Our first stop was in Bonn Hangelar. The last helicopter of our 2017 tour, was the first of this year; the only Polizei BO105 of Thuringen. She was transferred to the old ALT hangar. An EC135T3 of Polizei Brandenburg made some test flights. Four ANWB helicopters were present as well. Unfortunately, the Bundespolizei helicopters didn’t use the runway we were hoping for and flown directly from their own heliport.
D-HBBY EC135P2+ Polizei Brandenburg returning from a test flight
D-HTHA BO105CBS-5 Polizei Thuringen was moved to another hangar
We continued to the BWK in Koblenz. While walking towards the heliport, the noise of a departing helicopter increased. Our fear became reality and before we arrived at the spot, Christoph 23 left. We waited 90 minutes upon her return in blue sky, but no luck. As we had still a long drive to go, we continued to Ludwigshafen. Prior to sunset Christoph 5 returned back to base.
Tuesday, 6th February
The next morning the clear sky in Germany, got replaced by a very grey sky in Switzerland. As the EC135 of Lions 1 changed colors since our first visit in 2013, we started our Swiss tour in Birrfeld. Lions Air / AAA is a rare operator within the Rega territory, but they meanwhile are accepted by the local community. Before we walked towards the helicopter, they got called for their first mission of the day.
HB-ZJE EC135P1 (CDS) Lions Air / Alpine Air Ambulance leaving for first mission of the day.
Our next stop was Airport Helicopter at Luzern – Beromunster. As the hangar was very tight to make descent pictures, the staff was very cooperative in moving the historic Bell206, 36 years of age, outside.
HB-XXO BELL 206B Jet Ranger 3 Airport Helicopter
We continued to Stans-Buochs. The Pilatus factory continues to be very successful as they keep expanding. At the maintenance area we found two familiar PC7, but something was missing. Coded 611 (L12) and 612 (L13) were the KLu PC7’s without any Dutch markings. Inside we also located the L02.
At the factory part we saw two Armee de l’Air and one QinetiQ RAF PC21.
Without any doubt was the highlight of the day the Pilatus PC24, #P03. The first biz jet of Pilatus. She made a long test flight following a circuit at 45000 feet. The first flight was on 11th May 2015. The PC-24 received EASA and FAA type certification on 7 December 2017 and the first customer delivery was on 7 February 2018 (day after our visit).
Amongst the various types, we also found HB-HMX, which should be ex Botswana Air Force (OD-1).
Meanwhile the clouds disappeared, and we continued to Erstfeld. We saw two Swiss Helicopters and two Super Puma’s, but our aim was the A109 of Rega 8. Apparently, she was on a long mission and after almost 2 hours waiting we decided to leave. After a checkround in Stans and Alpnach we continued to Meiringen while driving through the first snow at the Brünigpas.
Wednesday 7th February
According to the news, the F18’s were grounded due to cracks in the wings. In the morning we still saw 7 missions of 4 F18’s.
It was very grey, so we continued to Interlaken – Wilderswill. In addition to two A109SP’s, we were very lucky also the only AS350B3e (H125) of Rega was present. Delivered in August 2016, but still rarely seen. She is mainly used for flight training.
Next heliport was at 4 kms distance in Gsteigwiller. No activity outside, but they informed us that one of the AS350’s was grounded due to poor visibility close to Unterseen. We decided to search for this helicopter and we found her alongside the main road. The objective for that day was to lift tree trunks, but the weather turned to be too foggy.
We used a shortcut to our next destination in Lauterbrunnen, but we spotted another grounded helicopter between Interlaken and Wilderswill. This time a Kaman 1200 of Rotex. This one was also grounded while attempting to lift tree trunks.
In Lauterbrunnen we only found two based Air Glaciers helicopters, including the HEMS EC135, previously operated by SHS.
The next day was planned in Wallis, so we continued via the Lötschberg Tunnel. This is an open air tunnel of 14 kms between Kandersteg and Goppenstein. It is operational for 105 years already. After arrival in Wallis, still no sunshine, we stopped at the heliport of Gampel-Bratsch. Shortly the EMS helicopter left for the next mission. She is the only EC135 of Air Zermatt.
Thursday 8th February
We started at the heliport of Raron, located south of the old military airbase. Those were the days. It is also the maintenance base of Air Zermatt. We were lucky see their only AS315B Lama. The EC130 also arrived from their Zermatt heliport.
This heliport is one of the main targets of our trip. This village is not accessible by car and you must use the train from Täsch. The weather was still very grey, but when we approached Zermatt the scenery turned to be very perfect; blue sky, huge amount of snow. The village is at 1620 meters and during January it was disconnected twice from the rest of the world due to avalanches. Many remains of these avalanches could be seen alongside the rail track.
The heliport was very quiet in the morning. Only a A109 on visit. After a while their single Bell 429 returned.
After lunch activity increased with many heli-ski flights and some airwork close to the heliport. Various pallets of building material must be lifted.
At a certain moment all 4 spots were used by turning helicopters, while #5 was awaiting her slot from the holding. Eventually the entire Air Zermatt fleet was seen. Their colors is one of my preferences, as the Wallis flag is perfectly integrated in their scheme. Light conditions were very nice.
We also had an unexpected visit of AB139 of Airgreen, based in Aosta. She came in to collect an injured Italian patient.
Mid afternoon we continued our journey towards Sion. We visited Héli-Alpes and, although it was already late, we were lucky their Bell429 was still outside. Several Air Glaciers helicopters were still operational, including their 2nd EMS EC135.
Friday 9th February
We started in Collombey Muraz Heliport, located at an industrial estate. As the helicopter was not ready to move outside, we quickly visited Bex. Four aircraft, equipped with skies were leaving for a pleasure trip to a temporary skislope/glacier landing strip. We returned to Collombey and the AS350 was already outside awaiting the first emergency call. Fortunately, the friendly crew was prepared to move the Lama outside as well. Her years are counted as well.
Our next stop was in Lausanne. It was a quiet day for the Rega 10 and the complete fleet of Air Lausanne was present as well.
We moved on the Geneva for our visit to Rega 15, the only EC135 operated by Hôpitaux Universitaire de Genève. The new logo of the HUG has been applied 2 weeks before our visit. As the Lake Geneva is nearby, she is also equipped with a hoist. This is being practised every year.
After a quick stop at MBH Annemasse, we continued to Annecy - Meythet. The Securite Civile EC145 was still outside.
Saturday 10th February
After two successful visits to Courchevel Altiport in 2013 and 2014, it was time for a revisit. Down in the valley, the trees were white with fresh snow. In Courchevel we were driving through snow walls of two meters. It is ranked as the 7th most dangerous airport in the world, because it has a very short runway of only 537 metres with a gradient of 18.6%. The runway has no instrument approach procedure or lighting aids, thus making landing in fog and low clouds unsafe and almost impossible. This airport is within my personal top 3 of most beautiful airports in Europe. Under perfect conditions, the scenery is stunning. But getting closer to Courchevel, our fear became reality; completely covered in fog. We stayed for a while, as they were removing the snow from the runway. Weather conditions didn’t improve, and VFR flights were simply not possible. In total we saw three movements and flying for them was a real challenge. Very sour, as the previous day they counted 152 movements. But this was an entire day with blue sky.
Down in the valley, we visited Albertville where we spotted various helicopters and light aircraft, like PC12, which were destined to go to Courchevel. In the case a taxi was necessary to get to the ski areas. We finished the day at Grenoble – Le Versoud. After some waiting time, an HdF AS350 returned, Securite Civile left for a rescue mission and SAMU EC135 arrived for a fuel stop.
In one of the hangars, we found historic helicopters of CELAG (Centre d'Etudes et de Loisirs Aerospatiaux de Grenoble). This hangar of this technical club opens the doors every Saturday. We saw SA315 in Aeronavale c/s, Alouette 3 in Gendarmerie c/s, Sikorsky Choctaw HSS-1 and SA360C (single engine).
Sunday 11th February
Our first stop was in Grenoble for the SAMU 38.
At Lyon-Bron we arranged a visit to Securite Civile, but unfortunately, they were at a very long mission. SAMU 69 returned and we were able to visit them.
As we still needed to driver a long while, we left. After 10 minutes we saw the Dragon 69 (Securite Civile) on the rooftop helipad of the local hospital from the Autoroute.
After this trip, we visited all EMS locations in Switzerland throughout the years. We left with the same result Austria in 2017, but meanwhile a new location was created there, so we have something to aim for in the future.
Best regards,
Michiel
