Daniel Aufdenblatten

In spite of his young age (1975) Dani is one of the best qualified and exprerienced rescue pilots in Switzerland. He was trained as airline pilot by Swissair and after its “grounding” left for the US for further education as helicopter pilot. He  completed the flight instructor exams and subsequently worked as tour pilot in the Grand Canyon area.
Back in Switzerland, he flew for Air Zermatt as transportation and rescue pilot and was rapidly promoted to become Air Zermatt’s Flight Operations Manager. In 2013, Dany passed the IFR helicopter exams and updated at the same time all his other pilot licenses. He presently (2016) has registered approximately 6500 flight hours in his logbook.
Today, Dany’s main activity is as pilot on a Long Range (private) business jet but he also frequently helps out Air Zermatt as a free-lance helicopter pilot.
In 2010 during one of his pilot instructor activities in Nepal, together with the mountain guide Richard Lehner, he accomplished the highest rescue flight ever ( 21’000ft). For this incredible performance, he received the Heroism Award by Aviation week, the Golden Hour Award by the International Helicopter Association, the Diploma for Outstanding Airmanship by the FAI as well as the Prix Courage.
Dani lives in Zermatt with his wife and three children