11/15/2020. Remarks by Walter van Tilborg and Johan Visschedijk: "The SA 315 was developed from the SA 318 and mainly intended for hot and high operations and also for use as flying crane. Development was initiated by a requirement of the Indian AF. The SA 315 used the rotor, engine and transmission of the Alouette III, and was also fitted with a 3-bladed tail rotor, a taller skid landing gear and offered reduced operating weights. Power plant was a 562 shp (derated from 858 hp) Turboméca Artouste IIIB turbine. The prototype was flown on March 17, 1969.

The second of two experimental development Sud-Aviation SE 3150 helicopters (built in 1958) was modified to serve as prototype for the production model SA 315 B, this differed in having a much taller landing gear and. The SA 315 B was built under license in India by Hindustan Aircraft (HAL) under the name Cheetah and in Brazil by Helicopteros do Brasil SA (Helibras).

The pictured helicopter was built at Marignane, France in 1982, in December of that year it was registered in the USA as N57983 to its first owner, RTS Helicopter Services Corp. of New York, New York, four months later it was reregistered as N230US. October 1983 it was registered to Mark A. Berlin (Trustee), New York.

February 16, 1990, it was registered in Canada as C-GPHQ to Peace Helicopters Ltd. at Peace River, Alberta, from October 3, 1991 to May 22, 1992 the helicopter was temporarily deregistered (leased to Venezuela as YV-732C?), while on March 16, 1994, the registration was cancelled.

In May 1994, it was registered the in the USA, again as N230US and again to Mark A. Berlin (Trustee), this time based at Great Neck, New York. Next owner became Roberts Aircraft Company at Albany, Oregon, on January 24, 1995.

On March 24, 2000, while N230US was operated on an aerial application 10 mls (16 km) west of Springfield, Georgia, by Southern States Cooperative Forestry Unit, it experienced a loss of engine power. This occurred while in an hover with an external load, 30 ft (9 m) above ground level over the loading crews. Pilot released load and maneuvered away, striking trees at approximately 18 ft (5.5 m) above the ground and collided with the ground. The pilot and ground crew escaped injuries, the helicopter sustained damage to the right skid, main and tail rotor blades, and right side of the cabin. Cause was fuel starvation, as the pilot had departed with fuel for only 45 minutes, the engine flamed out after about 50 minutes.

On December 31, 2001, it was registered to Croman Corporation at White City. The FAA register shows that on August 29, 2019, the registration was cancelled (again) and that the helicopter was exported to Canada (again), although it is not listed on the Canadian register yet."