GET TO THE CHOPPER

I’ve always had a special interest in aeronautics, especially helicopters. I’ve had this yearning since my school days, after learning that helicopters were successfully used in military conflict in the Vietnam war, and that the Huey in particular was a very successful combat helicopter that was also used as an ambulance for picking up wounded American troops. From then on, I always wanted to fly in one.

Finally, my dream came true when a new and enthusiastic port captain took over command of the Durban harbour. I was a maritime pilot, and at the time had been piloting in all weather, mainly boarding vessels from our craft using ropes. The port captain brought a Huey helicopter to the harbour, and supervised us being swung out of the helicopter’s seat and lowered on to one of the company’s dredgers. This exercise was regarded as a huge triumph. As a result, the port captain went ahead and ordered three Agusta twinengine jet helicopters from Italy for ship transfers, and had a helicopter base constructed next to the port building.

His idea was a major success for shippers as the helicopters could transfer three pilots at a time in record time, compared to the two pilot vessels we had been using, which took over an hour to transfer three of us to all manner of ships.

CAPT ROBERT WELLS, RETIRED SENIOR PILOT, DURBAN HARBOUR I enjoyed your email about your experiences with the helicopters while working at the port of Durban, Robert. I’m sure that over the years you built up quite a collection of interesting stories from the situations you encountered. Thanks for sharing one of them. – Mark, Editor