January 24, 2021: Daher announced the delivery of a Kodiak 100 turboprop utility aircraft to the Héli-Béarn company. This aerial work operator based at Pau-Pyrénées airport (Pyrénées Atlantique) becomes the first French customer for this aircraft.
Built in Sandpoint, Idaho USA, the Kodiak is renowned for its robustness, high payload, and short take-off and landing capabilities — characteristics that are appreciated for a wide variety of missions. The Kodiak 100 delivered to Héli-Béarn will be used for dropping parachutists.
In this configuration, the Kodiak 100 has a sliding door and benches that can accommodate up to 15 parachutists. Capable of climbing to 3,000 m (12,000 ft) in 9 1/2 minutes, it can provide an average of 4 rotations per hour.
“We would like to thank Héli-Béarn and its Chairman Jean-Luc Dartiailh, whose exacting requirements we are well aware of, for their confidence in our aircraft to support their aerial work activities,” commented Nicolas Chabbert, director of the Aircraft division of Daher and Managing Director of Kodiak Aircraft.
“Until now, the Kodiak has been a little-known aircraft outside of North America and Asia. With this first delivery of a Kodiak to a French customer, we hope to change the situation.” Mr. Chabbert added. “As an aerial work operator, we were interested in the Kodiak as soon as we learned that Daher had purchased it,” replied Jean-Luc Dartiailh, director of Héli-Béarn.
“We were able to test it in operational conditions, and we were quickly convinced that it was the ideal aircraft, especially for parachute drops. It is a modern, safe, easy to maintain and efficient device. With an operating cost 25% lower than than other aircraft in service, it seems to us the ideal solution to take over from the aging fleet of parachute centers,” concluded Mr. Dartiailh.
Héli-Béarn, founded in 1996, is a company whose main activities are transport and aerial work by helicopters and planes, aeronautical maintenance and various training courses related to aeronautics. It operates a fleet of around ten aircraft, mainly Airbus AS350 B2 / B3, AS355, SA315B helicopters as well as a TBM 700.
About Daher – www.daher.com
Daher is an aircraft manufacturer and an industry and service equipment supplier. Daher asserts its leadership in three main businesses: aircraft manufacturing, aerospace equipment and systems, logistics and supply chain services; and achieved a turnover of 1.2 billion euros in 2019. With the stability provided by its family ownership, Daher has been committed to innovation since its creation in 1863. Today, present in 13 countries, Daher is a leader in Industry 4.0, designing and developing value-added solutions for its industrial partners.
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About Daher’s Aircraft Division – www.kodiak.aero / www.tbm.aero
Daher manufactures two families of single-engine turboprop airplanes: the Kodiak utility aircraft in Sandpoint, Idaho, USA and the very fast pressurized TBM in Tarbes, France. To date, a total of 278 Kodiak and 987 TBM aircraft have been delivered to international owners and operators, with the global fleet accumulating more than two million flight hours.
Press Contact:
Philippe de Segovia
Daher’s Aircraft Division
e-mail: p.de-segovia@daher.com
Office: +33 562417142
Mobile: +33 670217047
Jeffrey Lenorovitz
The InfoWEST Group
e-mail: jleno@infowestgroup.com
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