Page 9 - World Airnews Magazine April 2021

HELICOPTERS FEATURE

TWIN ENGINE HELICOPTER TWO LEGENDS OF THE SKIES

By Heidi Gibson
SALES TRENDING UP recorded his achievements about the role

he played in establishing and developing
n March 17, 2021 news broke a formal flight test capability in the South

Othat a light aircraft belonging to African Air Force (SAAF) and defence
the SA Air Force Museum had reportedly industry.

crashed while landing at Swartkop Air In a flying career spanning more than four
Force Base, south of Pretoria. The incident decades, Major General Barker also played

took the lives of two of our legends of the key roles in a wide range of SAAF flight
skies. test programmes.
The aircraft, a single-engine Patchen “He served as Chief Test Pilot (1990-

Explorer reconnaissance aircraft, was re- 1995) and then Officer Commanding
portedly on final approach when it crashed (1996-2000) of the SAAF Test Flight and

short of the runway and burst into flames. Development Centre.

The aircraft - designed for aerial sur- Maj Gen Barker qualified as a pilot in

veillance and photography and patrolling 1969, a maintenance test pilot in 1974 and
pipelines - was a prototype - the brainchild an experimental test pilot in 1984. He is

of David Thurston of Thurston Aircraft Cor- a qualified flying instructor and a display

poration in the USA. Powered by a single pilot with 7 200 flying hours on 58 different

Lycoming 200 horse power motor, it had a types of aircraft.

variable pitch propeller mounted above the He was Air Attaché to the United King-
wing on a pylon. dom in 2000 and Base Commander AFB

Brought to South Africa by Maitland Makhado in 2004. He retired in 2008 as

Reeds National Dynamics Missions based at Chief of Air Staff Operations and became

Virginia Airport, Durban, it was offered to the Manager Aeronautics Research at the

the SAAF as an observation aircraft in 1975. Council for Scientific and Industrial Re-

It did some time as a spotter during the search (CSIR) from which he retired in 2017.

bush war and later as a communications In 2017 Barker joined the CSIR after

aircraft with the Test Flight Development retiring from the SAAF. He was contract Major General Des Barker
Centre at AFB Waterkloof. Finally it was research and development manager at

deemed not viable and was left in a hangar its defence, peace, safety and security
until the SA Museum lobbied to take pos- (DPSS) division.

session of it. His son Kevin Barker held the position

In 2013 after being restored and repaired, as editor of World Airnews and Des Barker

Leonardo AW 139 it went on to be displayed at airshows - was a long-time contributor to the maga-
sporting a civilian registration - ZS-UGF. zine. He and former editor Tom Chalmers

Flying the aircraft at the time of the inci- were friends - spanning more than 30 years

recovery was just around the corner,” The Leonardo AW139 was the best dent were Major General Des Barker and before Tom’s passing in 2018.
she added. performing medium twin market in 2020, Colonel Rama Iyer - both had a long history COL RAMA IYER

of working on this project and the aircraft.

ero Asset has released the 2020 Markets showed incredible resilience in representing 40 percent of all medium unit Both have impressive histories and a list Tribute by Naresh Vermas

AHeli Market Trends annual report the last half of the year, with retail sales transactions. Medium twins accounted for of achievements. Col ‘Dynamite’ Iyer joined the South
30 percent of all units sold, and nearly 40

and forecasts bullish preowned twin en- units on par year over year. percent of the total transaction value for all African Air Force in 1999, after having

Overall, 2020 pre-owned retail sales

gine market conditions for 2021. units rose 10 percent year over year and models and weight classes. MAJOR GENERAL DES BARKER served for 23 years as a combat pilot with

After four consecutive quarters of de- 2020 saw the most retail transactions of The Bell 429 saw the strongest increase Major General Des Barker received many the Indian Air Force.

cline, the deal pipeline, which tracks the the last four years. Following a sharp rise in light twin sales in 2020 and represented award among which was the Herman He started his military career in 1968

number of preowned twin engine heli- in the number of units available for sale 15 percent of all light twin unit sales. The R Salmon Technical Publications Award after joining the national defence academy

copter deals pending at various stages of over the last two quarters of 2020, supply light twin market was stable during 2020, presented to him by the Society of Pune, India. After three stage flying training

transaction, rose in the fourth quarter. for sale units rose eight percent, year representing 58 percent of all units sold Experimental Test Pilots (SETP). he was commissioned as a fighter pilot in

“The heated transaction pace observed over year. last year. This for his article entitled “Flight Test September 1972.

at the end of 2020, an expanding preowned The overall absorption rate across all Report: Focke Wulf Piaggio P149D-Turbo During his flying career in IAF he flew Col Rama Iyer

deal pipeline, and the pandemic vaccine models and asset classes remained con- THE PRE-OWNED TWIN HELICOPTER Prop” published in the SETP quarterly jour- Hunters and MiG 21 and its variants. He He held ATP licences from India and the
rollout supports the making of a bullish stant with 20.5 months of supply at 2020 MARKET BY THE NUMBERS nal Cockpit as 2020’s best technical paper. commanded the No 30 Squandron from USA, now dormant because he never went

market,” said Aero Asset Vice President of trading levels versus 21 months in 2019. There was a total of 143 units sold in Other awards included the European 1991 - 1993. the civilian flying route.

Market Research, Valerie Pereira. 2020, up 10 percent from the previous Airshow Council 2011 Paul Bowen Award, He was a qualified flying instructor and He held a master’s degree in defence
WEIGHT CLASS RESILIENCE year. Those retail sales totalled (US) $516 the Jock Maitland Sword of Honor 2018 besides the pilots of IAF he also trained and strategic studies, and headed up the
2020 HELI MARKET ROLLER million, an increase of 16 percent from the and The Society of Experimental Test Pilots, pilots of the Iraqi Air Force. air power development centre of the SAAF
COASTER RIDE With the Sikorsky S-92 and Airbus H225 previous year. Guillaumaud Trophy 2012. He was also a directing staff at the before becoming its director basic flying

“Following a heli market roller coaster markets both performing strongly, the At the end of 2020 there were 245 units Barker was the second only South African Defence Services staff college, Wellington, training.
heavy weight class market saw the biggest
ride last year, most indicators point to a rise in transaction volume of all weight for sale worth approximately (US) $941 to be named an honorary fellow of the India. He was a very genial, warm and As a display pilot he flew the 1950s-era

healthier trend,” Pereira said. As Covid-19 classes last year and nearly twice as many million, up eight percent from 2019. The prestigious Royal Aeronautical Society affectionate human being. De Havilland Vampire jet amongst others

ramped up through the second quarter, retail transactions year over year. Heavies absorption rate was down slightly year over (RAeS) - a multi-disciplinary international He was loved by his batch mates, col- and appeared at numerous airshows.

preowned twin engine helicopter retail represented 12 percent of all units sold year to 1.7 years, and 29 units were deal professional institution dedicated to the leagues, superiors and sub-ordinateds. He Send your comments and messages of

sales volume dropped by half. “While the in 2020 and 20 percent of the aggregate pending at various stages of transaction in global aerospace community. took voluntary retirement from the Indian condolences to info@airnews.co.za Q

market went into hypotension, a strong transacted value. the deal pipeline. Q His citation at the time of the award Air Force and joined the SAAF.

World Airnews | April 2021 World Airnews | April 2021
— 6 — — 7 —