SE-JNB

Information

This aircraft was constructed by McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co at Mesa, Arizona, back in 1989. It went through its airworthiness tests in late-December and was delivered to its first owner in February of 1990.

Police helicopter
The aircraft had been purchased by the City of Newport Beach in California, which assigned the helicopter to the Costa Mesa Police Department. The helicopter replaced two older MD500Es together with the sister ship N521PD. The aircraft patrolled southern Los Angeles and Orange County in the EAGLE program ("EAGLE" stood for Emergency Air to Ground Law Enforcement). As the Airborne Law Enforcement Services of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and Santa Ana decided to upgrade its fleet to a set of EC120 aircraft the MD helicopters were sold, including this one.

N522PD was purchased by Helicopter Applicators Inc in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 2003. It was used for a wide range of utility works, including surveys, remote sensing, power line patrol, fire fighting, exploration services, long line work and film/photo missions.

Serving in Sweden
N522PD was sold to the Swedish company Stockholms Helikoptertjänst in late-2007. It was transported by boat to Sweden and assembled at Malmskogens Aerocenter's maintenance facility in Linköping before it was registered SE-JNB in January of 2008. Stockholms Helikoptertjänst was very similar to Helicopter Applicators in its operations, which put SE-JNB in pretty much the same kind of tasks it had been used to during the last years in the US. It had its main base in Länna, moments south of Stockholm, but operated throughout the country (and northern Europe).

The helicopter carried the marking "Eagle" on its tail, which served as a memory of its time in the Costa Mesa Police Department.

Exported to Germany
SE-JNB was sold to Germany in June 2018, after approximately 10 years in Sweden. The helicopter, which was the last MD500 in SHTAB's fleet, had been replaced by EC120s (SE-JRV and SE-JRY). SE-JNB was formally registered D-HMIC in the autumn of 2018.