Private rally
Bell 407 helicopter and private MBB Bo-105 in the original camouflage of the German Land Forces Aviation.
On Saturday, May 8, despite the sanitary restrictions and initially not very resembling spring aura, the XNUMXrd Helicopter Rally took place at the private, registered Kępa landing field in the Sochocin commune near Płońsk (EPPN). The effort of a small group of professionals managed to organize a safe and interesting meeting for - not only private - rotorcraft pilots.
The landing pad among the beautiful rural landscapes of northern Mazovia is privately owned by two flying enthusiasts: Waldemar Ratyński - the former LOT Polish Airlines captain and Adam Zmysłowski - once a well-known strength sports player, now a businessman. Mr. Adam took a liking to helicopters and a few years ago he came up with the idea of organizing a rally of colleagues with similar interests. The idea worked and this year's edition of the rally was the third one in a row.
The most popular type of helicopter at the Rally was the Robinson R-44, especially popular among private owners.
This year, the invitation to the "helicopter barbecue" went not only to private owners and pilots. Of course, there were the most of them, but for the first time the list of guests included the crews representing the Polish Armed Forces and the Polish Medical Air Rescue. The sight of two "Falcons" - the olive PZL W-3W from the 25th BKPow and the white and red VIP PZL-W-3WA from Okęcie surprised and delighted not only the viewers behind the fence. In turn, Robinson R-44, used for training and training of rescue helicopter pilots, appeared in the yellow and red colors of the LPR. This type dominated the rally - 21 of them arrived in Kępa, plus five smaller R-22s or their ultra-light YoYo "twins". You could also meet the Ukrainian Aerokopter AK1-3 and the two-seater "baby" CH-7 Kompress. On the other hand, fans of larger and more comfortable machines could be satisfied with Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter) EC.120, Leonardo AW.119 Koala (most likely the only child in the Polish register) or two Belle 407. The well-known MBB Bo-105 evoked emotions with its combat paint and dynamics flight. Four rotors (gyroplanes) 1 also arrived: Xenon IV, AAT Zen, Tercel and Calidus.
The rally was a private, invitation-only event, and the guests undertook to abide by the rules of epidemiological safety. It was jokingly treated as a friendly barbecue meeting, but the tasty treat was only an addition. In fact, the rally combined elements of a forum for the exchange of experiences, places of establishing contacts, and even training in using places with greater than usual air traffic. The organizers took care of both the rescue protection from the Sochocin commune and airspace reservation. The air part was taken over by the director of the Rally, Arkadiusz Choiński (now a pilot of the Air Ambulance Service, previously in the Air Force of the Land Forces, also known as the organizer of air shows) and the flight controller Zbigniew Dymek, a daily FIS Warsaw informant.
It was no coincidence that the invited pilots differed very much in terms of experience. In addition to those who have only recently discovered the charms of flying under the rotor and still feel uncomfortable far from their own landing site, there were real professionals, including some real masters who started their careers decades ago. Everyone used it, because flights in a place where more than two helicopters take off and land at the same time, even in the army, do not happen every day. The most important thing, however, was to familiarize the inexperienced with such a situation, for whom greater traffic both in the radio headphones and in the area of the landing site was certainly a stressful factor. Even the planned "carpet raid" on Płońsk was successful - a parade with about ten crews, keeping a free and safe, loose "track formation".
The rally was attended not only by pilots and helicopter owners. Many of them came with the ladies and even children, showing that the rotorcraft could be a family vehicle. Perhaps in the next editions it will be necessary to think about special points of the program for flying families?
