Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Helicopters...


There are usually four reasons for Crossfields to be pestered by low flying helicopters: a police search, a traffic 'flying eye', an ambulance airlift, or, as in today and tomorrow... the Navy are in town.

Ian Visits has the news that HMS Bulwark is up from Plymouth and docked for a couple of days down at Greenwich. There were demonstrations today — and again tomorrow between 11am and 12.35pm.

Warships aren't really my thing, but it might be an interesting spectacle for some, and I am glad to read that the demonstrations will also illustrate how the ship can be employed in humanitarian circumstances.

UPDATE from Marmoset:  A couple of pictures from Greenwich Reach this afternoon...

Perfectly camouflaged for today's London grey.

 How to get from the flight deck to the bridge avoiding the steps:
Take off and fly around a bit
Come back and drop in from above

And here's a pigeon imitating the manoeuvre just to remind us it's spring:

7 comments:

  1. Deptford no-fly zoneWednesday, March 16, 2011

    Apparently they had a vote onboard and unanimously decided to take the job centre out. I wish I'd know about this vote, I'd have voted against because of the possible risk to residents caused by stray fire.

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  2. Personally, I'm wondering why it's not in Japan...

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  3. what a noisy waste of tax payer's money ,
    i often see military helicopters flying over crossfields , wish they'd go and annoy some
    Daily Mail readers in wooton bassett instead ..

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  4. Boys with their toys...

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  5. Is that a community bird getting pigeon-holed?

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  6. Thanks to the Dame for spotting this (via Facebook, via Greenwich.co.uk)...

    A military hovercraft crashed into Blackfriars Bridge during yesterday’s military display on the Thames.

    As spectators watched the impressive helicopter displays over the recently refitted HMS Bulwark at Greenwich Reach, Royal Marines were travelling up and down the river in fast boats and a LCAC hovercraft.

    Local worker, Mike Paternott, witnessed the incident as the amphibious vehicle collided with Blackfriars Bridge shortly after 2.30pm. An MOD spokesperson confirmed the collision and said nobody was injured.

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  7. Hmm, yet another interesting way of following the James Brown Sex Machine imperative: ''Take me to the bridge.''

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