everestnews.com/stories2005/everestcopter05272005.htm
On May 14th, 2005 at 7h08 (local time), a serial Ecureuil/AStar AS 350 B3 piloted by the EUROCOPTER X-test pilot Didier Delsalle, landed at 8,850 meters (29,035ft) on the top of the Mount Everest. This tremendous achievement breaks the World Record for the highest altit ude landing and take-off ever, which sets an ultimate milestone in the H istory of Aviation. Fabrice Brgier, President and CEO of the EUROCOPTER Group, world leading helicopter manufacturer, immediately congratulated the pilot and his team for this extraordinary feat. After taking off from its base camp Lukla on May 14th, 2005 at 2,866 mete rs (9,403ft) Didier Delsalle onboard his Ecureuil AS350B3 reached the to p of Mount Everest. As required by the Fdration Aronautique Internati onale (FAI - International Aeronautical Federation), the aircraft remain ed landed on ground more than 2 minutes on the top of the world before f lying back to Lukla. Stepping out of his helicopter, Didier Delsalle commented: "To reach this mythical summit definitively seemed to be a dream; despite the obvious difficulties of the target to be reached, the aircraft demonstrated its capability to cope with the situation (), sublimated by the magic of the place. Achieved with a serial helicopter, this absolute World Record once more c ontributes to underline the unique qualities of the Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 as a multipurpose, reliable, quick and comfortable helicopter which emerges as the most performing aircraft in the world in the most extreme conditions. During the trial period, Didier Delsalle and his Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 flew some rescue missions on behalf of the Nepalese authorities demonstr ating the operational capabilities of the aircraft used to set the altit ude landing and take-off World Record. This feat has been achieved further to various flight tests begun one yea r ago with the Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3 among which: - Experimental flight up to 8,992 meters (29,500 ft) in April 20 04 in Istres (France), - Time to climb records to the heights of 3,000, 6,000 and 9,000 meters performed on April 14th, 2005 in respectively 2 minutes 21 secon ds, 5 minutes 6 seconds and 9 minutes 26 seconds. With this landing on the top of the world, EUROCOPTER demonstrates that i ts technological innovations provide its products a length - height - ah ead, set at the disposal of its worldwide customers. To date, 3,670 Ecureuil/AStar have been sold worldwide and logged 15 mill ion flight hours. Since its introduction on the market, the Ecureuil/ASt ar/Twinstar family has been benefiting of successive improvements among which its most powerful version is the Ecureuil/AStar AS350 B3. This air craft is serial equipped with modern systems such as dual channel FADEC, Vehicule and Engine Monitoring Display, integrated GPS, etc.
Searchable database informs decisions for expe dition planning; Records provide a glimpse into the successes and failur es of expeditions; Searchable by peak, climber, expedition, nationality, conditions, seasons, causes of death and many other details. The progra m is a Microsoft Visual Foxpro application and is compatible for both PC (Windows 9x, ME, NT, 2000, XP) and Mac Elizabeth Hawley was trained as a journalist, and reports on mountaineering for international newspaper s and journals. She is executive officer of Sir Edmund Hillary's Himalay an Trust. Richard Salisbury has been trekking and climbing in the Himala yas for 25 years.
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