Helicopter travel

[osprey]

Is it possible to travel by helicopter from central London to the Scottish Highlands / Hebrides without refuelling? The helicopter would carry a maximum of 4 people including the pilot.

[kempie]

In general, yes it is possible, but the answer is dependant upon specific locations and the specific helicopter (i.e. a twin-engined model would probably be required).

e.g. the AS355 Twin-Squirrel and Agusta 109 have a range of around 450 miles which could be sufficient for a safe nonstop trip to Fort William or the Isle of Mull, but would probably drop out of the sky before reaching Skye.

[KebabMeister]

This website http://www.premiair.co.uk/charter_helicopters_ fleet.asp?NavID=3 charters out helicopters. Their Sikorsky 76 has a range of 425 miles for 1-6 passengers.

I'm not sure what the flightcrew of a helicopter would be - 1 or 2? The AS355 and Agusta 109 mentioned by kempie only have a range of 240 miles with 3-4 passengers (according to the website above - 3+1 pilot??). If carrying only 2 passengers then the AS355 has a range of 380 miles and the 109 has a range of 320 miles.

http://www.pdg-helicopters.co.uk/base.htm have a Eurocopter Dauphin AS365 which I would assume can carry 1-6 passengers like the Sikorsky 76. It has a range of 445 nautical miles. The Dauphin can carry external fuel as well which it could double its range. Whether charter companies are set up for that though I don't know.

[kempie]

I didn't use nautical miles for my answer.

386 nautical miles = 444 statute miles

http://www.eurocopterusa.com/Product/as355/Spe cs_as355.html

[kempie]

... also, the range of the Agusta A109 is dependent on which model variant you look at e.g. A109E Power has a maximum range of 521 nm (600 statute miles).

http://www.helicopters.com/

[KebabMeister]

I only used nautical for the Dauphin, the others were miles.

[KebabMeister]

From the first link I posted:

The mainstay of our charter fleet carrying up to 5 passengers, and excellent payload, range and take-off performance characteristics to make almost any itinerary possible. We have 7 AS355 helicopters in our fleet of which 6 are available for charter.

Aircraft Endurance Figures

Passengers Flying Time Max Distance
1-2 pax 2hr 45m 380 miles
3-4 pax 1hr 45m 240 miles
5 pax 1hr 138 miles

Probably worth talking direct to the charter company since it obviously looks like it really depends on number of passengers/weight of passengers.

[kempie]

If you check my link to Eurocopter with the specs. for their helicopters you will see that the figures quoted by Premiair are in nautical miles (as is commonplace for the aeronautical industry), even though they don't specify as such.

[KebabMeister]

Okay, so AS355 has range of 276 miles (with 3-4 passengers) and 437 miles for 1-2 passengers.

Agusta 109 generic (!) ;) has range of 276 miles (with 3-4 passengers) and 368 miles for 1-2 passengers.

Dauphin AS365 has range of 512 miles for 1-6 passengers???

Sikorsky 76 has range of 489 miles for 1-6 passengers.

I think!!!

So, the Dauphin AS365, S76 and A109E would be ideal, although the Hebrides would probably be on the edge of their range (taking into consideration weather conditions, diversion airfield, diversions en-route etc.). I found a few charter companies that have the Agusta 109E Power although the Harrods one only quoted a lower range (maybe at expense of travel time/speed).

So, really depends which part of the Hebrides you want to go to. Lower part you could possibly make it, but northern then no chance I reckon.

Kempie, part of EADS Eurocopter is 1 mile from where I live ;)

[KebabMeister]

Oh, Augusta Westland Grand has a range of 593 miles.

http://www.v1aircharter.com/our-services.htm Manchester based but oh well.

[kempie]

Ottobrunn?

[KebabMeister]

Yup, I live in Taufkirchen (next to Unterhaching, south Munich). I can see the EADS Ottobrunn complex (damn huge) clearly from my office in Unterhaching.

EADS Manching & EADS Unterschleissheim are in the area of Munich as well; the former deal mostly with fixed wing aircraft.

Panavia & Eurofighter are in Munich as well.