Yes helipro have an accident history that they are not proud of and would quite happily discuss it with you rotorboy, and for that matter anyone who asked. After a little investigation I came up with some different accident numbers.
Take 2 R22’s and 1 hughes 500 off your total and I think you are spot on rotorboy. Only two of their accidents can be attributed to maintenance with both of them from the engineer that later lost his licence after he departed helipro.
It’s almost 5 years since the death of Andy Shaw in their bell 204. Since that accident they have had a student roll a 300 over during solo flight (only flight training accident), a couple of years ago I think.
It is worth noting that all of their accidents have been during aerial work ops such as logging, venison recovery and flight training which are generally pretty hard on the gear.
Interesting to note that they are now ISO 9002:2000 accredited, NZQA accredited, certified as an Airline Air Operator by CAA, and have a Qualmark logo on their website too.
The Restricted Category Bell UH-1H has been sold even though it was probably the biggest money earner in their fleet. They now have 22 helicopters of which 6 are twin engine.
1 x SA365N
3 x BK117
2 x AS355F1
3 x AS350
1 x Bell 206
1 x H500
3 x R44
5 x H300
3 x R22
The ‘rocks in the head’ comment is a little over the top rotorboy. Tell me where in the world you could learn to fly with an operator that has a diverse fleet such as Helipro. I guess your comments will actually filter out the dreamers that have not got enough sense to investigate a provider that they are about to give $75k. If unlike you they actually do some research, they will discover helipro are worth a second look.
Now I must apologise if my constructive comments about a company offend those that are all but consumed by the self destructive tall poppy syndrome. This syndrome sneaks up on the week and vulnerable and manifests itself as ‘shoot and run’ comments classically displayed in previous posts. I am guessing that this syndrome will consume more as Helipro continue to grow and win contracts throughout NZ and OZ.
This is how I see it… HNZ, THL, Airwork, and Helipro are leading the helicopter industry in NZ. They have all had accidents in the past but have cleaned up their act, as has the whole NZ industry. I would quite happily comment on these other companies if a thread was started. I’m sure it would be a battle keeping up with those consumed by the above syndrome however…
One final thing rotorboy, it is bad form to voice other peoples opinions and claim them as your own. Nothing like a little research to form your own opinion huh…