May 2010 covers_Covers.qxd - World Airnews

AIRCRAFT
SLINGING –
NAC STYLE
Text and photos: Mark Mansfield
NATIONAL AIRWAYS Corporation
(NAC) Helicopter Division, based
at Lanseria International Airport,
is well known for its wide range of services
which include: geological survey,
game work, aerial filming, vehicle tracking,
contract management, advanced
helicopter instruction, as well as charter
flights.
But a service that is not mentioned often
is one of the division’s specialties – aircraft
recoveries or, as it is more commonly
known in the trade, “aircraft slinging”.
I was privileged to be invited by Alistair
Brown, manager of NAC Helicopter Division,
to join his team on one such aircraft
recovery mission to see for myself all that
is involved in such a complicated and
often dangerous undertaking.
For this particular mission NAC was
contracted by one of its various insurance
company clients to remove an aircraft
wreck located in a very precarious position
on a mountainside.
Due to the on-going investigation, specific
details of the aircraft accident in
terms of aircraft type, location and other
information have been omitted from this
report.
The choice of aircraft for this particular
operation was the venerable Bell UH-1H
utility helicopter, or “Huey” as it is better
known. The Huey was chosen because of
its excellent lift capabilities – 1 300 kg on
the hook – its large cargo loading area, as
well as its excellent performance under
hot and high conditions.
A total of 1 000 kg was to be lifted in
three loads on this mission as the aircraft
wreckage was scattered over a large area
of the mountain.
Before the actual flight, a safety briefing
was held by Alistair Brown and the objectives
and action plan were discussed in
full. Each member of the team was tasked
with a specific objective and given a full
safety briefing. Once everybody was
aware of the task at hand, the ground support
team, including a fuel bowser, flatbed
truck for the wreckage and safety inspectors,
as well as the South African Police
36 WORLD AIRNEWS, MAY 2010.
The Huey “slings” a wing from the
crashed aircraft to take it to the waiting
low-bed truck at the foot of the mountain.
The wreckage of the aircraft’s tail
section can be seen at the
lower right of the picture.