Günther Amann

Günther Amann (born November 15, 1939 in Regensburg , Bavaria ) is a former German helicopter pilot who was best known for his more than 4,000 rescue flights in Switzerland . In his 45-year pilot career, he flew over ten different types of helicopters and completed well over 16,000 hours in flight.

Career

Günther Amann was with the German Armed Forces from 1958 to 1965 , where he learned to fly and was used on the Bell 47 and Sikorsky S-58 helicopters . He then flew for the British company Bristow Helicopters in Nigeria and Iran , where he transported personnel from oil platforms , among other things .

In 1966 he married his fiancée Gisela and returned to Europe in 1968 for family reasons, where he was employed as the first pilot for the newly founded Swiss airline Air Zermatt . There he flew the types Bell 206 , Alouette III and SA-315 in rescue, supply and transport missions until 1971 as chief pilot .

On September 12, 1971 he succeeded in the first air rescue of mountaineers from the north face of the Eiger , when he flew a distressed German rope team from the area of ​​the second ice field using a 25-meter winch. For this achievement he was awarded the Robert E. Trimble Memorial Award by the HAI in Las Vegas in 1972 . He had already demonstrated the feasibility of such maneuvers at the Rega helicopter symposium in September 1970 , when he set down mountain guides and flight rescuers at five points in the wall and picked them up again.

From 1972 to 2003 he was chief pilot and flight operations manager at BOHAG, which was newly founded in Gsteigwiler with the participation of Air Zermatt . He flew for the company until he retired in November 2004.

Web links

• Günther Amann, Heli Archive
• A helicopter pilot who made history, Jungfrau Zeitung
• Günther Amann retired after more than 16,000 hours of helicopter flight, Berner Oberland News
• About us: Who is Air Zermatt ?, Air-Zermatt