A FRENCH helicopter pilot claims to have set a world record for the highest altitude landing and take-off by touching down on the summit of Mount Everest.

The feat achieved by Didier Delsalle could lead to a new chapter in mountain rescue and greatly reduce the death toll on the world’s highest peak.

Critics, however, fear the landing might devalue the ultimate mountaineering challenge and could result in an explosion of wealthy tourists “cheating” their way to the summit.

Eurocopter, the French aerospace and defence company, claims Delsalle flew a Ecureuil AS350 B3 helicopter to the 29,035ft summit on May 14.

The pilot held the skids of the aircraft on the snowy peak for three minutes and 50 seconds — one minute and 50 seconds more than what qualifies as a “landing” under aviation rules.

“It was very difficult holding it there against the wind,” said Delsalle, who will reveal further details of his exploits at the Paris air show this week. “I had almost no power in the engine because the wind was still pushing me up.”

Eurocopter said Delsalle was alone and could not get out, but the landing was filmed by an onboard camera. Its location was fixed by its GPS satellite system and verified by an official from the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale stationed at the Lukla airstrip near the base of Everest in Nepal.

The previous record for a helicopter landing at altitude was 24,600ft, set in the Himalayas in 1969 by a French Aérospatiale SA315B.

Delsalle was testing the helicopter’s capability for high-altitude rescues at the invitation of the Nepalese government, according to Eurocopter.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal, however, disputes Eurocopter’s claims. It said Delsalle’s helicopter landed 3,281ft below Everest’s summit on the South Col.

About 180 climbers are believed to have died on the slopes of Everest and many of their bodies remain on the mountain. Last weekend, Robert Milne, a 49-year-old Scot, collapsed and died a few hundred feet from the summit.

Delsalle, however, believes helicopter rescues at the top of Everest will be very rare and difficult for many years to come. “It’s not flat enough to actually land there,” he said. “It will need a more powerful machine just to carry somebody up there to jump out for a rescue. And it needs the right conjunction of conditions just to hover there.”

Sir Chris Bonington, one of Britain’s most famous climbers, described Delsalle’s landing as “sad but inevitable”.

“If you want to be on your own there’s a huge amount of other peaks to climb in the Himalayas. If a helicopter rescue can save someone’s life, that can’t be all bad, can it.”

Other climbers are less generous. One member of a New Zealand-based internet chatroom for mountaineers said: “So, if a helicopter can land on Everest’s summit, does this mean more people are going to be rescued, or that the rich and powerful can pay to get shipped up there for a glass of champagne?”

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