Air-Glaciers co-founder Bruno Bagnoud has died

Bruno Bagnoud died in a single day from Sunday to Monday, Air-Glaciers instructed Keystone-ATS, returning to data from Le Nouvelliste on Monday. The Valaisan had co-founded the airline Air-Glaciers in 1965 and had directed it till 2020. Bruno Bagnoud had chosen his eighty fifth birthday to say goodbye to Air-Glaciers. A salvage firm he had based 55 years earlier with pilots Hermann Geiger and Fernand Martignoni.

At the moment, the three Valaisans had air rescue of their pores and skin and notably discovered the means to finance the primary helicopter of the Alouette III sort from Air-Glaciers. However the journey is lower brief for one of many founders: Hermann Geiger, nicknamed the glacier pilot, died in 1966 within the crash of his airplane which collided with a glider. Drama and bereavement didn’t spare Bruno Bagnoud and his firm: In 1982, it was Fernand Martignoni’s flip to die on the controls of his helicopter, after hitting the poorly marked cable of a non-public cable automotive close to the Diablerets (VD).

Learn additionally: On board an Air-Glaciers helicopter, alongside guardian angels from heaven

The painful lack of a son

However what marks the boss of Air-Glaciers with a scorching iron is the demise of his son François-Xavier. The younger man had returned to Valais in 1981 to help his father on the head of the airline, with a pocket diploma in aeronautical engineering obtained in the USA. At 23, he grew to become the youngest skilled IFR airplane and helicopter pilot in Europe. However on January 14, 1986, on the age of 24 and with 1,200 flying hours to his credit score, François-Xavier perished in a helicopter accident through the Paris-Dakar rally, alongside Thierry Sabine, organizer of the rally , and French singer Daniel Balavoine.

The circumstances of the accident, which killed 5 individuals, are controversial. Three years after the demise of their son, Bruno Bagnoud and Albina du Boisrouvray created the François-Xavier Bagnoud Basis. It perpetuates his reminiscence by financing actions that had been notably near him.

A “very clear” relationship to demise

In 2006, twenty years after the disappearance of his son, Bruno Bagnoud admitted to speaking to him day by day. “Earlier than making a call, I seek the advice of him, I’m wondering what he would have accomplished in my place,” he confided in an interview with information author. He stated he had “a really clear relationship with demise”: “I feel all of us have one hour to die. My religion and what I dwell within the rescue confirms it to me day by day”.

In 2020, Bruno Bagnoud turns a web page and his firm in a means too by saying that he desires to work extra intently along with his competitor Air Zermatt. The 2 Valais corporations wish to use synergies, whereas retaining their identities and administrators.