July 1956 (1)
An Alouette II performed the first-ever helicopter rescue, at an altitude of over 4,000 meters. The flight crew—Jean Boulet (pilot) and Henri Petit (copilot)—was conducting an evaluation campaign on the Alouette II in mountain conditions when they received a call for help from a group of climbers at the Vallot refuge in the Alps. One of the climbers had suffered a heart attack and needed to be taken to the hospital immediately. Despite the risks of landing and taking off near the refuge, the flight crew decided to make the attempt. On the second try, the Alouette II was able to land, take on board the victim, and fly off to the hospital. The climber later recovered.

August 2006 (2)
August 3 and 4, 2006, are dates that will be forever remembered in the history of the Government Flying Service (GFS). Over these two days, the Hong Kong-based operator rescued 91 people in extremely difficult conditions, which also put the rescue teams at risk. It was also the first time that a Super Puma carried 32 people in a single rotation. That day, a force 3 typhoon struck the South China Sea, 170 nautical miles to the south west of Hong Kong. The crew of an AS332 L2 Super Puma readied themselves for takeoff in the GFS command and control center. Their mission was to save 23 people on board a survival vessel. A few hours later, the GFS picked up another Mayday call: 68 people returning from an oil platform were in grave danger. The Super Puma succeeded in carrying a total of 32 passengers, including the flight crew, in a single voyage back to Hong Kong while the wind continued to gust at 200 km/h. The other stranded people would be saved a few hours later.

October 2006 (3)
Three AS332 L1 Super Pumas operated by the Japanese Coast Guard saved 44 people from two floundering boats about 2 km from the port of Kashima during a violent typhoon. The ships had been capsized by 10-meter-high waves and very strong winds. The flight conditions were very difficult, and it took four hours to perform the rescue and transport the shipwrecked people to hospital. In 2006, the Japan Coast Guard saved the lives of 94 people with their AS332 L1 Super Pumas.

August - September 2005 (4)
From August 29th (when Katrina began to close in) to September 8th, 2005, the US Coast Guard deployed all its resources (helicopters, airplanes, ships, etc.), performing 23,909 rescues and 9,400 medical evacuations for a total of 33,309 people. 60% of these people were rescued by helicopters. Before hurricane Katrina struck the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, the USCG committed 16 HH-65 Dauphins from their bases in Mobile, Alabama and New Orleans. A single Dauphin crew saved 110 people in just one day. In total, the 16 Dauphins performed more than 4,000 hoisting operations and supplied assistance to about 8,000 people. For those victims who could not be moved straightaway, the helicopters also saved or helped thousands of others by distributing food and water supplies.

December 2006 (5)
The meteorological conditions off the coast of Iceland were particularly bad on the evening of December 19, 2006: The sea was rough with waves as high as eight meters, temperatures were very low, and visibility was extremely poor. A small Cypriot vessel hit the rocks by Keflavik off the Icelandic coast. A crew from the Danish Coast Guard set off immediately to the rescue, but its boat was capsized by the waves. Without delay, an AS332 L1 Super Puma from Airlift, based in Iceland, took off for the scene of the drama. Visibility was so poor that a rescuer had to be lowered by hoist into the rough sea. In the end, seven of the eight persons in danger were rescued. The Icelandic Coast Guard then proceeded to rescue the crew members from the Cypriot boat in distress.