Marignane, France, March 1, 2012

Eurocopter’s Mexican subsidiary, Eurocopter de México (EMSA), has delivered a single-engine AS350 B3 helicopter to EMSEGURIDAD-Q, Quito’s Metropolitan Public Security and Civic Engagement Logistics Agency. The aircraft will be used in law enforcement missions.

The handover ceremony took place in the Parque Lineal, in the Ecuadorian capital’s Solanda district, and was attended by EMSA representatives and senior officials from the Ecuadorian government, the Ministry of the Interior, the National Police Service and the Municipality of the Metropolitan District of Quito, of which EMSEGURIDAD-Q is a part.

The delivery of the AS350 B3, which is part of a contract signed by EMSA and EMSEGURIDAD-Q in March 2011, bolsters the agency’s resources devoted to maintaining public order and security in the city. The helicopter will be operated by the Ecuadorian National Police Service’s Air Support Unit, which has 14 years of experience in law enforcement operations and already has two AS350 B2s in its fleet.

Thanks to its speed of response and excellent visibility, the AS350 B3 is an extremely versatile helicopter capable of performing a wide variety of law enforcement missions, as well as search and rescue and medical evacuation services.

The AS350 B3 is perfectly suited to the heat and high altitude of Quito; the city is built on the slopes of the Pichincha volcano, whose peak is 4,798 meters above sea level. This member of the Ecureuil family proved itself by breaking the world altitude record in 2005, landing and taking off from the peak of Mount Everest, at an altitude of 8,848 meters. It also has the distinction of being the only aircraft to carry out a successful rescue operation at an altitude of 6,900 meters, winching a group of climbers to safety from Mount Annapurna in the Himalayas.

Powerful, safe and multi-functional, the AS350 B3 can also transport heavy loads, comes equipped with state-of-the-art technology and delivers the lowest direct operating costs of any helicopter on the single-engine market. Tremendously versatile and inexpensive to maintain, it is the popular choice for police and law enforcement operations in Latin America. This latest delivery takes the total number of AS350s in service in the region to 120, and to 559 around the world.

Source: Eurocopter
Photo: Rob Vogelaar, Z.A.P.P.