Helicopter Sales

[Blackmac]

Downwash: The orginal operator of Bell 204B helicopters was Autair Helicopters, Registration AHA & AHB. These machines were bought new from Bell, one crashed on the Polar Shelf contract and the registration was later applied to an FH 1100. Pierre Lotten was flying an S-55 on the same contract. The original ex French pilots that had flown in Algeria emigrated to Autair Helicopters and were excellent pilots.

[DGP]

Cap,I think you are right about DZE coming from PHI,I''ll give the Duck a call and fined out for sure.I believe Midwest sold the 205 they had at the time to buy DZE...go figure that one.The 205 they had was one of the first 205''s in Canada.It was running a -11 engine I think?The 204 would have outlifted the 205 at that time until Bell made the 205a-1.

Blackmac...you must know a buddy of mine...Ray Gilsdorf,I think he said he worked for Autair?

[DGP]

[Blackmac]

DGP; I don''t recall Ray G. being at Autair, I do recall him from Vikings days and believe he was one of the Valley boys from Sky Rotors along with Jack McCormick.

[cap]

Blackmac ----- I remember AHB as being the very first and AHA being the second. Which one burned while being re-fuelled? AHA and I are very old friends and she's still a great a/c. Still smells like Harvey on the inside also, but I could never make the cyclic grip disappear with my hand like he could with his. I'm getting you 'narrowed down' now. You're familar with the names Wayte, Masse, Pearson, Messier, May and 'Scottie' also, aren't you? You're almost too old to use a computer aren't you? Then again Linda, Harvey's secretary, must be a grandmother herself many times by now.

 

Downwash ---- seems to me I remember that she came north with no hook and the '**** hole' covered over with skin. Next time I saw that was a 204B that Maple leaf Helicopters bought from Bell years later. The pilot that accepted the aircraft and flew her north didn't even catch that. They had a job to do right after, but couldn't......no hole and no hook. So much for the thorough 'D.I.' Many 'brewskis' were consumed after that discovery. Oh ya and there are LOTS of 'spook' machines in the country, heh, heh.

 

DGP ---- that 205 may have been the original Midwest 205 that they bought about '67/'68. The very first originals had a 204 tailboom. She was one of the first 'in country'. Ed would also remember

her because his pilot was always Russ Lamn and he was always the engineer. You saw one, you always saw the other two.

[Blackmac]

Cap: I could be wrong but I think your memorey is almost as bad as mine. I personaly do not remember either 204 having a fire while refuelling. I could be wrong.

 

The one 204 that was lost, was on

it''s way to Greenland and the final concencus was a problem with an antenna attached to rear vertical fin. The pilot who''s name I can''t remember at this time was a French pilot from France and was very charismatic.

 

I''ve had a lot of good buddies who are upstairs (where all helicopter drivers go) and some fixed wing from the military.

 

Jack Pearson is an old Navy buddy as was Don May. Fred Wayte and Jim Masse I hired when I was at Autair. Don May & Messier worked for Heli-Voyageur. Messier replaced me on a 204 on the Ivory Coast.

The only Linda''s I can think of is one I had as a secretary in St.Jean and the other is Linda who worked for Mel in Calgary and later became Mrs. Wayne Johnson. So if there is another Linda out there, please advise.

 

Cheers

[Elvis]

Is it possible that Dom-Peg''s 205 XRU is the helicopter You are thinking about it was destroyed in a refueling accident in Sept 74 in Inuvik?

 

 

[DGP]

Kenting had a 205 that burned while refueling up in Wrigley in 74.She blew up with Gerry Waylin on the roof.Threw him about 30 feet away from the aircraft and he told me he landed on a bunch of empty 45''s.I think one of the Churcott brother''s was driving her.

[Elvis]

Now that I think a little more about the old days it was a bad time for Dom-Peg,I think POA their other 205 rolled down an embankment in Sept Iles a few weeks before XRU''s BBQ.

 

P.S DGP any idea where ''Curly"" is these days.

 

 

[cap]

Elvis ----the incident and aircraft I'm talking about would date about '66. Autair, of St. Jean, PQ was the first operator of 204's in Canada and had the first two that arrived 'in country'(AHB & AHA). The first 204's could be had with the -11 engine or the Gnome engine with the tail-pipe out the side, instead of straight back. Bulloch Helicopters and Associated Helicopters were close behind with theirs.

 

XRU burned down in Inuvik while 'hot' refuelling.

 

POA rolled down a hill alright. Problem commenced when the pilot landed on a large pad to retrieve a net, brought it back to idle, tightened down the friction and climbed out. She went 'bouncy-bouncy', one pedal worked itself forward and aircraft started 'walking'. Pilot looks up, runs to take control, aircraft keeps moving and 'oops' it fell off the pad and 'beat the shi* out of itself'.

 

 

*** The spread in time between the XRU and POA incidents was a lot farther apart than weeks or months......more like years.