PPRuNe Forums - Afghanistan: helicopter operators

Swamp,

Getting info on the actual owners of civil R/W aircraft operating in Afghanistan can be tricky for several reasons. First, a lot of companies don't really want the fact widely known or discussed (for obvious reasons -- it's a war zone). Second, all but one or two of the helos are working on UN or US gov't contracts. For the UN, that usually means MI-8's from Russian or East European companies. Ironically, more and more of the US gov't contracts also use the MI-8's. There are a couple of reasons for that (including, as you would know, a worldwide shortage of the usual "western" helicopter types) but the main reason is this: For the last year it's been nigh impossible for operators of western-made or owned helicopters to get insurance coverage.

And the reason for that is simple: Of four helicopters under contract to USAID in the past four years, none made it out of Afghanistan intact. (All were 212's btw.) Two were lost in accidents (the latest one being the Tasman aircraft mentioned by Bell4can) and two were the result of acts of war. For information purposes (and in order of their demise) the aircraft lost were owned/operated by: Gulf Helicopters, Pacific Helicopters of PNG (two aircraft), and Tasman of Vancouver.

Neither Tasman nor Pacific will return to Afghanistan. In April 2007, as a result of Pacific losing their second 212, underwriters more than tripled the cost of insurance (which was already very expensive). Early this year, when the Tasman machine was written off, most underwriters said, “That’s it. We will not cover your machines in Afghanistan.” So most operators no longer bid on Afghanistan contracts.

If you’re still interested, and looking for contact info for someone in country who could give you more information, send me a PM and I’ll bet back to you.

Grizz