From capturing airborne
footage of the 2012 Olympics to shuttling film stars and politicians
across London, traversing the capital’s skies had become second nature
to Pete Barnes.
Precisely
what caused his AgustaWestland 109 to fall burning onto its streets
today remains unclear but the 50-year-old pilot was one of Britain’s
most experienced helicopter aviators, respected by his peers for both
his competence and bravery.
The father-of-two had clocked up more
than 12,500 hours of flying time since qualifying as a commercial pilot
in 1989, including 3,000 hours in the type of aircraft in which he
died.
Lately, much of that flying had been done for RotorMotion, a
Surrey-based helicopter operator that describes itself as “Britain’s
favourite boutique helicopter charter business”.
Indeed, the
company boasts an impressive client list, including the Dalai Llama,
Prime Minister David Cameron, Prince Charles and Formula One driver
Lewis Hamilton, pictured above with Mr Barnes.
Underlining its
reputation for safety and luxury, which includes a complimentary
champagne bar on each of its aircraft, RotorMotion states on its
website: “Our helicopters have twin turbine engines and are certified to
fly at night, over water and in cloud. Relax in the knowledge that both
pilot and machine are fully instrument qualified to fly in poor weather
conditions.”
Such was the reputation of Mr Barnes, from Goddards
Green, Berkshire, as a safe pair of hands, he was also employed by
AgustaWestland to deliver more than 50 of their aircraft.
His
colleagues today described him as the archetype of the dashing pilot,
mixing jobs as a pilot for multiple Hollywood flims – including the
James Bond movie Die Another Day, Saving Private Ryan and Tomb Raider II
– with service as an air ambulance pilot across England.
Kevin
Hodgson, a paramedic who flew with him on Great North Air Ambulance,
said: “Pete was as good a guy as you can imagine and one of the best
pilots I’ve had the pleasure of flying with. Over the years he will have
flown on dozens of missions, no doubt saving lives along the way.”
In
2004, Mr Barnes hit the headlines for a dramatic airborne rescue in
County Durham when he hovered his helicopter less than a foot above a
car which had been swept into flood waters, allowing the motorist to
climb aboard before his vehicle was dragged away.
The pilot, who
qualified in America after initially working as a ski instructor, was
also one of the first to bring helicopter-based “eye-in-the-sky” traffic
reports to Britain, working for a Newcastle radio station.
Alan
Robson, his presenter on board the helicopter, said Mr Barnes was not
afraid of making his flying look dramatic while keeping safe. “In a
weird kind of way, the kind of person he was, maybe he was never going
to go quietly,” he said.
Tonight, a representative at the home of Mr Barnes asked for his family to be allowed to grieve in privacy.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries
http://www.caa.co.uk/application
http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?regsearch=G-CRST
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/uknews
Piece of the crane on the ground in above photo ...
http://www.castleair.co.uk/
Two crew fatal - 7 persons treated at scene, 6 transported to hospital - 5 of those with minor injuries, 1 with broken leg.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/79937023@N07/8376242593/sizes/l/ this photo by Mark Stevens was taken Jan 13 2013 at Exeter UK - shows titles of rotormotion.com
http://rotormotion.com/ Owned by Castle and operated by RotorMotion.
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