The helicopter takes to the air for its final trip from Tresco to Penzance
Yesterday saw the sad end of the helicopter route between the Isles of Scilly and the mainland. A crowd of islanders and visitors gathered at Tresco Heliport to wave off the final departure. With its last Tresco passengers on board, the Sikorsky S-61 hovered in front of the gathering of well-wishers, slowly dipping its nose in salute. Then, with a roar, Foxtrot Juliet took to the air, gracing us with a farewell flypast before disappearing into the wintery evening sky.
Foxtrot Juliet nods in acknowledgement for the cameras
Some tears were shed amongst the crowd, for the islands have been fortunate to benefit from this almost unique scheduled service for nearly fifty years. The first direct flight to Tresco landed in April 1983 and it soon became a fixture in the life of our island, for locals and visitors alike.
The first scheduled helicopter flights to Tresco began in April 1983.
Many of us, over the years on Tresco, have been involved closely with the running of Tresco Heliport, either as staff, firemen or the servicing of the fire engine. All of us have enjoyed the luxury of our own helicopter service. Our particular thoughts go to those at Tresco Heliport, St Mary’s Airport and Penzance Heliport, whose lives have been irrevocably changed by the closure of the route.
With the sadness, there must also be an eye on the future and it is with some relief that the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and Skybus are at hand to step up their service to the islands. Residents and visitors will be able to make use of the new arrangement between Skybus, Island Taxis and Bryher Boats, which will make the process of coming to Tresco, both comprehensive and seamless. Further information is available here.
For now, however, it is the time to say goodbye to the helicopter and a big thank you and best wishes to our heliport team.
With the flight departed, the final heliport team raise a glass - Dale Robson, Dave Reiss, Richard Chuter and Dave Johnson.
2 Comments
We have been coming to western Cornwall for decades and have always been amazed at the helicopter that endlessly flew past Porthcurno, Porth Chapel etc. This year as a surprise my daughters booked me on a flight to Tresco. What an amazing day in all respects, the superb Tresco gardens and the amazing ruined beach cafe that were framed by the unique Helicopter experience. We were totally captivated and planning to return several times next year. We will be back and I’m sure the experience will still be superb, though unfortunately I dont think it will live up to that special day in July. Me and my partner cant work out why we have had such a sad intensity of feeling though absolutely nothing compared to the people who live in this area and who dedicatedly worked for BIH (We are aware of the political in fighting and have followed events closely) thats the effect of the experience we had. Hopefuly the situation re the lack of a helicopter service will be rectified especially as the Scillonian boat particularly depicted in the scilly web cam photos looked to be a rather unpleasant and sickly way of travelling with the only alternative being a plane that cant fly when its windy…sorry about the pesimistic comments. Anyway we look forward to next time and fingers crossed that the specialness of a trip to scilly will be restored in the not to distant future.
Thank you Alistair for these great pictures. We are thrilled that three of us are included at this historic occasion. Clever of you to get the ‘bow’ too!