Sacha Bürgi Helicopter pilot, safety expert and CEO of Bürgi.com AG in an interview.
Air Service Basel operates its own terminal at Basel-Mulhouse Airport.
In order to make the handling of larger aircraft more efficient, Bürgi.com AG was commissioned to set up a virtual fence with surveillance cameras.
Our CEO Sacha Bürgi has been working in aviation since 1989.
He was in the Swiss army for a long time and worked for 25 years as a flight instructor for helicopter pilots and a member of the base management of Airport Helikopter AG Basel-Mulhouse.
In this interview, Sacha Bürgi talks about his career and this exciting project.
Sacha, you’ve been flying for 35 years.
How did you get into it? Sacha Bürgi: After extensive preliminary flying training as a paratrooper, in which over 3,000 candidates applied, selective procedures for admission followed, where I finally completed my training as a paratrooper in 1992, with only 25 being selected.
At the same time, I began my training as a helicopter pilot in 1992, which I completed by obtaining my private pilot’s license (H) in Basel.
In 1993, I successfully completed the professional pilot (H) theory and continued my training at the Air Transport Squadron 6 in Payerne as an air traffic control soldier during the recruit schools.
In the following years, I completed various training courses and qualified as a flight instructor with the JAR flight instructor certificate (H).
A further year later, I completed my training to become an FAA pilot, a license that only around 100 pilots in Switzerland were able to obtain. Did you also work in the helicopter sector for a long time? Yes, parallel to my flying career, I was also professionally involved in the helicopter sector.
From 2006 to 2009, I worked as a part-time transport pilot at Alpinlift in Buochs.
I then took on a part-time job as a flight instructor and base manager at the Basel base of Airport Helicopter Basel from 2009 to 2013.
From 2013 to 2018, I continued my work as a part-time flight instructor and transport pilot at Airport Helicopter Basel. 
During my career, I have gained extensive experience in the Swiss Army and in the helicopter sector, which has given me valuable skills and knowledge in flying and air traffic control.
My passion for flying and my ongoing training have made me an experienced and versatile pilot. So your flying knowledge and your current work as a safety expert flowed directly into the Air Service Basel project?
Air-Service Basel’s main area of business is FBO (fixed-base operator), which enables it to offer customers services such as handling, refueling or parking their private aircraft.
The security cameras were no longer sufficient due to outdated technology.
It was therefore necessary to replace them with new technology.
The airport taxiway gate also needed to be replaced to improve the efficient handling of larger aircraft. What was done by Bürgi.com AG? We are replacing the outdated camera technology with high-quality modern technology, including the use of a method that enables high-quality image transmission over long distances.
The roller shutter gate has been replaced by a virtual fence.
This innovative solution eliminates the need for physical barriers while meeting the airport’s strict security requirements. 
Who could benefit from this new technology? This solution can also be used in medium-sized airports such as Grenchen, Altenrhein, Sion or Bern.
With a virtual fence, you don’t have to lock any physical doors and yet you can be sure that the area is being monitored.
Another sector that could make good use of the virtual fence is logistics companies, which also rely on precise area monitoring.
Would you like to find out more about the Air-Service Basel project?
Click here for the success story.
