Air Zermatt

Air Zermatt AG
IATA code :
ICAO code :	AZF
Call sign :	AIR ZERMATT
Founding:	1968
Seat:	Zermatt , Switzerland
Company form:	Corporation
Management:	Gerold Biner (CEO)
Number of employees:	75 (2020)
Fleet size:	10  helicopters
Aims:	national
Website:	www.air-zermatt.ch

The Air Zermatt AG is a Swiss airline and flight school based in Zermatt . The company has an office at the Aéroport de Sion in the canton of Valais and a base in Gampel , Raron and Zermatt. It employs around 75 people. Air Zermatt operates the emergency number 1410.

history

Air Zermatt was founded in 1968.

In 1973 Air Zermatt introduced medicalization in helicopter rescue. It is the first rescue company in Switzerland to employ permanent doctors and anesthetists who accompany the helicopter crews on their rescue missions.

As of 2017, the Air Zermatt emergency doctors, as the first helicopter air rescuers in the Alpine region, will be able to transfuse the most seriously injured with high blood loss during the transport of universal donor blood of the blood group "zero negative" . On long flights to special clinics such as Bern or Lausanne, the patient has a higher chance of survival. The Spitalzentrum Oberwallis (SZO) provides the blood reserves at the Visp location and can, if necessary, hand them over to the Air Zermatt rescue team on the hospital's landing platform.

Services

Air Zermatt leads with their helicopters rescue, transport and tourist flights (u. A. Heliskiing ) by and Valais Rescue Organization (KWRO) responsible as a partner of Cantonal for air rescue in the Upper Valais. The ground-based rescue service in the inner Mattertal is also covered by two ambulances.

Air Zermatt's helicopters are also used in the event of natural disasters in Valais, such as the storms in autumn 2000.

fleet

Air Zermatt has nine helicopters:

• 5 Eurocopter AS 350 B3 for sightseeing, taxi, transport and rescue flights.
• 1 Aérospatiale SA-315 B Lama for sightseeing, transport and rescue flights.
• 1 Eurocopter EC 135 T3 for rescue and taxi flights. Equipped with modern medical technology & cable winch.
• 1 Eurocopter EC 130 T2 for sightseeing and taxi flights.
• 2 Bell 429 for rescue and taxi flights. Features searchlight, infrared camera, night vision device, 90 meter cable winch, modern medical technology. The machine is approved for blind flight.

Two further Aérospatiale SA-315 B Lama were used for transport, rescue and sightseeing flights for years and were sold in 2015 & 2016 for cost reasons and replaced by AS 350 machines.

In March 2016, it was announced that Air Zermatt is one of the first customers of the Kopter SH09 and that it is participating in its development with over 45 years of experience.

Calls

Eurocopter AS-350B-3 Ecureuil from Air Zermatt

The operations of Air Zermatt in the context of the mountain slide in Gondo on October 14, 2000 and in the forest fire above Leuk in August 2003 received particular media attention .

Air Zermatt also made a major contribution to the construction of the aerial cableway to the Little Matterhorn by transporting materials and people .

After various exercises in 1970, Air Zermatt pilot Günther Amann was the first to be able to rescue directly from the dangerous north face of the Eiger using a winch in 1971 . He was then honored for this in the USA .

In November 2005, Air Zermatt carried out further pioneering work. As part of the A1 GP in Dubai , damaged vehicles were rescued on the rope of a llama. On March 8, 2011, Air Zermatt pilot Daniel Aufdenblatten and mountain rescuer Richard Lehner received the Heroism Award for the highest mountain rescue to date at an altitude of 7,000 meters by helicopter for the rescue of three alpinists in the Annapurna area in April 2010 . Chesley B. Sullenberger was the last to receive this award for the safe emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 . Aufdenblatten and Lehner were in Nepal for Air Zermatt rescue training in April 2010 when they received an emergency call. They came to the aid of the alpinists, although it was unclear until then whether a rescue at such a great height with a helicopter would be possible.

After massive snowfalls and avalanches that interrupted both the rail and road connections, the company flew more than 2,000 people and around 67 tons of material in 90 rotations from the cut off Zermatt at the end of January 2018.

In May 2018, an incident occurred during a training flight with a fire extinguishing system . On admission of water from a Stretch of a cable was touched. After the emergency landing in the water, the pilot was able to free himself from the wreckage and was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

media

Bell 429 from Air Zermatt on the heliport of the Inselspital

From July to August 2006, the Swiss television DRS shot a documentary series called “The mountain rescuers - on the go with Air Zermatt” about the company and its employees. The seven-part series was broadcast from May 2007. In winter 2007/2008 a sequel followed which was filmed in February 2007 as "winter season".

Another documentary by SRF is entitled "The Mountain Rescuers in the Himalayas" and reports on the construction of a helicopter rescue base in Nepal. In January 2017, rescues from the recent past were shown on ServusTV .

The former Air Zermatt pilot Siegfried Stangier wrote a book called Rescuers who come from Heaven (published in 1986), which gives an insight into the activities of Air Zermatt from the 1970s to the mid-80s. The Long Line rescue method he introduced in 1972 (a rope up to 220 meters long on a helicopter) saved the lives of countless people in need.

In 2016 the series "The Horn" appeared on Netflix , which, in addition to the way the company works, sheds light on individual employees and assignments.

See also

• List of airlines
• Air rescue in Switzerland
• Air-Glaciers

literature

• Siegfried Stangier: Rescuers who come from heaven. Scherz, Munich 1986, ISBN 978-3-502-19693-8 .
• Gerold Biner: Flying for life and death , mountain rescuer between Everest and Matterhorn. Orell Füssli publishing house, ISBN 978-3-280-05525-0 .

Web links

Commons : Air Zermatt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Air Zermatt website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Air Zermatt flight school
2. ↑ About us
3. ^ Medical pioneering work in Upper Valais - Air Zermatt AG . In: Air Zermatt AG . January 5, 2017 ( air-zermatt.ch [accessed January 19, 2017]).
4. ↑ Stefan Häne: With SUV and helicopter straight to the ski slope. In: bernerzeitung.ch . February 12, 2019, accessed February 14, 2019 . 
5. ↑ “Papa Juliette” has had its day , Air Zermatt, May 2015, accessed on July 21, 2015
6. ↑ Marenco Swisshelicopter SKYe SH09 soon in Upper Valais , Air-Zermatt.de
7. ↑ Dino Kessler: Desert Show: Air Zermatt helps with ¦. In: Blick.ch. December 11, 2005, accessed June 26, 2019 . 
8. ↑ Helicopter pilots and mountain rescuers receive Heroism Award , May 16, 2011, Zermatt.ch
9. ^ State of emergency in the Alps - highest avalanche warning level , Spiegel Online , Jan. 22, 2018
10. ↑ “The onslaught successfully mastered” , Air Zermatt blog
11. ↑ Air Zermatt: Incident during training flight In: air-zermatt.ch, May 16, 2018, accessed on May 16, 2018.
12. ↑ The Horn | Netflix. Retrieved July 5, 2018 .