Sweden’s very first Robinson R66 Turbine has arrived. The helicopter was imported from the Robinson Factory in Torrance, California, by Scandinavian Helicopter Center earlier this summer, and it is now becoming a frequent sight in Västerås. The R66 is owned by Roger Gudmundsäter, the original founder of iTell Helicopter and the previous owner of two R44s.

The R66 was assembled at Scandinavian Airtech’s maintenance base in Västerås and got its formal registration, SE-JYM, on 14 August. This aircraft is the third Robinson R66 to be registered in a Nordic country, following the arrival of a Finnish R66 (OH-HRR) in late 2014 and a Danish aircraft (OY-HPZ) earlier in 2015.

Roger Gudmundsäter says that Scandinavian Helicopter Center will use the R66 in its flight school, and that the ambition is to add the helicopter to a commercial air operator’s certificate in the near future.

The Robinson R66 is a light single-engine turbine helicopter that has been developed out of the popular Robinson R44. The type made its first flight in 2007 and it obtained its American FAA certification in 2010. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) approved the R66 in April 2014, following years of work by Robinson to answer to EASA’s technical requests. The R66 has been manufactured in approximately 700 units for the worldwide market this far.

The five-seat turbine helicopter follows the successful R44, which first arrived in Sweden in July 1996 (SE-JDG and SE-JFF). A total of 44 (yes that is a coincidence) R44s have been registered in Sweden this far and, adding to the popularity among private owners, the type has been widely accepted as a light and cost-efficient supplement in the commercial fleet of many operators since the early-2000.

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