Each year we deploy an important rescue mission in the French Alps with six 7-day on-call helicopters.

SAF HELICOPTERS is a partner of the piste safety teams of several ski resorts as it makes a rescue helicopter and its crew available to them. In several “departments” SAF HELICOPTER is part of the area’s mountain rescue scheme and intervenes when called by the ALERT CENTER (emergency medical coordination centre).

In 1985 Group SAF built a large rescue platform in Courchevel 1850 where on-call teams composed of SAF’s pilots and winch operators, SMUR 73 doctors, PGHM gendarmes and CRS Montagne (both special police officers) are ready 7days a week for an increased efficiency in Savoie. Thanks to this mixed structure and the means that deployed, the rescue times have been shortened and the rescue chain has thus become extremely efficient.

Because mountain rescue is a very complex activity with hard working conditions,> our pilots have all totalled at least 2,000 hours of flight. Each crew is specifically trained and has to follow several training sessions every year.