Notable Achievements and Accidents
- On 14 May 2005, a Ecureuil AS350B3 piloted by Didier Delsalle landed at about 8,848 meters on the top of the Mount Everest. As required by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the aircraft remained on the summit longer than 2 minutes before returning to Lukla. He actually landed on the summit two times. He only needed to land for two minutes to officially set the record, but he stayed for about four minutes twice. The flight set rotorcraft world records, for highest of both landing and take-off. Delsalle also rescued two Japanese climbers at 16,000 feet (4,877 meters), and one climber noted that the flight meant a better chance of rescue, though the pilot mentioned "The thought of rescuing climbers was one of the things that motivated me to do this project. But the forces I encountered were so powerful that to guarantee a safe flight you'd have to design a more powerful copter".
- On 27 July 2007, two AS350s collided in mid-air while reporting a police pursuit. The two helicopters were part of KNXV-TV and KTVK television stations in Phoenix, Arizona. Four crew members were killed by this accident.
- On 15 September 2007, former World Rally Championship driver Colin McRae and three passengers were killed when his AS350 B2 Squirrel, which he was piloting, crashed near Lanark, Scotland.
- On 8 August 2009, a Piper PA-32R collided with an AS350 over the Hudson River, with both aircraft crashing into the Hudson River. There were no survivors from the crash.
- On 10 June 2012, an AS350 B3e belonging to the Kenya Police Air Wing crashed in Kibiku area in Ngong Forest, west of Nairobi, Kenya killing at least six people, including Kenya's Interior Security Minister George Saitoti and his deputy Orwa Ojode.
Read more about this topic: Eurocopter AS350
Famous quotes containing the words notable, achievements and/or accidents:
“In one notable instance, where the United States Army and a hundred years of persuasion failed, a highway has succeeded. The Seminole Indians surrendered to the Tamiami Trail. From the Everglades the remnants of this race emerged, soon after the trail was built, to set up their palm-thatched villages along the road and to hoist tribal flags as a lure to passing motorists.”
—For the State of Florida, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
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—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)