Hermann Geiger

Last updated
Herman Geiger Hermann Geiger 1958.jpg
Herman Geiger

Hermann Geiger (27 October 1914 - 26 August 1966) was a Swiss aviator and search and rescue pilot whose heroic actions gave him national hero status in Switzerland. Known as "The Glacier Pilot," he pioneered the art of landing his Piper PA-18 on glaciers in the Swiss Alps like no other. In over 600 rescue missions, he managed to land his specially modified aircraft under extreme conditions on snow-covered glaciers. He often had to carry the injured people by himself in subzero temperatures and blizzard conditions to get them safely aboard his plane. Geiger once said, "To save lives, you must risk your own". [1] He died from injuries suffered in a fatal collision with a glider at the age of 52. [2] In aviation history, Geiger is the first man to successfully land on a glacier and one of the first mountain rescuers. [3] [4]

Biography

Geigers was from Sion in Valais, Switzerland, the son of a farmer. His love of flying began at the age of ten when he went to an aviation club for the first time. He began working as a mechanic when he was fifteen at a garage. He built his own glider and took gliding lessons as a young man. In 1940, he trained to become a police officer, giving flying lessons in his spare time. [5]

He was the first man to land his plane on Kanderfirm, a 7,800-foot glacier in Switzerland. [6] He modified his Piper plane with retractable metal skies, [7] enabling him, after much practice, to land on glaciers and mountains where most would not dare. On 16 July 1953, he also successfully landed on the summit of Monte Rosa glacier. [8]

Geiger was known as the Eagle from Sion or King of Mountain Pilots. He wrote a book: Alpine Pilot first published in 1956 and translated into English by Alan Tuppen. It is a concise and interesting personal account of his achievement and joy of flying and has a real place in Alpine history alongside all the best.

Hermann Geiger was a world-renowned Gletscherpilot and one of the founders of the Swiss Air Rescue (Rega). He was the inventor of a landing technique for snow slopes to rescue climbers in distress. He led more than 600 daring rescues with his single-engine Piper PA-18 through the high mountains.

In 1958, he played himself in a semi-documentary Swiss feature film called SOS Glacier Pilot in 1959. [9]

Geiger was also a member of the Segelfluggruppe Winterthur. [10] [11] [12] [13]

On 26 August 1966, he was flying with a student at the Sion airport when they collided with a glider. Geiger died from injuries as a result of the accident. [14] A few days later, many people attended his funeral. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valais</span> Canton of Switzerland

Valais, more formally, the Canton of Valais, is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. It is composed of thirteen districts and its capital and largest city is Sion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mountain rescue</span> Search and rescue activities

Mountain rescue refers to search and rescue activities that occur in a mountainous environment, although the term is sometimes also used to apply to search and rescue in other wilderness environments. This tends to include mountains with technical rope access issues, snow, avalanches, ice, crevasses, glaciers, alpine environments and high altitudes. The difficult and remote nature of the terrain in which mountain rescue often occurs has resulted in the development of a number of specific pieces of equipment and techniques. Helicopters are often used to quickly extract casualties, and search dogs may be deployed to find a casualty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bern Airport</span> Airport in Bern

Bern-Belp Regional Aerodrome, marketed as Bern Airport, officially referred to as Regionalflugplatz Bern-Belp in German, is a regional aerodrome serving Bern, the capital of Switzerland. The aerodrome is located within the town limits of Belp, and used to feature scheduled flights to some European metropolitan and several leisure destinations. It handled 183,319 passengers in 2016, a decrease of 3.5 percent over 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sion, Switzerland</span> Municipality in Valais, Switzerland

Sion is a Swiss town, a municipality, and the capital of the canton of Valais and of the district of Sion. As of December 2020 it had a population of 34,978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swiss Air Force</span> Air component of the Swiss Armed Forces

The Swiss Air Force is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the army and in October 1936 as an independent service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rega (air rescue)</span> Swiss air rescue service

Swiss Air-Rescue is a private, non-profit air rescue service that provides emergency medical assistance in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. Rega was founded on 27 April 1952 by Rudolf Bucher, who believed that the Swiss rescue service needed a specialized air branch. Rega mainly assists in mountain rescues, but also operates in other terrains when necessary, especially in life-threatening emergencies. Rega also provides a repatriation and medical advice service for members who experience a medical emergency while abroad and local treatment is not available.

Alain Geiger is a Swiss football manager and a former player. He was last manager at Servette FC, leading them to a Champions League qualifier spot and 2nd in the championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heliswiss</span> Swiss helicopter operator

Heliswiss AG is a Swiss helicopter company with headquarters on the property of Bern Airport in Belp, Switzerland, near Bern.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Péter Besenyei</span>

Péter Besenyei is a Hungarian aerobatics pilot and world champion air racer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sion Airport</span> Airport

Sion Airport is the airport of the city of Sion, Switzerland and is located 2.5 km southwest of Sion city in the Rhone Valley. The airport opened in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oskar Bider</span> Swiss aviation pioneer (1891–1919)

Oskar Bider was a Swiss aviation pioneer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Locarno Airport</span> Airport in Ticino, Switzerland

International Locarno Airport, mil ICAO code LSMO, also known as Locarno-Magadino Airport, is an airport located near the city of Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland. It is a mixed civilian and military airport. The airfield is used simultaneously by civilian aircraft and the Swiss Air Force from the "airfield command Locarno". Although they use the same runways, the Swiss Air Force has its own taxiways and parking and a large hangar. It is located in the community of Gordola, seven kilometers east of the Locarno city center. The nearest stop to the Swiss Federal Railways is the 2 km distant station Riazzino of railway Giubiasco Locarno.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Speed flying and speed riding</span>

Speed-flying and speed-riding are advanced disciplines close to paragliding that use a small, high-performance non-rigid wing to quickly descend heights such as mountains. Speed flying and speed riding are very similar sports; speed flying is when the speed wing is foot-launched, while speed riding is a winter sport done on skis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1946 C-53 Skytrooper crash on the Gauli Glacier</span> 1946 aviation accident

The C-53 Crash on the Gauli Glacier in the Bernese Alps, (Switzerland) on 19 November 1946 was a turning point in alpine rescue and an international media event. The aircraft, coming from Tulln, Austria, bound for Pisa, Italy, collided with the Gauli Glacier in poor visibility. On board were eight passengers, among them two high-ranking officers of the U.S. armed forces, four women, and one 11-year-old girl. The crew consisted of four men. Several people were injured, but there were no fatalities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dübendorf Air Base</span> Military airfield in Switzerland

Dübendorf Military Airport was a military airfield of the Swiss Air Force northeast of Dübendorf in Switzerland, located east of Zürich.

The 2016–17 Swiss Super League, also known as the Raiffeisen Super League for sponsoring purposes, was the 120th season of top-tier football in Switzerland and the 14th in the current format. Basel were the defending champions. The fixtures were published on 17 June 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air14</span>

Air14, also named 100 years Swiss Air Force was an international air show held by the Swiss Air Force in late August and early September 2014 at Payerne Air Base, Switzerland. It claimed to be the biggest airshow in Europe of 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militär-Helikopter-Rettungsdienst</span> Military unit

The Militär-Helikopter-Rettungsdienst (MHR) was a helicopter unit of the Swiss Air Force, and belonged to the Überwachungsgeschwader. It had professional military pilots and militia part-time pilots. Its main task was to provide air medical services for the Swiss military. At the time of its dissolution the MHR was based at Dübendorf Air Base.

Air Zermatt AG is a Swiss airline and flight school based in Zermatt. The company has an office at the Aéroport de Sion in the canton of Valais and bases in Gampel, Raron and Zermatt. It employs approximately 65 people.

Ursula Bühler Hedinger was a Swiss aviation pioneer. She was the first woman from Switzerland to hold a license to fly a jet. She was also the first Swiss female flight instructor. For over 25 years, she flew for the Swiss Air-Rescue (REGA). She also established a reputation as an acrobatics pilot.

References

  1. "Herald-Journal - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  2. "Die privaten Retter Fredy Wissel und Hermann Geiger « Gletscherflug". wordpress.gletscherflug.ch. Archived from the original on 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  3. "Hommage à Geiger". rts.ch. Archived from the original on 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  4. "1966 - L'ANNÉE DE LA MORT D' HERMANN GEIGER - Air France - une Histoire d'Amour". memoireairfrance.canalblog.com. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  5. "1966 - L'ANNÉE DE LA MORT D' HERMANN GEIGER - Air France - une Histoire d'Amour". memoireairfrance.canalblog.com. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  6. Flying Magazine. 1957-12-01.
  7. "1946-1959 – Swiss Air-Rescue Rega – Emergency number 1414". www.rega.ch. Archived from the original on 2019-07-27. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  8. "1966 - L'ANNÉE DE LA MORT D' HERMANN GEIGER - Air France - une Histoire d'Amour". memoireairfrance.canalblog.com. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  9. "Hermann Geiger". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  10. "Hermann Geiger abgestürzt". Play SRF. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  11. "Geschichte des Gletscherfliegens". www.gletscherflug.ch. Archived from the original on 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  12. Weibel, Andrea. "Geiger, Hermann". www.hls-dhs-dss.ch (in German). Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  13. "Porträt des Films SOS Gletscherpilot by Thomas Staedeli". www.cyranos.ch. Archived from the original on 2016-03-28. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  14. "Hommage à Geiger". rts.ch. Archived from the original on 2017-10-10. Retrieved 2016-04-07.
  15. "1966 - L'ANNÉE DE LA MORT D' HERMANN GEIGER - Air France - une Histoire d'Amour". memoireairfrance.canalblog.com. 27 December 2009. Retrieved 2016-04-07.