Federal Air Transport Service
The Federal Air Transport Service (LTDB; French Service de transport aérien de la Conféderation, STAC ) operates the aircraft and helicopters of the Swiss government .
The office is located at Bern-Belp Airport . She has been part of the Swiss Air Force since 2005 . Before that she was assigned to the Federal Office for Civil Aviation .
history
With the order for Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters in 1938, the Swiss Air Force also ordered 15 Messerschmitt Bf 108B Taifun to retrain the pilots. With their four-seater cabin, the Me-108 were given the secondary task of transporting high-ranking military personnel between the military airfields. After the war, foreign state guests were also transported with it.
In the mid-1950s, damage from fatigue increased. The Air Force therefore procured three Beechcraft E-50 Twin Bonanzas as replacements . Federal councilors were also transported with these. The aircraft were in service for 30 years. Up to the introduction of the Super Puma , three Junkers Ju-52s , which were procured in 1939, took on these orders, along with other tasks. In 1987, the Air Force took over two Learjet 35A from Rega . One of these machines remained in service with the Air Force until 2006.
With the merging of the fleet of the Federal Office for Civil Aviation , which was responsible for state flights, the Air Force took over this task on January 1, 2005 and with it some of the aircraft. These received, like for example the SA365N Dauphin , a military license plate .
fleet
The air transport service's fleet includes two jets , three turboprop aircraft and two helicopters. The former are mainly used for VIP transport, especially by members of the Federal Council, which is why they are popularly called Federal Council jets. But they are also used for other purposes, for example for deportations or to support international peacekeeping measures. The two jets are each a Dassault Falcon 900EX (military enrollment T-785) and Cessna Citation Excel (T-784). The Dassault Falcon 900 can accommodate up to 14 passengers, the Cessna Citation Excel up to 6 passengers. The aircraft entered service in September 2002 and May 2013, respectively. It is planned to replace the Cessna Citation Excel with a Pilatus PC-24 (T-786) that was added in November 2018 .
The two turboprops DHC-6 Twin Otter (T-741) and Beechcraft King Air (T-721) are usually not used for VIP flights, but to transport other passengers and for the topography of the country . The Beechcraft 1900 (T-729) is used for the same tasks aside from the country topography. If necessary, the air force / the federal air transport service can also use the Pilatus PC-12 HB-FOG from Armasuisse for transport tasks.
The Beechcraft 1900 was replaced by two CL604s (T-751 and T-752) in 2019 . The Luftwaffe took over this from REGA (T-751 from April 2019, T-752 from June 2019).
The two own Eurocopter EC 135 (T-351 and T-352) are mainly used as helicopters .
The Air Force also looks after the aircraft of the Federal Office of Civil Aviation at Belp Airport , which have their home airfield there. These are the following aircraft and helicopters:
- HB-GPC Beechcraft Baron 58
- HB-KEY Robin DR400 / 500
- HB-KEZ Robin DR400 / 500
- HB-KIA Beechcraft Bonanza A36
- HB-POP Piper PA-46 350P Malibu Mirage
- HB-XQE Agusta A109 E
- HB-XVA Eurocopter AS 350 B2
- HB-ZKO Agusta A119
- HB-FWA Pilatus PC-12
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Aerorevue 12/2014 - 1/2015 pages 24. and 25.
- ↑ http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/schweiz/standard/Bundesrat-und-NestleChef-kaufen-den-neuen-PC24-/story/16999579
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 19, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ https://www.bazl.admin.ch/bazl/de/home/fachhaben/luftfahrzeuge/luftfahrzeugregister.html HB-FWA in the aircraft register
