Queensland’s CareFlight Group in partnership with Kaan Air, a European utility operator and Finmeccanica Helicopters and Russian Helicopters distributor, have launched StarFlight Australia to provide EMS, SAR and firefighting helicopter services throughout Australasia. The joint venture company was launched at CareFlight’s Brisbane Airport base on April 8 by StarFlight chairman Ferd...
Airbus Helicopters will accelerate deliveries of its AS565 MBe Panther anti-submarine warfare rotorcraft following requests from the Indonesian and Mexican navies – its sole customers for the new variant. Initial examples were due to be handed over to the services in mid-2017, but this has now advanced to late-2016, says the manufacturer. Airbus says this has been enabled thanks to cha...
Bell Helicopter announced it has signed a letter of intent (LOI) with PT Whitesky Aviation for 30 Bell 505 Jet Ranger X helicopters. The aircraft will be used for air taxi operations throughout Indonesia and its more than 14,000 islands. The agreement was signed with PT Whitesky Aviation in Jakarta, Indonesia: Pictured: Bell Helicopter and PT Whitesky Avia...
Is the Volocopter the 'dawn of a revolution in urban mobility'? The Volocopter, a helicopter-drone hybrid with 18 rotors, took its first manned flight in Southern Germany on March 30th, the company e-volo announced. With e-volo's managing director Alexander Zosel in the cockpit, the truly strange-looking aircraft took to the skies above an airfield, hovered for several minutes, and...
The U.S. Defense Department on Thursday said it awarded Boeing Co a $922.63 million modification to a contract for 117 AH-64E remanufactured Apache helicopters for the U.S. Army. The work will be done in Mesa, Arizona, and the completion date is estimated at May 31, 2018, the department said in a statement.
Bell Helicopter announces plans to showcase the performance capabilities and luxury interior of the Bell 429 MAGnificent through a series of customer demo flights in South America. Bell Helicopter last demonstrated the Bell 429’s capability in a five-month demo tour in 2014, and customers continue to respond. To date, there are more than 60 Bell 429s operating throughout Latin Americ...
Airbus Helicopters has begun test flights for its German armed forces customer as part of a research and technology programme to develop a hostile fire indication (HFI) system. Using a modified German army Sikorsky CH-53G helicopter, the manufacturer performed the first evaluation sortie on 30 March, from Manching, to study the integration and effects on handling qualities of a number of sensor...
Airbus Helicopters has concluded its H215 demonstrator tour across the US. The aircraft was then put on static display at the Aerial Firefighting International event in Sacramento, California. The three week long tour included flights for more than 100 people, including 40 pilots. The helicopter flew 63 flight hours and covered nearly 6,000 miles (9,500 km). The H215 – previously marke...
In late March the EASA issued a Notice of Proposed Amendment (NPA) aimed at improving certification rules for helicopters operating over water. At issue is the creation of realistic requirements about keeping the aircraft upright and easing passenger egress. Comments are due by June 23, and the agency expects to publish the new regulation in the third quarter. According to the&nb...
The expeditionary group of Russia’s Air and Space Force (VKS, formerly the Russian air force) started using two new types of attack rotorcraft—the Mil Mi-28 “Night Hunter” and Kamov Ka-52 “Alligator”—in Syria. Previously, the service relied on two less capable, older types: the Mi-8 utility and Mi-24 assault helicopters. One Mi-8 was lost during a rescue o...
Bell Helicopter has been put on contract to build nine more AH-1Z Viper gunship helicopters for Pakistan, as part of a larger foreign military sales package for up to 15 helicopters and 1,000 Lockheed Martin AGM-114 Hellfire-series missiles that was approved last April. Islamabad ordered its first batch of armed, twin-engine “Zulu Cobras” under that deal in August, as part of a larg...
Dallas-based Protective Packaging Corp (PPC) has preserved a Sikorsky S-92 for Bristow Helicopters that became surplus to requirements due to the oil price downturn. The company needed to protect the aircraft from corrosion, and other environmental factors until the market conditions improve. A requirement from the operator also included the need to rotate the blades periodically du...
