Skip to main content

Air freight

In Switzerland, an Opel delivery van had to be airlifted from a mountain, following a navigation error by its driver. The driver followed the directions given by his satellite navigation system, which told him to follow a narrow track that wound slowly upwards.
February 21, 2012 Read time: 1 min
In Switzerland, an Opel delivery van had to be airlifted from a mountain, following a navigation error by its driver. The driver followed the directions given by his satellite navigation system, which told him to follow a narrow track that wound slowly upwards. Trusting his GPS system, the man drove as directed up the narrow pathway until the vehicle could move no further. The van finally became firmly wedged between a fence and a stone wall and unable to turn around or reverse, the driver called the emergency services. They provided a helicopter to remove the van. However a local fireman praised the driver's off-road skills in negotiating the goat track in his Opel van.

Related Content

  • Rebuilding the Human Dimension
    June 18, 2012
    We meet with Dr. Essam Sharaf, the former Prime Minister of Egypt, who has been honoured as IRF Personality of the Year for 2011 On 28 March, at a moving ceremony packed with IRF friends and delegates from all over the world, the IRF Personality of the Year Award for 2011 was formally presented to Dr. Essam Abdel-Aziz Sharaf. Discerned annually since 1951, the Award honours individuals universally acknowledged as having made particularly inspirational contributions to the fields of road infrastructure and
  • Morocco’s minister for Equipment and Transport discusses the IRF Marrakech conference
    April 3, 2013
    The magic of Morocco will form an idyllic backdrop for one of the landmark events on this year’s IRF calendar: the major regional conference focusing on North Africa & the Mediterranean which is being hosted in Marrakech on 19-20 March. Abdelaziz Rabbah, the Moroccan minister of Equipment & Transport will set the tone by welcoming delegates to a special high-level segment, which will open the event in the presence of dignitaries and senior officials drawn from throughout the region. This will include keynot
  • Meet Die Autobahn des Bundes
    November 8, 2021
    Only recently has Germany created a central organisation to maintain and develop the nation’s 13,200km of motorways, called autobahns. Moving from 16 state-run operation centres to one lead centre is a challenge but essential, says Gerd Riegelhuth.
  • Efficient dozing with Liebherr
    May 6, 2022
    Bulldozers were amongst the first items of construction equipment to benefit from the use of machine control technology.