicop ters made the first lighthouse flights in June 1969, initially for crew relief only, to save time in the more difficult transfers, many of which were done by winching. In July 1974 the type presently used, the MBB BO105D, was introduced, following its 1973 UK certification for single-pilot IFR operation with duplicated attitude horizons, ASIs, and altimeters. It was operated by the then Management Avia tion—now known (along with its associate company, North Scottish Helicopters) as Bond Helicopters. Although the maximum payload of the BO105D was smaller than that of the Wessex, its size was adequate for the tasks and, with its 45kt decision speed, enabled the go-ahead for small concrete landing platforms at almost all locations. Indeed, lightvessels could also accommodate such platforms, and the first trial relief from such a ship took place in August 1975. Scheduling and operations control was then taken over by a department at Trinity House. Crew relief and transfer of maintenance staff remained the sole activ ity until 1978, when load transfer by heli copter from tenders keeping station near to the lights was instituted. Where there is no room for a platform FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 18 January 1986 on the rocks, a "lantern-top" (pad and safety net) is set on the lighthouse tower itself. This is the configuration of the present Eddystone automatic lighthouse, 13 miles from Plymouth, which was erec ted alongside the remnants of the 1698 lighthouse, the first to be built on a rock in the open sea. Landing on the 25ft-diameter grid plat forms on top of the tower lighthouses calls for good focus of attention and no vertigo. Men wait below a hatch in the grid until the helicopter is firmly on. Oil and fuel can be unloaded on top, then passed down tubes that run inside the tower. Other loads may be set down in nets near the base. The 20ft-diameter platforms on the lightvessels pit the pilot's skill against further problems of motion and nearby obstructions but, even in the restricted confines of both towers and lightvessels, men equipped with firefighting gear are never far away. In April 1980 Trinity House began making part use of a second helicopter, and full-time use of two started from April 1983. Wearing the corporation's colours, they serve two circuits east and west of the UK. This type of operation is restricted to eight of the operator's pilots. There is said to be a waiting list, because it provides varied flying, a sense of playing a special role, and a week or more's independent activity. Lighthouse reliefs are now made in alternating half-crew fortnightly lifts almost to a schedule. Both relief circuits start from Bond Helicopters' base at Strubby, in Lincolnshire. A "rock" (or island) lighthouse is manned by three men, while a lightvessel has a crew of five, so reliefs are alternately "light" or "heavy". Wives are not allowed on ships or rock stations, and the reaction of crews to delays in relief is now noticeable. Where the uncertainty of boat relief used to be in the nature of things, nowadays the gener ally regular operation of the helicopter has the men looking closely at their wrist- watches. Obviously, sea-state affects aerial re- supply much less than that by boat, oper ations are only constrained on lightvessels when pitch or roll are heavy or there is more than 12ft of heave. Operations are possible in winds of up to 55kt, but rotors are not stopped when 45kt is exceeded. All offshore approaches are made in visual conditions, but fog, the old enemy of both seafarers and airmen alike, can put a stop to things. I discovered this on the second day of my lighthouse tour, when visibility at Swansea Airport went below 100m and all activity out of the depot had to stop. There is, however, sufficient margin in the overall programme for relief by air to be made up to one-and-a-half days late. Crew relief still has priority over loads. The progressive replacement of manned stations by automatic ones will lighten this task, but the lifting of maintenance men will still be a regular call. Fuel and most equipment can be transferred by underslung net in a shuttle operation, either from a nearby shore or, where the flight distance would be too great for effi cient operation, from a tender alongside. Survival suits are worn by all helicopter occupants—orange overalls that are now The BO 105 combines the qualities of a workhorse with the agility to operate from precarious land ing pads, above, sited on top of lighthouses
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