Aerial Filming in the UK

Castle Air

Probably the longest established aerial filming company in the UK, operating in the UK and Northen Europe for over 20 years.

Perhaps best remembered as being the people who flew the helicopters on Treasure Hunt other credits include Interceptor, The Flying Gardener and more recently both series of Coast.

With twin engined Agusta 109 helicopters that can operate over and in congested areas and a single engine Jetranger for the budget concious Castle Air have a solution to fit most filming requirements.

AOC No.	912
Helicopters	Agusta 109, Bell206

Arena Aviation

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Arena are the operators of both the Sky News and BBC helicopters. Based at Redhill in Surrey gives immediate access to the central london area in minutes.

AOC No.	GB2144
Helicopters	Twin Squirrel, Robinson R44

Flying TV

Flying TV operate from Denham near London and although the new kid on the block have some impressive credit to their name already.

AOC No.	2197 (Heli Air AOC)
Helicopters	Robinson R44

Helivision

A small but long established company whose chief pilot has some impressive credits to his name, he has been the helicopter pilot in several of the more recent James Bond Films.

AOC No.
Helicopters

Ten Thirteen

Headed up by an aerial cameraman and with experience worldwide Ten Thirteen have an excellent reputation for aerial camerawork. Their pilots can be found in the aircraft of some of the other companies mentioned here.

AOC No.
Helicopters

Flying Pictures

Flying pictures are probably the most experienced 'motion picture' company around, with hundreds of credits from twenty plus years of aerial film work.

AOC No.	1264
Helicopters	Twin Squirrel, Single Squirel

Helicopter Film Services Ltd

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Helicopter Film Services Operate from Denham airfield and have an impressive list of feature film credits. They also offer helicopter and jet charter services.

AOC No.
Helicopters

The importance of the AOC.

If you are planning to put your staff in a helicopter to conduct aerial filming the operator must work under an Air Operators Certificate [AOC]. Some companies have their own AOC, some operate under other companies AOCs and some companies give the rules a damn good ignoring which can only adversely affect the safety of the passengers concerned. Do not be fooled into believing that a director or cameraman is considered part of the crew, he or she is not.

The Civil Aviation Authority are conducting a campaign to educate passengers as to what is and is not legal with regards to public transport helicopter operations their leaflet can be found here.
A summary of what the CAA consider to be public transport and what is aerial work can be found here.