Siegfried ‘Blacky’ Schwarz is the Austrian pilot who has returned the only airworthy Bristol Sycamore helicopter to service. As the Flight Operations Manager & Chief Pilot (helicopters) at Red Bull he was responsible for initial flight testing of the Sycamore, built at Weston super Mare in 1949.
As the only flying Sycamore, there are no instructors, examiners, licensed pilots or engineers. Blacky had to write the flying manual and teach himself to fly it. Such as his eye to detail he contacted every living former Sycamore pilot he could to glean as much information as possible as to how the aircraft would handle - and he found out fairly early on that the aircraft is not without its quirks!
In 2018, Blacky brought the Sycamore back to the UK in a well documented tour of UK Air Shows showing it to as many people as possible.