Shrieking Gazelles

[Savoia]

Serbian Snow Gazelle


ALAT Snow Gazelle





SA341C RA-05708 (WA1045) in Abkhazia


SA341G RA-05706 (WA1802) as seen near St. Petersburg


Russian Gazelle RA-05706 snow departure


Russian Gazelle RA-05714 snow departure

[Savoia]

As 2022 draws to a close, so too comes the opportunity to recognise those who contribute towards our little community.

My great thanks as always go to wingmen Zis and Elipix for their regular contributions which are so encouraging. I want to say an especial thank you to Zishelix for having taken over my daily contributions in recent months and which has allowed me to focus on developing the Bell 206 Group, grazie amico! My thanks also go to Jos for keeping us up-to-date with the latest Gazelle registration news. To see Jos’ constantly updated Aérospatiale Gazelle production list click here and for his latest Soko Gazelle production list click here.

Thank you to XB and Stefano for your ongoing contributions, and to all who contribute to Shrieking Gazelles, I extend my great thanks.

As in recent years, our 'Christmas Gazelle' (above) was created by Predrag, to whom we offer our great thanks. Predrag is the 'P' in MP Design Studio and if you would like to support those who support us, then why not consider buying a Gazelle simulator this Christmas. Click here to see the range of simulators on offer.

While considering supporting those who support us, it is my pleasure to commend to you Aviafora’s co-founder Phil Croucher, better known to me as 'Filippo' and who in his generosity continues to host this site, grazie mille Filippo! Filippo has authored several pilot training manuals and aviation books including the highly commended 'Helicopter Pilot’s Handbook'. Recently, Filippo has up-dated and republished his acclaimed 'Bell 206 Book' and which is a must read for anyone flying or planning to fly the 206.

Click here to see a selection of material on offer from Filippo, including the Helicopter Pilot’s Handbook, the Bell 206 Book and more.

Pursuing a PPL, CPL or ATPL? You can obtain all the necessary coursework through Filippo’s online training school, Caledonian Advanced Pilot Training. Click here to find out how Filippo may assist you.

For now, all that remains is for me to extend warmest wishes to each of our members and to all of our readers and visitors. My prayers are that you may be blessed with a peaceful Christmas and a year ahead which is filled with hope and opportunity.

Buon Natale!

Savoia

~ ~ ~
...

This Christmas Night

This Christmas night while angels sing, sweet hosannas to our King,
let us with them in heart rejoice, with loving-kindness as our voice.

For family, homes and health, the truer forms of wealth.
For precious moments of the year, for everything that we hold dear.

And so, with gifts beneath the tree now stored,
let us with thankful hearts proclaim, that Jesus Christ is Lord!

[Savoia]

Remembering Avia Members Departed

[Savoia]

This Christmas we have a feast of material for you to browse, including:

• Winter Flying — SnowRangers, an Apache snow take-off and a winter Bölkow on the current page and on previous pages a host of items including Japanese Snow Squirrels (also known as 'Yuki Risu'), MD900's in snow, a beautiful classic 47 in snow as well as a lovely Hiller in snow and much more!
• Westland Scouts — Check out this year's posts on the Scout thread including G-SCTA's new livery and for the rarest of all Scouts, the Snow Scout, check page one.
• Alouettes & Lamas — Here you will find 'Snowlouettes' (Alouette II's and III's in snow) as well as 'Lamas in Snow' together with our general offering of Alouette and Lama related news and information.
• Snowliners — Watch a 747 take-off in falling snow from Hokkaidō in Japan, check out an Airbus A319 in a lovely BEA retro livery in falling snow at Birmingham in the UK, see a truly beautiful photo of an All Nippon 747, also in Hokkaidō, as well as a snow landing and more.
• Snow Jets — Watch an F-18 (EA-18G) Growler releasing flares over snowy hills, watch the Swedish Air Force 'jet sledding', find out why a US Navy Lear Jet has her nose up in the air and more.
• Heli-Shots — A selection of photos for helicopter photography lovers.
• Milshots — For lovers of military helicopter photography including our latest offering, a US Air Force Snowhawk over Idaho.
• Russian Aviation — A selection of aircraft from Russia photographed in snow.
• Snow Trains — Time to go 'off-piste' now with a lovely collection of trains in snow. Hear the sound of diesel motors, the classic North American train horns and crossing bells (and sometimes an awful claxon too) and then watch a plough-train cast a delightful 'V' of freshly ploughed snow!
• Heli-Dogs — Dogs love helicopters too, and here's the place to appreciate them, including our latest canine companion Russian Heli-Dog 'Puma' courtesy of Avia member Kirill.
• Horses in Snow — Watch a Friesian enjoying the snow, horses on Pendle Hill in England and some horses who are less appreciative of the snow!
• Facebook Groups — Aviafora is affiliated with a number of Facebook groups including the Global Gazelle group, the Bell 206 group, Scottish Rotors for those with a passion for helicopters in Scotland and for die-hard Scout fans, the Westland Scout group.
• Sav's Sunday Post — Looking for something a little more meaningful? Then check out Sav's collection of Scripture quotes and sayings from Italian monks paired with photos of churches from around the world. And if you visit these pages then be sure go to page#1 post#1 and find out the reason for this thread.
• Last, but by no means least, Aviafora's longest-running Christmas tradition .. that of watching (twice mind you) the Courchevel Citation!

Wishing you and your loved ones a wonderful Christmas!

[Zishelix]

..........

[Zishelix]

SA342L c/n 5013 AEE-373 near Cotopaxi volcano in June 2021 (Photo: Antonio Espinel)



SA341G c/n 1097 HA-LFA as seen in Hungary in January 2011

[Zishelix]

SA342M c/n 4226/GEU over a snowy forest NFI



Air Grischa SA341G c/n WA1124 HB-XFW as seen near Mount Pizzo Tambò in the Lepontine Alps on the Swiss-Italian border in 1977

[Rotorspot]

Gazelle Registrations Reserved in Belgium

The following was published in Air-Britain News in November 2022:

OO-PVI SA341G (..) for P. van Israel
OO-VDA SA341G (..) for T. vanden Abeele

No more details (yet).

[Zishelix]

Thanks for info, Jos!

[Rotorspot]

Thanks for the additional info, XB. Any idea whether OO-PVI would have been an ex-military Gazelle?

[xbdt]

no nothing is assigned to that registration and will be available again as soon as the reservation time ends.

[xbdt]

SA342M OO-XDT quick departure from EBST:

[Savoia]

Ha ha, nice one XB! Now that's the kind of reversing take-off I 𝒅𝒐 like. 😊

[Zishelix]

SA342J c/n 1058 N342ET at Courchevel in February 2019



SA341H c/n 1079 YU-HEN as seen at Moscow Tushino Airfidld in February 2003 (Photo: Ignatiy Savranskiy)

[Zishelix]

H-45 c/n 150 A-2804 during an winter exercise in February 2011



SA342J c/n 1393 F-GCCZ as seen in France

[Savoia]

Air Zermatt SA324J(S) HB-XMU (1470) as seen in Switzerland c. 1986 (Photo by Anton Heumann)


SA341G F-WTNV (1006) as seen in the French Alps, c. 1970's


SA341 F-ZWRK (004) possibly also in the French Alps and possibly the first ever Snow Gazelle


SA341G C-GSHL (1200) as seen at Edmonton Municipal Airport in Alberta, Canada in the late 70's

[Zishelix]

............

[Savoia]

😂🤣😄

Ah well Zis, it means 2023 can only be better!

[Zishelix]

SA342M 4226/GEU over the winter forest in France



Heli Cap SA341G c/n 1122 F-BVUI as seen at Tignes glacier in the Rhône-Alpes in 1978 (Photo: Frédéric Rolland)

[Zishelix]

SA341-02 F-ZWRL in the French Alps in the early 70's



SA342J c/n 1204 F-GFDG as seen at Courchevel on 13th January 1989

[Zishelix]

A pair of ALAT SA342M's (4208/GED & 4226/GEU) as seen over the French Alps (Photo: Patrick Gillis)



ALAT Gazelle Viviane being refuelled at Camp Nijrab in Afghanistan



SA342J(S) c/n 1058 HB-ZFD as seen at Courchevel (Photo: Romain Baheu)

[Zishelix]

Serbian AF H-42 by Dimitrije Ostojic NFI



SA342J(S) c/n 1058 F-HGUN as seen at Courchevel on 11th March 2016



Air Grischa WA341G c/n 1124 HB-XFW as seen in Switzerland (Photo: Anton Heumann)

[md600driver]

Gazelle Airworthiness Directive

Issue Date: 5 January 2023

Effective Date: 19 January 2023

Applicable Aircraft: SA341G & SA342J

Subject: Replacement of Pilot's Collective Grip

https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_...AD_2023-0002_1

[Savoia]

Grazie mille Stefano! 👍

Does this mean that military Gazelles have different collective grips?

[Tasty]

I don’t know, maybe Xavier will confirm.
But military versions are not mentioned because the variants are not on the EASA list.

https://www.easa.europa.eu/en/downloads/11738/en

[xbdt]

All pilot's cyclic handles are the same on all Gazelle helicopters.

AH ASB No GAZ-67.06 Rev.1 is also covering Military version(s): B, C, D, E, F, H, K, L, L1, M, M1, Ma

I uploaded the pdf: can be downloaded here: https://file.io/IUWLlaUeEcpU

[Savoia]

SA341G F-WTNV (1006) as seen in the French Alps in the 1970's


Heli Cap SA341G F-BVUI (1122) as seen in the French Alps in 1978 (Photo by Frédéric Rolland)


SA342J D-HOPP (1695) as seen in Germany in the 1980's (Photo by Detlef Böntgen)


SA342J SE-HUN (1095) as seen at Nyköping Skavsta Airport in 2003

[Savoia]

Wishing you and your loved ones a Happy Epiphany

[Savoia]

~ Wishing our Orthodox Members and Visitors a Very Merry Christmas ~



To find out why our Orthodox brothers and sisters celebrate Christmas Day on 7th January, see here

With our thanks to Avia member Kirill for using his time (and his Gazelle) in creating this image.

Спасибо Кирилл!

[Savoia]

Avia member Kirill 'snow flying' with SA341B RA-05709 (WA1184) in Bratsk, Russia on 7th March 2021


SA341B RA-05703 (WA1524) snow landing in Russia


RA-05706 snow departure from St. Petersburg Bay

[Savoia]

ZU-RLD Rebuilt

ZU-RLD, which was significantly damaged in an accident in South Africa in February last year, appears to have been rebuilt.




SA341F2 ZU-RLD (1659) as seen at Stellenbosch Airport in the Western Cape Province in January 2023




Unidentified Gazelle as seen at Chicago's Rockford Airport in December 2022 (Photo by Chuck Belanger)

Can anyone help identify this Chicago-based Gazelle?

[Savoia]

Stay-Behind Gazelles in Libya

It appears as though some of the Gazelles brought into Libya by mercenary forces in recent years, have now been absorbed into the Libyan Air Force. I write 'some' because from sources that we have spoken to, at least one Soko-built Gazelle which had been part of the mercenary force, was removed from Libya back to the country from which it was mobilised.

From the information we have, three Gazelles have been absorbed into Libya's Air Force and to which they have given the imaginative serials, 001, 002 and 003.








Gazelles as seen in Libya and now part of the Libyan Air Force. In the above photo, the rotorhead of a third Gazelle is visible above the cabin of 003




SA342MV F-MGAE as seen at Gilze-Rijen Airbase in the Netherlands in 2012

[Fabrice]

The three Libyan Gazelles are the ones provided in 2019, to Marshall Haftar (leader of the eastern Libya-based Libyan National Army), in an attempt to bolster his forces. He concluded a deal with a private military company called Lancaster 6: this was the project Opus. The LNA was provided with three Gazelles (SA 341F2 cn1210, former Alat, the one now coded 0001, and two former AAC Gazelles AH1: 1797 and 1999) purchased in South Africa with three AS 332. But Haftar was reportedly less than satisfied with the helicopters he got, and cancelled abruptly the contract with Lancaster 6, whose staff members which were already in eastern Libya had no other choice than to dash out of the country! Eventually, the three Gazelles (and the three AS 332) entered service, bearing full national markings, in the LNA's Air Force.

[Savoia]

Bravo Fabrizio 👍 sei una stella! 👌

[Savoia]

SA341H YU-HCS (066) as seen in Serbia NFI




SA342M F-MCBF departure from Carcassonne Airport




SA342L ZU-RNB (1881) as seen landing in South Africa

[Savoia]

SA341F2 N341MH (1541) as seen in Seguin, Texas in 2023




SA341C G-CBGZ (WA1915) as seen at Lee-on-Solent on 29 December 2022 (Photo by Phillip Wilmshurst)

[Savoia]

Tecnavia SA341G F-GFCI (1206) as seen in France on 8th July 1989 (Photo by Alain Gosset)


Air Zermatt SA342J(S) HB-XMU (1470) as seen at Zurich Airport in 1983 (Photo by Heinz Meier)

[Savoia]

SA341D G-RBIL (WA1199) as seen at Church Fenton Aerodrome on 29th December 2022 (Photo by David Butler)




SA341G(S) G-EHUP (1407) as seen at Duxford in 2002 (Photo by Stuart Mitchell)

[Savoia]

SA341B G-UNNS (WA1284) as seen at Gloucester Staverton on 13th January 2023




SA342M OO-XDT (4103) as seen at Leopoldsburg-Beverlo Airfield on 11th September 2022
(Photo by Sylvie Savineau)

[Savoia]

SA341B ZB669 (WA1950) as seen at Glasgow Airport on 1st November 2022 (Photo by Rolf Jonsen)




SA341H 12712 with 12875 as seen at Vršac Airport in Serbia on 23rd September 2007 (Photo by Vlada Marinkovic)