Stratharden House
STRATHARDEN HOUSE: Private helipad (Aka BALFRON STATION)
Note: Both of these pictures were obtained from Google Earth ©
Operated by: Skyhook Helicopters
Location: Just S of the A81, just SW of Balfron Station, about 12nm NE of Dumbarton
Period of operation: 2012 (?) to -
NOTES: According to their website in January 2020, Skyhook Helicopters were operating two Áerospatiale (now Airbus) AS350 B3 Écuriel's - G-LARR & G-LBRR.
Without any doubt, within the UK, Scotland has really taken to using helicopters to transport underslung loads to remote locations. The helicopter being an ideal machine for such work. Also, according to the advertising for the AS350 this type is in a class of its own for single engine helicopters.
Indeed, it appears the AS350 B3 now still holds the World Record for 'landing' on top of Mount Everest. This 'officially' occurred on the 15th May 2005 when Airbus test pilot Didier Delsalle flew the A350 B3 F-WQEX to the summit, and hovered with the skids pressed into the snow. But here is the amazing part - he actually first did this the previous day - but the recording equipment malfunctioned. As it turned out the original information was recovered, so he also holds the record for touching down twice on the summit of Everest.
Incredibly, it appears that the only preparation for this was removing the passenger seats, to give a small performance advantage. Otherwise F-WQEX was a standard machine.
I trust you'll appreciate this accpunt if you didn't already know about it.
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