Where did the Lama land at the highest altitude ever…

Where did the Lama land at the highest altitude ever recorded?

Short answer

In the Himalayas: during 1969 a series of demonstration flights of the SA 315B were carried out there, and in one of them an aircraft with two crew and 120 kg of fuel landed and took off again at 7,500 m (24,605 ft), the highest altitude recorded up to that point.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Where did the Lama land at the highest altitude ever recorded?

1974. Lama helicopter with spray bucket. Douglas fir tussock moth control project. Wallowa Whitman National Forest. Halfway, Oregon.

A mission for very high mountains

The SA 315B Lama was originally designed to meet a requirement from the Nepalese Army Air Service and the Indian Air Force: a helicopter capable of operating in hot-and-high conditions. It was meant to fill the need for aircraft that could operate effectively in the Himalayan mountain ranges, where existing helicopters struggled. The formula combined the Turbomeca Artouste turbine and the dynamic systems of the Alouette III with a reinforced version of the Alouette II airframe.

Landing and taking off at 7,500 metres

During 1969, a series of initial demonstration flights of the SA 315B took place in the Himalayas. In one of them, a single aircraft carrying a crew of two and 120 kg of fuel landed and then took off again at what was then the highest altitude ever recorded, 7,500 m (24,605 ft).

The absolute record of 1972

Three years later, on 21 June 1972, a Lama with Jean Boulet as sole pilot on board set an absolute altitude record for helicopters of 12,442 m (40,814 ft), a mark that still stood as of June 2022. The airframe used as a base came from the Alouette II, of which more than 1,300 units were built between 1956 and 1975 and which served in more than 80 countries, including 47 armed forces.