Final Sikorksy S-64F Skycrane for Italy

Earlier this week, Erickson S-64F Skycrane N171AC (construction number 64-090) was seen at Rogue Valley International/Medford Airport (OR), USA, was seen carrying an Italian livery and titles. The firefighting helicopter is destined for the Italian Fire & Rescue Service (Vigili del Fuoco).

The Skycrane will become the sixth in the inventory of the Italian flying firemen and is expected to be delivered to the country later this year. We are currently not aware of its future Italian registration, but I-CFAN seems a logical assumption to us. (Which Italian reader has the clue?)

N171AC was built in 1970 as US Army CH-54B Tarhe 69-18482, and after decommissioning rebuilt by Erickson into an S-64F Skycrane. For many years it was flown by Erickson Air Crane as N171AC (“Copter 749”) but cancelled from the US registry on 22 May 2019. It was then used in Peru with local registration OB-2191-P, but returned to the USA (as N171AC again) afterwards. It was then sold to Italy and is now already painted in full red and white colours and carries Vigili del Fuoco (“Firefighters”) titles.

An earlier post on our Scramble Facebook page on this subject can be found here.

Photo: Marco Florian