SE-JDV

Information

SE-JDV was constructed by the American Robinson Helicopter Company in Torrance, Southern California, in 1999. It came to Sweden in early April the same year, purchased by the private company Heliport AB. The machine was mainly used for private purposes, primarily based at Bromma Airport in Stockholm, but gradually entered commercial service with Helicopter Assistance AB.
The helicopter was marked with the rather unusual nickname, Pappa Haj ("Daddy Shark"), rather soon after the delivery. The nickname was apparently given by the children of Heliport AB's owner, which used to call their father Pappa Haj. The nickname was removed from the helicopter towards the end of the machine's career in Sweden.
Helicopter Assistance mainly used the helicopter for aerial taxi, but also a bit of flight training. The machine was practically grounded the last year in Sweden - Helicopter Assistance had several R44s and SE-JDV had a low priority. It was offered for sale and the owner ordered a brand new fuel-injected R44 Clipper II, equipped with floats. The new helicopter (SE-JIK) arrived in the summer of 2004.

SE-JDV was sold to the Norwegian company Helikopterdrift AS in April 2004. It was given the registration LN-OGB and was mainly used for the same kind of tasks that it was used to when flying in Stockholm. Unfortunately, in late July 2004 the helicopter was involved in an accident near the Norwegian town Romsdal. The helicopter was conducting public pleasure flights during a local fare when the pilot decided to give the three passengers an extra "kick" of the flight by doing a low pass over the edge of a large mountain. However, the fly-by was too low and the pilot held a 60 degrees right turn - a manoeuvre that made one of the blades touching the ground. Fortunately the helicopter didn't crash at once, but started to vibrate violently. The pilot made an emergency landing in a swamp at the foot of the mountain. When initiating the final flair the man rotor impacted the tail cone and damaged the airframe. The helicopter was later repaired, but the pilot was given an admonition by the Norwegian Accident Investigation Board.

Known as LN-OGB and operated by Helikopterdrift AS the aircraft broke four world speed records in November 2005. The helicopter was piloted by Mr Roger André Eilertsen and the highest speed among the world records was 226,96 km/h over a straight 15/25 km course.