By: Rickard Gillberg 2006-01-13
This image shows a new row in Stockholm’s long history of airborne search and rescue (SAR). It’s the first time ever, after decades of military operations, that a civil helicopter enters SAR alert in the region. This machine, being a provisional one, was put in service by Norrlandsflyg on January 11th 2006. Norrlandsflyg won the prestigious SAR contract for the bases in Stockholm and Gothenburg, starting in January and March, in the summer of 2005.
The military SAR alert in Stockholm was closed for good on December 15th and according to the Swedish Maritime Administration’s contract with Norrlandsflyg the new operation wouldn’t be launched until the end of January.
However, as the highly populated region lacked a local SAR helicopter, the need for a supplement became more and more evident. The Maritime Administration and Norrlandsflyg agreed to launch the operation earlier than decided and leased this provisional helicopter to fill the initial gap. The operation was set up in a temporary base at Patria Helicopter’s maintenance facilities at Arlanda Airport in northern Stockholm.
As the permanent organization with one of Norrlandsflyg’s own S-76 helicopters will be established from late January the German aircraft will be returned. The operation will move to an own base as soon as a suitable location has been found.
The non-military Stockholm base will be followed by the civilized Gothenburg base in late March 2006. The Gothenburg area is currently covered by a military helicopter that offers a daytime alert of 45 minutes. The civil helicopters, which are based in Stockholm, Sundsvall and Visby, are all operated by Norrlandsflyg and stand on a 15 minutes alert, 24 hours a day. The Swedish SAR is currently held from five different locations, of which Norrlandsflyg soon has four and the military has one (Ronneby). This makes Norrlandsflyg the leading SAR operator in Sweden, with 80% of the market.
The provisional helicopter in this picture is owned by the German operator Wiking Helikopter Service GmbH. It’s usually based at Mariensiel Airport, near Wilhelmshaven, in northern Germany. Wiking has a fleet of three S-76 helicopters and has focused its activities in offshore and onshore operations, like seapilot transfer and emergency service, as well as transporting cargo and passengers.
