Bell Helicopter has confirmed one of its two 525 Relentless prototypes crashed while conducting developmental flight test operations, fatally injuring two of its flight test crew. The bright orange panted 525, Bell’s first Relentless prototype to fly, N525TA, came down in a field south-east of the manufacturer’s Arlington, Texas, Xworks facility in Ellis County before midday local t...
Becker Avionics has announced that Ukrainian Helicopters Aviation Company has signed a contract for the retrofit of its 28 multipurpose Mi-8 MTV-1 medium lift helicopters with the Becker DVCS 6100 digital audio system. “We are extremely excited that Ukrainian Helicopters has selected Becker Avionics for its digital communications needs,” said Thomas Terschlusen, director of sa...
The Accident Investigation Board of Norway (AIBN) has determined the fatal crash of Airbus Helicopters H225 (EC225LP), LN-OJF, on April 29 near Turoy, Norway, was most likely caused by a fatigue fracture in one of the eight second stage planet gears inside the twin-engine helicopter’s main gearbox (MGB). The AIBN’s most recent preliminary report which it released on June 28, its fou...
Russian Helicopters, part of State Corporation Rostec, delivered two medium military-transport helicopters to the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia. The rotorcraft was manufactured at Kazan Helicopter Plant. The delivery was carried out under a contract signed by Rosoboronexport. The agreement was signed in September 2015 and was fulfilled on time. In addition to...
Russian Helicopters, part of State Corporation Rostec, has received an approval to increase the take-off weight of the Ansat light multirole helicopter produced at Kazan Helicopter Plant. Russian Helicopters specialists have finished work on increasing the take-off weight of the Ansat light multirole helicopter from 3,300 to 3,600 kg. The change will increase the helico...
Waypoint Leasing has placed two new Sikorsky S-92s on lease with a global helicopter operator. “Despite a period of weak demand for oil and gas globally, and a recent shift in the market for heavy aircraft, we are receiving numerous inquiries.” Clark McGinn, Waypoint’s senior vice president of Sales & Relationship Management said: “Despite a period of weak demand...
Italy’s National Agency for Flight Safety (ANSV) has released an interim report into the October 30 2015 fatal crash of Leonardo Helicopters’ AW609 which has identified the tiltrotor prototype was carrying out a diving manoeuvre as part of flight testing required for certification when the accident occurred. Released on June 23, the interim report showed the tiltrotor, N604AG, the s...
Safran Helicopter Engines (née Turbomeca) has designed a new kind of combustor for the Arrano turboshaft, thus allowing for better operability and a simpler arrangement, the engine manufacturer announced in May. Keeping the flow swirling is key, head of combustion department Claude Bérat told AIN. The 1,100- to 1,300-shp Arrano powers the in-development Airbus Helicopters H...
The Russian and Chinese governments signed an agreement on Saturday to cooperate under a program to build an advanced civilian heavy helicopter. The deal was signed during the official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to China. The press service of the Russian Helicopters holding, part of the Rostec state corporation, said the Russian side will provide assistance to the Chinese part...
Bristow Helicopters Limited has announced the appointment of Russell Torbet CBE to the role of director of UK SAR. From 1 August, he will take responsibility for overseeing the operation of the civilian search and rescue (SAR) service on behalf of HM Coastguard. Torbet replaces Samantha Willenbacher who has been promoted to Bristow Group’s regional director for the Americas Region. Torbet...
The recently announced joint venture between Cotswold Helicopter Service and Gama Aviation has now named the base manager to lead their new Fairoaks base. Alex Hoff, with 7,000 hours flying experience, will be leading the new office when it opens in the next few weeks. His experience across helicopter types includes Robinson R22/R44, Bell JetRanger, LongRanger and 407, Airbus...
CAE announced it has been awarded contracts by the General Headquarters (GHQ) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces valued at approximately C$145 million. The contracts are for CAE to design and develop a comprehensive Naval Training Centre (NTC) for the UAE Navy and to provide the UAE Joint Aviation Command (JAC) with a suite of helicopter simulators and training devices for the NorthSta...
