Information
SE-JUP was the first serial produced Eurocopter EC 135 as well as the second one ever to be equipped with Turboméca engines (version T1). Eurocopter Deutschland registered the helicopter
D-HECJ and sold it to the German company Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht (DRF) in August 1996. DRF (~German Rescue Guard) changed the helicopter\'s registration to
D-HQQQ and based it in Karlruhe.
The Swedish operator Osterman Helicopter AB purchased
D-HQQQ from DRF in early-1999. The helicopter was ferried by a German and a Swedish pilot from Germany and landed in Sweden, in Varberg, on 6 January 1999. The day after it flew from Varberg to Osterman\'s main office at Säve airport in Gothenburg, and then continued to Stockholm. At 14:00
D-HQQQ landed at Gustavsbergs Heliport, east of central Stockholm. It was not only the fifth EC135 ever, it was also the first one in Scandinavia.
The month after the delivery was very busy for the new EC 135. Every pilot at Ostermans EMS base in Gustavsberg had to be type rated in the new helicopter as well as the helicopter itself had to go through a few EMS-modifications at Patria Ostermans Aero\'s maintenance facilities at Arlanda Airport.
D-HQQQ was registered
SE-JUP on 8 March 1999, owned by GE Capital Equipment Finance AB and operated by Osterman Helicopter AB.
In the evening the same day as it got it\'s Swedish registration the helicopter entered service as primary ambulance helicopter \"Ambulans 998\" in Stockholm\'s County, based in Gustavsberg, replacing Osterman Helicopters MBB BK 117 (
SE-JBC).
SE-JBC had been sold and ferried to a company in Germany a week earlier, and the ambulance readiness had been held by the company\'s Bell 212 before the new EC 135 entered service. The Bell 212 (
SE-JLP) was usually used as an extra EMS helicopter in Stockholm during the summers.
In the middle of the night between Monday 8 March and Tuesday 9 March the helicopter responded to its first emergency call. A pregnant woman was picked up in Stockholm\'s archipelago and flown to Uppsala University Hospital, in Uppsala, north of Stockholm.
On 10 March 1999 the helicopter was officially displayed for the public for the first time. Television, newspapers and general media was invited to the base in Gustavsberg to get information about the new helicopter type. After a display inside the hangar the helicopter performed a brief flight show, demonstrating a one-skid-operation and a few in-flight-manoeuvres.
EC 135 proved to be a perfect helicopter for EMS-activities in Stockholm. However
SE-JUP was an old and worn machine. It featured quite a few details that had been changed in later constructed EC 135\'s.
In January 2000 Osterman Helicopter purchased a new EC 135T1 (
SE-JFP). It arrived to Stockholm on 15 January 2000 and replaced
SE-JUP on 13 February.
SE-JUP was offered for sale, but stayed in service as backup helicopter (\"Ambulance 994\") for
SE-JFP during the summer.
In November 2000
SE-JUP was sold to a French company (which leased it to Héli-Union in Nancy). It was ferried from Gustavsberg to Nancy via Ängelholm, Lübeck, Braunschweig, and Hahn. It was repainted to a white colour and titled SAMU Lorraine, but remained registered as
SE-JUP.
In January 2001 it entered EMS service in Nancy, based at Nancy hospital\'s heliport. It was purchased by Héli-Union France in February 2001 and registered
F-GNLO on 13 July 2001. The reason why it wasn\'t registered in the French register earlier was that they had some problems with the 100kg heating floor installed in the rear cabin of the helicopter. The helicopter wasn\'t allowed to be registered in France until the engines had been upgraded to increase the MTOW.