11 November 2021 was “National Future Day”. We pupils were given the assignment of observing a particular profession. Since my dream job is a helicopter mechanic or helicopter pilot, I asked Curt if it would be possible for me to spend my Future Day at Helimission. Curt checked on my […]
Helicopter
22 posts
”Of my last five flights, the flight to save a small baby with severe burns means the most to me,” reported pilot Maichel. During a funeral service at Kerabuk, a small village in the lowlands, a little baby had fallen asleep in a grass hut and rolled into the fire. […]
This year, we, Katja and Nick, have been married for 15 years. We normally celebrate together with our family, but this time, it turned out differently. At the start of the week, we received news at the Helimission office that a pastor’s wife was having trouble with one of […]
Several months ago, we started a major inspection on our helicopter PK-HCY in Papua, Indonesia. A strange hydraulic problem was very hard to figure out. It ended up not being a problem with the hydraulics, but with the Main Rotor Blades. We had to send all three rotor blades to […]
Treasures from The Pioneer Era, reported by Ernie Tanner: In those days in the 1970s, it was virtually impossible to get any weather reports in Africa. For example, I once asked the meteorological office in Douala, Cameroon, to show me the weather map and I noted down the data. When […]
Numerous people contributed their skills to ensure that the 12-year inspection of our AS-350 HB ZHQ (formerly ET-AMW, formerly PK-TSE) was carried out reliably and purposefully, leading to successful completion. In cooperation with Rotortec AG, the helicopter was practically disassembled into its individual parts, thoroughly tested, then put back together. […]
On a previous flight in the Bemarah area, in the village of Begara, a 14-year-old girl had an epileptic fit and fell into a fire which resulted in severe burns to various parts of her body. Dr. Justin, who flew there with us, treated the teenager and asked us […]
One of four competition winners was able to enjoy a sightseeing flight in the Alpstein! Nowhere else will you get a chance to win like this! Seeing the Säntis from above for once, and in the most beautiful weather. The first promotional event on 25 September 2021 attracted over 40 […]
Treasures from The Pioneer Era, reported by Ernie Tanner: All the richer now for my many experiences, I took off again for my second trip a few months later, in January 1973. This time I had a more powerful and faster machine, a Jet Ranger, HB-XCX. It might be expected […]
Helimission helicopters often land in dusty villages. Generally speaking, helicopters don’t like dust. Dust wears down the edge on the rotor blades as well as the compressor part of the engine. The compressor has multiple blades and turns at 50,000 revolutions per minute (A good kitchen hand blender reaches a […]
In March, the official “Certificate of Airworthiness” for our helicopter PK-HCP was signed and the first flight was on March 18th. I did two training flights in the Palu area and was planning another one to the Wana area when we received an emergency call from Paramba. There was a […]
We were called to a lady in Tangumsili in the bush who was having trouble giving birth, so I immediately had Maichel, our young local pilot, plan the flight for the next morning. I had happened to run into a local doctor who used to fly with Helimission quite often […]
