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Thirty years ago a panoramic flight on Alouette II in Corsica

In the 1980s, Italian tourists loved spending their holidays in a Corsica that was still untouched by mass tourism. Luciano Bertolo and his wife Daniela had already been there in 1984 and 1988. In 1989, they were accompanied by friends Patrizia and Franco. Near the end of a two-week trip to various locations on the island, they had the opportunity to take a beautiful scenic flight in Porto Vecchio on a Figari Aviation Transport Alouette II, registration F-BYCX. After rising about a hundred meters, the Alouette II performed the classic steep dive to gain speed, with the inevitable descent to just a few meters from the ground. It was Daniela's favorite thrilling maneuver.

A rather dated rotary-wing aircraft, it was built in 1956 as a SE 3130 with a Turbomeca Artouste II turboshaft (F-WIEQ). It was then recertified in 1961 as a SE 313B model with the installation of an Artouste IIC and registered F-ZBAF being in service with the Civil Protection. The French registrations of the F-W series are assigned to aircraft in the testing phase. The French registrations of the F-Z sequence are assigned to aircraft owned by various civil and military government entities, but sometimes also to prototypes.

In 1956, the Marseille-based manufacturer was called SNCASE (Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Est). In 1957, following the merger with SNCASO, the company was renamed Sud Aviation. It then became Aérospatiale in 1970, Eurocopter France and Eurocopter Deutschland in 1971, and finally Airbus Helicopters on January 17, 2014.

After a few years in Corsica, the Alouette II pictured was sold to Paris-based Challenger'air. Unfortunately, on April 28, 1997, following an involuntary autorotation due to a malfunction, the helicopter crashed into the Montéclain forest (Bièvres) after take-off from Toussus-le-Noble. Three passengers were on board, wanting to admire Paris from above. The wreckage was located only the following day, and the victims were recovered.

In the picture: Aérospatiale (Sud Aviation) SE 313B F-BYCX (c/n 1657 built in 1956) of Figari Aviation Transport takes off from Porto Vecchio on August 15, 1989. (Patrizia Uberti / Aeromedia)

(Aeromedia, August 2019)