BELL HELICOPTER Textron has set a new company record for high-altitude operations after a Model 206L-4 LongRanger climbed to 19,300ft (5,880m) to rescue the crew of a Pakistan army Aerospatiale SA.315 Lama which had crashed in the Himalayas.
The LongRanger was in Pakistan being demonstrated to the army and was equipped with Bell's high-altitude kit, which includes wide-chord main-rotor blades and increased-authority tail rotor. In the USA, operations with the high-altitude kit are limited to 15,000ft, Bell says.
The company says that, on the second day of demonstrations, the LongRanger left for the Saddle area of the Sachen glacier field, where two Pakistan Army Lamas were being operated. On reaching a base camp on the mountain K-2, the crew was informed that one of the Lamas had crashed on the Saddle and that the second was unable to rescue the crew.
Bell says that pilot Alain Rousseau took the LongRanger to the crash site and, over 3h, brought down the Lama crew and two sick soldiers. The current world record for a helicopter, is held by the Lama, at 40,820 ft. During a demonstration in the Himalayas, the helicopter established the landing and take-off record at an altitude of 24,600ft.
Source: Flight International
