In a ceremony in Luanda on Tuesday 8th November, thirteen new pilots were presented by Angolan National Police aviation commander João Lello to general commissioner Ambrosio de Lemos.  In his speech to those present, Mr Lello said that the pilots had been trained in Brazil along with twenty maintenance engineers.  A further nine pilots and a second batch of twenty engineers continue their training in the South American country today.

The Angolan National Police has a fleet of ten Eurocopter AS350B3 helicopters, delivered from 2009 through to May of this year.

Angola is a demanding operational environment, where the climate varies from cool, dry and semi-arid to hot, humid and rainy.  Situated in South Western Africa, the country is rich in both minerals and oil with a population of around 18.5 million people.  Twice the size of Texas, with 5,198 km of land boundaries and a 1,600km long Atlantic Ocean coastline, Angola also has a vast inland plateau, where terrain elevation reaches as high as 2,000m amsl.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com