Oldest operational helo?

[Thomas coupling]

How old is the oldest (still) operational helicopter.

The best I could find was a Bell 47D (1947) and a Piasecki (1952) both at classic rotors, ramona, CA.

Oldest licence holder (rotary) retired this year at 84, I believe?

Any advance?

[Savoia]

Unlikely to be the oldest but certainly one of the oldest in the UK which was still being flown commercially was a 1967 AgustaBell 206 G-AVII belonging to Bristow's - now Down Under (I think).

[sycamore]

Red Bull have a Sycamore(XG587?) that was flying in Germany/Switzerland that is being refurbished to flight,and there is a WW10 in Ireland that was for sale (xj729)..

[stacey_s]

Operational and used commercially on a regular basis AB206 A7-HAO Manufactured may 1968, Gulf helicopters Doha.

S

[hillerman]

There are a few Hiller 12C's flying in the UK, at least one from around 1956

[Flying Bull]

Hi,
may be not the oldest - but quite an oldtimer anyway
D-HAFA (ex G-HELO, G-BAZN, 9J-RIN, ZS-HCJ) operated by Agrarflug-Helilift in Germany
D-HAFA (cn 124) Built in 1967 and previously registered in South Africa, Zambia, and Britain

Helionline.de


Greetings Flying Bull

P.S. was my favorite bird when I was there, Ceco fuel system and a joy to fly

[mattpilot]

A few years back i flew a few hours on N182B, a 47-D1. Was used as a trainer. FAA lists its manufacturing date as 1948, though i can assure you it didn't have many original parts . School went belly-up and it got sold to someone in kansas - seems to be still operating.

Its unlikely you'll find anything much older than a Bell-47, considering it was the first commercial helicopter.

[Camp Freddie]

I flown G-GUST a jetranger from 1970, still around according to G-INFO

[nigelh]

why did you tell us that Gosh

[Danscowpie]

1967 AgustaBell 206 G-AVII belonging to Bristow's - now Down Under (I think).

Certainly the oldest lady to perform commercial acts prior to a gentile retirement three years ago to the US Register, although I don't know if she is actually residing in the USA.

[Camp Freddie]

why did you tell us that Gosh

Well no one has come up with an actual reg of a UK reg a/c older than that still flying yet (I don't doubt there are quite a few), you didn't offer anything

[toptobottom]

Fast runs a 1967 206, G-BKZI - recently upgraded from its original C18 to a C20 I believe. It also runs G-BXKL, a 1980 206 with c. 26,000 hours

[thepross]

So many 61's with 37000+, still flying and in high demand...

[helihub]

Just looking at the UK....

If you are looking purely at G- reg helicopters with current a/w ticket, then I think Hiller G-ASAZ (1961 build) is the oldest - this was the one owned by Hields Aviation which failed to reach its reserve in a recent auction of Bond memorabilia



For Bell 47s, the honour is with G-LHCI up in Scotland, 1961 build - others may recognise this as G-SOLH or its original reg G-AZMB



If you widen it to foreign-registered UK-based, then hillerman was right to point us to the N registered Hillers, but while the one which appears to live near his location (that's how you know about it...) is "only" a 1956 build, while a Norfolk based one reg N831M looks to be a 1952 production. But is N831M airworthy?

[Madbob]

What about the AAC Historic Flight? Don't they still fly a Soiux AH1 (XT131) and a Skeeter AOP12 (XL812)? They must be getting on a bit.

MB

[helihub]

Camp Freddie - not sure how you are reading G-INFO to think that G-GUST was "still around" - it shows CofA expiry 27/05/2008. Quite by coincidence, the nightly data update now shows that this JetRanger was cancelled by CAA yesterday. Further digging notes that it is being pulled apart for spares and that page has been in place at least a year.

If we can include current-registered unairworthy helicopters, then the UK oldest goes to the 1949 build G-ARXH - photo here from 2007 and it was certainly still stored at the back of a hangar at Cranfield in 2009 (not the Patriot hangar) and likely still there.


thepross - 37000 The Penzance-Scillies hack had over 43500 at 31-Dec-2009 (see here) and no doubt a good number more since then

[helihub]

Madbob - Skeeters are all grounded these days I think, and XL812 was a 1962 build according to the CAA's record for G-SARO, a civil reg it carried for a while

Sioux XT131 is a 1964 vintage, somewhat younger than others on this thread - but it's certainly still airworthy

[SuperF]

what about oldest owned by the original owner? ie brought brand new, still going... or longest owned by one owner, not necessarily brought brand new?

[Savoia]

.. longest owned by one owner ..

Again not the longest but certainly one of the conteders in the privately owned currently operational category in the UK:

G-SMDJ (AS350B2) owned by the Ferranti family since April 1999.

[havick]

Australian Helicopters is still operating the first B412 off the production line in a rescue capability. Like any Bell, it keeps on trucking.