The Guimbal Cabri G2 will soon arrive in Canada for the first time, with serial 1184 now being shipped to BC Helicopters, who are based at Abbotsford in British Columbia. The red aircraft – to match the primary colour of the Canadian flag on the tail – completed its flight testing at the Guimbal factory in Aix-en-Provence last week, and engineers from the company were also present for their training too.

Company director Mischa Gelb has been recording the progress of BC’s Cabri G2 on his YouTube channel Pilot Yellow. The operator’s primary use for the aircraft will be flight training, but it will also contribute to the company’s extensive gas pipeline patrol flights as well. BC Helicopters have ambitious plans to fly the Cabri G2 about 1,000 hours per year, and that this will be the first of an expanding fleet of the type.

Co-owner Sancho Gelb is head engineer, and is confident that the Cabri G2’s design means that maintenance is very straightforward and easy.  Both are very impressed to the safety levels built in to the G2, and told HeliHub.com that they believe it “far exceeds safety ratings of any other helicopter in its class”.  To put this in context, their current fleet is two Schweizer S300CBi and one Robinson R44, so the new helicopter will take their fleet to four. The Schweizers are currently flying about 700 hours per year of which about 200 is pipeline patrol. The R44 flies about 200 hours per year.

While BC Helicopters will be the lead operator in Canada, hot on the heels of 1184 will be another Cabri G2 for Synergy Aviation, who are based at Parkland Airport, just west of Edmonton in the Canadian province of Alberta. This order was announced at Heli-Expo 2016 in Louisville.

Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com