On May 14, 2005, he became the first (and only) person to land a helicopter, the Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel, on the 8,848 m (29,030 ft) summit of Mount Everest.
[1] Didier Delsalle joined the French Air Force in 1979 as a fighter pilot.
On May 14, 2005, at 07:08 NPT in the early morning (01:23 UTC), Delsalle set the world record for highest altitude landing of a helicopter when his Eurocopter AS350 Squirrel touched down on the 8,848 m (29,029 ft) summit of Mount Everest.
After sitting on top of the world for 3 minutes and 50 seconds,[2] Delsalle lifted off and returned to the Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla, Nepal.
Delsalle used a virtually standard version of the Eurocopter, only removing unnecessary elements, such as passenger seats, to reduce the standard weight by 120 kg (265 lb) and thus extend the fuel range by an additional hour.