VIH wins Angola helicopter contract
Victoria firm to help African country with election
Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, August 21, 2008
Victoria-based VIH Helicopters Ltd. has won a six-month, multi-million-dollar contract to help Angola hold its first national elections in 16 years.
Six VIH helicopters will be used for pre-election and post-election transportation work in the southwestern African nation, where elections will take place on Sept. 5.
VIH operations manager Corey Taylor said the helicopters will be used to fly international observers throughout the country and to help set up polling booths before the election. Some helicopters will be used as mobile polling stations during the election, flying to remote communities and offshore oil rigs.
Taylor said the contract also calls for the helicopters to provide a kind of national transit service after the election because many roads are impassable and need repairs.
The six VIH helicopters will be part of an international contingent of 30 copters under contract to a private company working for the Angolan government.
Despite Angola's history of civil war and political violence, Taylor said VIH has been assured the work will be no more dangerous than working in Canada.
"There's unrest in some areas of Angola, but we're not going anywhere where we think there's potential for violence," he said in an interview. "We certainly don't expect to have any bullets flying at the helicopters or anything like that. Otherwise, we wouldn't do it."
Taylor said a VIH helicopter compound in Sudan was hit by a mortar round a few years ago.
"We pulled the plug instantly on that contract," he said. "We have civilian crews and nobody is interested in that type of thing."
VIH is sending two Sikorsky S-92s, two Sikorsky S-61s, a Bell 212 and a Eurocopter EC135. Taylor said it costs about $1.4 million to transport three or four helicopters from Canada to Angola on a Russian Antonov transport plane.
Regards
Aser