Oldest operational helo?
Thread Starter
Oldest operational helo?
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?
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?
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).
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)..
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
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
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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.
. 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.
Gosh
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1967 AgustaBell 206 G-AVII belonging to Bristow's - now Down Under (I think).
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why did you tell us that Gosh
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?
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?
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
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
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
Sioux XT131 is a 1964 vintage, somewhat younger than others on this thread - but it's certainly still airworthy
.. longest owned by one owner ..
G-SMDJ (AS350B2) owned by the Ferranti family since April 1999.