Coastal Flying October 2011

Posted by Shaun Barendsen on 14 December 2011

We have asked Shaun Barendsen, our part time instructor to give us feedback on the Coastal Flying weekend. Herewith his blog:

On Tuesday evening, the 25th October, the pilots and some of their better halves gathered at the ATS offices for a comprehensive briefing provided by Ivan on what to expect for the coastal flying weekend. With Wessel providing his sage input regarding the safety aspects surrounding the flight down to Richards Bay as well as the operations at Richards Bay with Jeanne and Christel talking about some of the logistics at Richards Bay, everybody was well prepared for the weekend.

Early on the Thursday morning of the 27th October 2011, after wishing my wife a very happy Birthday and ensuring that the kids would remember to give her the present, I left home for Grand Central. On arriving at Grand Central, there was an air of anticipation and excitement in the air for the flight and weekend that lay ahead. With the paperwork dutifully completed under the watchful eye of Sabrina and Michelle, we all made our way towards the helicopters for a thorough pre-flight inspection.
Jaco and Henco (the lightweights) in DLF, Riaan and Marlinda in RHC, followed by Sean and Christel in RWE made up the R22 gaggle (anybody have a better collective noun?) which left slightly ahead of the two R44’s of Michael in PTK and Rudie, Elmarie and Shaun in RSU. The flight to our first stop at Newcastle can be described as fairly uneventful that included some of the pilots flying through Johannesburg International’s airspace (at least, intentionally) for the first time.

refuelling-at-newcastle

After re-fuelling all the helicopters, taking a comfort break, we contacted Richards Bay tower to inform them of our intended arrival and to obtain an update of the latest weather conditions. Looking at the almost clear skies above Newcastle and having previously checked the forecasts, we were expecting that we would be able to continue with our trip as planned. According to the controller at Richards Bay, the cloud base was at less than 400 feet above the ground and he suggested that we wait to see if there would be any improvement in the conditions before trying to get into Richards Bay. Half hourly phone calls to the Richards Bay tower and to Ivan who had driven down the day before with Marinda and Brian followed to get updates on the weather conditions, but as reported, with little wind to blow the cloud away, the conditions were not showing any signs of improvement.

I’m not sure if Steers thought it was a prank call when we ordered King Steer burgers, chips and Coke to be delivered to Newcastle airport, but these dutifully arrived a little more than twenty minutes after we ordered them. After re-fuelling ourselves, it was back to re-assessing the situation and altering the plans. According to our friendly Richards Bay controller, there was now a little bit of wind and the possibility existed that this may help to improve the weather conditions at the airfield and in the surrounding areas. A call was made to Andre in Eshowe and he let us know that the cloud base was at around 800 feet in the area and that from Eshowe, we should be able to head to the coast and then on to Richards Bay.

Remembering the famous quote from Brian Tracy of something to the effect of ‘Every minute you spend in planning saves 10 minutes in execution’ and thinking that in helicopters, this could be changed to include saves lives, we devised and agreed on our new plan. Everybody was keen to get going, but we included a short briefing that covered the following:

We are all in agreement that we would and how we would fly in formation and in agreement with respect to the order.
If anybody was feeling at all uncomfortable about the flight or conditions, they were to communicate this and we would all find a suitable area to land.
We were to route towards Ulundi and then based on the weather conditions, the formation leader would make a call as to whether we thought we could get through to Richards Bay, whether we should divert to Eshowe or whether we should turn around and find a suitable landing place in the area.
As spoken about at the Tuesday night briefing at Grand Central, it was once again re-iterated that all helicopters were to remain clear of clouds at all times.

helicopter-route-eshow

Lifting in the agreed-to sequence and with Christel monitoring the formation from the back, we set course for Richards Bay, but approaching the area of Ulundi, we were met with a blanket of cloud that kissing the ground and ensuring that the high ground was invisible. At this point, the decision was made to divert to Eshowe, land and re-assess the situation. Getting to Eshowe was also not without its challenges, but after weaving through some valleys to stay below the lowering cloud base, always ensuring that we had enough space to turn the formation of five helicopters around, we arrived overhead Eshowe airfield and the sigh of relief from everyone involved was almost audible as number 5 touched down next to the grass strip.

The weather by now had completely deteriorated in the Richards Bay area and Wessel, Ivan and Brian kindly came and fetched us at Eshowe airfield to take us to our accommodation in Richards Bay; a mere 34nm by air, but an almost two hour drive by car using the back roads.

From this point on, the old adage of “what goes on tour, stays on tour” should be strictly adhered to. There will be no mention of people falling off piers, people buying smelly, second-hand T-shirts for exorbitant amounts of cash, the trips to McDonalds at strange times or the youngsters being taught a lesson in touch rugby on the beach by the ‘old toppies’.

The next morning, choosing a route that included using the highway which shortened the time by around half an hour, we left for Eshowe to fetch and re-position the helicopters. Routing to the river mouth at Mtunzini and then following the coast towards Richards Bay was a spectacular flight and the coastal flying was now underway.

The following days were filled with lots of low-level flying instruction, auto-rotations, hire and fly excursions and lots of flying discussions. The nights were filled with good food, a drink or two, lots of flying discussions and for those not flying early the next morning, another drink or two... Brian and Ivan hogged the pool table at the lodge with their superior talents that were obviously garnered during their misspent youth.

On the Sunday morning, it was time for a breakfast, weather forecast check, a couple of phone calls to get the fuel attendants out of bed and to the airfield and re-fuelling the helicopters. Marius replaced Sean in RWE with Christel and the R22 gaggle lifted and headed for Newcastle. Michael lifted in PTK and set heading for Piet Retief; this time with a passenger that he had gone to fetch during the weekend (need we say more?). After settling the fuel bill, Shaun, Rudie and Elmarie lifted for Newcastle.

After re-fuelling at Newcastle (and no Steers), we all lifted again for our final destination of Grand Central. It soon became quite disconcerting to notice that the airspeed was indicating at least 30 knots less than the various GPS units were indicating as groundspeed. Even more disconcerting, were the stories related to the downdrafts that were testing the helicopters’ climb capabilities over some of the mountains.

Taking the Southern Corridor routing through Johannesburg International’s CTR, the 44 touched down at Grand Central first, with Michelle eagerly awaiting our arrival, followed by the lightweights in DLF. Michelle had just heard that the headwind between Newcastle and Grand Central had turned out to be too much for both RWE and RHC and that the sensible decision to execute a precautionary landing had been made by both pilots.

Loading Jerry cans into the back of RSU, Michelle followed the Northern Corridor routing to Bapsfontein airfield to add some much needed fuel into the tanks of RWE and then off to Petit airfield to help out Riaan and Marlinda.

I’m sure that everybody that attended the Coastal Flying weekend with ATS can attest to the fact that a lot was learnt over the weekend and that it was certainly a useful experience to add to the bank. Whether the best learning of the weekend was related to the differing auto-rotational characteristics of a Robinson R22 helicopter at sea level , the decision making process taken when flying in less-than-perfect weather, or the decision making process when more fuel than planned has been consumed, the learning will make us all better pilots and better decision makers. I’m not sure who the following quote can be accredited to, but this is something that we should always remember:

“Superior pilots use their superior judgment to keep them out of situations where they might be required to demonstrate their superior skill.”

I would like to thank everybody at ATS for making the weekend a huge success, all the back office organisation, the instructors and above all, all the fantastic people that joined us for the weekend to share the experience; the stories will be related for a long time to come. See you all again at the next one!