Shawbury pilots head to Moscow for World Heli Championships
Two helicopters from the Defence Helicopter Flying School at RAF Shawbury will shortly depart Shropshire on their way to Moscow for the FIA World Helicopter Championships 2012.
The competition sees its 14th running in the Russian capital and 2 teams from the British Services will be competing.
The Helicopter Club of Great Britain invited the crews to compete as part of the British Team following their success at the British and German Championships in 2011. The championships require the crews to exercise their skills through a numbers of flying tests including an obstacle course which involves dangling a bucket of water below the helicopter whilst negotiating a slalom course.
The 2 teams are made up from instructors from the Defence Helicopter Flying School, whose day job is to teach all UK Military helicopters pilots and crews for all 3 Services. The main team is Squadron Leader Craig Finch and Mr John (JJ) Jackson. Craig and JJ were successful in both the UK and European competitions and are the current British Champions. The pair have also shown their prowess to Mike Bushell of BBC Breakfast television when he visited the unit to have a go on the practice course. Also travelling to the championships is a second team which pairs Flight Lieutenant Mark Lazenby with Lieutenant Jim Fraser RN and the team will be managed by Flying Officer Ryan Stowe.
The 2 Squirrel helicopters flying out to Russia will be provided by FBHeliservices who own and operate the aircraft flown at RAF Shawbury. Mr Gareth Mayfield from FBHeliservices will be travelling with the aircraft to provide engineering support throughout the Heli Championships. The company have been instrumental in ensuring that the team is able to compete at the highest level.
The Championships run from 22-26 August in Russia at Drakino Airfield with teams taking part from across the world.
