Express Delivery - Fast Helicopters

Express delivery!

FAST Helicopters can find what you're looking for

FAST HELICOPTERS

AIRFIELD SHOREHAM EGKA; THRUXTON EGHO
WHERE 1NM W OF SHOREHAM BY SEA, W SUSSEX; 4.5NM W OF ANDOVER
RUNWAYS 02/20 ASPHALT, 02/20 GRASS, 07/25 GRASS, 13/31 GRASS
FACILITIES HELICOPTER FLIGHT TRAINING, SALES, MAINTENANCE, CHARTER
TEL 01273 465389
WEB www.FASThelicopters.com

FAST Helicopters is what you might call a jack of all trades, but in the most positive sense. Since the company was formed by one man and his R22 back in 1989 at Shoreham, the company has transformed itself into a comprehensive resource for helo pilots.

FAST has two main bases - one at Shoreham, the other at Thruxton in Hampshire. As well as specialising in flight training from PPL(H) through to CPL(H), the company offers type ratings across 12 types including the Twin Squirrel, the Hughes 300 and the MD500. FAST has also recently acquired a maintenance facility at Shoreham and operates a charter business from both locations.

That's not all. Once you've got your PPL (and a lottery win under your belt) the team at FAST can help you locate the right helicopter, for the right price. Oh, and they'll pick it up for you and deliver it to your door... well, almost.

CFI at Shoreham, Marc Little is the lucky man who not only gets to spend your money but flies your helicopter too!  Last October, he made a trip to Greece to collect a carefully selected Bell 206 LongRanger L3 for a customer.

There's more to this job than meets the eye, it seems. Marc sheds some light on the subject, "Finding people helicopters is a specialist thing, from locating the machine to the survey, then negotiating and brokering the deal.
"Then you've got the paperwork and legislation to sort out as well as potentially getting it transferred to the British register."

Marc explains how FAST surveyed a number of helicopters on this occasion - none of which they felt met the customer's requirements - before settling on the LongRanger.
"It was on the Cypriot register and was privately owned. It was well spec'd with low component time and had seen only light use.
"Our expert said it was the best example of an L3 seen in a number of surveys,"
he adds.

The new owner accompanied Marc to Athens, where the pair then undertook a 15-hour flight back to the UK. Routing from Afidne, near Athens, to Kerkira on Corfu, the two pilots took a casual approach to the flight.

"We did the whole thing wearing shorts and T-shirts, just having a great time. The scenery was absolutely fantastic. We were flying higher than you would normally in a helicopter, primarily because of the long sea crossings. Just imagine flying down the Athens coastline!"

According to Marc, the best part of the trip was when they flew to Italy and then across the Alps into France. The first stop was Bari, then heading north to Pescara, Perugia and finally Albenga.

"When we landed in Albenga we'd had a long sea crossing, flying down to 500ft. We had to keep out of the way of military air traffic and it felt like a never ending crossing.

"We were going to route around the south of France - St Tropez, Marseille, Cannes - but as the weather across the Alps was particularly good, we decided to take a more direct route to Valence."

The revised route included climbing to 12,000ft to reach Gap, familiar to Marc because he'd previously been skydiving there.

"It was a stunning descent into the Rhone Valley, where we relaxed as we'd broken the back of the trip."
Finally, it was a stop at Troyes and Le Touquet before making it across the Channel and into Shoreham.

"It's a beautiful example of a Bell helicopter; one of the smoothest I've flown. Usually there's relative luxury in the rear of the cabin but this one has fully leather trim, soundproofed interior and is effortless to fly. The only thing missing was access to a cocktail cabinet!"

CROP CIRCLE SAFARIS FAST has a healthy charter business and as well as aerial photography work, sightseeing tours and air taxi assignments, they have the monopoly on crop circle surveillance! For those who believe in this supposed natural phenomenon, the best way to view or photograph the intricate and vast patterns that appear each year, is from the air. The company offers Crop Circle Safaris from Thruxton and works closely with both local and international crop circle study groups. Shaun Byam, CFI at Thruxton tells LOOP, "A lot of our self-fly hire students hire an aircraft and come and view the crop circles. "I do lots of the flying and we do the crop circle conference, where people come from all around the world. "It's good for business. People come from as far as America and Japan to fly the tours," he adds.

Words: Kirsten Corrigan