Old 212's never die....they become re-incarnated as parts on other old 212's. We boxed up several old Bristow 212's in Lagos...what was left of them after many years of hard use and ever cheaper budgets for maintenance and off to either Canada or the US they went. Rumor had it they would be rebuilt from scratch by some company there....then given a new life. Funny, Bristow used to do the same thing at Redhill....wonder what happened.
It isn't the age of the aircraft...but the Tender Loving Care they get during their lifetime. For years the Bristow aircraft were kept in excellent condition then over time the inspection intervals began to lengthen, time periods allowed for doing the inspections shortened, numbers of engineers dedicated to the job were reduced, and the result was aircraft being written off as being beyond economical repair. Usually corrosion was the cause of the demise. One can only assume adequate inspections could have prevented that by catching the corrosion before it became widespread.
The better of the fleet wound up serving with the British Army in places like Belize I hear. Redhill used to turnout aircraft from overhaul that looked like they had come off the assembly line rather than a rebuild facility. The S-58T fleet was a prime example...DE that went inverted one night looked like new when it was finished and flew like it too.
Ah, tis the pity the Old Man ain't still running things.