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.
In September 1987, the 1987-built SNIAS AS355 F2 Twin Star c/n 53563 was
registered N79D in the USA with DN Air Charter Inc. In May 1991, the
aircraft was re-registered N300LG. Registration N300LG was cancelled and
the helicopter was registered RP-C1556 in the Philippines with
Philippines Comunications Satelite. On 10 October 2001, the
helicopter arrived by road as RP-C1556 at the Heli-Holland heliport near Emmen in The
Netherlands. On 7 December 2001, the helicopter was registered PH-HHJ
with Heli Holland Holding BV, Emmer-Compascuum. Heli-Holland operates three TwinStar helicopters: next to the AS.355-F2 PH-HHJ, the
AS.355-F1 PH-HHC and
PH-HVH
are operated. Registration PH-HHJ was cancelled on 28 February 2008: the BvL expired over a year.
SNIAS AS.355 F2 PH-HHJ received a major
overhaul with Heli Holland Technics; painted in the new Heli Holland
colours and was restored to the register on 1 October 2008.
Luchtvaart déjà vu
