For a safe take-off every time – Air Zermatt’s helicopter technicians in Raron
While outside the noise of a helicopter announces the launch of a rescue mission from the base in Raron, inside the background work for each mission is quietly under way. A total of eight technicians in Raron, three more in Zermatt and two members of staff in administration all work to make sure that Air Zermatt’s helicopters can take off safely and reliably at all times. This work involves precision, experience and responsibility – all of which can’t be seen as such, but can definitely be felt with every flight.
At the base in Raron, the air is filled with the smell of metal, oil and concentration. While time is often of the essence, this is not a hectic place. What we might think of as a ‘once-over’ is actually a very complex process, because at Air Zermatt, one hour of helicopter flight time means around 3.5 hours of maintenance. And this process follows clear cycles that are absolutely set in stone.
There’s the daily check – visual inspections, fluid levels, wear points, small indications of material fatigue, or irregularities that only a trained eye can spot. Then come the checks due after a certain number of flying hours. And at a certain point, the manufacturer’s specifications demand a thorough inspection. The helicopter is then more or less dismantled into its individual parts – components are disassembled, checked, measured, documented, reassembled, and tested. Every action is part of a system with the one ultimate goal of ensuring maximum safety.
A highly complex system, and zero room for error
A helicopter is not a car, nor is it an ordinary aircraft. It involves a highly complex interaction of mechanics, electronics and hydraulics. It is a system where everything is interdependent. Rotor, gearbox, drive, controls, avionics, sensors, structure – if something is wrong somewhere, there will always be consequences. In the best case, it can be spotted early on. In the worst case, only once in the air.
This is why maintaining the six Ecureuils and the three Bell 429 helicopters is not just about doing, but also about thinking – searching for causes, recognizing patterns, and identifying abnormalities. Sometimes, a noise just sounds ‘different’. Sometimes there’s too much abrasion. Or a measurement that might still be within tolerance, but is not where it was yesterday. Details like these make all the difference.
“A mistake can have fatal consequences,” says technician Christof Kalbermatter. This is not a threat, but a statement of fact that applies to even the tiniest component. And this is why there are checklists, two-person controls, documentation, and defined processes. All combined with experience, intuition and the knowledge that standards only work if they are applied by all and without exception. The technicians at Air Zermatt know their job inside and out. No wonder, because between them they bring 183 years of experience to the company.
A crew member who keeps his feet on the ground
Like his colleagues, Christof Kalbermatter is fascinated by his work – by the technology, the precision and the standards, and also by the trust is a that is a vital part of the job. “The technician is like a crew member,” he says. He might not be on board with the rest of the crew, but without his work there’d be no take-off at all.
Before the pilot can get in the air, everything has to be right on the ground. Good maintenance determines whether an important transport flight can go ahead. Whether material reaches an alp or a construction site on time. And whether every possible second can be used in a vital rescue mission, with no doubt whatsoever that the aircraft is in top form.
The technicians see the helicopter with different eyes than everyone else. Every flight leaves its traces – cold, heat, dust, wind, load changes. In Raron, these traces are read and ‘translated’. Into maintenance, into safety.
Ultimately, this is the kind of work that is rarely in the spotlight, but is reflected in every take-off. Quiet, concentrated and based on the clear principle that everything has to be perfect before the crew can take off on their next mission.
