New Bell 407 Helicopter for Simrik Air prepared to join the family
12 September 2016 – Kathmandu
Simrik Air, the prolific and leading helicopter Operator Company of Nepal that recently added a new Airbus AS 350 B2 helicopter June, this year is again in preparation of addition of new series of helicopter in its fleet. This time, Simrik Air is welcoming an American made Bell 407 series helicopter with higher performance to serve the aviation sector of Nepal.
The company representatives have already made agreement with the manufacturers and finalized the purchase at a meet in Singapore. The aircraft has been purchased and handed over to Simrik Air and is currently being parked at Singapore until the registration process completes with Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal (CAAN). The aircraft has already got the trademark livery of Simrik Air.
General Manager of Simrik Air Mr. D.B. Woli told Aviation Nepal that the 2 phases of registration process of the aircraft have already been accomplished and the remaining 3 phases are in the pipeline which if completes smoothly, the aircraft will be able to land in Nepal by October 5. The Bell helicopter has also received a temporary registration of 9N-ALT he added.
The crew preparation is undergoing for the new helicopter. Maintenance engineers have been sent for the trainings in USA and 2 set of pilots are standby for the type training in the USA. First set of pilot will be leaded by Capt. Siddhartha Jung Gurung, senior captain at Simrik Air. And the second set will be leaded by Capt. Rameshwor Thapa, Managing Director of Simrik Air and Capt. Bibek Khadka together.
Mr. Woli also informed that the registration process with CAAN is ongoing according to the standardized system of International Civil Aviation organization (ICAO) and has been going efficiently.
Fishtail Air and Nepal Army are other helicopter operators in Nepal that have already introduced Bell Helicopters in their service. The 407 series of the Bell helicopter going to be introduced by Simrik Air will come in altogether 7 seat configurations, 6 passenger seats and one for crew seat. This series of Bell helicopter is bought by Simrik Air at around cost of 3.5 Million US Dollars.
