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A very important purpose of helicopters
are rescue-operations. Millions of people throughout the world owe their lifes to these
helicopters. The variety of uses is very huge. In cases of illness, car accidents,
ship accidents, accidents in the mountains - but also for use in case of desaster
and evacuations - the helicopters with their well-trained crews have always proved
themselves with the fast rescue of people in highly dangerous situations - even under
really difficult circumstances ! At the Belgian Helidays 2003 there have been shown
helicopters equpped for all kind of rescue-purposes. This photo shows a helicopter type
McDonnell Douglas MD 900 of Belgian Air Ambulance equipped with medical appliances. |
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The 16ème Bataillon d'Helicoptères de
Liaison of Belgian Army stationed at Liège-Bierset uses helicopters tye Aérospatiale
Alouette II for abservation and connecting tasks. |
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In addition to the huge number of
helicopters type Alouette II of Belgian Army this civilianly licensed helicopter type
Alouette II has been shown at the Belgian Helidays 2003. |
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This Polish helicopter type
PZL-Swidnik Sokol is equipped especially for sea-rescue-services. You can see its
searchlight (white light / infrared) and the rescue-winch with a carrying power of 272 kg
and ropes with a length of 70 m. Moreover, it can carry a high number of additional
applications for rescue-purposes. |
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Besides helicopters type Alouette II
verfügt the 16ème Bataillon d'Helicoptères de Liaison of Belgian Army also has
multi-purpose helicopters type Britten-Norman Islander. One of those Britten-Norman
Islanders has been shown during flight-program. |
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The Agusta-Bell AB 412 is a production
under license of Italy derived from the American helicopter type Bell 412. The Royal
Dutch Air Force uses this type of helicopters in version AB 412 SP for search and rescue
purposes (= SAR, search and rescue). |
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The Search and Rescue Training Unit (
SARTU ) of British Defence Helicopter Flying School uses the Bell 412 EP (named Griffin HT
1) for training of crew-members of rescue-helicopters. |
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Opposite the Belgian Army Light Aviation
Airbase- on the other side of the airport Liège-Bierset - there is the civil part of this
Airport. Concerning civil air traffic, a high n umber of air-freighter
companies operate a service to Liège-Bierset. In air-cargo business,
there are mainly night flights from or to Liège-Bierset. But also during day-time there
is a lot to do for those cargo planes. The visitors of the Airshow could see several huge
Boeing 747 freight-planes landing. |
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British Royal Navy uses the
well-tried Westland Sea King helicopters for a huge variety of purposes - for
example for submarine-hunting, transportinig, early-warning actions and - like the Sea
King shown on this photo - for rescue-flights. |
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The Escadron d' Helicopteres
"Valmy" of French Air Force (Armee de l' Air) uses helicopters type
Eurocopter AS 555 Fennec for multiple purposes, like for example rescue-flights. This AS
555 is equipped with a winch. The Fennec is the military variant of the widely distributed
and very popular civil helicopter type "Ecureuil". |
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In addition to the numerous excellent
flight-shows with helicopters some "surface"planes have been shown in the
flight-program of Belgian Heldiays 2003. Besides the mentioned Britten-Norman Islander of
Beldgian Army two Piper Cub and a De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver of Dutch Royal
Air Force Historic Flight have been presented in formation flying. |
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This Sikorsky S-76 belongs to the German
Wiking Helicopter Service GmbH. This helicopter is fully equipped for transport of
seriously ill or injured persons and can carry 1 - 2 patients and 3 doctors. |
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The Belgian Helidays again have been a
paradise for each helicopter-fan. Besides the huge number of helicopters in Static Display
and lots of interesting helicopters of different types in the flight-program each visitor
had the possibility to take part in a helicopter-flight - for only € 30. Due to the
great demand for sightseeing-flights Crown Helicopters Enterprises used up to four
helicopters at the same time during this weekend. Among these helicopters a Bell Jet
Ranger (Registration number OO-DOU) and a Bell Long Ranger registration number OO-KBT). |
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The multi-purpose Agusta A 109 of Belgian
Army can be used as fighter, for observation and connecting tasks - but also with
equipment for rescue-flights. |
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This transport-helicopter
Boeing-Vertol CH-47 D Chinook can carry freights up to 12 tons. The cargo can either be
taken inside the helicopter or be fixed at up to 3 external cargo-hooks. The Chinook can
transport 44 fully equipped soldiers. For use in rescue-flights, there is space enough to
carrry 24 infured persons on stretchers and 2 doctors. This Chinook shown on the
photo belongs to the 298 Squadron of Dutch Royal Air Force. |
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This is the third helicopter of
Crown Helicopters used for sightseeing-flights: an ultra-modern Eurocopter EC
120 Colibri with a covered "Fenestron" tailrotor. |
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No 230 Squadron of British Royal Air
Force took part in the Belgian Helidays 2003 with this transport-helicopter type
Westland Puma HC 1. |
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Also this McDonnell Douglas MD 520
N has been used by Crown Helicopters for sightseeing-flights. The MD 520 N is a
so-calles "NOTAR"-helicopter (= NO TAil Rotor, without tail
rotor). The torque of the main rotor is compensated by compressed-air ejected at the final
point of the tail bracket. |
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This brand new Eurocopter EC 135 of
German Federal Border Guard is equipped with the latest technology on the police sector.
It has got a SX 16 Iinfrared and white-light search-light, a daylight-camera and
also a heat-indicating camera which allows to search for fugitive criminals or missing
persons even at night. Moreover, the EC 135 is equipped with the
obstacle-warning-system "HELLAS" (Please also read our photo-report about
the helicopter fleet of the Federal Border Guard at St. Augustin-Hangelar !) |
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Also this helicopter type Schweizer 330
shown at the Static Display belongs to the fleet of Crown Helicopters Enterprises. You can
rarely watch this kind of helicopter as it is produced in small numbers of pieces
only. |
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Begium is a bilingual country. Therefore
this police-helicopter type McDonnell Douglas MD 520 N is labeled in both languages:
On the left side in flight direction "Gendarmerie" (French) and on the right
side in flight direction "Rijkswacht" (Dutch). |
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At the occasion of Belgian Helidays 2003
Belgian Army also showed some very interesting fighter vehicles. This photo shows an
armoured personnel carrier type "AIFV". |
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French toll (Douanes Francaises) showed a
helicopter type Eurocopter (former Aérospatiale) AS 355 F 2 Ecureuil in the Static
Display at Belgian Helidays 2003. |
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The Belgian Helidays 2003 have been
really very successful ! Almost 30.000 visitors came to the show and proved the big
interest in aviation and great Air-Shows. |
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Since 1971 Belgian Navy has got three
helicopters type Aérospatiale SA 316 B Alouette III. These helicopters are all
"members" of Belgian Navy Heli Flight. |
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Belgian Helidays 2003 being a real Highlight for every helicopter-fan ! A huge static
display of helicopters and a high number of famous Russian "Mil" helicopters
(among them the biggest helicopter of the world - the Mil Mi-26) - as well as a flight -
program full of action and rare helicopters like the French Super Frelon, moreover the
possibility to fly in one of the civil helicopters - wherever in Europe, wherever in the
world, you can have all of these things in one single place at the same time ? This is a
reason for every helicopter-fan to look forward to the next Belgian helidays taking
place in 2005. It won't be easy waiting for such a long time but we will take it. Let's
start to count the days. As soon as we know the exact date for this event - the
Belgian Helidays 2005 - we will immediately inform you about it here at AirVenture !
Please also visit the homepage of Belgian Helidays: www.belgian-helidays.com
!
The date for the Belgian Helidays
2005 is June 4 and 5, 2005 . The location is again Liège-Bierset ! |
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