Secure helicopter transport for protection teams

What does a helicopter change in a movement?

It removes the road leg between two secure points. On a long drive, the route is limited, the timings are predictable and the principal spends hours in a vehicle that can be slowed, stopped or followed. In a helicopter, the journey is a flight in a private cabin, with a start and a finish you choose and a total time that is often a fraction of the drive. Manchester to London is typically about 60 to 75 minutes by helicopter against around 4 hours 10 by road in free-flowing traffic; Birmingham to London about 40 to 50 minutes against around 2 hours 25.

That does not make the movement safe by itself. It moves the exposure to the two ends, the landing sites and the transfers, and to the flight itself. A good plan treats it that way.

Starting from your plan

You know the principal, the threat picture and the detail of the movement; we do not, and we do not ask for more than we need. We work from your plan: where the principal is, where they need to be, the window, and the number of people travelling. We then say what a helicopter can and cannot do for it: which aircraft, which landing sites, how long it takes, and what the AOC holder's crew will and will not accept. Tell us what you need to control and we plan around it.

Landing sites: airfield or private site

There are trade-offs, and they are yours to weigh. An airfield or heliport usually has defined access, set opening hours, other users, staff and cameras, and a known address anyone can look up; some give you air-side vehicle access to the aircraft. A private site, such as an estate or a company ground, gives you control of who is present and a location that is not on the usual lists, but it needs the landowner's permission, a suitable surface and clearances, and it is only as secure as the site itself. Landing at private sites is subject to landing permission and site suitability. See UK helicopter landing sites explained and our heliports and airfields directory for hours and notes.

Recce and alternates

Where you can, recce the landing site or have someone you trust do it: approach and exit routes, the surface, obstacles, who has access, where vehicles stand, and where the nearest medical help is. Agree an alternate landing site for each end before the day, and a point at which the plan switches to the alternate. We help by checking the alternates against the aircraft, their opening hours and the fuel. Weather and airfield closures are the usual reasons to use one.

Seats, weights and the team

The practical limit is weight. An AW139 or H145 D3 seats up to 8 passengers, an Agusta 109 Grand up to 6 and an AS355 Twin Squirrel up to 5; holds are small, so kit must be in soft bags. Tell us the principal, the team members who must travel, whether the team travels in the same aircraft, and the weights of people and equipment. If some of the team must go by road, say so and we plan the helicopter landing around the vehicles. Every aircraft we arrange is twin-engine.

Communications and timings

You get one point of contact in our team for the movement, and the line is open 24 hours. Agree in advance who calls whom, at what points, and what a change sounds like: delay, divert, cancel. Keep the information tight: we give the AOC holder and the landing sites only what they need to carry out the flight. Times are planned on typical block times with a cushion, so build your own cushion on top.

Discretion and information

We do not publicise who flew or where. Journey details go only to those who need them to run the flight: the AOC holder, airfields and heliports, and, where a flight requires it, border authorities. If you want names kept off documents as far as the law allows, or a code name for the booking, tell us at the start. Our handling of personal data is described in the privacy policy.

Weather and what cancels a flight

The pilot in command decides whether a flight goes, and no commercial pressure changes that. Low cloud, poor visibility, strong wind and ice are typical reasons to delay or cancel. We watch the forecast in the days before, tell you early when a day looks marginal, and discuss the alternate or a road plan. If the flight is cancelled because of the weather, you pay nothing. Keep a road plan ready, because a helicopter plan with no fallback is not a plan.

Ground legs at both ends

You may well want your own vehicles and drivers at either end, and we plan the landing around them: where they park, how close to the aircraft they can come and when they arrive. If you need a chauffeur-driven car, we can arrange one through exec-chauffeur.com. Read the wider discussion in our article on the secure movement of people by helicopter, and for business use see business helicopter charter. To start a plan, use the contact page or call us.