72+94 is to become OO-DON (according to the owner he doesn't like to be called grand-dad/bon pa, but liked the idea of Don (Corleone was to long for the register
. Although it is registrered already, the helo does not have it's serial present yet. It's previous serial/constr.nr/German flag are all scrubbed, but the radio callsign and construction nr plate are still there to identify it. OO-DON will be applied matt black on the tail where her previous serial was.She is a real beauty and still has lot's of life in. The owner mentioned that she has around 9000hrs on the clock since 1969, but can easily go up to 30.000hrs. The deal came along with some spare parts such as an additional gearbox and set of blades.
Currently the final checks are being done by 2 former German Army mechanics and if all goes well, she will make a static test run tomorrow. Hopefully later this summer she will be ferried to Kasterlee for the official acceptance check flight. This cannot be done from Maastricht, as the aircraft is Belgium registered. Therefore she needs a waiver/temp. permit to allow her to fly to Kasterlee. This application is now underway.
The owner already has a lot of interest from within the airshow circuit and also hopes to use her as a platform for commercial tours/round flights.
Fingers crossed for this bird to succesfully be accepted and hope to see her fly again soon.