25 May 2005
The Nepalese government says a French pilot who claimed to have landed a helicopter on the 29,000ft peak of Mt. Everest was lying. Pilot Didier Delsalle claimed to have landed on the summit in an Ecureuil/AStar 350 B3 on May 14th.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal said that Delsalle has since admitted he couldn’t actually set down on the peak and made an emergency landing 3000ft lower on the South Col.
Nepalese officials say Delsalle’s helicopter was followed by another carrying Royal Nepalese Army soldiers who said they saw him land on the South Col.
Delsalle’s statements say he had to make an emergency landing at the South Col but doesn’t make any claims about creating a world record by landing on Mt Everest.
‘Delsalle had taken permission only to test-fly his helicopter at high altitude but not make any landing,’ Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal deputy director-general Keshav Raj Khanal said in a statement. Even if Delsalle landed on Everest’s South Col, technically it would seem invalid since he did not have permission to land for any purpose other than an emergency.
This would restore the earlier record held by the Indian Air Force. Flying an indigenously manufactured Cheetal helicopter last November, Group Captain A.S. Butola and Squadron Leader S. Sharma landed at Saserkangri in Ladakh at an altitude of just over 23,000ft.
http://www.eurocopter.com/publications/FO/scripts/newsFO_complet.php?lang=EN&news_id=317
