Helicentro Sao Paulo, July 2011

Helicentro, in a quiet part of Sao Paulo, is owned and run by Ricardo Zuccolo. In 1994, using many tonnes of earth, he literally built up a hill for the heliport. This, he explained, was to allow the helipad to be above the neighbourhood both for safety and to reduce noise and pollution.
Helicentro was the first heliport in Sao Paulo. It started with the Agusta dealership, and, although that has moved to Helipark, it still has a maintenance centre for the helicopters based there.

Zuccolo has been the Brazilian distributor and service centre for MD since 2000, and is a keen pilot of the MD 500 series, 600s and the 902.
He says there is a huge potential market for the Explorer in Brazil, as it is tough, durable and cheap to run, making it particularly suitable for the police service in both their law enforcement and EMS roles.

Helicopters in Sao Paulo: Sikorsky/Schweizer, July 2011

S300/H269

Sikorsky has only two civilan markets here: off shore and training (with the Schweizer). In the military market, however, the Black Hawk is widely used.
As far as VIP helicopters are concerned, Sikorsky has only 1 S76 here which is owned by the Government of Sao Paulo. I was told that Sikorskies are too heavy for the helipads here, and that Agusta has that 'beautiful' market.

There are 104 turbine Sikorskies here, working off shore and mostly based at Macae City near Rio de Janeriro, with a few at Santos, near Sao Paulo. The oil and gas market, already well developed off Rio is in development in Sao Paulo, with, for example, the Brazilian company Lide selling 49% of its shares to the British company Bristow Helicopters.

For training the S300 is very popular but there are more schools using the R22 - cost of course.
There do not seem to be any training Enstroms here, although there were a few Enstrom 480s in the country, they do not appear to have had a good history here - with the exception of one or two in the countryside. My information on Enstroms is not particularly wide...

Helicopters in Sao Paulo: Bell, July 2011

Bell Helicopters at Helipark

Historically, Bell were market leaders in Brazil with 52% of the market in 1979, however by 2010 they only had 25% of the market, and dominance had been taken over by Eurocopter who had 39%.

Although new Bell Helicopters are occasionally bought, and the Bell 429 recieved Brazilian certification early this year, in most markets they lost dominance to other operators. In the utility market the AS350 and the R44 are preferred operators, while in the VIP market AgustaWestland is in the ascendant. Off shore Sikorsky and Agusta fight for dominance and Bell is again left behind. Sadly, this seems to be a familiar story for Bell all over the world.

Helicopters in Sao Paulo: Eurocopter, July 2011

Eurocopter started in Brazil in 1978, when Aerospatial (part of the present day Eurocopter) started Helibras in combination with a private local company. However, at the time Bell Helicopters were far more dominant in the local helicopter market.
Thirty or so years later this early interest in Brazil has paid off as Eurocopter have surpassed Bell, and the other helicopter manufacturers, to become the dominant helicopter company in the market with, in 2010, around 50% of the market share. Bell has the second largest fleet of helicopters in the country, mostly older helicopters, and Agusta has 120 helicopters, making it the third largest helicopter company here.
Eurcopter's market share increased in 2008 when they did a deal with the Brazilian Ministry of Defence to buy 50 EC725s. These EC725s will be built here in a newly built part of the Eurocopter factory at Itajuba.

Helicopters in Sao Paulo: Robinson. July 2011

Robinsons at Helipark outside Sao Paulo.

There are 300 R22s and R44s in Sao Paulo, and 450 in the whole of Brazil. A large percentage of the 1538 registered helicopters in the country.

I was told that when Marco Audi, the President of Audi Helicopters, heard that Robinson had brought out a small helicopter (the R22) he got onto the first flight to California to ask Frank Robinson for the dealership in Brazil. An extremely successful decision as history shows.

Comandante Hamilton's ENG R44 taking off from Helipark to monitor the traffic going in and out of Sao Paulo. Hamilton said he used to have a AS350, but when the Robinson company brought out the R44 he changed as the profit margin is so much better.

Sao Paulo Helicopters: AgustaWestland, July 2011.

AgustaWestlands at Helipark

AgustaWestland has a maintenance base and service centre at Helipark, Carapicuiba outside Sao Paulo.
Agusta is a growing company in Brazil with, so I was told, some 30 helicopters a year being bought for private owners who fly to their businesses in Sao Paulo.

Campo de Marte, Brazil 18th July 2011

Left to right: Vera Berthault, Rodrigo Duarte and Carolina Denardi, from ABRAPHE, the Helicopter Pilot's Association of Brazil.
Rodrigo, President of the Association, says that ABRAPHE tries to work as a mediator between the pilots and ANAC, the civil aviation authority.
Problems that exist here include the reduction of the number of helipads because of noise complaints, which has seriously reduced some pilot's livelihood, and the length of time it takes to revalidate a licence - anything up to 90 days.
These problems, Rodrigo explains, are not unique to Brazil but exist all over the helicopter world.

The 'Helicopter traffic lights' at Campo de Marte.
Campo de Marte is the 5th busiest airport in the world - according to its website - and consequently has to regulate its traffic on the ground. These traffic lights allow separation between helicopters, aeroplanes, and cars.

Gualter Garcez Pizzi, Commercial Director of Audi Helicopteros the Robinson dealer for San Paulo.
Audi have already got firm offers on 60 R66s, even though the first one is not yet in the country and certification is not due until next month. Pizzi says he could sell 20 right now if they were here and the delay is the speed of getting them from the factory. At present buyers will have to wait until November 2012.

Jorge Bitar Neto, owner of Helimarte taxi aereo, with Claudio Agostini.
Jorge started his air taxi firm in April 1999, but it began doing well in 2003, and since 2005 had increased exponentially. He started with one R22 and half a Bell 206 and now has six AS350s, three Bell 206s, two R44s and four fixed wing aircraft. He currently has just under 60 staff, of whom 19 are pilots. Although the original business was air taxi, he is now diversifing into various other areas including pipeline and external load. He was deeply involved in the rescue at Nova Friburgo, the mudslides in southeastern Brazil.

Helibras is Eurocopter's Brazilian wing based at Campo de Marte (they also have a factory at Itajuba). I am standing between Sergio Roxo, the Offshore Salesman and Carla Metne, the Marketing Manager.
Eurocopter has been doing very well in Brazil, and the whole of South America, in the last fifteen years, mostly because it has an established base in the country which all of the other big manufacturers lack. Other manufacturers have dealers but, as they explained, this is not at all the same as being part of the culture like Helibras.