We learned from alpine rescuers, the pilot describes the beginnings of air ambulance

Today, the rescue helicopter in the event of a traffic accident is what we have come to regard as a certain standard. However, when we realize that this form of assistance in Slovakia started the trial operation of its first center of the air rescue service (LZS) and then only in Prague on April 1, 1987, it should cause a slight chill in the walls.

Of course, the creation of LZS in Slovakia was preceded by a long development, which can include e.g. activity of the Air Force and rescue groups, air transport of patients not in immediate danger to life secured by the aviation department of SA Aerotaxi or by the company Slovair, but especially the rescue of the helicopter in the Slovak Tatras. Unfortunately, the tragic accident of the Mi-8 machine, registration B-8021 on 25 June 1979 in Mlynick dolin in the High Tatras falls into this category, but we will talk about that later.

The professional career of the pilot Jiho Kilinka maps not only the progress of the LZS, but valuable information about the helicopter flight in Slovakia can be obtained from it, and then, in the Czech Republic, a general was established in November. It would be a shame to take only the Safeguard chapter out of this pbhu, because it is completely linked here.

I wonder how many times the fate of our hero has been touched by accident. The code revision technician of Plzeň airplanes was fascinated by him from childhood, but in 1967 his colleagues from the factory and the pilots of his mother brought him to Pielka for gliding training at the Plze-Letkov aero club.

In the second year, I met the conditions for a silver C (FAI silver badge, editor’s note), it was 50 km of pellets, 1000 meters of solid ground and a five-hour flight, Ji Kilinek recalled, adding that he was attracted by the motor flight, but there was no free capacity in the aero club . But there was a request from the Ministry of the Army: in the town of Svazarm, a military helicopter pilot was to be shot down in formation, so I immediately agreed to it, because a helicopter was a technical rarity for me.

At that time, in 1971, six sails arrived for training, and they started flying on HC-102 helicopters. And I remember her like this:

They were two-seater helicopters, the engine had a power of only 110 hp, it weighed 500 kilos fully loaded, but the problem was that when the air temperature was high, it did not fly. So we always flew only in autumn or winter.

Around 1972, Svazarm peeled from the HC-102 to the Mi-1 armored vehicles. Zlon pilots were given a bonus for the hours they had to fly. He gradually started flying C-105/Zln Z-126 Trenr airplanes and in 1975 accepted a paid position as a member of the Plze-Bory Aeroclub. But one day, a Mi-2 police helicopter flew by on his home flight and love was born.