and the Sea King we’re sat in is now awaiting its test flight certificate and I like to think we’ll be flying it next week.” Based on that we asked Andrew if he then thought the


key was early engagement with the CAA? “Absolutely, we’re already talking to the CAA about our Lynx Mark 7, which the surveyor did raise an eyebrow to! Fortunately, our chief pilot is a test pilot trainer with decades of experience who was able to share his experience and now we’re on the way to restore that as well.” That does though have to wait in line behind the other


Ultimately I find


the CAA extremely helpful - they want to see these things fly as much as we do.


various airframes waiting attention. “We’ve got work for about another five years!” says Andrew. “Ultimately I find the CAA extremely helpful – they want to see these things fly as much as we do.”


GETTING THE PAPERWORK DONE We hear a lot of people complain about the timescales it can take to get paperwork processed so we asked Andrew about his experience. “If you do the documents correctly, if they don’t have


to come back with questions, then it’s as smooth as silk. If you don’t do that then that’s what takes the time. You have to answer all the questions, even if you think it’s a


daft one – you might think ‘why do they need to know how the wheel works?’ but they do.”


SAFETY FIRST “From a safety point of view it's safety first with us. With helicopters, if in doubt there is no doubt. Our pilot team is headed up by probably one of the most experienced helicopter pilots in the world.”


THE FUTURE “We’ve got a busy airshow season this year and an even busier one planned for next” said Andrew. “This year we hope to open the Yeovilton show with the Sea King and the Wessex flying together. I think helicopters might just be the future of airshows.”


ONE BIT OF ADVICE Finally, we asked Andrew what one bit of advice he’d give to an organisation looking to work with the CAA. “Call them up, make an appointment, go and see them. We encourage our surveyors to just call in if they’re passing by, that’s the kind of relationship we’ve developed with the CAA.”


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FLYING HERITAGE


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