Tsavo West in Kenya

Family group of elephant

We are staying in a safari camp, Kiliguni, in Tsavo West, between Nairobi and Malindi. Driving the landrover (a friend's) near the river we came on this group of elephants. They were quite nervous and at one time the supporting bull elephant made as if to charge us. This is owing to the number of poachers around. According to Daphne Sheldrick from the David Sheldrick charity 36,000 elephants are killed every year. As there are only 400,000 elephants in the whole of Africa this could lead to their destruction, which would be terrible.

Baby elephant suckling

Below is a baby elephant suckling his mother. Elephants have teats between the front legs like human-beings. They also have a long gestation period, of around 11 months, and look after their babies for several years. As the rains were about to come we saw a lot of baby elephants. I do hope they and their families will be safe from poachers.

Gekko

This little gekko had a turquoise blue body and a head that sometimes looked orange, sometimes red. He was not particularly worried about the people around him.

Video on Olympic Policing

http://vimeopro.com/user3977835/policingolympics2012/video/49843078

It is quite interesting in a gentle sort of way. Nothing happens, but I guess that makes it a good day in the police world!

Examiner's rating redone

Revalidated my examiner's rating with Leon Smith. EASA changes came in on 17th September 2012 and this has made a considerable difference to what an examiner can and cannot do. Ironically, moreover, this European attachment has made it harder to examine non-national students. In theory, to now test German, Russian, Dutch etc students as I have been doing for the last five or so years I should have a medical for each country! I do like travelling but really...

Glorious September

Bell 407GX taking off

Interesting the way the Bell 407GX takes off left skid low, and inevitably with a slight drift too. Cyclic correction, please.

There sounds to be a lot more things coming out of Bell Helicopters in the next year. If we are lucky the HAI in Las Vegas may hold a new Bell model .... and if it is the rumoured one I think that is very good news.
Keep watching this spot for more helicopter information.

Bell 407GX Test Flight

Bell 407GX

Flew the Bell 407GX for a test flight for Helicopter Life. We flew from the helipad behind Manston where HeliCharter is based. HeliCharter started in 2000, but just recently (it was announced at Farnborough) became the Bell dealer.
The flight was really wonderful. I am used to the Bell 206 but this is like a much more powerful LongRanger, with a really nice digital display and a FADEC. It has four blades and is wonderful to fly. There was such a lot of energy in the engine that we seldom used more than 60 torque.
We did lots of emergencies and there feels to be a good safety margin in everything. Rate of descent in auto is 2500 fpm though, so you want to keep a good interest in what is happening around you!
We also had a wonderful photoshoot over the white cliffs and local area. Huge thanks to Paul the photographer for his excellent work.
For more see the next edition of Helicopter Life.

Bell 206 taking part in the photoshoot

Visiting the oil rigs from the Shetlands

Sikorsky S92 on the airport at Scatsca

Flew with Bristow Helicopter company out to an oil platform just off the Norwegian coast.
Bristow is based at Scatsca Airport on the mainland of the Shetlands - the mainland, incidentally, is another island, not connected to Scotland.
We are staying on Fetlar, a wonderful island with a population of 70 people. There are four or occasionally six children in the school and one school-teacher.
Bristow uses Sikorsky S92s and has some Eurocopter Pumas. However, it seems they find the S92 more reliable than the EC225, so most pilots prefer the Sikorsky.

On the platform

Other helicopter companies are based here including CHC and Bond Helicopters.

Wings 4 Warriors Charity

Mark Radcliffe, Alex Robotham, Matt Bryant and Steve Monteith

Went to see the charity Wings 4 Warriors today. An interesting charity started after a chance meeting by an amputee and a businessman which led to this charity that pays for severely injured servicemen to retrain as helicopter pilots. The charity started at the end of 2011 and so far has one commercial pilot and two private pilots, with one more training. Three of the students are ex-marine, the other one was in the army.
Mark Radcliffe, the director and motivator of the charity, stresses that the charity can only grow slowly as there is not the market for a large number of new helicopter pilots. For more see Helicopter Life September issue.