Rolls-Royce has reinforced its position in the light turbine-powered helicopter segment, last week signing with Innova Helicopters for the supply of the RR300 engine for the developmental C630 and formalising a long-term supply agreement with US manufacturer Enstrom. The three-year pact with Innova, part of Naples, Florida-headquartered Innova Aerospace, will see the engine maker prov...
Finmeccania Helicopters has successfully performed the first flight of the AgustaWestland AW109 Trekker – a skid-equipped variant of its popular light twin. Flown from the manufacturer’s Cascina Costa facility in northern Italy on 2 March, the maiden sortie included an assessment of the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207-powered Trekker’s handling and systems. Two prototypes...
"There doesn’t seem to be a strategy to expand the industry. We’ve been suckling too long on the oil and gas teat.” However provocative, that stray comment from one of the organising team at the HAI Heli-Expo show neatly captures the state of the rotorcraft sector. Hamstrung by a plunging oil price and allied to global economic uncertainty and shrinking government budgets...
What takes off like a helicopter, flies like a plane, and looks like something Orville Wright might dream up on mescaline? The military’s next X-Plane! On Thursday, aircraft maker Aurora Flight Sciences announced that its LightningStrike design had received the prime contract to continue the development of the VTOL X-Plane project. (VTOL stands for vertical takeoff and/or landing.) The De...
Airbus Helicopters Foundation provided support to humanitarian relief efforts following the tropical cyclone Winston that hit the Fiji Islands on 21 February 2016, killing at least 43 people and affecting 350 000 others. The disaster has left large areas of the Fiji archipelago without power, water supplies and communication and heavy rains have brought flash flooding, landslides and coastal in...
Bell Helicopter, a Textron Inc. company, today announced multiple new additions to its customer service network – continuing to provide customers with local support in every corner of the world. “At Bell Helicopter we understand the importance of maintaining the readiness of our customer’s aircraft. That is why we’ve established an industry leading aftermarket suppo...
Airbus Helicopters is continuing to deliver on its commitment to safety as its number one priority with the release of the H175 Flight Crew Operating Manual (FCOM), coming just over a year after the release of the helicopter industry’s first-ever FCOM for the H225 in oil & gas configuration. The newest FCOM, designed specifically for the super-medium H175 in offshore configuration, wa...
Finmeccanica has announced the maiden flight of the new AgustaWestland AW109 Trekker light twin-engine helicopter. A prototype aircraft took to the air for the first time at the Helicopter Division’s Cascina Costa facility (Italy). The helicopter performed as expected during the flight which included an assessment of its general handling and basic systems. A total of...
Airbus Helicopters has introduced “HForce,” a new “generic” weapon system for the H125M light single, H145Mlight twin and H225M medium twin helicopters. The newly structured offer, focused on the manufacturer’s military commercial rotorcraft, follows an “incremental” approach to arming them. It includes a variety of ballistic and g...
Vector Aerospace is now approved to repair and overhaul the tail rotor gearboxes of the Airbus Helicopters H130and EC130 B4. The Canada-based maintenance group will provide the new service from its facilities at Langley and Richmond in British Columbia, which already supports many Airbus models, including the H125/AS350, theAS355, the BO105, the H135/EC135 and th...
Following a successful Canadian demonstration tour, the first utility configured H130 aircraft is acquired by Phoenix Heli-Flight. Phoenix Heli-Flight, a charter helicopter company operating out of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, is a privately owned company known to be a regional leader, providing modern, new aircraft which enables Phoenix to supply innovative solutions to all of their cl...
Airbus Helicopters has delivered the first of two H215s to join the Finnish Border Guard fleet, announced today at the Heli Expo Trade Show, where an H215 can be visited on the static display. The first H215 arrived in Finland on February 28 following a training session at the Airbus Helicopters headquarters in Marignane, France. The second is set to arrive upon completion of a second training...
