, previously just '''Helikopter Service''' is the Norwegian division of
Canadian Helicopter Corporation . The airline was an independent company until
1999 . It operates primarily to
Oil Platform s on the
Norwegian Continental Shelf in the
North Sea , with crew change, infield shuttle and
Search And Rescue operations. Though the global headquarters lay in
Vancouver ,
Canada , the company has its main base at
Stavanger Airport, Sola .
The company also operates out of the airports
Bergen Airport, Flesland ,
Brønnøysund Airport, Brønnøy ,
Florø Airport and
Kristiansund Airport, Kvernberget in addition to the oil installations Ekofisk and Statfjord. It also operates a
Public Service Obligation on the route
Bodø -
Værøy .
The company started out operating under the name A/S in
1956 , using various small helicopters. But in
1966 the first steps in the Norwegian oil exploration started, and the company acquired two
Sikorsky S-61 helicopters and at the same time changed its name to Helikopter Service. By
1980 the company was operating 20 such helicopters. The airline had by then been acquired by
Scandinavian Airlines and
Fred. Olsen .
In
1982 the company started to renew its fleet, introducing the
Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma and later the
Eurocopter Super Puma 2 . In
1993 it also started operating the
Eurocopter Dauphin with possibilities for search and rescue purposes.
In
1996 the company changed its name to and bought the
British Bond Helicopters , its
Australia n subsidiary
Lloyd Helicoptes and later the
South Africa n
Court Helicopters .
CHC Helicopter bought Helikopter Services Group in
1999 and in
2000 the company changed name to CHC Helikopter Service. In
2000 the company sold the subsidiaries
Lufttransport to
Norwegian Air Shuttle and
Heliflyg to
Osterman Aero .
- On June 26 1978 all 18 crew and passengers on Sikorsky died when it crashed 87 Nautical Miles northwest of Bergen , probably because the rotor loosened from the rotor head.
- On March 1 1988 a Super-Puma helicopter had to perform a controlled emergency landing on a cargo ship 100 nautical miles west of Egersund . No one was hurt.
- On July 16 1988 a Super-Puma helicopter had to perform an emergency landing in the North Sea. Everyone was picked up by another helicopter.
- On January 18 1996 a Super-Puma helicopter registered '' LN-OBP '' was forced to perform an emergency landing in the North Sea some 200 kilometers south-west of Egersund. All passengers survived and the heicopter was till floating 3 days later. Currectly the remains of the helicopter is undergoing rebuilding by the students at the aviation technical school at Sola , Norway
