During the week of June 19th to 26th, GB Helicopters’ entire twin-engine fleet was in high demand. Two of the years’ events, popular for private helicopter charters happened simultaneously, Royal Ascot and Glastonbury.

Our helicopters were busy flying clients from various locations across the country to the events. Our pilots transported the elegantly dressed racegoers to Ascot. And music enthusiasts to the Glastonbury festival in one of our finest aircraft.

Aerial Utility Works  – Traffic Management

GB Helicopters was ahead of the game at Glastonbury 2023. Our team arrived in Somerset on Monday 19^th June, two days before the festival gates opened. We’ve been working with the festival organisers for ten years. Providing them with expert aerial traffic management solutions and we were excited to continue with this partnership.

On the first day of action, we focused on rigging our AS355 – G-GBTV, complemented by our SWE 4 in 1 camera system. The system was a game-changer. Providing the traffic control room with a live download link of aerial shots that displayed congestion in the surrounding areas. This allowed the ground to identify traffic hotspots and implement diversions to maintain a steady flow of traffic.

Our live footage was a success, providing an aerial perspective of the roads and the festival itself.

Aerial Filming with the Red Arrows

The most exciting role GB Helicopters took on for Glastonbury 2023, was liaising with the RAF Red Arrows. Our operations team, camera operations and pilot communicated with the festival organisers and with the RED Arrow pilots themselves. On Saturday 24^th June the RAF Red Arrows treated the crowds of Glastonbury to a surprise flyby.

GB Helicopters had the go-ahead to conduct the aerial filming as the world-famous Red Arrows flew over Glastonbury, impressing the crowds and on-stage acts. 

Helicopters flying over the festival aren’t unusual to hear or see. So when G-GBTV was airborne over the festival, it didn’t alert the crowds about what was to come.

GB Helicopters remain committed to providing exceptional aerial services at Glastonbury. We can’t wait to see what the future holds providing aerial filming and utility services at Glastonbury.

Contact our expert operations team for a bespoke helicopter charter, aerial filming or aerial utility quotation, complete the form below or email us at ops@gbconcierge.co.uk.

Helicopter Hire Enquiry

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Helicopter Charters

Last year saw a rise in demand for our private travel services, and our calendars for helicopter charters have been as busy as ever. The demand was definitely real over the summer months, we provided the most charters we have ever completed. Events such as Glastonbury and Silverstone’s Formula 1 Grand Prix, broke records with the number of charters arriving and departing.

We are looking forward to this year’s events, as dates are already filling up.

In keeping with private leisure charters. In the early summer months of 2022, we successfully completed a private charter to LEGOLAND Windsor. This opened a door of wonderful opportunities. The LEGOLAND team contacted us after the incredibly successful arrival and departure of the guests, to inquire about future helicopter charters to the attraction.

No matter the requests from our clients, at GB Helicopters we do our utmost best to ensure we can exceed their wishes. So, contact our operations team if you want us to take you on your next holiday, sports or music event. They are the ones who truly make the magic happen.

GB on TV

Aerial Filming

In 2022, we covered an array of aerial filming for both live and pre-recorded entertainment.

Our annual partnerships continued with the likes of the BBC and Dragonfly working on the production of Ambulance series 9 and 10. Working alongside ITV and Raw TV GB Helicopters produced the aerial footage for Heathrow: Britain’s Busiest Airport.

In May, football fanatics saw Manchester City win the UEFA Championships. GB Helicopters were following the victory winners and fans, providing live aerial footage of the parade in Manchester. As part of Her late Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, ABC Studios approached us. We had a journalist onboard the aircraft who was broadcasting live to Good Morning America with aerial views of London.

Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted returned to our screens after two fallow years. We were provided an aircraft for the former military agents to track the celebrity fugitives. Working again with the BBC and Studio Lambert we were excited to be part of the production of The Traitors starring Carol Winkleman. For this production, we flew over areas of the Scottish Highlands to allow the series to use aerial transitional scenes.

Although I’m a Celebrity returned to Australia last year, our relationship with ITV continued for the production of the People’s Postcode Lottery advert. Seen across December during the I’m a Celebrity ad breaks. GB Helicopters provided the project with a picture ship aircraft in addition to conducting the aerial filming.

Aerial Stunts

One of the most exciting ventures GB Helicopters took last year in regard to aerial filming, was becoming the first in the UK to own a ‘Special Operation Platform’. With the special operations platform, helicopter missions will be easier, safer, and more efficient. Allowing cast members to take a seat outside a helicopter, perfect for performing special forces operations. Both our H125 and AS355 aircraft can be fitted with the platforms.

The platforms made their debut featuring within RTE’s Ultimate Hell Week: The Professionals. The former special force agents completed their grand entrance attached to the platforms preparing to ambush celebrity recruits. This production was exciting to be part of, the use of the platforms had never been done by us before. We saw a gap in the aerial filming market for UK productions which can be revolutionary for both us and productions. Saying goodbye to CJI and special effects for helicopter missions our special operations platform provides for all.

On BBC One, Gordon Ramsay’s Future Food Stars featured the use of our aircraft. We saw Gordon Ramsay appearing nonchalant as he perched on the edge of the aircraft before he plunged out of the helicopter into the bitter Cornish waters performing the aerial stunt as his grand entrance. GB Helicopters performed numerous heli-jumps on TV last year, from Celebrity Hunted, Ultimate Hell Week to The Traitors.

GB Helicopters’ services do not end with private charters and aerial filming; our aerial utility works projects had a variety of tasks.

Aerial Works Projects

In addition to helicopter charters, last year we worked closely with the events management team at Glastonbury. Flying one of our twin-engine aircraft rigged with a camera system, we filmed and transmitted footage to the ground team. The team then analysed the live footage of congestion to decide how and where to divert traffic to ease congestion.

Our aerial works projects didn’t stop there! Over in Wales, we were approached to conduct an aerial thermal survey. Using a high-specification 4-in-1-camera system rigged to our aircraft to conduct the thermal survey. We flew over and around the areas and documented sightings to assess the population of wild boars.

Overall, 2022 was a fantastic year for GB Helicopters, we continued to expand in each sector in which we provide our services for. As demand for our services has increased, GB Helicopters sees no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

Keep an eye on our social media pages to keep updated on our latest projects.

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Our Flight Operations Compliance Manager, Abi Hensby, works incredibly hard every year to ensure that we operate at the highest standards possible for our industry and we are very proud of our exemplary record.

These practices and procedures are constantly evaluated and amended as the industry evolves. They are in place not only to help protect the helicopter pilot, crew and passengers, but also to guarantee we deliver the most comprehensive service that is of the utmost quality.

Going Further

Our efforts to improve our services do not stop here. We have worked hard to attain three ISO standards set out by the International Organisation for Standardisation. These include:

• ISO 9001:2015 – for Quality Management Systems
• ISO 14001:2015 – for Environmental Management Systems
• BS OHSAS 18001: 2007 – the British standard for occupational health and safety management

These standards are not necessary to carry out the wide variety of work we provide. However, they are something we have endeavoured to achieve to assist us in delivering a world-class service. These standards contribute from the well-being of the office staff and ground crew to the pilots and aircraft. And this applies across our three sectors of work: helicopter charter, aerial filming and utility works.

Following these advancements, 2021 will see us implement a Carbon Neutral policy to help offset our impact on the environment. This is an important issue that will affect every aspect of our lives. It is vital that we do more to measure the effect we have on the environment. More information on this will follow later in the year.

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As part of ongoing efforts to reduce coastal erosion and prevent landslides, Central Alliance came to us to help them survey the Moors’ coastline. They had been tasked with finding out how aggressively the cliffs were being eroded. The data collected would aid in the assessment of whether stabilisation of the cliffs would be required.

To carry out this assessment quickly and accurately, the use of LiDAR was to be deployed using our AS355 helicopter. Standing for Light Detection and Ranging, the process involves continuously firing a laser at the ground and measuring the returns. These returns allow the recording of a variety of things like ground profiles, building details and different analysis for vegetation such as tree height and leaf mass, among many others. In this case, the LiDAR was used to generate a ground profile of the North York Moors coastline.

New Technology

The level of detail required for this assessment could only be achieved with the use of a helicopter. While other options are available, such as fixed wing and UAV platforms, helicopters remain the only vehicle capable of carrying the equipment required to record at the highest levels of detail. A helicopter also allows low altitude flights that provides even greater detail to be recorded.

Traditionally the large LiDAR unit is mounted on the belly of the helicopter. However, Central Alliance brought with them their new, custom built LiDAR pod. This much smaller unit could be mounted on the nose of our helicopter, using the same arm we use for our camera systems. Despite its size, it still contained the LiDAR sensor, an Inertial Measurement System (IMS) and a PhaseOne camera. Being nose mountable also made it much quicker and easier to install.

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While the Peak District provides a wonderful destination for walkers, climbers, and mountain bikers, it also plays an important role for the environment and climate. Large parts of the national park are covered in peat, which is now known to be a huge store of Carbon. Should the peat degrade, this Carbon would be released into the atmosphere, contributing to global warming. It is also home to vast array of wildlife and provides a variety of ecosystems for them to thrive in.

It is important that these national parks remain accessible for the public to enjoy, whilst also being protected and restored. For the last 18 years, this crucial work has been carried out by Moors for the Future. They promote the park for public and recreational use while also maintaining and restoring the moorlands. They also work to help enhance habitats, improve water quality, reduce wildfire and flood risk, and tackle climate change.

A part of their conservation work involves stabilising and revegetating bare peat. Exposed at the surface and with nothing to hold it in place, bare peat is very susceptible to erosion from the weather, walkers, and animals. It also plays a key role in flood management. One way to help this is to plant heather. Heather brash, which consists mainly of heather cuttings, is used to cover the bare peat across the Peak District. Once it takes root it holds the peat in place.

Covering 1,440 km² and with bare peat spread throughout, the only way to deliver the heather brash to where it is needed is by helicopter. Earlier this year, we were awarded this role by Moors for the Future. We were tasked with load-lifting 1,000 dumpy bags of heather brash to the Kinder Plateau.

Speed is Key

There are several advantages to using helicopters for this role. Firstly, and most critically, moving the brash into the remote moorlands by ground vehicle would cause significant damage to the very land that they are intending to restore. Lifting the brash by helicopter is also significantly quicker. Our load-lifting six-hook carousel fitted to one of our AS355s, allows us to carry up to six bags at once. With a remote release function operated by the pilot, we can quickly drop a bag at six GPS tagged sites in a single trip.

Kinder Scout is the highest peak in the national park, standing at 2,086 ft. As thousands of bags of brash must be lifted and placed over a massive area, and that it all must take place in the winter months, speed is crucial. The quicker the bags can be placed, the quicker the spreading of the brash can be done.

It is a common site to see a helicopter flying over the Peak District in winter, so now if you see one with a few bags underneath, you have a good idea of what it’s up to.

For more of our Aerial Utility Sevices take a look at our Urgent Freight Charters.

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One of those company’s is Scottish Power Energy Networks (SPEN). They own and maintain all the overhead lines in Central and Southern Scotland along with those in North Wales, Merseyside, Cheshire and North Shropshire. These networks are referred to as SPEN and MANWEB respectively.

Our four-year contract with SPEN will have us surveying approximately 7,000 towers annually in Central and Southern Scotland and 3,000 towers for MANWEB. This means conducting statutory and thermal power line surveys across their entire network. To accomplish this, we will deploy our twin-engine AS355 that will be fitted with our gyro stabilised 4-in-1 sensor, the SWE-400 Quad. This state-of-the-art system allows us to record High Resolution Radiometric Infrared, Corona Detection, HD Video and Digital Still photography in a single flight. Inside the cabin, the operator has access to the OV171X-HDSDI quad monitor, allowing them to view all four sensors at the same time.

Storm Patrol

This contract also means we will be on standby to perform Storm Damage Patrols during the winter months. For this, we are available 24-hours a day, 7-days a week and can be airborne within an agreed launch window to investigate a reported fault. This readiness is vital to ensure the quick identification of a fault which in turn leads to them being repaired quickly.

As with all the flying we do, we take special consideration to the public as well as businesses when flying at low level. As the majority of overhead lines traverse farmland and fields, disturbing livestock such as cattle and horses can be costly to farmers. Our trained pilots and observers take extra care to minimise any disturbance caused by a low flying helicopter. This consideration also applies in rural aeras and where possible we liaise with landowners to conduct the surveys at agreed times. This helps reduce any unwanted noise from disturbing any special events that may be taking place. Any inspection that is unable to take place from the air is noted and a survey is conducted from the ground.

Alongside our Part SPO authorisations that allow us to conduct aerial utility work, we have our Air Operator Certificate (AOC). This grants us permission to provide our charter services and has already been utilised for SPEN CEOs to be given a tour of their network and to provide the BBC access to cover the work done by Scottish Power.

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