Charters to Remember: The Fine Line

In late 2012 Air Charter Service was called upon to retrieve a Sea King helicopter that was left stranded on top of a mountain in the Arctic Circle, after a heavy landing damaged the undercarriage, meaning that it was not safe for it to fly back to its base.

Justin Lancaster, Group Cargo Director, explains: “We received a call saying that the helicopter was on a training exercise and had experienced a rough landing. The nearest road was more than 4 miles away and the only way to retrieve it was to airlift it out. 海王重约6磅.5 tonnes, so we quickly decided that the best solution was a larger helicopter. 我们找了最近的 Mil 26, which happened to be in Arkhangelsk in 俄罗斯, and positioned it into the nearby base. Mil 26s are the world’s largest and most powerful series-produced helicopter and are capable of lifting more than 20 tonnes.”

At the base meticulous planning went into the rescue operation. The Sea King was on a plateau at the top of a mountain and a small crew went up to the helicopter, 通过雪地摩托, to check whether it was safe for the Mil 26 to land next to it, or whether it would have to hover above it whilst the Sea King was strapped down.

从照片中可以看出, 这是一项棘手的任务, but the careful planning that we put in really paid off and resulted in a very smooth operation that only lasted one hour in total”, 兰开斯特评论说.