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Hi BVGS
I’d suggest you rent a local (Italian) car and a LOCAL instructor who has logged plenty of trips over the Alps. Get your volunteer nav assistant (a couple on here already) to drive the rental car to the first fuel stop the other side the Alps. You and the local instructor fly the machine over the mtns when you/he/she feels the wx is good enough and then the local flight instructor drives the rental back and returns it to the rental outfit. You get the advantage of local knowledge and a much more relaxed flight (photo op) and you might learn a trick or two. A days pay for a local instructor is not too onerous a burden for the benefit it brings! Then you and the Nav have a nice trip home from there without any stress.
Another option is to trailer the machine home. I don’t know any rule to prevent it but we’re talking Europe where the governments are here to protect you at all costs ;-).
I have trailered Lamas’ and B205/214s’over most of the US back in the days when saving on ferry costs seemed to matter. Doesn’t have to be a major design event, we used a $1200 (2nd hand) lightly sprung single axle gooseneck (dual wheels which we later replaced with single wheels to improve the ride) and a ¾ ton chevvy as tow veh with a motorhome following behind as crew accommodation.
Fly the helo onto the trailer; throw (lift gently) the blades into a homemade bladebox along the side. Get to where you want to fly and throw the blades back on and fly it off the trailer.
One time when lifting HVACs’ onto a roof in Iowa, the wx was bad for 3 days with heavy snow and we couldn’t have got to the jobsite by flying in. We parked our little circus alongside the job and flew 40+ units between squalls. Packed up and on our way to the next job thru ¼ mile vis and snowing sideways. We spent an entire winter doing this as work was scarce at the time, and we had debts to pay. But it turned into a great time for me and the A&P and we made a ton of dough that would have been in someone else’s account if we hadn’t gotten after it!
Trailering has long since fallen from favor simply because clients now expect to pay large ferry costs (particularly in heavy lift external load work). But once you get set up it’s a no brainer and the trailer is a great asset to any small commercial operation. If I ever owned a light helicopter I’d look into the options in Euroland…Hell, for a private operation you could take the machine on vacation like a trailer-sailer…But check local laws…
Congrats on the purchase if it goes ahead! You’ll love it!
ps...Just enter ' helicopter on trailer ' into google and you'll see various examples of helo-trailer rigs
Last edited by 170'; 13th Dec 2011 at 12:25.