Hi Folks,

Approx 2 nm from the north eastern shore line of Lake Eyre

We apologise it has been quite a few months since our last
post! There has been so much going on we haven’t had time to put anything
together!!

At the moment I’m sitting in the pilot seat of our R44
VH-FRL parked on a clay pan about 2.5 nm east of the northern shore of Lake
Eyre (for those with Google Earth the coordinates are S 27.94000 E 137.31000)
on Kalamurnia Wildlife Sanctuary flying their staff (Felicity and Keith plus a
few volunteers) around the property to selected sites to trap animals, so they
can work out what animals are here and how many. So far this trip we have
encountered plenty of bird life, small mammals such as the Native Rat and
Mulgara.

The traps are basically white plastic buckets dug into the ground with a fence

fence along the pit falls with funnel traps

running along so the animals running along the fence fall into the buckets. In the bottom there is some hessian so the animals/reptiles don’t get injured. The animals are then measured, weighed and marked in some way so that we know if they are being recaptured. The mammals usually have a hair cut in a particular spot as a numbering system and the reptiles have a black permanent marker line on them in places as a numbering system for them.

Painted Dragon in pit fall

I have also managed to do the longest trip i have ever done with an external load – 55 nm and it took approx 60 minutes over the Simpson Desert!

At any time we have 2 sites set up; each site consists of 16 bucket or ‘pitfalls’, 12 funnel mesh traps, 40 Elliot traps and 2 cage traps.
It is very time consuming to put it all together! Not to mention that it is above 30 degrees Celsius, no shade, blowing a gale and kites circling above!!

external load of animal trapping gear

Each site has to be checked as early as possible so the animals are not in the traps when it gets hot! All animals are released back into their own habitats unharmed.

The helicopter is utilised as a fair amount of the 1.2 million acre property is in accessible by 4×4 vehicles due to the flood events up here over the past 12 months. The approx flying time is 50 minutes from one end of the property to the other!

Kalamurnia sits in the middle of two deserts – the Simpson and Tirari Deserts. It also has the major Warburton River, Ana branch the Kallakoopa and also the Macumba flowing through. (When there is rain in the north!!)

I find it absolutely amazing to be flying around here during this major flood event! Lake Eyre and surrounding rivers is a truly spectacular site to say the least!

just before sunset on a sand dune

During my time here in late July; the weather was perfect cold at night and stunning days – we also had a pontoon boat and managed to do a trip down the Warburton (we had one afternoon off!) with all the staff that was here at the time for the camp.  A few
good tunes, nibbles, a wine or beer or two – all along a normally dry creek bed!!! I have to say it was fantastic!! It was a once in my life time opportunity that without being able to do the work we do up here it would not have happened.

I managed to be up there for the end of the month when Mike Munro from Channel 7’s Sunday Night program was filming a feature story on Lake Eyre and Kalamurina. The crew were a great bunch of media to work with and it was also good experience to fly with Philip Island Helicopters Chief Pilot Ian Batton. Who had a squirrel with a nose mounted camera for all of the amazing close up shots that we couldn’t get with the shoulder camera from the side of the R44. Click on the video to see how the story turned out!! (One word from me – AMAZING!)

Well with the Kalamurnia part of this out of the way there has been some other very exciting news in the Chopper Chicks Camp…

Billie-Jo and Duncan are expecting their first baby soon and Richard and I are engaged!!

Both Billie and I have been away flying at Coober Pedy, looking at sacred sites with the traditional owners of the land. They are an amazing bunch of people and learning about their culture still never ceases to amaze me on how things are still done today.

ladies group near the dog proof fence north of Coober Pedy

Keep an eye out for the promo of the Barossa Air Show 2011 – Take 2! Rescheduled for 6^th November! It is once again shaping up to be a spectacular event! We have secured Matt Hall – Australia’s only RedBull air race pilot and the RAAF Roulettes – THE FULL TEAM!!! Congratulations to the Committe for being able to secure both of these amazing flying displays!

The night before the air show on the 5^th November – there is a dinner being held where Matt Hall with be the key speaker along with none other than the BAROSSA CHOPPER CHICKS!! Call St Jakobi School for more details on 08 85244 137.

Well that is about it for now… We will make sure we update more often from now on!!!

Posted in Uncategorized

Hello,

This is my first post! Bridge has been bugging me to post something!!!

What I’ve been up to lately… Well, where do I start!?

Well my work usually consists of many many jobs, as we not just a Helicopter company, we are vignerons as well, so my work involves tractor driving eg, spraying (with the CASE IH MAXUM 120 gold spec that the boys reckon is pretty awesome!) anyway apart from that I operate the bobcat, forklift and our self propelled grape harvester (the harvester is one of my favourite toys – apart from the chopper of course!). 

Just over a year ago I was married to my husband (Duncan McInerney) on the Hoffnungsthal Church site on our property.  We now live on the western end of the family property (2 ½ kms from mum and dad’s).

Seven Months after we were married we went on our honey moon Around the World, this was a trip of a life time. 

Starting in Rome (Italy) visiting the main site there (the colosseum and the Forum) and we only drove past the Vatican. 

From Rome we flew in to Zurich (Switzerland) and travelled by train into the mountains to Luzern.  Luzern was absolutely beautiful; everything was so pristine and ran on time. 

We went up Mount Pilatus on the steepest cog wheel train in the world which was defiantly a great experience. 

We flew from Switzerland into Amsterdam (Holland) and stayed a few days saw the sites then arrived off to London. This was the second time for me in London so I sort of had an idea of what was good to do and see; we practically saw all the sites in one day, from the London eye, London Dungeon, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. Then we spent an evening with some friends that live in London.

This is where the trip becomes a bit more exciting as we travel into unknown territory for both of us in to the USA!!! 

We both thought New York was Amazing and an absolute must for everyone at least once in their life! New York is the easiest city to get around; all the streets are square blocks.  Of course we had to go on a helicopter flight over the city, we went with Liberty Helicopters and I must say I was slightly disappointed with the flight it was a little boring and we could not communicate with each other or the pilot and our pilot was quite bland all he did was point out the points of interest and that was about it.  Although we did get some good photos.

Later that afternoon we went up the Empire State Building which seemed to take forever to get to the top but once we were up there the view was absolutely breath taking, we watched the sunset and the city light up, especially Times Square, as we were taking in the view the NYPD Chopper pulled up alongside of the Empire State and gave us a wave before diving off into the city lights.  That was the highlight of New York (for me anyway!!) 

From New York we spent one night in Washington DC to see the White House. Next was Nashville, Tennessee where the country music festival was in its final days. Nashville is just like a big country town, I had to buy a pair of boots and jeans before we departed. Denver, Colorado was next in the itinerary to catch up with my cousins for a few days which was nice and relaxing. 

Then to Las Vegas Baby!!! Vegas was awesome kind of like Disney Land for adults, I would go back anytime without hesitation!  This is where we had the best chopper ride of the trip we flew over Lake Meade, Hoover Dam and out to the Grand Canyon for a landing to have a picnic and champagne.  We had a really nice pilot named Rob (from Papillon Helicopters) who made the trip even more special as we flew back at sunset to Vegas the lights where coming up on the strip I didn’t want to land! 

Rob and Billie-Jo

After Las Vegas we flew into San Francisco and went straight down to the Wharf where we tried their famous clam chowder (it would be ok I guess if you liked clams). By this time of our trip we were more than ready to have our own independence so we hired a car and drove from San Francisco through the Napa Valley north through Oregon and up into Seattle and re-hired a different car and continued into Vancouver.

From Vancouver we drove to our friends place in Powell River (took 2 ferries to get there and most of a day) stayed there for a few days before driving out into the Rocky Mountains. We both just loved driving through the Rockies, as we were driving a long there are a quite a few warning signs of bears so I was really hoping to see one, after a few days of trying to spot even a glimpse of one I gave up, and as murphy would have it, as soon as I stopped looking for one I saw one laying in a big car parking area I was so excited saying “there’s a bear!, there’s a bear!! Turn around!” Duncan had just over taken a car and wouldn’t turn around for me so I saw one for about 2 seconds; well I suppose at least I saw one.

Duncan and I at the bottom of the Grand Canyon

When we returned from the Rockies and got back into Vancouver we caught the ferry over to Vancouver Island and went out for a day with a man called Bob, who is the Chief Pilot (Boss) for Canadian Air Crane, we drove up into the mountains to watch the air crane do some ‘real’ work, lifting logs out of the forest this was defiantly the highlight of the trip, Duncan and I thought that the logging was unreal!!  The next day we visited the Butchart Gardens before getting back on the ferry to stay one more night in Vancouver from there we departed and flew to Auckland NZ then HOME. 

There’s nothing quite like coming home after a long trip away, we were away for 6 weeks all up and I think the thing we both missed the most was our Beagle puppy Gemima.

Since coming home from our trip it really puts a good perspective on things and how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful country like Australia.

Posted in ABOUT

The Hover!!

Hovering is the term applied when a helicopter maintains a constant position at a selected point, usually a few feet above the ground (but not always, helicopters can hover high in the air, given sufficient power). For a helicopter to hover, the main rotor must supply lift equal to the total weight of the helicopter. With the blades rotating at high velocity, an increase of blade pitch (angle of attack) would induce the necessary lift for a hover. The forces of lift and weight reach a state of balance during a stationary hover. Hovering is actually an element of vertical flight. Assuming a no-wind condition, the tip-path plane of the blades will remain horizontal. If the angle of attack of the blades is increased while their velocity remains constant, additional vertical thrust is obtained. Thus, by upsetting the vertical balance of forces, helicopters can climb or descend vertically.

Airflow In The Hover

 At a hover, the rotor tip vortex (air swirling around the blade tip from above to below) reduces the effectiveness of the outer blade portions. Also, the vortexes of the preceding blade severely affect the lift of the following blades. If the vortex made by one passing blade remains a vicious swirl for some number of seconds, then two blades operating at 350 RPM create 700 longlasting vortex patterns per minute. This continuous creation of new vortexes and ingestion of existing vortexes is a primary cause of high power requirements for hovering. During hover, the rotor blades move large volumes of air in a downward direction. This pumping process uses lots of horsepower and accelerates the air to relatively high velocities. Air velocity under the helicopter may reach 60 to 100 knots, depending on the size of the rotor and the gross weight of the helicopter. This is the air flow around a hovering heli (Note it is out of ground effect): Note how the downwash (induced flow) of air has introduced another element into the relative wind which alters the angle of attack of the airfoil. When there is no induced flow, the relative wind is opposite and parallel to the flightpath of the airfoil. In the hovering case, the downward airflow alters the relative wind and changes the angle of attack so less aerodynamic force is produced. This condition requires the pilot to increase collective pitch to produce enough aerodynamic force to sustain a hover. Although this does increase the lift, it also increases the induced drag, and so total power required is higher.

Posted in Uncategorized

Parked on an island in the mouth of the Warburton River, Lake Eyre North, may 2009

Why did I learn to fly??!! – Bridgette

Through my last year of high school, everyone was busy booking TAFE courses, trying to get scores to get into University, and I stumbled through the year still not having came across a profession that I could see myself enjoying for a good portion of my adult life!

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do!!

One of my teachers asked me the question “what are you going to do next year when you finish school?” I pondered on it for a while and spoke to my parents about the crazy idea of learning to fly a helicopter! Since we already owned two, it sounded like a great idea to me! Dad of course was not so keen! After some discussions and talking about the flying school options, they booked me in to learn to fly on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland.

I then went back to the teacher and told them what I was going to carry out at the beginning of January 1999. I think they must have thought I was living in some dream land!! Not having the best school grades and not even studying maths in year 12!

Growing up on the farm I could already drive the tractors and farm equipment and the vines never really got the adrenaline pumping! But I guess the dream of becoming a pilot was never really there, which may surprise some people. As long as I can remember, our family has had some sort of aircraft in the back yard! My grandfather had a light plane and my parents have always had helicopters! So to me they were like the family car… it was normal to me to have helicopters coming and going all the time!

As I got a bit older and began to listen to the pilots we employed and other friends of my parents that were in the industry, it started to change my mind a little! They painted this picture of getting paid for something they love to do! I thought that was pretty cool! If you get the chance to sit and have a yarn with any pilot I am sure the stories will flow, some fact and some not so – “never let the truth get in the way of a good story!” I think is a pilot moto!!  Entertaining none the less and some very good lessons learned!

At the time I thought learning to fly the helicopters would give me a skill that if I wanted, I had the option of exploring the world, flying helicopters.

In December of 1999, I gained my commercial helicopter licence!

jumping at an opportunity! flying the Bell 205, instructor taking photo, December 2008

I was also certified by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) as Australia’s Youngest Female Commercial Helicopter Pilot…This was pretty huge for me, considering my grades at school and failing the theory course once during my training!! But I did pass the practical first go!!

Now – nearly 11 years on, I am still learning every time I hit the start button on any helicopter and head out on a new adventure! I try to never miss an opportunity to jump in the helicopter with an instructor or have a chat with a pilot who has experience to share!

I enjoy every opportunity that I have been presented with, from flying tourists around the Barossa Valley to fire support in Melbourne along side the famous”Elvis” and in the Adelaide Hills, to remote parts of the Northern Territory and a TV news helicopter!

I do believe that flying anything (whether it is rotary or fixed wing) is a lifestyle not a job! I still enjoy every minute of it!

Flying has only one constant – CHANGE! Weather, clients needs/wants, scenery, aircraft, people, location, the list is endless!

I also have this one firm belief – if you want something bad enough – you can achieve it!Always having a dream, makes the other things along the rocky road to success more enjoyable!

Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.  ~ Doug Larson

Posted in ABOUT

The Barossa Chopper Chicks are two sisters (Bridgette and Billie-Jo), who share a passion for flying helicopters!

Billie-Jo and Bridgette sitting in "Elvis"

Their family own and run a company called Barossa Helicopters, who are South Australia’s longest running helicopter company.

Bridgette started flying helicopters at the age of 17 and gaining her licence at 18, she was certified as Australia’s Youngest Female Commercial Helicopter Pilot, by the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

Billie-Jo started a little later – at age 20.

Both of girls are endorsed to fly 5 different types of helicopter each.

With the combined experience of over 15 years flying, they have flown in many different environments and industries, ranging from tourist flights, surveys, filming, still photography, over water, weddings, fire/mining support, aerial culling, corporate charter, powerline patrols, the list goes on.

“Of course there is so much more to tell, however we want you coming back to check out new stories and photos, so we will leave it there!

Feel free to send us an email or leave a comment, we will answer them all!!

Safe flying!

Bridgette & Billie-Jo”

Posted in ABOUT

ANNOUNCEMENT:

Matt Hall is coming to the Barossa Air Show on May 1st 2011 – dont miss a non stop aerial action packed day!!

Helicopter Scenic flights with the Barossa Chopper Chicks

Side Shows

Stalls

Barossa Airshow 2007 write up

The Airshow is the only one in the world to be run by a school, “ We are very proud to host the Barossa Airshow. It is an Airshow that is quite different in that we aim to cater for the whole family and we ensure that it is a cheap day out.”

The Barossa Airshow first took to the skies in 1998 and has gone on to become a nationally recognized event.

Held on a 600 meter run way at Koch Rd, Rowland Flat there will non stop aerial entertainment, stalls, affordable food and drink, static displays, amusements for the kids and something for the whole family.

The aerial action starts at 10am and is NON-STOP until 4pm.

Please check out the website for more details www.barossaairshow.com.au

Posted in Events