SE-JLE

Information

SE-JLE was purchased by Tärnaby based Westhelicopter AB through the Robinson dealer Helicopter Assistance AB at the end of 2003, and it arrived to Piteå-Långnäs airfield on February 16 2004. The aircraft was assembled by the maintenance company Helimek AB in Piteå.

The aircraft left the US based Robinson factory in boxes several weeks earlier, but the freight company accidentally sent the blades and tail section to Johannesburg in South Africa instead of to Sweden. A few weeks later all three boxes arrived at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, and they could soon be sent to Piteå by truck.

SE-JLE was approved by the Swedish Aviation Safety Authority (Luftfartsinspektionen) on February 24. The aircraft was the very first brand new R44 ordered by a commercial costumer in Sweden, except those Robinsons operated by the Swedish Robinson dealer. The aircraft joined the R44 SE-JMM in Westhelicopter's fleet, together with two Eurocopter EC120s (SE-JLB and SE-JDS).

Westhelicopter's Robinson R44s are used for a wide range of operations, including reindeer herding, plant setting, census tasks and flight training.

Emergency landing
On 16 September 2010 the helicopter obtained minor damages in an emergency landing at Lake Boksjön, east of Tärnaby. The aircraft struck bad weather whilst en-route to Arvidsjaur, and in connection to canceling the flight and turning back towards Tärnaby the pilot ended up having to perform an emergency landing in a nearby wetland. The landing area was swampy, which caused water ingestion into the engine. The aircraft was salvaged and it could soon be restored to a flying condition.

Kallax Flyg
Westhelicopter was purchased by Kallax Flyg in July 2015. At that time Kallaxflyg had a fleet of 10 helicopters and Westhelicopter had 7 helicopters. The two companies had their main offices located only 40 kilometres apart, but they were administered as parallel companies for the first months. SE-JLM was transferred to Kallax Flyg's fleet in January 2016, finalizing the transition into the new company. Westhelicopter was subsequently retired.