The Eurocopter AS355 is a twin-engined light utility helicopter that can accommodate up to 7 passengers.
Development of the Ecureuil started in the early 70s under the Aérospatiale banner with the
single-engined AS350. The first flight of an Aerospatiale AS350 took place on
27 June 1994. A twin-engine version of the AS350, the AS355 Ecureuil 2 flew first on 28 September 1979.
The Eucureuil 2 entered production as the AS355 E. Early 1982, the AS355 F with a higher max takeoff weight replaced
the AS355 E in production. The AS355 F was followed by the AS355 F1 in January 1984 and
AS355 F2 in December 1985. The AS355 Ecureuil 2 is marketed in North America as the 'TwinStar'.
The helicopter divisions of MBB from Germany and Aérospatiale from France merged in January 1992 to form the
Eurocopter Group.
The SNIAS AS355 F1 Twin Star s/n 5049 was built in 1981
and registered N357E in the USA as an Aérospatiale AS-355E Twin Star on 23 December 1981. After
the registration N357E was cancelled on 19 February 1988, the helicopter was registered I-VIEY in Italy
by Eli Alpi on 9 June 1988 as an AS.355-F1 Ecureuil 2. In 1997 the helicopter was sold to Heli-Holland and
arrived in non-flying condition in February 1997 as I-VIEY in Emmen. On 21 February 1997, the registration PH-HHC
was reserved and the helicopter was registered with Heli-Holland Holding B.V., Emmer-Compascuum, on 18 November 1997.
The PH-HHC is operated by Heli-Holland since, first based at Hato AB near Willemstad, Curacao in the
Netherlands Antilles. At Hato AS355 F1 PH-HHC was operated for the Dutch Navy / Koninklijke Marine until
it was replaced in April 2005 by AS355 F1 Twin Star PH-HVH. The PH-HHC returned to the Netherlands where the machine
went through a total makeover and became as good as new when it was ready. The maintenance
was carried
out by Heli Holland Technics at the Heli-Holland heliport in Emmer-Erfscheidenveen near Emmen.
Luchtvaart déjà vu
