The UK's first factory-built electronic news gathering (ENG) helicopter is scheduled to enter service next month with start-up aerial filming company Flying TV. The company says the success of the operation could spawn a thriving aerial filming market in the UK and lead to the launch of a similar venture elsewhere in Europe.
Robinson Helicopter is this month due to deliver from its Torrance, California base the R44 Raven II ENG piston-engined helicopter, fitted with four cameras, "full sound and the ability to transmit live and record output", says Flying TV managing director Mike Smith. The machine will be based in Denham near London and operated by resident company Heli Air.
Smith says the introduction of the R44-based service comes after a long period of evaluation, with the arrival of the digital-based ENG machine last year providing the catalyst for Flying TV's launch. "The multimedia digital broadcast equipment provides high quality pictures of the type that could not be produced by analogue machines," he says.
Smith says UK broadcasters are reluctant to make use of helicopters for news gathering as they are seen to lack versatility and are expensive to hire as available machines are not specifically designed for this role.
"The R44 ENG is designed and constructed for aerial work and can be instantly scrambled to provide still, digital video and radio output," Smith says. He adds: "Its main camera is equipped with a gyroscopic mount which can get shots from all angles. The days of a handheld camera and operator dangling from a doorless machine are over." The helicopter offers a 115kt (215km/h) cruise speed, which, Smith says, "will make most areas of the UK available within a couple of hours and southern Europe in four hours".
In an effort to address the price concerns, Flying TV claims to have a competitively priced rate card. Smith expects a thriving aerial work market for the R44 in the UK and continental Europe, where a similar machine is operating in Italy. He suggests, with the growth in aerial archaeology, property and lifestyle programmes, the helicopter could add quality to TV productions and "its low operating costs and versatility will bring people into the aerial filming market who could previously not afford it", Smith says.
Source: Flight International
