Swiss Helicopter Articles by Markus Herzig

SwissHeli.com by Markus Herzig Published: 12-May-2003	SWISS HELICOPTERS SPECIAL TOPICS	SWISS HELI - HOME PHOTO NEWS
	50 years Heliswiss

The pioneers of helicopter flying in Switzerland

The 50th anniversary of Heliswiss

Founded in 1953 as "Schweizerische Helikopter AG" the company was growing continuos. Heliswiss has become THE name for helicopter flying in Switzerland, Europe and all over the world. Operating in any part of the alps, from the deserts of Africa, the forests of Surinam up to the glaciers of Greenland. More than 100 different helicopters had been operated by Heliswiss in the first 50 years ... and the story is going on!

by Mario Bazzani

Heliswiss AG, the second helicopters' company to be registered in Switzerland - the first being Air Import SA of Lucerne in 1948 - was officially founded in Berne on April 17, 1953 by a group of businessmen who were optimistic about the capabilities of the helicopter as a means of transport. The founding of the new company, at first called “Schweizerische Helikopter AG” was financially sustained by some of the main Swiss enterprises with an initial investment of CHF 350’000.

The first helicopter, a second-hand Bell 47G registered HB-XAG, arrived in Berne October 9, 1953. Unfortunately things started the wrong way for the young company. Only few weeks after its arrival in Switzerland, on October 26, the HB-XAG was destroyed near the base, victim of a collision with the cables of a telephone line. In the accident the pilot Raymond Gerber and the two passengers lost their lives. Still convinced of the helicopter's potential the company acquired another Bell 47G which arrived in Berne on February 27, 1954 and was registered as HB-XAE.

Meantime Mr. Leonard (Leo) Kunz was engaged by the company as pilot. After a positive season with a total of 406 flying hours and 4500 flights, the young company decided to buy a second Bell 47G (HB-XAK). During the Winter of 1954/55 a second pilot, Mr. Alfred Glauser, was engaged. Kunz and Glauser soon discovered that it was necessary to use appropriate flying techniques to safely fly in a mountainous region like Switzerland. Manouvering with accuracy their Bell 47G they were able to land at heights of more than 2500 m a.s.l. with a payload of 200 kg! In the following years Kunz was active as instructor and formed new helicopter pilots.

The difficulties connected with the aerial transport in the mountains were a common problem for all the early helicopter operators: unexperienced pilots, under powered helicopters, lack of radio communication between pilots and the flight assistants, lack of special equipment's, deep valleys, rapid meteo changes, cable cars and high tension cables, etc. made each flight an adventure! Thanks to the skill of the first pilots like Leo Kunz, Alfred Glauser, Emil Müller, Max Kramer, and Walter Demuth, in a few years Heliswiss became a specialized company in aerial transports. Since the beginning Heliswiss set up a flying school whose reputation soon spread far beyond the Swiss borders. The same can be said for his technical service.

In 1956 Air Import was absorbed by Heliswiss which became the only Swiss helicopter operator. In those years the company used - experimentally - different types of helicopters to test their performances (among them the Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH and the SO. 1221 S Djinn HB-XAS previously both in service with Air Import), but later the fleet was essentially composed of Bell or Agusta-Bell 47G and G-2. From August 1963 on, the company bought several turbo-charged engined Bell and Agusta-Bell 47G3B-1. This helicopter was particularly appreciated by the pilots, because the turbo-charged engine gave them finally a small reserve of power (even if power is never enough!) to operate in the mountains.

In 1962 Heliswiss rent from a French operator a Sikorsky S-58 (F-OBON), a medium transport helicopter which was capable to lift slung loads of more than one ton. Those positive trials convinced the managers of the company that the time had come to start to use bigger helicopters with greater lift capacities. As consequence of the increasing request for aerial works in the Swiss Alps, Heliswiss, with the financial support of the Swiss Confederation, in April 1963 bought its first (of the two ordered) Agusta-Bell 204B (registration HB-XBN), a modern medium turbine powered helicopter with a lift capacity of more than one ton and room in cabin for 9 passengers. In the Summer of the same year the second 204B, registered as HB-XBO, joined the fleet. Unfortunately the HB-XBN was lost together with the French pilot Jacques Pascal Castaing in September 1964, again victim of the cables of a cable-car in Saas Almagell (Valais).

During the years, with the increase of the activity new bases were opened in Samedan, Ascona, Lausanne, Riddes, Gruyère, Domat-Ems, Zürich, Erstfeld (some of these were later closed), and other places. In the 1960s the helicopter fleet was essentially composed of the three places Bell or Agusta-Bell 47 G-2 and G3B-1 which were mainly used for the flying school and light transports, and the Agusta-Bell 204B which was used for the transport of weights up to 1500 kg.

In the second half of the ’60s the company (which in the meantime became one of the largest in Europe) acquired its first Bell 206A Jet Ranger which entered service in August of 1968. In the following years a considerable part of the annual flight hours of Heliswiss helicopters was done outside Switzerland, not only in Europe but for example in warm African deserts, or in the cold Greenland or in South America, especially in Surinam. Heliswiss pilots and their flight crew acquired special skill in airborne works on metal and concrete masts, as well as for the building and maintenance of high tension networks. Appropriate auxiliary means were developed and special task groups were set up for these delicate precision works.

Heliswiss used many different helicopter types, some of them were wetleased for short periods for special transports as it happened for example with the giant Sikorsky S-64 in 1964, used to transport heavy equipment's up in the St. Gotthard massif and in the region of the Lukmanier Pass. Other helicopters used experimentally were, beside others, the Mil-6 (1966) and the SA. 330 Puma (1969).

In April 1972 the company bought the Sikorsky S-58T HB-XDT. With a maximum lift capacity of 2000-2200 kg and the possibility to carry 13 passengers, the S-58T was at that time the biggest helicopter in service in Switzerland. It was sold after 11 years of activity and is still in active service in the United States. By the first half of the '70s several French SA. 315B Lama were bought, the first of which was the HB-XDZ entered in service in April 1973. Heliswiss used also the Alouette III but in a limited number. By the end of the same decade the company acquired the Bell 214B-1 BigLifter (HB-XKH). This helicopter was able to lift up to 3000 kg or carry 15 passengers thanks to its 3000 hp Textron-Lycoming T5508D turbine.

Another helicopter used in large number by Heliswiss is the AS. 350 Ecureuil (B, B1, B2, and more recently the new B3), the first of which joined the fleet in April 1981 (AS. 350B HB-XMA). The B3 is slowly replacing the Lama which remains in all cases one of the best aerial crane ever designed until now. Among the medium lift capacity helicopters used by Heliswiss there were also the Helitech-Sikorsky S-55T (HB-XDS), the Bell 205A-1 (HB-XRI), the Bell 412 (HB-XNB), the Bell 212 (HB-XPO).

In the early '90s the company evaluated the possibility to use a Russian Kamov KA-32A, a flying crane with a 5000 kg lift possibility. In 1996 the very first KA-32A had been certified in Europe and registered HB-XKE. It is now many years in regular service and at the moment the biggest helicopter in Switzerland. Today Heliswiss is member of the Swiss Helicopter Group (SHG) together with other partners in Switzerland. The company has different types of helicopter in service ranging from the small Schweizer 300C to the powerful Kamov KA-32A12.

This is just a brief history of Heliswiss and its helicopters. Other models used by Heliswiss, but less important in the expansion of the company, were for example the Bell 47J, the Agusta-Bell 47J-2A and J3B-1, the Hughes 269B and C, the Hughes 369D, the Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II, all used in a limited number or for short periods.

These few lines have been written to remember the work done by the pioneers (pilots, mechanics, flight assistants, and other key persons) of the heli transport in Switzerland. A part of them are unfortunately no longer among us, but this 50th anniversary gives us the possibility to appreciate what they all did in this fascinating field of civil aviation.

Happy anniversary Heliswiss!

Mario Bazzani – April 2003

Links

50 years Heliswiss in pictures

Current Heliswiss fleet

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