Elite Helicopters – a British operator which has been flying for 21 years – has announced they will be opening a second base.  The chosen location is Fairoaks Airport on the south-west suburbs of London.  The company originally started flying from White Waltham airfield, but has been located at Goodwood for the vast majority of those 21 years. Elite now have an office in the same building as the control tower at Fairoaks.

Elite are offering both training and charter from the new base.  On the training side they will offer PPL(H), CPL(H), Flight Instructor courses and Type Conversion training on various helicopter types including the Guimbal Cabri G2, Robinson R22 and Robinson R44. We will also have Bell JetRanger, Bell LongRanger and AS350 Squirrel Helicopters available for Type Ratings, Differences Training and hire to qualified pilots.  The company’s Air Operators Certificate allows them to charter Robinson R22, Bell 206 JetRanger and LongRanger, Airbus AS350 and AgustaWestland AW109.  They also act as an umbrella AOC organisation for charter operations by other companies, particularly Halo Aviation.

Elite have said that Gary Savage will be “working with us on various aspects of the Fairoaks operation“, but did not go so far as giving his job title. Gary has had a long term association with Fairoaks, particularly under Alan Mann Helicopters.  He was also Base Manager at Fairoaks for Heli Air, who opened there in March 2012, although the company decided to close that base in February 2016.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com
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