HAI Convention News 3-7-11

An independent publication, solely owned by The Convention News Co., Inc., Midland Park, N.J.

MONDAY

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A PUBLICATION OF

Orlando MARCH 7, 2011 Vol. 43 No. 5

•��Compound�helos�push�the�speed�envelopeEurocopter’s and Sikorsky’s forays into the compound-helicopter segment harness the latest technology to provide speeds of more than 200 knots for a relatively low cost. Page 4

•��Milestone�logs�nearly�$205�million�in�salesSince Richard Santulli launched the leasing firm in August, the com-pany has closed $141 million in transactions and holds letters of intent for $64 million more. Page 10

•��Uniflight�developing�RR500�STC�for�B206Installation of the 475-shp Rolls-Royce 500–which could begin in 2013–will boost performance and reduce costs, according to Uniflight. Page 11

•��Senators�move�to� limit�helo�operationsLanguage in the senate version of the FAA Reauthorization bill seeks to restrict operations over Crater Lake National Park and over the Long Island corridor. Page 14

•��Timken�transmission�gets�pilots�homeArmy Apache pilots stationed in Afghanistan find out that the Timken main gear box will, indeed, run for 30 minutes without oil. Page 18

•��GA�leaders�outline�industry�challengesBudget cutting and potential limits on airspace access rank high among the concerns of industry leaders. Page 23

•��HAI�honors�helicopter�pilots�and�mechanicsThe association is awarding its Salute to Excellence and Golden Hour awards this evening. Pilots and mechanics from the U.S. Coast Guard are among the honorees. Page 28

HAIConvention News®

Bell intros new 407s, for civil and military ops by Mark Huber

Bell Helicopter unveiled two new versions of its 407 single here at Heli-Expo yesterday. The 407GX features a Garmin G1000H glass cockpit, while the 407AH is a $5 million commer-cially available armed helicop-ter developed primarily for the export market. It will be avail-able to qualified customers directly from Bell, as opposed to via contracts from the U.S. Defense or State Department.

The GX’s G1000H system can be configured to include HTaws, TCAS, synthetic vision and electronic maps, ADS-B, high-speed data bus, global worldwide weather and con-nectivity and displays all elec-trical, engine and engine power parameters, all on a pair of 10.4-inch LCD displays. Optional kits include the Garmin GDL 69AH XM weather and radio,

Opening day draws a crOwd

Attendees crowded the hall yesterday for the opening of this year’s Heli-Expo. The event has certainly delivered the excitement attendees expect, with the introduction of several new models. Manufacturers continued the momentum, announcing deals for aircraft throughout the day yesterday.� n

Eurocopter unwraps its newest EC145by Nigel Moll

With dry ice, bright lights, loud music, CEO Lutz Bertling in the cockpit and four glamorous passengers in helmets and flight suits, Eurocopter rolled out its newest helicopter here at Heli-Expo shortly after the convention opened yesterday morning. The EC145T2 introduces a fenestron, new engines, a new main gearbox and what Bertling described as “25 percent more mission performance” than its predecessor. Four opera-tors have already signed up for 17 copies of the new helicopter.

The EC145T2 takes a platform well proven by the 2.8 mil-lion hours logged by the BK117/EC145 and replaces the origi-nal Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 turboshafts with dual-Fadec Arriel Bell’s 407GX is equipped with Garmin’s just announced G1000H glass cockpit. The

Bell installation will be the first certifcation of the G1000H in a helicopter.

AW�sees�growth�in�orders,�revenueby Kirby J. Harrison

AgustaWestland CEO Giuseppi Orsi had reason to smile at Saturday night’s press conference, pointing out that the Milan-based manufacturer delivered 111 commercial helicopters in 2010 and the commercial order book showed an increase of 56 percent when compared with 2009.

Offering a chart tracking market share, Orsi said AgustaWestland’s share has grown from 11 percent in 2004 to 29 percent in 2010. More recently, he said, “AgustaWestland has been growing at more than three times the rate of market growth.”

Citing a jump in total revenue from $4.832 billion in 2009 to $5.060 billion in 2010, Orsi credited in part a 43-percent increase in AW139 orders and a combined commercial and military order book for 230 helicopters valued at $4.443 billion.

He further noted a 25-percent increase MA

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Eurocopter’s newest helicopter, the EC145T2 unveiled yesterday morning, has already added 17 helicopters to the manufacturer’s order book.


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D20429-1BLHBC1017470BELL-00065AD-MagazinePark Prepress

HAI Show Daily Tabloid Spread - Day 2 - 407AH

A. KopczykN/AN/A

P. HopersbergerN/A

NA26.625"x 13.875" .125"4C

300100%100%RFTC00332_C108550_Bro

Harper/HalasN/ADuerrN/A

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MaasRichardsN/AN/A

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6 1 2/21/11

Call 800-FLY-BELL or visit www.bellhelicopter.com to findthe solution that’s best for your mission-specific needs.©2011 Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. All rights reserved.

Discover innovative mission solutions at Bell Helicopter during HELI-EXPO® 2011. Explore the robust technology of our 407AH commercially qualifi ed armed helicopter, off ering performance in parapublic andmilitary applications, along with the exclusive Garmin G1000H™ glass cockpit on our 407GX. Experience our Garmin fl ight simulator and touch-screen interactive media displays. We’re on a mission to show you what you’ve never seen before. Visit us at booth #237. On a Mission.

Bell Helicopter Event ScheduleBooth #237

Sunday, March 6Time Event Title Presenter

11:30 – 12:00 Product Unveiling John Garrison – CEO

Seeing Clear: The Future of12:00 – 12:30 Avionics Applications Peter Elliott

Product Performance: Extending the Capability of12:30 – 1:00 the Bell 412 Ernie Senn, Jr.

More Up Time, Less Cost: Reducing Direct Maintenance1:00 – 1:30 Costs Warren Moseley

Classic Aircraft, Classic Missions: Operating More1:30 – 2:00 with Less Ross Johnson

Transforming Customer Service: One Stop for2:00 – 2:30 Seamless Support Jay Ortiz

Evolution: The Helicopter Emergency Medical Services Carl Crenshaw and2:30 – 3:00 Market Mike Milhorn

Past, Present and Future Demands in the Off shore Oil Mike Suldo and3:00 – 3:30 and Gas Market Dan Pope

Monday, March 7Time Event Title Presenter

Integrated Training Solutions for the Next-Generation Pilot10:30 – 11:00 and Maintainer Trey Wade

Enhancing Your 206L Mission: Increase Gross Weight an11:00 – 11:30 Additional 300 lbs. Mark Kocurek

WAAS: Applying Global Navigation11:30 – 12:00 Systems to Helicopter Operations Will Fulton

Raising the Stakes: Addressing Future Challenges in Corporate Jeanette Eaton and12:00 – 12:30 Transport Dan Pope





More Up Time, Less Cost: Reducing Direct2:30 – 3:00 Maintenance Costs Warren Moseley

Call of Duty: Advancements in Carl Crenshaw and3:00 – 3:30 the Parapublic Mission Dan Berndt

Tuesday, March 8Time Event Title Presenter







BELL00065_D204291_407AH_Sprd_R06.indd 1 2/25/11 10:29 AM

D20429-1BLHBC1017470BELL-00065AD-MagazinePark Prepress

HAI Show Daily Tabloid Spread - Day 2 - 407AH

A. KopczykN/AN/A

P. HopersbergerN/A

NA26.625"x 13.875" .125"4C

300100%100%RFTC00332_C108550_Bro


C. CocozzoliN/AN/AJ. Grosfi eld

MaasRichardsN/AN/A

N/ABollin

6 1 2/21/11

Call 800-FLY-BELL or visit www.bellhelicopter.com to findthe solution that’s best for your mission-specific needs.©2011 Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. All rights reserved.

Discover innovative mission solutions at Bell Helicopter during HELI-EXPO® 2011. Explore the robust technology of our 407AH commercially qualifi ed armed helicopter, off ering performance in parapublic andmilitary applications, along with the exclusive Garmin G1000H™ glass cockpit on our 407GX. Experience our Garmin fl ight simulator and touch-screen interactive media displays. We’re on a mission to show you what you’ve never seen before. Visit us at booth #237. On a Mission.

Bell Helicopter Event ScheduleBooth #237

Sunday, March 6Time Event Title Presenter

11:30 – 12:00 Product Unveiling John Garrison – CEO



More Up Time, Less Cost: Reducing Direct Maintenance1:00 – 1:30 Costs Warren Moseley





Monday, March 7Time Event Title Presenter



WAAS: Applying Global Navigation11:30 – 12:00 Systems to Helicopter Operations Will Fulton






More Up Time, Less Cost: Reducing Direct2:30 – 3:00 Maintenance Costs Warren Moseley


Tuesday, March 8Time Event Title Presenter







BELL00065_D204291_407AH_Sprd_R06.indd 1 2/25/11 10:29 AM

High-speed compound helos push the flight envelopeby Thierry Dubois

Eurocopter (Booth No. 4637) and Sikorsky (Booth No. 2737) have suc-cessfully demonstrated the feasibility of a high-speed compound helicopter, but using different configurations. Sikorsky’s X2 reached its target of 250 knots last September in West Palm Beach, Fla., and also met vibration and workload tar-gets, according to the U.S. manufacturer. A few days later, Eurocopter unveiled its

X3 (X cube) in Istres, France, with a 220-knot speed goal.

Both the X2 and the X3 are taking advantage of 21st-century technology to develop the relatively old compound concept. Both claim to be less complex than a tiltrotor, and their main appli-cations will likely be military and com-mercial, respectively.

Sikorsky is exhibiting the X2 tech-nology demonstrator at Heli-Expo. X2 team members, including chief test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck, are prepared to field questions from attendees, a Sikorsky spokesperson told AIN.

The aircraft is a compound helicop-ter featuring two counter-rotating coaxial main rotors and a pusher propeller.

The X2’s flight test program is com-plete. “With all of our key performance parameters met, we will be moving our attention and resources to the [military] S-97 Raider program,” the spokesper-son said. There is no longer a plan to fly a full hub fairing on the X2, which was expected to afford an extra 15 to 20 knots.

The 250-knot speed was the program’s main objective since launch in 2005 and was attained in level flight. The X2 even

reached 260 knots in a shallow dive. Pro-gram officials said they are happy with the aircraft’s aerodynamic performance. The vibration level, as hoped, is said to be similar to that of the Black Hawk mil-itary transport at its cruise speed of 140 knots. Pilot workload is relatively low thanks to the fly-by-wire control system.

Sikorsky president Jeff Pino announced the construction of two prototype X2

Raiders late in October. The U.S. Army will evaluate the prototypes for armed recon-naissance. The X2 Raider will have a two-pilot cockpit and space for armaments and auxil-iary fuel or troops. First flight is planned in 2014. The proposed helicopter model to be devel-

oped from the X2 Raider is the S-97.At last year’s Heli-Expo, a Rolls-Royce

official accidentally and publicly alluded to the “Eurocopter X3.” About six months ago, the European company unveiled the X3, designed to cruise at 220 knots–about 50 percent faster than today’s medium twins. The aircraft made its maiden flight on September 6. It was built from a Dauphin helicopter airframe, with two short wings and two propellers

in puller configuration. A conventional empennage replaces the tailrotor.

The X3 is doing “surprisingly well,” Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling said recently, noting that it reached 180 knots at reduced power in November. The air-craft’s flight envelope was expanded to 12,500 feet and up to 60 degrees in bank. Bertling also said the development simu-lator the pilots have been flying for two years has been very helpful.

Profitable to OperateThe first test phase is complete and the

engineers are now investigating all critical parts. The main gearbox, adapted from the EC175 medium twin, is being upgraded to accommodate full power from the air-craft’s two Rolls-Royce RTM322 engines. Fadec software is also being modified.

The helicopter manufacturer believes it has found a sweet spot at a target speed that, although slower than the Sikorsky X2’s 250 knots, will still make the X cube profitable to operate. The 220-knot optimal speed also helps meet the goal of keeping operating costs low. The design is inher-ently more efficient and the fuel burn (per passenger mile) is said to be similar to that of a conventional helicopter flying at 140 knots. And by spending less time in the air for a given trip, maintenance costs per flight should be lower. The bottom line should be a 20-percent cut in per passenger mile costs.

The price premium of a commer-cial X3 should not exceed 25 percent more than the price of a conventional helicopter equivalent. Hoped-for civil applications for this high-speed, long-range concept include search and rescue, border patrol and commercial passenger transport, especially offshore. Military ap plications are under consideration, too. An application in the 20-seat category would weigh about 29,000 pounds–4,000 more than today’s EC225. The first appli-cation of the X3 concept may be in service in six years from now, Bertling estimated.

A combination of technology develop-ments enables the X3 innovations, flight test engineer Daniel Semioli explained to AIN. The engines are now power-ful enough, without excessive fuel burn. Manufacturers have a better command of materials, both metals and composites. Finally, test equipment, especially teleme-try, is more sophisticated. Engineers can thus conduct a test campaign without too many problems. o

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editor-in-cHieF – R. Randall Padfieldeditor – domestic sHoW editions – Matt ThurberProduction director – Mary E. MahoneyProduction editor – Jane CampbellPress room administrator – Annmarie YannacotHe editorial team

Charles AlcockThierry DuboisKirby J. HarrisonMark HuberDavid A. LombardoNigel MollHarry WeisbergerJames Wynbrandt

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Hai convention news is a publication of The Convention News Co., Inc., 214 Franklin Ave., Midland Park, NJ 07432; Tel.: (201) 444-5075. Copyright © 2011. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission of The Convention News Co., Inc. is strictly prohibited. The Convention News Co., Inc. publishes aviation international news, ainalerts, ain air transport Perspective, ain defense Perspective, ainmxreports, business Jet traveler, bJtwaypoints, dubai airshow news, ebace convention news, Farnborough airshow news, Hai convention news, meba convention news, nbaa convention news, Paris airshow news, singapore airshow news.

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HAIConvention News®

Sikorsky’s X2 (above) has reached 260 knots in a shallow dive, while Eurocopter’s X3 (left) despite having a slower top speed, promises better fuel burn and reduced operating costs.

EurocoptEr Ec175 in flight tEst

Eurocopter is currently flying two EC175 prototypes, and is expecting EASA certification later this year, with deliveries to begin next year. Eurocopter is partnering with China’s Avicopter on the medium twin.

The EC175 is directed at a diverse clientele, including coastal patrol. At last year’s Heli-Expo the company unveiled an SAR concept demonstrator of the helicopter that included a 360-degree search radar, an electro-optical system, high-intensity searchlight, two class-one rescue hoists, bubble windows and additional aircraft lighting.

Eurocopter says the EC175 is ideally suited for SAR because of its large cabin and extra-wide sliding passenger doors. The cabin area is large to enough to accommodate multiple casual-ties and an extensive amount of medical equipment, while the doors ease hoist operations.

The EC175’s avionics suite, integrated and designed by Eurocopter, also complements SAR operations. It includes a digital four-axis automatic flight control system linked to the flight management system that provides area navigation and automatic search patterns. –M.H.

www.garmin.com

©2011 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries1 NOTE: Some listed capabilities may be optional equipment. Check with manufacturer.

2 Subscription required for optional XM weather (sold separately).3 ARINC 429 radar altimeter interface.

NASDAQ GRMN

Introducing the Garmin G1000H™.It’s a new glass age for Bell Helicopters.

Featuring 3-D HSVT™ “synthetic vision” technology and HTAWS terrain

alerting1 with voice annunciation, this new Garmin suite brings the

ultimate in glass cockpit capability to the Bell 407GX. The G1000H’s

integrated avionics technology enhances pilot situational awareness

by consolidating all primary flight, navigation, terrain, obstacle, traffic,

radio frequency and engine data on large 10-inch PFD and MFD

displays. Other highlights include: Large moving maps with detailed

topography; available XM™ Satellite Weather2. Airport diagrams. Radar

altimeter interface3. And there’s even input for optional FLIR or live-cam

video monitoring – as well as future capability for automatic speech

recognition (ASR) and 3-D audio. Garmin G1000H: It’s the best in glass for

Bell Helicopter. And we’re truly thankful and proud to be onboard.

Follow the leader.

09928 G1000H Ad-AIN_HAI Day2.indd 1 2/10/11 1:30 PM


TilTon Bullish on MDh ProsPecTs

Lynn Tilton, CEO of MD Helicopters (Booth No. 1618) gave an upbeat assessment of the Mesa, Ariz.-based company’s near- and long-term prospects at a Heli-Expo press conference yesterday. Several major sales agreements that could keep the production line at capacity for the next four years are near consummation, according to Tilton. Among the prospective deals: a collaborative production agreement to provide the majority of the airframe for Boeing’s AH-6i light attack/reconnaissance helicopter for the global market and a contract with a six-nation EMS program in the Middle East to provide 50 to 75 MD902 helicopters and support over 10 years. –J.W.

Robinson looks toward resurgenceby Mark Huber

Following a watershed year that marked the retirement of company founder Frank Rob-inson, the certification and first deliveries of its new R66 tur-bine single and its worst sales numbers since 1987, Robinson Helicopter (Booth No. 2928) is positioning itself for strength-ening sales and new product development. “I can’t think of anything bad to say,” Frank Robinson said at a press con-ference here before turning the podium over to his son, Kurt.

Frank Robinson retired on August 10 as president and chair-man of the board. He founded the company in 1973. Kurt Rob-inson has worked at Robinson since 1987. He holds an under-graduate economics degree from the University of California, San Diego as well as an MBA and law degree from the University of San Diego and is a licensed commercial helicopter pilot. He said his management style would be collaborative. “We have a team of people here now who run the company and my role is to work with that team.”

Kurt Robinson faces immedi-ate challenges. Just two years after

posting record annual deliveries of 893 helicopters, Robinson Heli-copter saw its 2010 sales plummet to 162 units. The total included 10 R66s, 40 R22s and 112 R44s. Robinson’s robust spares busi-ness allowed it to maintain 1,000 employees during the downturn. The company also completed a 132,000-sq-ft plant expansion at its Torrance, Calif., site, bringing its total square footage under roof there to 617,000. “It allows us to increase our manufacturing capac-ity,” the younger Robinson said.

Last year the company antic-ipated making 300 helicopters in 2011. The total includes an esti-mated three-per-month produc-tion of the newly certified R66 turbine single. Robinson said sales are exceeding that projec-tion and that the company is cur-rently making seven helicopters per week; one R22, four R44s and two R66s. Robinson said that the company already had delivered 20 R66s and anticipates increas-ing the helicopter’s production rate to three or four per week shortly. Robinson has signed 51 dealers for the R66 and has orders for 130. Robinson said the company is striving to sell several

hundred of the turbine singles annually. “We are growing more confident by the day,” he said. “As you go forward you don’t stop if you have a vision and you know where you are going.”

Robinson said the company is evaluating glass-panel avionics for the R66, but that a decision would likely wait until after the R66 is certified in additional foreign markets and completes certifica-tion work on float, law enforce-ment, cargo hook and electronic news gathering packages. He said there are no plans to pursue an IFR certification for the helicop-ter, but added that it is currently undergoing cold weather and blowing snow testing in Canada.

The company received FAA certification of the R66 on October 25 and announced that the base price has increased to $798,000. Recently it received FAA certification for factory air-conditioning on the helicop-ter, a $23,000 option.

The 42-pound unit has a 17,000 BTU/hour cooling capac-ity. Air is distributed through an overhead console with vents for each seat. The system is con-trolled via a toggle switch with low and high fan settings and uses approximately three horse-power during operation.

The evaporator and fan are mounted under the aft center seat, maintaining all four under-seat baggage areas. The compressor engages when the fan is switched on and automatically disengages during autorotation entry to max-imize glide performance.

An R66 equipped with air-conditioning is on display in the Robinson booth at Heli-Expo. o

Robinson R66 Shines in the Details

Put an R44 and R66 side-by-side, and the key differences are immediately apparent: the R66’s eight-inch taller mast and eight-inch wider cabin. Thanks to the angled installation of the Rolls-Royce RR300 (below right) that pow-ers the R66, Robinson engineers, led by chief engineer Peter Riedl, were able to carve out a 300-pound, 18-cu-ft baggage compartment directly under the rotor mast, so cargo doesn’t have much effect on center of gravity location, according to chief test pilot Doug Tompkins. Pilots like the baggage storage area under the R44 seats, and even though Robinson had to meet the latest dynamic seat crashworthiness standards, Riedl and his team were able to re-tain storage areas under four of the R-66’s seats (the fifth seat in the cen-ter rear has no storage). “We’re the only manufacturer able to pass the latest crashworthiness and still retain some of our baggage space,” Tompkins said.

The R66 tailrotor is two inches larger in diameter, so the total helicopter length is one inch longer than the R44. Tailrotor blades are about a half-inch wider in chord, and the tailrotor hub is redesigned to reduce vibration, with a thinner hub but beefier bolts. The R66 incorporates the “whale tail” auxiliary stabilizer used on the float-equipped R44. The tail keeps the nose from rising during autorotation.

Another improvement deserving attention is a handy airspeed limitation chart mounted on the cyclic for easy viewing during flight. The chart is printed on a housing (below left) that rotates so the applicable temperature and limitations can be viewed easily, instead of having to squint at a hard-to-see sticker mounted elsewhere in the cockpit. –M.T.

sealeD wiTh a shakeCharles Alesi of Florida Coast To Coast Helicopters (left) takes deliv-ery of a Flyit Standard Professional Helicopter Simulator from Flyit chairman Terry Simpkins at Heli-Expo yesterday.

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ensTroMs heaDeD To JaPan

On February 25 in an elaborate ceremony at Sendai, Japan, Enstrom Helicopter delivered the first of 30 Rolls-Royce 250-powered TH-480Bs ordered by the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force for training up to 60 pilots a year. On the opening day of Heli-Expo, papers were signed here for handover of the second aircraft, and eight

more will follow next year, 10 in 2013 and the final 10 in 2014, company president and CEO Jerry Mullins (left, in photo) told AIN. Mitsuo Hattori of Aero Facility, Enstrom’s repre-sentative in Japan, signed the paperwork here in Orlando on behalf of the customer. Mullins has been president and CEO of Enstrom since 2003, when he was hired by the Swiss indi-vidual who bought Enstrom Helicopter in 2000. –N.M.

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Introducing our newest innovation:

Eurocopter Exhibit #4637

Consider the Cutting-Edge.Sharpened.

EC145 T2

euro_POST_teaser_AIN.indd 2 2/18/11 4:01 PM

z Sandel Display Updates Aussie Kiowa PanelThe Australian Army has chosen Sandel Avionics’ four-

inch flat-panel primary flight and navigation displays to upgrade its fleet of Bell 206B/OH-58 Kiowa helicopters. Redesign of the legacy OH-58 instrument panel and installation work was accomplished by Sikorsky Helitech in Brisbane, Queensland.

The 4-ATI SA4550 PFD and SN4500 nav display feature a 180-degree viewing angle and high sunlight readability. The self-contained, panel-mounted units can interface with nearly all digital or analog aircraft. For the Australian military application, optional analog and digital Tacan interfaces are included, along with certification to demanding DO160F helicopter gunship vibration standards. Night-vision-imaging system compatibility, another option, is also included on the Australian OH-58s.

An Australian Army spokesman said a follow-on order for the Sandel displays is planned later this year. “This selection further confirms the value of our 4-ATI units for military retrofit,” said Jerry Henry, director of sales for Vista, Calif.-based Sandel (Booth No. 3518). “We’re pleased that our commercial off-the-shelf products can provide reliable performance at a reasonable price.”

z DAC and Cobham Sign HeliSAS Sales AgreementDAC International, part of Greenwich AeroGroup, has

entered into an agreement with Cobham S-Tec under which DAC will distribute Cobham’s HeliSAS autopilot and stability augmentation system for light and medium helicopters in Europe, South America, Australia and New Zealand.

Cobham received FAA TSO certification for the HeliSAS in 2009 and received STC approval for installation and VFR operation in the Bell 206 and 407 on March 4. Cobham (Booth No. 4028) expects to receive approval for installation in the AS350 and EC130 by mid-year.

HeliSAS is a two-axis altitude-hold, attitude-command flight-control system designed to help with aircraft stability, hold altitude and heading and couple with onboard navigation equipment. Installation requires approximately 40 manhours.

The HeliSAS is billed by Cobham’s Mineral Wells, Texas, division as “lightweight” (15 pounds) and “affordable” (price to be announced). The system is on display at Booth No. 1259.

z Brazilian Military Police Go for Armored Huey IIBell Helicopter (Booth No. 237) and helicopter mods specialist

LifePort (Booth No. 2737) teamed to develop a customized, advanced armament solution for a Huey II now in service with the Rio de Janeiro Policia Militar. The customized armor adds security for pilots, passengers and crew.

“The Rio military police perform some of the most dangerous and difficult parapublic missions,” said Larry Roberts, Bell Helicopter senior v-p. “Our number one priority was to provide the Rio police with a solution that offered them the highest level of safety and performance capability.”

Four pilots from the Rio military police took a two-week training course at the Bell Helicopter Training Academy in Alliance, Texas, to become familiar with the armored helicopter.

z Columbia Helicopters Wins CARB CertificationColumbia Helicopters (Booth No. 1017) announced that

the Commercial Airlift Review Board (CARB) recently certified the Oregon-based company for Department of Defense (DOD) passenger and cargo operations.

With this and prior certifications, Columbia is now eligible to bid on a more comprehensive variety of contracts for heavy-lift helicopters for all U.S. government agencies.

“The verbal comments I got from the actual audit team were that we didn’t just do well, we excelled,” said Columbia Helicopters president Michael Fahey. “This will open up whole new areas of opportunities for our company.” Columbia claims to own and operate the world’s largest privately held fleet of heavy-lift helicopters.


2011 on course to eclipse previous Heli-Expo showsby James Wynbrandt

“It’s going to be a really big show,” HAI chairman David Chevalier (CEO of Blue Hawai-ian Helicopters) told attendees yesterday morning at the annual general membership meeting and breakfast that kicked off Heli-Expo 2011.

In fact, with more than 600 exhibitors and almost one mil-lion square feet of display and meeting areas, this is the biggest Heli-Expo ever, featuring sev-eral new activities and events. These include an aviation asso-ciation town hall meeting with CEOs of major alphabet groups, live streaming of forums to a global audience via the Inter-net, and perhaps most excit-ing, a heliport adjacent to the convention cen-ter that will be in oper-ation throughout the gathering.

The breakfast meet-ing set the tone for an action-packed gathering. Keynote speaker first-term Senator Mike Lee of Utah, whose father-in-law founded Rocky Mountain Helicop-ters and brother-in-law founded Mountain West Helicopters, said, “The helicopter industry is at the cutting edge of the United States economy, moving high-end goods and people in a way no other machine can get them there.”

But the senator, co-sponsor

of a proposed balanced bud-get amendment, stated that the growing federal deficit could ultimately reduce funds available for defense, fighting forest fires and other spending that many HAI members rely on. “I fear it could affect your industry first and foremost,” he said, mak-ing a case for a balanced budget and reduced fed-eral spending.

In the Q&A session following his remarks, the senator was asked his thoughts on recent sales of American avi-ation companies, such as Tele-dyne Continental and Cirrus

Aircraft, to Chinese-controlled interests.

“Because we live in a free-market economy, we can’t prohibit other people from buying American companies,” he said, while noting a need to protect intel-lectual property cre-ated with federal funds. “I don’t think there’s anything we can do or

should try to do particularly to prevent foreign companies from buying U.S. companies. We should be doing things to restore prosperity so we can buy their interests, as well.”

HAI president Matthew Zuc-caro gave attendees an update

on the state of the organiza-tion and its current initiatives. With close to 2,900 members, 91 international affiliates and solid finances ($37 million in the black), HAI is stronger than ever, Zuccaro said.

During the past year HAI has been working with the FAA Safety Team (FAASTeam) to develop helicopter-specific safety and training programs for EMS, air tour and firefighting opera-tors. With expanded video and

broadcasting capabili-ties, HAI continues to produce safety and edu-cational videos.

Furthermore, the association’s 21 work-ing committees con-tinue to develop recommendations for policy makers and pro-vide information for use in congressional tes-

timony by HAI leaders. And perhaps most important, the organization continues to be a vital link connecting all mem-bers of the helicopter industry.

“Our strength as an industry is in our unity,” Zuccaro told AIN before the convention. “The thing that’s apparent to us, everybody is experiencing the same issues, concerns and problems, and the solution is out there somewhere, and working together is the key to finding it. So that’s the value of networking we offer.”

Zuccaro also noted one rea-son why Heli-Expo is such an important event. “This is where deals are made, this is where sales occur: aircraft sales, major service contracts and compo-nent parts sales. So there’s real business here,” he said. o

news clips

And we’re off!

HAI president Matt Zuccaro presided over the ribbon cutting ceremony marking the official start of Heli-Expo 2011 Sunday morning. The show is expected to attract more than 20,000 visitors over the course of the three days.

HAI President Matt Zuccaro

Senator Mike Lee

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z Clutch on Breeze-Eastern Rescue Hoists Improves Coast Guard Helicopter Safety Breeze-Eastern of Whippany, N.J., announced that the U.S.

Coast Guard (USCG) has almost completed upgrading the rescue hoists of more than 100 HH-65 multi-mission cutter helicopters with Breeze-Eastern’s reactive overload clutch. The clutch is a next-generation improvement, according to the company, and provides a significant safety advantage over slip-clutch technology.

While slip clutches prevent cables from snapping under gradual increases in pressure when they exceed load limits, the reactive overload clutch will protect cables from snapping in the event a sudden exceedance occurs.

During the USCG’s evaluations, a hoist was subjected to free-fall drops of loads of various weights and distances under a wide range of operational conditions. The tests found the new clutch would prevent a shock load from breaking the cable.

“Breeze-Eastern is proud to bring this product to the U.S. Coast Guard and make it available to all of our commercial and military customers who are doing important, lifesaving work,” said company president and CEO Mike Harlan. “Contributing to safe operations is Breeze-Eastern’s top priority.”

The reactive overload clutch is available on new hoists and as an aftermarket upgrade. Breeze-Eastern (Booth No. 3631) also manufactures winches, cargo hooks and weapons-lifting systems.

z Professional Aircraft Accessories Invests In Test CellProfessional Aircraft Accessories (Booth No. 1359/1360) has

invested approximately $500,000 in a new rotorcraft test cell to facilitate transmission overhauls. According to Professional Aircraft president Robert Bial, the service is now being offered in both the military and civilian marketplace.

A Greenwich AeroGroup company, Professional Aircraft offers a variety of other rotorcraft services at its Titusville, Fla., facilities. It is an FAA- and EASA-approved Part 145 repair station specializing in repair and overhaul of helicopter powertrain components, landing gear, accessories, instrumentation, radio and radar avionics and airframe components.

z Global Aerospace Adds Insurance AppAviation insurer Global Aerospace of London announced

the launch of its FlightDeck iPhone/iPad app at Heli-Expo 2011, enabling users to access the company’s insurance services via these mobile devices. Global Aerospace is demonstrating the app throughout the convention at its booth (No. 823).

The FlightDeck app provides easy access to the company’s eCert certificate processing system, including the ability to save certificates directly onto FlightDeck’s documents folder for later retrieval and printing.

The app also includes contact information for all Global Aerospace offices and key contacts. The EU insurance-limits calculator enables users to determine minimum liability limits for travel within the European Union based on aircraft weight, number of passengers, and baggage and cargo.

Users can also submit a light aircraft claim using their iPhone or iPad, connect to the company’s Web site or access an emergency checklist. And through an iTunes direct link, users can also save documents securely on these mobile devices.

z AAR Airlift Adds Two Sikorsky S-92s to Its DOD FleetAAR Airlift, one of the largest providers of intra-theater transport

for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has added two new Sikorsky S-92 Helibus helicopters to its fleet of 29 rotary-wing and 20 fixed-wing aircraft providing airlift services to the government.

The S-92s are being used in support of a $450 million contract for super-heavy airlift services for USTRANSCOM. Putting the Helibuses into service marks a major milestone for AAR Airlift, as it expands and optimizes its fleet to serve a wider range of Department of Defense airlift requirements. AAR’s fleet now is capable of serving medium, heavy and super-heavy airlift categories.

AAR (Booth No. 1600), headquartered in Wood Dale, Ill., also provides a variety of value-added products and services to the worldwide aerospace and government/defense industries.

news clips Milestone expects to top $205M in aircraft leases by Charles Alcock

Milestone Aviation Group (Booth No. 4042), a global finance company focused on providing leasing of high-value helicopters and private jets, announced at Heli-Expo 2011 that it has closed $141 million in transactions for 27 new and used helicopters since the com-pany was launched last August. In addition, it currently holds letters of intent for an addi-tional $64 million in aircraft, bringing the total of firm and expected business to $205 mil-lion. The company expects to close a transaction on its first business jet, a Gulfstream G450, this week, founder and chairman Richard Santulli told AIN here at Heli-Expo 2011 yesterday.

The company is providing leases to helicopter operators in Mexico, the U.S., India, Canada, Europe and Brazil, including Aeroservicios Especializados of Mexico; CareFlite, Grand Prai-rie, Texas; Global Vectra, India; Helijet International, Vancou-ver, B.C.; Inaer of Europe; and Omni Taxi Aereo of Brazil. These operators use helicopters in a range of industries, such as offshore oil and gas, EMS and government contract transport.

After leaving his posi-tion with the NetJets frac-tional ownership company in August 2009, a company he also founded, Santulli said he had no idea what he planned to do next. However, before starting NetJets, he had been head of the Goldman Sachs leasing group and founder of the highly suc-cessful RTS Helicopters, a leas-ing company, so he knows the aircraft leasing business well. “I have leasing in my DNA. I really have a passion for it,” Santulli told AIN. “I knew there weren’t any companies focusing specifi-cally on leasing helicopters, so I saw an opportunity.”

Fellow founders were CEO William Kelly and managing director Robert Dranitzke, and both former senior executives with NetJets Europe. In fact, all seven members of the Milestone management team are former NetJets people. The company is headquartered in Ireland and has a U.S. office in Columbus, Ohio. Santulli works from his home in New Jersey, but trav-els a lot. He owns a share of a NetJets Falcon 2000, which he bought for his personal use

while he was with the company.Milestone provides dry leases

in which it carries 100 percent of the financing and residual value risk on the new and pre-owned aircraft it buys. “We want to avoid people having to go

through credit committee hell,” Kelly said, referring to what can be a torturous process for getting leases approved. “There is just a small group of people involved and we make quick decisions.”

The new firm’s main area of focus is what Kelly called “work-ing-class helicopters,” mean-ing aircraft involved in activities such as offshore support and logging. He said that helicop-ters involved in fields like these hold their value well. Milestone expects 70 percent of its business to be outside the U.S., with a strong focus on Africa and Asia.

For helicopter operators, Milestone’s pitch is that leas-ing equipment reduces risk and conserves working capital, as well as offers tax advantages and improves cash flow. “It also eliminates end-of-useful-life has-sles, and these days even finding financing to cover 20 percent of the purchase prices can be tough so leases can ease strapped bal-ance sheets,” he explained.

While raising launch capital for Milestone, Santulli visited the First Reserve private equity group, which owns CHC Heli-copters. Back in 1993, Santulli had bought some Eurocopter Super Pumas for CHC at $5.5 million apiece. The aircraft are still in service and First Reserve now values them at between

$6.5 and $7 million.“There are very few dry les-

sors like us in the helicopter sec-tor, and the manufacturers don’t provide much financing,” Kelly said. “We’re not into the VIP market because that fluctuates a lot, but the working-class heli-copters are in demand all the time and all around the world.”

Milestone Aviation is backed by $500 million in capital from the Jordan Company and Nautic Partners private equity groups. The company is expected to

raise further equity next year and in the next five or six years wants to lift the value of its portfolio to between $4 billion and $5 billion.

Milestone also intends to be active in leasing fixed-wing air-craft. These could account for around 20 percent of its port-folio and will mainly consist of private jets aged between one and five years in the class of the Bombardier Challenger 300 and larger. o

Dart Helicopter Services (Booth Nos. 4628 and 5328) signed an agreement to dis-tribute Heli-Enterprise mainte-nance work stands and spe-ciality tools for helicopters throughout the world.

Heli-Enterprise products in-clude the patented Engine Ex-tractor, a portable hoist that can be used to remove engines, transmissions and rotor heads from helicopters in any location, according to the company. The Extractor folds up and fits inside most helicopter cabins.

Other Heli-Enterprise tools covered by the agreement in-clude maintenance stands, blade racks, Nightsun racks, work ta-bles and dollies for almost every model of helicopter. v

AT THe BOOTHs

Former NetJets honcho RIchard Santulli sees a booming business in aircraft finance with Milestone Aviation Group, the company he helped found less than a year ago. To catch AINtv’s interview with Santulli, log on to www.AINtv.com.

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Uniflight developing RR500 STC for Bell 206by Mark Huber

Uniflight (Booth No. 2654) is develop-ing a supplemental type certificate (STC) to install the 475-shp Rolls-Royce RR500 in the Bell 206. The $599,000 (2011 dol-lars, less engine core credit) STC includes the RR500 engine, new engine cowl-ing and exhaust, Donaldson inlet-bar-rier filter and diffuser-vent filter and a Sagem eight-inch multifunction display for engine instruments. Uniflight CEO Joseph Hawke said the company hopes to have the STC certified in early 2013, shortly after Rolls-Royce receives the type certificate approval on the engine.

Hawke sees an eventual market of up to 30 conversions annually, with initial orders likely coming from Bell 206L LongRanger operators, “who are still thirsty for addi-tional power.” He said that replacing the stock RR250-C20B engine with the RR500 would reduce direct operating costs of the

helicopter by an estimated $24 per hour, thanks mainly to reduced maintenance costs and longer overhaul intervals.

The time between overhauls (TBO) on the RR500 increases to 2,000 hours for the hot section and first- and second-stage turbine wheels and to 4,000 hours for the power turbine and compressor. This com-pares to the RR250-C20R’s TBO of 1,750 hours for the hot section and first- and second-stage turbine wheels and 3,500 hours for the power turbine and compres-sor. The life of the single-stage titanium impeller is measured in cycles and the limit for it has been set at 15,000.

Uniflight has hired Frank Shallene, a retired Bell program manager and pro-pulsion engineer, as an FAA designated engineering representative, to develop the STC. Shallene said the new engine would give the 206 significantly improved per-formance. “The climb rate will be quite a bit better. Maximum payload will increase by 400 to 450 pounds. High/hot performance is going to be a stemwinder.” Christopher Fultz, Rolls-Royce RR500 program director, said the new engine can provide more than maximum contin-uous power from sea level through 20,000 feet within current transmission limits at “pretty significant temperatures.”

Rolls-Royce plans to accelerate its test-ing program for the engine. To date, only one engine has been tested. It was run for

20 hours before inspection tear down. A second engine is being built and readied for automated endurance testing, sched-uled to begin in the next few weeks.

The initial engine test was absent of anomalies, and Rolls-Royce engineers plan to monitor the performance of the RR500’s new gearbox and lubrication system, among other variables, in the accelerated and automated tests. Fultz said certification testing should begin in June 2012 and take approximately seven months. He added that Rolls-Royce is

working “to try and improve fuel con-sumption” of the engine, estimated at slightly more than 27 gph. However, “It is a bigger engine and it has more power, so it takes a little more fuel.”

Hawke said that fuel consumption would not be a big factor in a prospec-tive customer’s decision to upgrade. Uni-flight plans to distribute the STC through authorized dealers and their affiliates and already has signed dealers in Canada (Skyline Helicopter Technologies) and Australia/New Zealand (HeliCenter). o

www.ainonline.com • March 7, 2011 • HAI Convention Newsaa11

sharing sikorsky stories

Sergei Sikorsky, the eldest son of Sikorsky founder Igor Sikorsky, talks about his father’s aviation sucesses during a special session yesterday here at Heli-Expo 2011.

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New safety tools on tap from EMS pilots group

The National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA) is showcasing two online safety programs at Heli-Expo 2011, developed in collaboration with

two helicopter industry safety organizations: Aerosafe Risk Management and Alertness Solutions. NEMSPA expects both programs to enhance

safety in the air medical trans-port industry and commercial helicopter operations in general.

NEMSPA (Booth No. 5711) and Aerosafe Risk Management (Booth No. 5710) have developed an interactive Web site designed to provide pilots, dispatch cen-ters, facility managers and disaster response agencies with up-to-date, detailed helicopter landing zone

information through an online database. The database includes information on each listed heli-pad, including its environment and permanent as well as transient hazards to flight in the vicinity.

NEMSPA is also displaying Z-Coach here at Heli-Expo, a fatigue management program developed by Dr. Mark Rose-kind and Alertness Solutions.

Z-Coach provides knowledge, strategies and tools to help users obtain optimal sleep and alertness, resulting in improved safety. Z-Coach is accessible online, and the program can be tailored to the needs of individ-ual users. NEMSPA is the exclu-sive distributor of the Z-Coach fatigue management program to NEMSPA members. –H.W.

Rockwell’s helo boxes to contain Sandel software

Sandel Avionics’ HeliTaws terrain warning and avoidance technology, introduced at Heli- Expo 2010, has been adopted for inclusion in Rockwell Collins’ line of integrated rotorcraft avionics systems under a long-term agree-ment between the companies.

Sandel’s proprietary TrueAlert adaptive algorithms are at the heart of technology that Gerry Block, the company’s founder and CEO, says virtually elimi-nates nuisance alerting in low-level helicopter flight.

The original Sandel ST3400H HeliTaws is a panel-mounted display with integral processor that combines the terrain database, radar altimeter, GPS and air data information to present the pilot with a color-coded map of the helicopter’s immediate environs and its present and predicted flight path. The 3-ATI unit is a direct form, fit and function replace-ment for a radar altitude indicator.

Sandel Avionics is demon-strating the ST3400H at Booth No. 3518. –H.W.

China inaugurates heliCopter showChina is launching its own

helicopter show. The China Heli-copter Exposition 2011 (Booth No. 503) will be held Septem-ber 15 to 18 in Tianjin and is sponsored by the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) and its Avicopter division. Currently China has a population of 1.4 billion but has only 200 civil helicopters. Avi-copter has a major helicopter research and production facility in Tianjin and Chinese officials have previously stated the goal of eventually building indige-nous heavy, medium, and light helicopters at the facility. � n

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Senators move to restrict helicopter operations

Two U.S. Senators have inserted lan-guage into the FAA Reauthorization bill that circumvents the normal channels governing airspace regulation for specific areas in their home states.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) added an amendment to the bill that allows the National Park Service to stop air tours over Crater Lake National Park without first preparing an air tour management plan, as required in every other national park. Wyden has long opposed air tours in the park.

Meanwhile Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) has taken his quest to rearrange helicopter flight corridors over Long Island to a new level. His amendment would compel the FAA to implement

the proposed “North Shore Route” over Long Island Sound and a minimum alti-tude of 2,500 feet for the route within 12 months. Schumer’s amendment gives the FAA the legal authority to imple-ment the route, which had been roundly criticized by the helicopter industry. Last year, HAI president Matt Zuccaro called it “unprecedented, dangerous and unjustified” and noted that most of the noise complaints were coming from just a handful of individuals. –M.H.


Enstrom’s 480B, as seen on display at the company’s booth, can serve a wide variety of roles, from aerial sprayer to law enforcement to executive transport. The single-engine turbine helicopter is certified in 16 countries.

Enstrom makes China returnby Nigel Moll

With the recent sale of a 480B turbine single to Wuhan Helicopters, Enstrom has returned to the Chinese market. It was in the early 1990s that the Menom-inee, Mich.-based manufacturer first sold helicopters into China when Wuhan Helicopters imported some of the first civil certified helicopters–Enstrom 280FXs used by the Wuhan Police and Enstrom 480s for agricultural spraying. Wuhan still operates a rare turbine-powered TH-28 for agricultural spraying and other commercial work.

The 480B recently ordered by Wuhan Helicopters will also be fitted with spray-ing equipment (an Isolair system), as well as Garmin GPS and a Safe Flight power-line detection system.

Michael Powell, president of Isolair, noted that there is a flow control in the cockpit for easy and fast adjustment

of spray volume. “The tank mounts under the belly, and the entire assem-bly–pumps, booms and all–attaches with only a few quick-disconnect pins. This means the helicopter can quickly be reconfigured for other duties with a minimum of fuss.”

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Timken transmission gets Apache pilots homeby Kirby J. Harrison

Jim Hardy is one of those mili-tary pilots out of the John Wayne mold in the classic film, “The High and the Mighty”–quiet spo-ken, at home in the air and deter-mined to bring his aircraft and his passengers home safely.

His story unfolds one night in eastern Afghanistan in 2002 as a flight of Army Apache AH64As were providing security cover-age. A rocket-propelled grenade attack left Apaches from the 3rd Battalion, 101st Airborne, badly damaged, in enemy country and 50 miles from the forward arm-ing and refueling point.

The ship flown by chief war-rant officer Hardy and CW2 Stan-ley Pebsworth took small arms fire and shrapnel from a rocket-propelled grenade that damaged the weapons and night-sighting systems. In worse shape was the Apache flown by CW3 Keith Hur-ley and CW3 Stu Content, whose

aircraft was also hit by small arms fire and a rocket-propelled gre-nade. In addition to losing the weapons system, their transmis-sion cooler housing had taken rounds and was hemorrhaging oil at a frightening rate, a main rotor blade tip was shredded and the fuel cell was leaking from the damage.

The two-ship flight linked up and was returning to the forward arming and refueling point when things went from bad to worse. Hurley had doubts that the aircraft were capable of making the distance, and a suit-able place was picked to land and assess the damage.

On the ground, six spare quarts of oil were poured into Hurley’s transmission, little enough for a housing that typi-cally carried 13 quarts and was by that time running on empty. “We had always heard that the Timken transmission would run for 30 minutes without oil, but nobody was particularly

inclined to test it,” said Hardy.As the senior pilot, Hardy

switched helicopters with Hurley. There was never a thought, said Hardy, to leaving the helicopters and heading back on foot. “First of all, it was a long way to walk.”

Hardy also remembered being on duty in 1993 when Somali

militia shot down two U.S. Army Black Hawks and to the cheers of onlookers dragged the bod-ies through the streets of Moga-dishu. “I remembered how they ‘celebrated’ and it was a simple act of defiance when I decided these guys were not going to get me or my crews or my helicopters.”

Both crews were also aware that abandoning one of the heli-copters would also mean a dan-gerous recovery attempt for someone else.

As they took off, it was in the back of Hardy’s mind that autoro-tation, requiring operational flight controls and electrical power, was

Timken Aerospace Gears Up for Growth

Timken Aerospace Aftermarket Solutions’ $400 million in annual revenues represents a relatively small portion of parent Timken Company’s $4 billion total, but the Mesa, Ariz.-based aftermarket specialist is aiming higher as it moves into the new decade.

Among the more recent moves by the group is an ex-pansion of its engine overhaul business, which now includes Rolls-Royce 250, Honeywell T53 and Pratt & Whitney Can-ada PT6T Twin-Pac and PT6A turboshaft PMA (parts manu-facturer approval) parts manufacturing, repair and overhaul. In recent months, the group also opened a new engine facility in Mesa that combined the assets of its Tucson works and a smaller repair shop already established in Mesa. The new shop is dedicated to engine and drive train overhaul.

The group now claims some 2,000 different FAA- approved PMA replacement parts, from turbine blades to compressors. Timken also supplies most of the parts that drive overhaul costs, including wheels, combustion liners, nozzles, bearings and gears. It also offers in-house casting, vacuum molding and machining capabilities.

At its Heli-Expo 2011 exhibit (Booth No. 1306), Timken will be featuring newly developed helicopter parts with a primary focus on transmission and rotor head parts.

A major part of the aftermarket group’s long-term strategy is expansion by acquisition. Since 2005, it has snapped up a half-dozen companies with a considerable collective expe-rience in aftermarket products. Among them are: CAM, a helicopter drive-train specialist; Bii, bearing repairs; Sermatech International, turbine compressor specialist; and Purdy, with expertise in gears, gearboxes and transmission capabilities.

In 2008, Timken acquired Extex of Gilbert, Ariz., which brought under the Timken umbrella a number of Rolls-Royce 250 and P&WC PT6T PMAs, along with foundry and component machining experience.

Most recently the group has added the assets of Alcor Engine, also of Gilbert, Ariz. With more than 20 trained aviation technicians, Alcor produces direct replacement parts for aviation gas turbine engines and components. As a newly formed subsidiary, Alcor has been rebranded Timken Alcor Aerospace Technologies. –K.J.H.

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no longer an option. “If the acces-sory gear box goes, then the flight controls go and the electrical sys-tems go,” he explained. At that point, the Apache would have taken on the flight characteris-tics of a dodo bird.

As they pressed on, Hardy and Content hoped that Tim-ken’s assurance of 30 minutes of operation with a dry transmis-sion was accurate. Twenty-six minutes later, both helicopters landed safely at the ammuni-tion and refueling point–the helicopters somewhat the worse for the wear, but with no inju-ries to the crews.

“There are very few times when everything depends on a single piece of equipment func-tioning as advertised,” Hardy told AIN. “This was one of them.”

“Hardy’s story, said Timken v-p of aerospace and defense Erik Paulhardt, “is an awe-inspiring reminder that the tech-nology Timken delivers often is involved in risky operations and sometimes heroic events, in civil-ian and military service alike.”

At Heli-Expo 2011, CWO Jim Hardy is a guest at the Timken exhibit (Booth No. 1306). o

Rockwell collins PRo line 21 Makes

its Debut in s-61

The Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics suite, long a staple in fixed-wing aircraft, has made its first rotorcraft appearance, in a Sikorsky S-61 retrofit program.

The installation of the Rock-well Collins integrated display system by Toronto-based Vec-tor Aerospace consists of two 10-inch by eight-inch primary flight display units, TWR-850 weather radar with turbulence detection, AHS-3000A attitude heading reference system, TDR-94D mode-S transponder with ADS-B out capability and a dual display control panel.

The Pro Line 21 installation in the S-61 is fully upgradeable for future airspace and technol-ogy requirements.

A full line of rotorcraft avion-ics is on display at the Rockwell Collins booth (No. 4306). Pro Line 21 components include options such as the integrated flight infor-mation system with electronic charting, XM satellite weather and enhanced maps. –H.W.

AgustaWestland makes strides into Chile, South Korea, Canada

AgustaWestland is expand-ing its global presence with deliveries in Chile, orders from the South Korean government and appointment of an inde-pendent sales representative in Canada.

The Finmeccanica com-pany recently delivered an AW119Ke single-engine heli-copter to Chilean operator Firefly. The delivery marks the entrance of the AW119Ke into the Chilean helicopter market, where it will be used as a cor-porate transport.

AgustaWestland had previ-ously sold and delivered four law enforcement AW109 Power light twins to the Carabineros de Chile.

Along the Pacific Rim, the Republic of Korea has selected the AW139 for the Incheon fire department. In addition to fire-fighting chores, the helicopter will be used in emergency medical service, air rescue and transport missions. It will be equipped with belly-tank fire fighting equipment, a Bambi water bucket and a rescue hoist. The cabin will be

configured to accommodate 12 passengers. Delivery is expected in 2012.

In the North American market, AgustaWestland has appointed charter operator Lon-don Air Services of Vancouver as its sales representative for Can-ada. The agreement represents one of the latest moves to further strengthen and expand Agus-taWestland’s position in North America. London Air Charter operates three AW139s as part of its air charter fleet. –K.J.H.

AgustaWestland’s AW139 will be soon be a common sight in the skies above Inchon, South Korea.

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LA law to get Cobham EFISCobham will provide synthetic vision-

based EFIS to retrofit the Eurocopter and Bell fleets of the Los Angeles Police and Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Depart-ment. LAPD operates 14 Eurocopter AS350B2 and five Bell 206 helicopters, while LASD has 14 AS350s.

The aircraft will receive Cobham’s NVG-compatible two-screen EFIS, which displays GPS, helicopter terrain

awareness/warning system and radio tun-ing information and accepts data from a flight management system. The suite will, beginning this year, integrate with the HeliSAS autopilot and stab augmen-tation system from the Mineral Wells, Texas, Cobham autopilot operation.

LAPD operates the largest munic-ipal airborne law enforcement fleet in the world, while the sheriff’s department

covers 3,100 square miles from the Pacific shoreline to the Mojave Desert.

Cobham is at Booth No. 4028 this week to debut a two-place helicopter cockpit sim-ulator featuring large-format 3-D synthetic vision symbology and automated flight control functions. Cobham’s former Wul-fsberg operation in Prescott, Ariz., is also featuring a “significant enhancement” to the Flexcomm RT-5000 tactical transceiver.

Covering all current and future P-25 public service frequencies, the new RT-5000P has front panel channel selection, a new scan function and requires only a single antenna. Existing RT-5000 trans-ceivers may be upgraded to RT-5000P functionality without wiring, antenna or part number changes. –H.W.


Avionics provider Cobham’s new integrated cockpit simulator features 3-D synthetic vision symbology, audio and radio systems, and the HeliSAS autopilot and stability augmentation system.

Emteq tapped by ONR for blade tip lighting

The Pentagon’s Naval Research office has selected Emteq to create a rotorblade tip lighting system. The program’s goal is to develop and build a reliable, light-weight system that can be modulated to provide red, green and white navigation lights at the appropriate position on the azimuth: a hover mode that clearly marks the rotor disk’s circumference to ground crews and a low-observable night-vision-goggle-compatible mode that could be used in night formation flight.

Over the next six months, Emteq will complete the program’s phase 1 feasibility study. Phase 2 of the program, scheduled for later this year, involves fabrication and testing, while phase 3 transitions to flight-qualified technology.

The technology is appealing, said Emteq government systems program manager Ryan Paffel, because it will enable flight crews and ground person-nel to “visualize the complete span of the rotor blades in a variety of configura-tions” in low light and marginal weather and in crowded and chaotic environments such as those encountered during ship-board operations. The system is called the

modulating rotor tip light (MRTL) and it sequentially flashes the appropriate color LED tip light at the correct rotor posi-tions of the rotating blade (red on the left, green on the right and white to the rear).

The MRTL enhances rotor blade visi-bility three ways, Paffel said.

“The tip light path appears as long stripes of light rather than individual beacons. The improved LED technol-ogy offers high intensity light output and a minimal weight and installation foot-print, he said. “Finally, the lateral sepa-ration between red and green lights can be as large as the rotor diameter. In some cases that is five times larger than the width of the fuselage.”

Paffel said the system will not induce flicker vertigo because the passage fre-quency of the rotor blade exceeds the crit-ical flicker fusion rate. “Moving tip lights from successive blades appear to the human eye as continuous bright stripes of light on the rotor disk,” he said.

The MRTL can also enhance mission safety by providing enhanced modes of tip path lighting such as white for civil operations or infrared for covert mis-sions, making the tip path highly visible during taxi, takeoff and landing, as well as during sustained formation flight.

While significant, Paffel said these benefits are secondary to the technol-ogy’s primary mission of developing position lights that provide increased operational safety. –M.H.

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FSI to expand int’l P&WC turboshaft training network

In the “near future,” FlightSafety (Booth No. 5106) will be adding Pratt & Whitney Canada turboshaft engine training to centers in Curitiba, Brazil; Johannesburg, South Africa; Melbourne, Australia; and Beijing, China. The com-pany currently offers training for the PT6B, PT6C, PT6T and PW206/207 at centers in Dallas/Fort Worth, Wichita, West Palm Beach, Montreal, Toronto, Paris Le Bourget and Singapore. Courses for the new 1,000-shp PW210 series will be introduced in the fourth quarter this year.

FlightSafety is here showing its Vital X simulator visual system, enhanced for more realism in helicopter train-ing. “Visitors to FlightSafety’s exhibit at Heli-Expo will be able to view newly created high-resolution scenes devel-oped specifically for EMS and offshore operators,” said George Ferito, direc-tor of rotorcraft business development. “We have also developed visual scenes

for news gathering, law enforcement and other mission-specific training that will be available at our learning centers.”

The new low-altitude visuals include mountainous terrain, accident scenes, pinnacle landings, airports, hospital heli-pads and obstacles (such as power lines, trees and bridges). An oil rig visual is complete with lighting, articulation of the model and sea-state animations, all designed to enhance training realism.

Vital X features continuous high-reso-lution imagery for what FSI describes as “exceptional realism, with tens of thou-sands of processed elements and mil-lions of features integrated into animated scenes of the real world. The system sup-ports hundreds of six-degrees-of-free-dom fully articulated moving models and 3-D sea states and is capable of present-ing environmental conditions experienced during all phases of flight, including phys-ics-based atmospheric and weather effects and continuous time-of-day operation.”

Since 1978, FSI has delivered more than 700 visual systems and close to 800 simulators. In the last five years alone it has developed sims for 60 different aircraft types. The company combines its Vital X PC-IG with its cross-cockpit Crewview displays for aircraft with side-by-side crew seating; for single-pilot fighter sims there is the Wasp (wide-angle single pilot) display. The Rigid Mirror Crewview

enhances visual clarity and brightness, says FSI, while eliminating image degra-dation and edge-band distortion.

FlightSafety is also promoting its cock-pit resource management (CRM) training for helicopter operations. Aimed at heli-copter pilots, flight assistants, air ambu-lance crews, maintenance personnel and flight ops specialists, the four-hour course

covers human factors, teamwork, commu-nication, situational awareness, aeronauti-cal decision making, leadership and safety.

FlightSafety has 15 full flight simula-tors for American Eurocopter, Bell and Sikorsky helicopters at learning centers in Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas; Lafayette, La.; Tucson, Ariz.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Farnborough, England. –N.M.


Bell expects More 429 orders at Heli-expo

Through the beginning of March, Bell had delivered 21 of its new $5.51 million 429 light twins. Bell senior vice president Larry Roberts said the company antici-pates that 81 of the helicopters will be delivered by the end of 2011 and he expects several new orders for the helicopter to be announced at Heli-Expo. Roberts said the company has made “very good progress” on developing a wheeled 429 variant and expects that work to be completed late this year or early next year.

Bell’s campaign to shave weight from the 429 is continuing. To date those efforts have removed about 80 pounds from the helicopter. “We want more out of it,” Roberts said. Our goal is to get to 3,000 pounds of useful load. There are an awful lot of activities going on behind the scenes to get this done.”

The 429 currently has a maximum useful load of 2,755 pounds (single-pilot IFR) and is certified to a 7,000-pound maximum gross weight (internal). Roberts said the helicopter has room for growth beyond that number. “The 7,000-pound limit is not a performance limit, it is a certification limit.” –M.H.

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The orange fuselage and 72-foot rotor span of an Erickson S-64F make the helicopter hard to miss on the show floor. The twin-turbine helicopter specializes in heavy lifting and fire suppression.

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JetNet touts new data productsCorporate aviation information pro-

vider JetNet (Booth No. 3621) is pro-moting its new CRM and iQ services. CRM (customer relationship manage-ment) is a Web-based contact man-agement system for the company’s Evolution customers; iQ is a forecast-ing and “premium advisory service” for business aviation professionals.

CRM gives users access to JetNet’s

database of aviation companies, contacts and aircraft, allowing users to merge their own records, notes, action items and other details, the better to manage their sales and prospecting efforts. CRM is maintained and hosted by Aero Web Tech, an independent database software firm, to separate and protect individual clients’ databases.

JetNet iQ consists of three components:

iQ Reports, an analytical reference source offering quarterly state-of-the-industry analyses, voice-of-the-customer insights and demand forecasts; iQ Sum-mits, for networking opportunities; and iQ Consulting, for customized research and analysis for individual projects. “These are unprecedented times for business aviation,” said JetNet president Vincent Esposito. “Professionals are looking for more, better ways to man-age their businesses and business con-tacts and broaden their knowledge in a more competitive marketplace. Our new products, both of them created exclu-sively for the aviation market, are the

tools they need to do just that.”JetNet is also showing the latest release

of its helicopter market summary reports here at Heli-Expo. The monthly module within JetNet Evolution provides details of statistical developments within the helicopter market. The reports date back to 2006 and show, model by model, the number of airframes for sale; high, low and average prices; airframe and engine times; average year; average days on mar-ket; and retail versus wholesale transac-tion counts. The total helicopter database contains more than 26,000 in-service air-frames, of which nearly 1,900 (about 7 percent) are listed for sale. –N.M.

Whirly-Girls scholarships help fund future helo pilots

At its annual Whirly-Girls Awards Banquet on Saturday, the international women helicopter pilots organization pre-sented 2011 scholarships totaling more than $50,000 to eight women. The schol-arships were as follows:• American Eurocopter Flight Training–

Michelle Bostick, of Lithia, Fla., for an AS350 turbine helicopter transition course.

• Robinson Helicopter Safety Course–Tara Sturm, of Seattle, Wash., for a 3.5-day R22/R44 safety course.

• Whirly-Girls Helicopter Flight Training–Tracy Ellen Zedeck, of Kensington, Calif., for $6,000 for her helicopter add-on rating.

• Whirly-Girls Memorial Flight Training–Deborah Moseley, of Homer, Alaska, for $6,000 toward an advanced helicop-ter rating. In memory of Whirly-Girls founder Jean Ross Howard Phelan and her husband Jim, and Doris Mullen.

• Advanced Mountain Flight Train-ing–Jennifer Bartley, of Salt Lake City,

Utah, for a three-day mountain-flying course at Western Helicopters.

• FlightSafety International–Laura Mc-Ilrath, of N. Andover, Mass., for instru-ment proficiency, recurrent and inad-vertent-IMC training using a Bell 206 Level 7 FTD.

• Judy Short Memorial–Rochelle Lee Arias, of Oceanside, Calif., for a flight instructor rating and $5,000 toward an instrument or CFII. Scholarship spon-sored by Nancy Graham.

• Survival Systems–Buffy Stevenson, of Las Vegas, Nev., for a ditching course at Survival Systems, Groton, Conn.

Formed in 1955, the Whirly-Girls has 1,683 members in 41 countries and is dedi-cated to advancing professionalism in heli-copters while providing women helicopter pilots a forum for the exchange of infor-mation and opportunities. The scholarship program aims to help women helicopter pilots achieve their aviation goals. –N.M.

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Alphabet organizations unite in first HAI forumby James Wynbrandt

The Helicopter Associa-tion International held its first General Aviation Associa-tion CEO Forum at Heli-Expo yesterday, bringing together leaders of four major general aviation (GA) organizations in addition to HAI.

“We all share the same air-space and share the same prob-lems,” HAI president Matthew Zuccaro said in introducing the panelists: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association CEO Craig Fuller, General Aviation Man-ufacturers Association pres-ident and CEO Pete Bunce, Steve Brown, senior vice pres-ident of operations and admin-istration at the National Business Aviation Association, and Randall Burdette, chair-man of the National Associa-tion of State Aviation Officials. Each of the four spoke about current issues and initiatives affecting all GA interests.

Fuller, noting that some 15,000 members of AOPA are helicopter pilots, said, “The helicopter community should be proud that when we talk about the advantages and use of ADS-B out and in, we point to the Gulf [of Mexico] as an area that didn’t have it, and transformed it, and we can now operate in it with positive control.”

Bunce warned that com-ing budget reductions would likely leave the FAA with-out sufficient funds to ful-fill its mandate, but provide an opportunity to “change the paradigm. We have to stream-line the FAA, take this moment in time to make the FAA serve the industry, and not do things like rulemaking by interpreta-tion. It’s time for industry to say enough is enough,” Bunce continued, noting how FAA FSDOs operate as independent

fiefdoms, creating inconsis-tent standards. “We call that rulemaking by interpretation. When regulators can change rules on their own and call it policy, then it affects industry absolutely catastrophically.”

NBAA’s Brown focused on the DOT’s recent rule pro-posal that would eliminate the aircraft registry program that has allowed aircraft to preserve their privacy and prevent travel information from being publi-cally available.

“For those few people who need privacy to preserve com-petitiveness or for security or who are involved in [business] negotiations, it’s an important capability to have,” Brown said, asking attendees to use the link on the NBAA’s Web site to reg-ister comments on the NPRM. “We could use help on this in the next 28 days.”

Burdette noted the state avi-ation agencies that comprise NASAO’s membership have reported increased community zoning efforts that attempt to restrict helicopter operations. In response, NASAO is pre-paring a draft zoning ordi-nance that addresses safety

issues and ensures fair and reasonable access for helicop-ter operations.

A question-and-answer ses-sion following the comments raised issues ranging from proposed reexamination of the airspace around New York City to industry response to the potential impact of new

broadband wireless networks on GPS operability.

Whatever the challenges ahead, as Zuccaro said in con-cluding the forum, “Our com-bined support really gives us much more collective power in influencing what goes on. This coalition, this alliance, is the only way to go.” o


An “X-RAted” Helo?

While Eurocopter’s full scale high-speed X3 technology demonstrator did not make the trip to Orlando, show attendees can still see the radical hybrid’s design up close. Powered by a conventional rotor and a pair of wing mounted props, the real “X-cube” is expected to reach 220 knots.

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BLR’s FastFins finally earn Bell’s confidence and blessingsby Nigel Moll

“Bell Loves BLR” might sound like street graffiti, but it’s not far from the point.

When helicopter aerodynamics mod-ifier BLR Aerospace (Booth No. 1814) first approached Bell Helicopter some four years ago for its blessing on tailboom mods to improve the handling and per-formance of its medium helicopters, the OEM dismissed the engineering firm’s advances. Undeterred by this rebuff and continued firm resistance from Bell, BLR persisted and sold its FastFin system

successfully to operators of the Bell 204, 205, UH-1, Huey II, 212 and 412.

Bell is not alone among OEMs in regarding modifications to its machinery with deep distrust, and when you look at the modifiers from the OEMs’ perspec-tive, it’s easy to understand the roots of this skepticism. The manufacturer has spent years and many millions of dollars designing, testing, certifying and devel-oping its aircraft, and if an ill-conceived mod blots that aircraft’s copybook, the OEM’s reputation stands to suffer

through no fault of its own. Sometimes the market sees the modifiers as the inno-vators and the OEM as the roadblock to product improvement. Sometimes these battles rage with no resolution. This one has run its course.

Eventually, to BLR’s delight, Bell could no longer ignore the favorable reviews from operators, and now the OEM has embraced BLR’s mods with as much vigor as it initially rejected them. Dave Marone, BLR’s vice president of sales and marketing, is unfail-ingly complimentary of his deal-ings with Bell over the years, from the president on down, but he singles out three peo-ple as playing a particularly significant role in effecting the sea change at Bell. They are Barry Kohler, appointed president of Bell Canada about a year ago; Larry Roberts, senior v-p of com-mercial products; and Ernie Senn, proj-ect manager for medium helicopters.

At the time of Marone’s first meet-ing with Kohler in June 2009, Kohler was v-p of commercial programs. Over the course of that four-hour meeting, Marone recalls, Kohler recognized the value of an up to 91-percent improve-ment in useful load (that is the 1,250-pound gain in IGE hover performance for a Bell 412 after modification with BLR’s FastFin system) and he seemed increasingly interested in improving the fleet.

Strakes on the left-hand side of the tailboom at the seven and 11 o’clock positions improve stability and boost left-pedal authority by 8 to 12 percent by stalling airflow to produce a low-pres-sure zone on the left side of the boom while maintaining laminar flow on the right side, thus creating a pressure

differential that contributes to the anti-torque process.

Far from knocking the OEM for being block-headed, Marone attributes some of Bell’s initial reluctance to BLR’s fail-ure to explain exactly how its system works. “Once we got that focused and had 300 helicopters equipped, the voice

of the market grew more persuasive,” said Marone.

The in-service certified fleet of 800 Bell 412s, 700 Bell 212s, 450 UH-1s (restricted category) and 300

Bell 204/205s is a healthy mar-ket for BLR’s mods, and the company expects to con-vert half that fleet. Bell has now made the BLR Fast-Fin (which comprises the strakes and a redesigned tailfin) standard factory equipment on the 412EP.

The first example so equipped was deliv-ered to Falcon Helicopters in Dubai for offshore work last November. Bell now sees the BLR mods as an effective way to extend the viability of the 412.

Next on BLR’s list of targets are Bell’s light helicopters, the 206B and 206L, and some helicopters not built by Bell. Look for some Eurocopter models to receive the BLR treatment by late next year. o


Dave Marone, vice president of sales and marketing at BLR

Dart Helicopter Services juggles leadership lineup

The leadership team at Dart Heli-copter Services has changed. Mike O’Reilly, president of Eagle Copters, Calgary, Alberta, has succeeded Jeff Shapiro as president and CEO. O’Reilly will remain in his post at Eagle. Shap-iro will continue at Dart in an advisory capacity while Steve Joseph continues as COO.

Additionally, Shapiro and Ron Glad-nick, founder of water survival equip-ment provider Apical, have sold their investment interest to Dart’s existing shareholders.

O’Reilly commented, “Looking back at what these guys have accomplished is remarkable. Jeff and Ron have truly left a positive mark on this industry. Jeff led Dart Helicopter Services to become a global presence in the helicopter after-market industry in a very short time.”

Exhibiting this week at Heli-Expo Booth No. 4628, Dart Helicopter Ser-vices also announced that it will pro-vide 14 more rotary-wing cycle counters to the Los Angeles Sheriff Department Aero Bureau. The field-programma-ble counters, from AKV of Camarillo, Calif., will interface with Thales vehicle and engine management displays aboard the department’s Eurocopter AS350B2s. The counters record and display accu-rate assessment of dynamic component utilization rates in the Turbomeca Arriel 2B engines. –H.W.

powered up and open for businessA glance in the cockpit of an AgustaWestland AW139 on display on the show floor reveals to good effect its Honeywell Primus Epic avionics suite and flat-panel glass color displays.

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in order backlog, now valued at $16.888 billion. That back-log, according to AgustaWest-land, represents three years of production.

As to the outlook, Orsi said parent company Finmeccanica is committed to the support of ver-tical flight as well as investment in new products and technologies. And he forecast a new growth cycle in the civil helicopter market from 2012, led by offshore and parapub-lic markets, with corporate/VIP sales improving less quickly as the economy recovers.

He cited the new AW169 as an example of AgustaWestland’s vision for the future. While the official word is that the company expects a first flight in 2012 and entry into service in 2014, Orsi, smiling broadly, interjected his personal belief that entry into service will be in 2013.

He said Heli-Expo 2011 marks the “full commercial launch” of the AW169 and that AgustaWest-land will begin taking orders here, where a full-scale mockup is on display at Booth No. 3811. And he emphasized that these will be firm orders. “It will be a firm order, or no order.”

Tiltrotor ProgressAnd while admitting that the

relationship with BA609 tiltrotor partner Bell remains “tense,” an agreement is near that will allow AgustaWestland to move ahead more aggressively on its own. He added that AgustaWestland hopes to announce certification and delivery dates at next year’s Heli-Expo. Meanwhile, he said the program is moving, “but at a very slow pace.”

With deliveries of 86 military helicopters in 2010, Orsi said the outlook remains positive in that market segment, with ongoing programs and the “aggressive pur-suit” of new defense, federal gov-ernment and foreign military sales.

Asked if he thought the cur-rent turmoil affecting much of the Middle East might adversely affect helicopter sales, Orsi answered, “Whatever govern-ment comes to power will need helicopters.”

He also expressed plans for AgustaWestland to move into the

unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) market, one of the fastest-grow-ing military market segments. The initial aircraft, Orsi said, will be based on the Swidnik SW-4 light turbine single, with a first unmanned flight planned in 2012.

The need for helicopters–civil or military–will only grow in coming years. With that as a con-sideration, Orsi announced that

AgustaWestland, at the request of European aviation authorities, has begun developing a vision of vertical lift aviation through 2050. The document is to be completed before this summer.

Orsi emphasized the impor-tance of looking forward in the long term and expressed the belief that vertical flight will only gain in importance as airports

become more congested and room for expansion dwindles. Not to make use of the advan-tages of vertical lift, he said, “is unthinkable.” Doing so might double the capacity of a regional airport, he declared, pointing out that by 2050, 50-passenger heli-copters are a possibility.

In the short term, Orsi said AgustaWestland is assisting in

development of two new city-center heliports in Milan. Part of this is an effort to create a new public image that the helicopter is not only for emergencies, but a normal and necessary means of public transport.

This attention to the future of vertical flight is not something we should do, he concluded, “but something we must do.” o


AW sees growth in orders, revenuesuContinued from page 1

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Paradigm International’s Paradigm Aero-space helicopter support services subsidiary (Booth No. 1021) has delivered a Bell 407, below, with extensive upgrades to client HeliJet Solu-tions. The job by the Mt. Pleasant, Pa.-based aviation services provider included avionics, interior and exterior upgrades, as well as a dis-tinctive new exterior paint scheme. Paradigm is also working on a Bell 430 refurbishment, right, for New York City-based charter operator Heli-Flite. The project is expected to be completed by mid-April in order to take advantage of the spring surge in charter demand.� n

Jet-Care sees boost in engine-health businessby Charles Alcock

The past 12 months have seen Jet-Care (Booth No. 4442) grow-ing its presence in the helicop-ter engine support sector. The company, which specializes in oil analysis and health monitor-ing for engines and equipment such as gearboxes, has won new business in the North Ameri-can market while also making inroads into the growing South American sector.

A new client for oil analysis in 2010 was Keystone Helicopter. The Coatesville, Pa.-based MRO provider is part of the Sikorsky group. Another recent endorsement came when the U.S. Coast Guard committed to a fifth consecutive contract renewal. The contract covers oil analysis and engine debris checks for the Turbomeca Arriels that power its fleet of Eurocopter HH65s.

Turbomeca’s U.S. division signed a con-tract for Jet-Care to provide both oil and engine debris analysis. The French turboshaft manufacturer first ap-proved the company to support its engines in 1996, having previ-ously approved Jet-Care’s Euro-pean sister company Spectro in the late 1970s. Spectro has been in business for 35 years, and Jet-Care for the past 15 years.

Through its European labora-tories, Jet-Care has recently won contracts from France’s Helidax, which operates 36 Eurocopter EC120s in support of the French army helicopter school. ZF Gear-boxes has also signed a contract for oil and debris monitoring; it supplies gearboxes to Eurocopter. Another new client is Defense Support Services (DS2), which contracted for oil and debris anal-ysis as part of its agreement to support helicopters being flown for the U.S. government on cus-toms and border patrols.

In Brazil, where a surge in offshore oil and gas activity is accelerating demand for helicop-ter operations, Eurocopter sub-sidiary Helibras has appointed Jet-Care its exclusive laboratory for oil analysis. Eurocopter’s operations in Chile and Mexico are also contracted to Jet-Care.

According to sales and mar-keting manager Alan Baker, the endorsement of helicopter man-ufacturers such as Sikorsky and Eurocopter has been a key to growing acceptance among oper-ators of the value, in terms of both safe and cost efficient flying, of having oil and engine debris analyzed. In some cases, the pro-cesses are part of service bulletins,

such as that covering EC135 gearboxes.

Jet-Care is the only laboratory in North America approved by Eurocopter. It also has the only lab-oratory exclusively selected by Sikorsky for the service bulle-tin covering the S-76 main gearbox.

Growing demand has prompted Jet-Care to increase the size of its facility in Cedar Knolls, N.J., from 9,500 to 16,000 sq ft. In Europe, the company supports clients through Spec-tro, with laboratories at Odiham in the UK and Basel in Swit-zerland. In addition to checking oil and

debris from engines, the group can also analyze the condition and contents of oil filters, fuel and hydraulic fluids.

To help operators interpret and manage the data gener-ated by its testing, Jet-Care pro-vides its Echo (engine condition health online) software. The pro-gram is helpful for large fleet operators, enabling them to stay on top of engine performance trends and plan maintenance as efficiently as possible. o

More AW139s getting the upscale treatmentby Mark Huber

The AgustaWestland AW139 medium twin helicopter is increasingly being tapped for executive and VVIP missions, according to the Mecaer Avia-tion Group (MAG), a provider of AW139 interior completions.

Costs for interior comple-tions vary depending on the materials selected and the amount of engineering and cer-tification required, but the aver-age cost ranges from $400,000 to $500,000 for an executive com-pletion and $1 million to $1.3 million for a VVIP finish. Com-pletions take from eight to 20 weeks on average. MAG has completed more than 50 AW139 interiors to date.

“Each completion is different and its cost is tightly connected with the selected layout, options, specific needs, quality of mate-rial, level of finishing required by the customer, or any other special request that requires additional certification work,” said MAG marketing director Niccolo Devoto.

MAG offers executive and VIP customers up to 10 differ-ent standard interior layouts for the AW139 cabin, accom-modating five to 10 passengers, as well as quick-change options that can add or subtract seats

of various widths given vary-ing loads. MAG says the most requested configuration is eight seats: two VVIP forward-facing chairs and six corporate-class seats, four forward-facing and two aft-facing.

Customers have a wide range of available cabinetry. “We try to accommodate as much as possible the customer’s request, provided it is compatible with certification requirements,” said Devoto. The oval credenza option features a pop-up, swiv-eling flat-screen monitor. MAG uses LED lighting with dimma-ble controls.

Entertainment and MoreMAG also has developed a

new IFE and cabin management system, the In-Flight Enter-tainment Enhanced Lounge (I-FEEL). Running on a Win-dows PC platform, I-FEEL can control audio, video, communi-cations, passenger settings and cabin function. The system fea-tures a hard drive for audio and video storage and moving maps. Passenger touchscreens can be loaded with customizable icons.

I-FEEL is integrated with GSM, satcom and pilot call telephones and is linked to the environmental control system as

well as controls for cabin light-ing, speakers, cockpit parti-tion window and cabin window shades. The system can also be used for multi-mission integra-tion with law enforcement, sur-veillance, and search and rescue packages that include integrated avionics, forward looking infra-red, video cameras, search radar and datalink systems.

Cabin noise can be minimized with another MAG-developed system. The Silens system min-imizes cabin noise and vibra-tion levels with a self-supporting separation barrier between the passenger cabin and the fuse-lage. During flight tests at 140 knots, the system reduced cabin noise from 76 to 71 dB SIL4 and it allows normal conversations without use of headsets.

The Silens uses a high-stiff-ness, low-weight composite shell mounted to the structure with vibration and noise insulators. The shell features several dif-ferent computer-designed and -tested soundproofing materi-als that use special geometry and installation techniques.

Director of completions Davide Marucco said Silens can be retrofitted to all AW139s, either with hinged or sliding passenger doors, and it can eas-ily be removed for maintenance access and does not increase air-craft weight.

MAG does completions at its Vergiate, Italy, plant and a 13,000-sq-ft facility in Philadel-phia next to AgustaWestland’s assembly plant. o

Debris is a key indicator of engine health.

Oil analysis is another service Jet-Care provides.

Need to get rid of an old start-er-generator that’s just sit-ting around? Go see Starter-Generator.com at Booth No. 228. StarterGenerator.com will pay for used units but also takes them in trade on freshly over-hauled and new units made by Aircraft Parts Corp. (Unison), Goodrich (Lucas), AlliedSig-nal Bendix, Honeywell, Smiths, GE and Thales AES (Auxilec). Based in The Woodlands, Texas, StarterGenerator.com also sells units outright and offers flat-rate exchanges with no bill-backs. v

AT THE BOOTHS

Paradigm Wins HeliJet and HeliFlite ContraCts


Garmin GDL 59H datalink and flight parameter recorder, Gar-min GSR 56H Iridium voice/data transceiver; Garmin GTS 800 traffic advisory system ELT and radar altimeter.

“It is the most advanced flight deck bar none in any Part 27 helicopter out there today,” said Garmin vice president Gary Kelley. It will be the first certification of the G1000H in a helicopter. “It is highly flex-ible and scalable. This system can reset the AHRS in flight in dynamic mode. It can be turning or climbing and the AHRS can be reset.”

Kelley called the G1000H’s digital audio system “a real workload reducer” that includes automatic speed recognition and 3D audio. He said the sys-tem was more rugged than the G1000 developed for fixed-wing aircraft to withstand the rigors of helicopter operation.

A key feature enabled by the G1000H system will be the abil-ity to monitor system param-eters. “Our customers will be able to select and program cer-tain vehicle parameters, ini-tially as part of a FOQA [flight

operational quality assurance] program,” Roberts explained.

The data is downloaded to a micro-SD card, from which it can easily be moved to a lap-top computer. The FOQA program can include the mon-itoring of exceedances per the flight manual, and operators will be able to choose what they want to download such as altitude, direction, speed and navigation parameters.

Roberts said the system also is designed for future growth including the monitoring of dynamic components such as the main gearbox, drive shaft, bearings and engine. “We still don’t have the capability to install thresholds to monitor current systems but we do have the capability to do that in the future,” he said.

The GX’s big screens can also display law enforcement functions such as forward-look-ing infrared (FLIR) display and camera images. An onboard camera focused aft can be acti-vated by a switch on the collec-tive to provide pilots with an image to clear the tail rotor.

“The system is so flexi-ble that you can display every-thing you need for the pilot [to fly] on the right screen and dis-play anything else on the left screen,” Roberts said. He said

the screens also improve inte-rior visibility.

Roberts said the GX went from conception to certification in just 19 months.

Bell (Booth No. 237) antic-ipates that the 407’s G1000H system will be certified and available to customers in the third quarter of this year. The price of the 407GX will be $2.795 million, an increase of $150,000 over the current 407.

A 407GX is at the static dis-play, and the G1000H can also be seen in a simulator here at the show and in a demonstra-tion helicopter.

The commercial armed 407AH comes equipped with a “baseline” law enforcement package that can

be customized for multiple weapon configurations and is designed to perform missions including search and rescue, enforcement and pur-suit. Roberts said the helicopter “will meet the needs of a variety of parapublic agencies at a cost that is far less than that of simi-larly equipped military aircraft, but with increased lethality.”

The initial weapons system on the helicopter includes a Dillon 7.62mm M134T mini-gun and the M260 2.75-inch seven-shot rocket-launch-ing system. Customization is available through Bell’s Piney Flats, Tenn. facility. Avail-able options include chaff/flare controller for countermea-sures, sliding rear doors, cargo

hook and crew seat armor. The AH comes standard

with the Garmin G500H glass cockpit system, the AAI bulged skylights kit, AAI inlet-barrier filter with access door, AAI wire-strike protection sys-tem and Meeker quick release pins for the crew doors.

Roberts said the AH was designed to be rapidly reconfig-urable and that customers could take the guns off or put them back on. “This is a non-inte-grated system,” he stressed. “It does not fire directed munitions. By doing it this way it is really a commercially armed aircraft and we can offer it outside the scope of the military process. All the necessary licenses have been applied for or acquired.” Roberts said a base AH would be avail-able for “under $5 million” and that the helicopter was directed “primarily at the international market.”

He said Bell developed it at the request of customers. “For a very long time the market has been asking Bell, because of its history with the OH-58 and the 407, to produce a commercial helicopter that is qualified with weapons.”

The Bell 407 was certified in 1996 and is powered by a single Rolls-Royce 250-C47 turboshaft engine. Last year Bell delivered the 1,000th 407. o

Bells introduces new 407 modelsuContinued from page 1

The initial weapons system on the $5 million 407AH includes a Dillon 7.62mm M134T minigun and the M260 seven-shot rocket-launching system.

2Es for a boost in power that is especially apparent with one engine inoperative. The new helicopter also gets a new digital avionics suite and four-axis autopilot.

The most visible distinguishing characteristic of the T2 is its fenestron shrouded tail rotor, replacing the exposed tail rotor used thus far. The fenestron in the T2 has new compos-ite blades, duplex tail-rotor actuators and dual hydraulic circuits, along with a newly designed gearbox intended to incur lower maintenance costs. Also new is the all-composite tailboom to which the fenestron is attached.

The new helicopter’s empty weight is up by 143 pounds, to 4,299 pounds, and its mtow is now 8,047 pounds. Cruise speed is up 5 percent, to 137 knots, v-p Manfred Merk told AIN.

The customers that have already ordered T2s are Spain’s Inaer (10 air-craft in EMS configuration) and three U.S. operators–Metro Avia-tion, Shreveport, La. (five aircraft configured for EMS); Leading Edge (one for executive transportation); and Lewis Energy (one for oil and gas operations). The T2 at Eurocop-ter’s display here features an EMS

interior completed by customer Metro Aviation.

Eurocopter Group total revenues were $6.7 billion last year, versus $6.2 billion in 2009, and the com-pany claims a 49-percent share of the worldwide market. American Euro-copter took in $821 million last year, up from $784 million in 2009, staking its claim to a 64-percent share of the U.S. market.

Worldwide, Eurocopter saw 46 percent of its deliveries go to military customers, with the remaining 54 percent going to civil and parapub-lic operators. Exports accounted for 67 percent of deliveries. Of that $6.7 billion in group revenue, 53 percent came from helicopter production, 36 percent from support and service work and 11 percent other.

Eurocopter’s order intake last year was for 346 helicopters worth $6 billion, down from $7.8 billion in 2009, $6.4 billion in 2008 and $8.6 billion in 2007. Last year the U.S. ranked number three in book-ings per region, with signatures for 111 aircraft worth $607 million.

Asia topped the rankings, with orders for 71 aircraft worth $1.32 billion, reflecting that region’s appetite for large multiengine machines. Latin America was sec-ond, with orders for 86 aircraft worth $694 million, and Europe

ranked fourth with orders for 62 aircraft worth $526 million.

American Eurocopter president Marc Paganini said, “We’re going to work hard to get the U.S. market back to number one this year,” but he conceded to AIN afterward that it all hinges on the economy here.

New Market OptionsPaganini is also confident in grow-

ing demand for replacement heli-copters, noting that the average age of helicopters operating in the U.S. is between 17 and 20 years. Bertling singled out American Eurocopter as being the role model for provid-ing product support, a segment that accounted for $310 million of AEC’s revenues last year.

On the X4, a rotorcraft under development to replace the Dau-phin and EC135, Bertling offered this teaser: “The first time you sit in this aircraft you will be missing some-thing–the cockpit.” He said the heli-copter’s specifications will be frozen “later this year.”

On a hybrid electric helicop-ter, Bertling was also coy: “We are actively working on a hybrid electric, but that is all I want to say at present.”

On diesel power, he said: “The EC120 will be the first application, and it will give that helicopter a sec-ond life.” o

Eurocopter unwraps its newest EC145uContinued from page 1

CAE to trAin CoptEr pilots in indiA

Flight training company CAE (Booth No. 1253) and the Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed an agreement in mid-February for CAE to provide ab initio commercial helicopter pilot training for AAI. The agreement represents Montreal-based CAE’s first ab initio program for rotary-wing pilots.

“The helicopter ab initio program will blend CAE’s global best practices training methodology, simulation-based training and flight training to meet and exceed Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DCGA) and Interna-tional Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) guidelines,” said Jeff Roberts, CAE’s group president, civil simulation prod-ucts, training and services.

The training program is expected to graduate approxi-mately 100 pilots annually. Training will be conducted at the CAE Global Academy Gondia, a two-year-old facility cre-ated as a joint venture between AAI and CAE.

“The civil and military sectors in India will require close to 2,500 helicopter pilots over the next 10 years,” said V.P. Agrawai, AAI chairman. “Current development of new heli-copter pilots is insufficient to meet this requirement, so CAE Global Academy Gondia is stepping up to fill this important need to support continued aviation growth in India.”

Said Roberts, “The world-class training at the CAE Global Academy will prepare and position students to land their first jobs as helicopter pilots.”

The Gondia campus features sate-of-the-art classrooms, training devices and a fleet of about a dozen helicopters. Student enrollment will commence in late 2011 and employ the CAE Aircrew Selection System, a multidisciplinary pro-cess designed to evaluate a candidate’s “thinking and doing” capabilities in a contextual aviation environment and under stress. Graduates will be prepared for type-rat-ing training on a specific helicopter type. –J.W.

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U.S. Coast Guard dominates the slateby Mark Huber

Sikorsky Humanitarian Ser-vice Award: The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter 6605, Air Station New Orleans, La.–Lt. Cdr. Thomas G. Hickey, air-craft commander; Lt. Cdr. Craig Murray, copilot; flight mechanic/hoist operator and avionics elec-trical technician 2nd Class Scott Lloyd and aviation survival tech-nician chief petty officer Kurt Peterson (rescue swimmer).

Lt. Cdr. Hickey’s Eurocopter MH-65C was the first helicopter to arrive at the Deepwater Hori-zon drilling rig after its explosion April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico. The crew got the alarm at 10:10 p.m., were airborne 18 minutes later and arrived first on scene 130 miles away at 11 p.m. Climbing through 500 feet, still 115 miles away, they could see the fire with their NVGs.

Hickey recalled the inherent danger. “We knew there were fuel bowsers on the Horizon, but we didn’t know if they had exploded or were going to explode.” The crew turned on the searchlights and dropped to 35 feet over the water to stay below the heat plume. They got within 100 feet of the Horizon and did one slow close loop around the rig looking for survivors, but found nothing.

Then Peterson was lowered onto the supply vessel Bankston to triage the 115 survivors, and the most seriously injured were hoisted to safety. The last patient was hoisted off at 3 a.m., but the searching continued. Hickey and his crew landed back in New Orleans after flying for just over seven hours, refueling several times at a nearby platform.

Rolls-Royce Excellence in Helicopter Maintenance Award: Aviation maintenance technician 2nd Class Nicholas H. Baisden, U.S. Coast Guard, Air Station New Orleans. This award rec-ognizes an individual who has distinguished himself or her-self by longstanding excellence in the performance of helicopter

maintenance or a single, signifi-cant and distinct contribution to helicopter maintenance.

Baisden receives the award for his exceptional leadership in guiding 72 mechanics assigned temporarily to Air Station New Orleans to support the Coast Guard’s aerial response to the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Hori-zon disaster. As the lead fed-eral agency in charge, the Coast Guard poured considerable air assets into the five-month long Deepwater Horizon response.

Pilot of the Year Award: Lt. Audie Andry, U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak, Alaska.

This award honors “an out-standing single feat performed by a helicopter pilot during the year or extraordinary profes-sionalism over a period of time.”

Air Station Kodiak’s terri-tory spans more than 3.9 million square miles and it is expected to cover it with four Sikorsky HH-60J Jayhawks, four smaller MH-65C Eurocopter Dolphins and five Lockheed-Martin HC-130 fixed-wing transports. Some of the air assets are forward-deployed in conjunction with the fishing seasons and their locations.

Depending on the severity of the search and rescue mis-sion, Jayhawks will launch with as little as one-quarter mile for-ward visibility and ceilings below 100 feet. Carrying up to 6,000 pounds of fuel, the Jayhawks can fly out 300 miles, remain on station for 20 minutes and return at economy cruise power. Condi-tions are often less than optimal: high seas and very high winds.

Andry receives this year’s award for demonstrating excep-tional airmanship and decisive action in landing his Jayhawk (with five other crewmembers aboard) safely aboard the Coast Guard cutter Healy after the helicopter suffered a main-transmission input failure while in a 40-foot hover 100 feet from the ship at night.

MD Helicopters Law Enforce-ment Award: The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter 6597, Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) Aviation Detachment 10-01–Lt. Cdr. Rob-ert G. Workman, Capt. Joseph T. Baker, Lt. j.g. Matthew J. Van Ginkel, avionics electrical techni-cian 3rd Class Kimberly N. Dech-merowski, aviation maintenance technician 1st Class Thomas J. Masell, avionics electrical techni-cian 1st Class Joseph D. Paulson, aviation maintenance technician 2nd Class Brian M. Dugal and aviation maintenance technician 3rd Class Jacob S. Dickson.

This award recognizes those who have contributed to the pro-motion and advancement of helicopters in support of law enforcement activities.

Deployed to the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman as part of Joint Interagency Task Force South in the waters off the southeastern U.S., this crew interdicted six vessels engaged in illegal drug smuggling and accomplished

“the unprecedented feat of stop-ping four vessels in one mission,” according to the nominator.

HITRON squadrons for-ward deploy armed helicopters to high-threat drug trafficking areas. They intercept suspect ves-sels and, if needed, use appropri-ate interdiction force. They also direct Coast Guard cutters and other craft to the target areas.

AgustaWestland Safety Award: Keith Johnson.

This award acknowledges outstanding contributions in the promotion of safety and safety awareness throughout the inter-national helicopter community.

Throughout his career and since his retirement from the Los Ange-les Police Department, Johnson has volunteered hundreds of hours to support helicopter safety initia-tives through the Airborne Law Enforcement Association, the HAI Safety Committee and the Inter-national Helicopter Safety Team, where he chairs the Safety Man-agement System working group.

W. A. (Dub) Blessing Certi-fied Flight Instructor of the Year Award: Lawrence “Larry” Graves, chief pilot for AgustaWestland in Philadelphia.

This award recognizes super-lative contributions by a helicop-ter flight instructor in upholding high standards of excellence.

Graves is honored for pro-viding, in the words of one nominator, “the highest stan-dard of professional instruc-tion to international and U.S. helicopter pilots” for more than 30 years.

Bell Helicopter Lifetime Achievement Award: Michael C. “Mike” Hurst.

This award salutes excellence in management and leadership and is presented to an individual who is recognized for long and significant service to the interna-tional helicopter community.

Hurst has been working in the helicopter industry for 40 years and is currently chief pilot for PHI. o

Crews and mechanics serving with the U.S. Coast Guard have been awarded four of the HAI’s eight “Salute To Excellence” awards to be presented tonight at Heli-Expo 2011, including the awards for Humanitarian Service, Helicopter Maintenance, Pilot of the Year and Law Enforcement.

The heroic missions flown by the Coast Guard being honored include the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform explosion, an emergency night landing on a cutter in Alaska and maritime drug interdiction.

Swiss-Nepalese team honored for high-flying rescue mission

This year’s Eurocopter Golden Hour Award goes to a rescue crew formed by captain Daniel Aufdenblatten and rescue spe-cialist Richard Lehner of Air Zermatt, Switzerland, and cap-tain Sabin Basnyat, chief pilot of Fishtail Air, Nepal. On April 29, 2010, the team rescued a party of three Spanish mountain climb-ers stuck on a steep slope of Mount Annapurna, the world’s second highest mountain, at an altitude of 22,800 feet.

Captain Basnyat was charged with organizing the rescue. His company, founded in 1997 and today operating four helicopters in Nepal, has a training agree-ment with Air Zermatt. That Swiss company was set up 1968 and is today probably one of the operators with the widest experi-ence in mountain air rescue.

Captain Basnyat was well aware that a long-line rescue requiring a helicopter to hover at more than 22,000 feet with pos-sibly gusty winds and turbulence near the mountain slope required exceptional skill and experience.

He preferred to call in captain Aufdenblatten for the mission. At Air Zermatt, Aufdenblatten flies the same hoist-equipped Eurocopter AS350B3 operated by the Nepalese company.

Reacting quickly, Aufden-blatten and rescue specialist Lehner traveled to Nepal and were able to successfully carry out the rescue mission within 36

hours, using a Fishtail AS350. Lehner set down near the moun-tain climbers, who were suffering from snow blindness and freez-ing wounds, and prepared them to be hoisted one by one aboard the helicopter. They were then flown to a base camp at 13,000 feet to receive first aid.

The Eurocopter Golden Hour Award recognizes the efforts of those who, through a particu-lar activity or contributions over time advance the use of helicop-ters in the vital mission of air medical transport. –T.S.

Captain Daniel Aufdenblatten (right) and rescue specialist Richard Lehner from Air Zermatt celebrate at the Annapurna base camp after completion of their award-winning rescue mission with a Fishtail Air AS350.

SaluteAwardsto Excellence

EurocopterAwardGolden Hour

Sikorsky electric Firefly readies for first flightby Thierry Dubois

One day Sikorsky (Booth No. 2737) may exhibit at a Heli-Expo with an electrically powered heli-copter. The U.S. manufacturer is getting closer to the first flight of the Firefly, a modified S-300C light single whose piston engine has been replaced with an elec-tric motor and batteries. The proof-of-concept rotorcraft is expected to have limited endur-ance but is seen as a stepping stone toward a commercially viable electric helicopter.

The company had hoped to fly the Firefly by the end of 2010, but did not meet that tar-get. “While there are no tech-nical issues, there are a lot of moving pieces, as with any experimental aircraft program,” program manager Jonathan Hartman told AIN. Therefore, he said, the first flight will take place “as soon as we are ready.”

A long-time supplier for ground applications, US Hybrid,

is providing the motor. The power–190 shp–is the same as in the original S-300C. Gaia of Germany is supplying the lith-ium-ion batteries.

“One challenge is adapt-ing these cutting-edge technolo-gies to an aviation application,” Hartman said. Sikorsky’s Fire-fly team wants to make sure both the motor and the batteries are properly tested for aircraft appli-cation. “If an aircraft loses a charge, it is much more serious than a ground vehicle losing a charge,” he pointed out.

The permanent magnet motor is one of the first that US Hybrid is designing with air cooling. “We did not want the weight and complexity of a liquid-cool-ing system,” Hartman explained. Batteries have a forced air cooling system, while the motor is cooled by ram air. A small cooling fan for the electronic components is embedded in the motor.

Gaia has performed some custom chemistry on the batter-ies for the power profile needed by Sikorsky. “These batteries do not have the highest power density available on the mar-ket but are suitable for the Fire-fly,” Hartman said. Delivering only 15 minutes of endurance, the batteries have an installed weight of 1,150 pounds.

The aircraft is thus sev-eral hundred pounds heavier than the original S-300C. The

empty weight is close to the 2,050-pounds mtow. Neverthe-less, Sikorsky expects the Firefly will have the same flight charac-teristics (including speed, with maximum cruise remaining at 86 knots) as the S-300C. “We want it to look, feel and fly like an S-300C, except there is an elec-tric motor attached,” Hartman said. He said there is no change from the motor mount forward.

Another major challenge has been human factors. The

aircraft is much quieter, which deprives the pilot of the normal noise cues. “We have included an interactive health monitoring display in the cockpit,” Hartman said. In addition, design engi-neers have also introduced load-limiting control laws because an electric motor has its full torque available from zero rpm.

More Efficient, Less ComplexAsked about the benefits,

Hartman said an electric heli-copter design is inherently more efficient–300 percent better in the case of the Firefly/S-300C comparison. If designed from a clean sheet of paper, an elec-tric helicopter is less complex. It also has fewer parts. This favorably impacts direct operat-ing costs (DOC). Also, electric-ity is much cheaper than fuel, so the bottom line is about 30 percent lower DOC. Moreover, the reduced vibration allows a lighter structure.

The main challenge is the capacity of batteries to store electrical power, but this is progressing quickly. Seeing an electric helicopter on commer-cial offer is a matter of years, not decades, Hartman predicted. o


Sikorsky’s proof-of-concept Firefly wears 1,150 pounds of batteries on its fuselage sides to solve the major problem of energy storage on an electric helicopter.

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The most gorgeous sight ever… … is not the woman to whom I am marriedby Dorcey Wingo

Anyone who knows me well can verify that I married a great-looking lady; the fairest in all the land, in my eyes. But as pretty as she is, Lourdes is not the love-liest thing I have ever seen. That special feast-for-eyeballs came about during my very last Huey flight in the U.S. Army.

Lessons learned in Army Aviation should include this warning: If you are the unit’s “short timer” pilot, don’t be surprised near the end of the day when the head honcho hands you the logbook to a tired old helicopter and he’s got a peculiar look on his face.

Like me, you may soon be off on a cross-country flight in a bird that is too problematical to perform routine mis-sions. It sounds reassuring to hear the Operations Chief say, “...You can proba-bly make it all the way to Stockton [Army Depot–The Repo Depo] before some-thing really bad happens.”

One peek in the troubled logbook tells the story: more than half of the gripes are signed-off as “Circle Red-X” condi-tions. That means the repairs needed on the bird exceed the maintenance capabil-ities of the home unit and the helicopter must be ferried to the Repo Depo in cen-tral California for field maintenance (at least the avionics work!).

Walking out to the Holloman (N.M.) Air Force Base ramp early the next morning, I took in the somber-looking, olive-drab Army UH-1H sitting near

the taxiway. The young Army rotorcraft mechanic accompanying me on the cross-country (XC) flight to Stockton was adding engine oil to the reservoir and buttoning up the air-intake screens; almost ready to depart.

This was my first “solo” XC in what was normally a dual-piloted Army “slick.” It was thus a rare treat for “Lucky,” my crew chief who normally flies in the back latched onto an armed M-60 machine gun in war-time or keeping an eye out for passengers who don’t listen to his safety briefings.

Lucky came from parts unknown, but

he was clearly happy to be riding in the left front seat for a change. Now he’d be get-ting some stick time from a veteran CW2 and enjoying the up-front-Cadillac-wide-screen version of the legendary Huey.

We traveled light and planned to make the 1,500-mile flight in a couple of days, the old bird willing. Back in two days–with a little travel pay–that’s the Army way.

Holloman Tower bid us adieu in the long shadows of dawn. We lit off westbound with clearance to cross the Restricted Area, low level. The battered old bird rumbled along into a mild head-wind, indicating 100 knots–and not the smoothest flying Iroquois I’ve ever strapped on. Cruising west at 1,000 feet abeam White Sands National Monu-ment, we were rocked moderately cross-ing over the dramatic “pipes” of the Organ Mountains. Passing by Las Cruces Municipal Airport, we clattered our way over the high mesa to Deming, our first fuel point. Lucky was showing promise as a stick, I recall, but there was nothing else memorable on that desert XC flight, all the way across Arizona and on to Palm Springs. And then...it got memorable.

Our long, slow approach down into the L.A. Basin toward Ontario Airport–following the railroad on our sectional map–was complicated by an increasingly thick haze of smog.

It was actually purple on the horizon ahead of us and the ambient odor was acrid. Tall smokestacks belched more of the same from a stark, gray steel mill. Acres of wrecked automobiles in massive bone-yards, miles of congested rail yards passed by our plastic windows. An apprehensive

leg, through some of the worst smog I have ever navigated. (This flight occurred in the spring of 1971: LA smog at its worst!)

Dialing in the Ontario Tower, we were relieved to hear a friendly voice. The Fed steered us his way during a lull in airliner traffic. We followed his vectors and soon observed the tire-scarred numbers “26” pass under our chin bubbles. We hover-taxied over to the jet-A service helipad, located near the base of the (old) FAA tower. The smog burned our eyes!

We managed to get some encouraging information from the weather people as

our Huey was refueled and we grabbed a light snack. Afterward, Lucky had ample opportunity to add more oil to our leaky Lycoming. Our destination (Stockton) was reported to be VFR with a broken ceiling, winds light and variable. Preflight looks good, other than an oily engine deck. Now to carve our way out of this purple haze and head for Yosemite National Park!

Got an approval from the Tower to climb on course through the crud to VFR-on-top, which we did regularly in the military (single engine) with never a glitch. Breaking out around 6,000 feet, the dazzling white cloud tops were won-derful to behold, and the carbon-and-sulfur stench was gone. Requesting cruise speed from my left-seater, I studied the map against the terrain below. Lucky’s magnetic heading appeared to parallel the pencil line on our colorful map.

Looking things over, we had plenty of fuel, lots of breaks in the clouds. On course, and steady as she goes. I made our position reports with Flight Watch on time, and then, as we climbed ever so gradually to clear the fluffy cloud tops ahead, we passed the midway point of our fuel load and something electrical in the old ship simply died.

Something that would disable our radios, nav instruments and our transpon-der, with nary a voltmeter glitch or master caution light. There was no electrical odor. We both looked for solutions but quickly discovered that the problem was not cir-cuit-breaker-related and fortunately did not affect her dependable turbine engine.

About the time we whirled past cloud-obscured Yosemite, I began to get really nervous. Breaks in the clouds were get-ting fewer and farther between. Navigat-ing became a case of over-the-top, time, distance and heading. Higher we climbed, closing the air vents as cold air whistled in.

Lucky didn’t begin to tell me what to do; this was my problem, and he was along for the ride. When I calculated that we were nearing the Stockton vicinity, I feared messing with airline traffic. And if we flew too far west, we’d be over the Pacific.

Our fuel dropped to a measly 200 pounds, assuming that the gauge was cor-rect. With no breaks in the clouds, fear was welling up in my gut as I made large circles and dialed the emergency code into

the transponder, praying it would alert the regional radar facility. But the radios were dead. They appeared to be on, but there was no audible “squelch” and no reply light on the transponder. Ten thou-sand feet and running out of ideas.

At 100 pounds indicated, I realized I must begin an instrument descent and rely on pure luck to get us through the thick mass before our 10 minutes of fuel is burned up. Dreading this last-ditch maneuver more than anything, I began to slow the big helicopter down and lowered the power. The raw fear that had been boiling within me suddenly began a one-way rumbling advance in my gut and my priorities were quickly reversed!

I sat frozen in the right seat, glancing over at Lucky to see if he was “as afraid” as I was. He was transfixed, staring at the fuel gauge: this was a first for him, too. So that old expression of being “so scared he crapped his pants!” wasn’t just an expres-sion, it dawned on me!

About the time I bottomed the collec-tive pitch to descend blindly into the deep sea of clouds, I saw the most gorgeous thing on planet Earth: a coral-blue opening appeared immediately off to starboard, a 30-foot wide “sucker hole,” sent by Heav-enly Express! An incredibly beautiful green pasture beckoned, 9,000 feet directly below us, if I could just dive right in there and stay visually oriented inside the now green-ish-blue vertical tunnel, all the way down.

Dialing back the turbine-engine-trim for a rapid descent to the right, that irre-sistible impulse in my bowels quickly sub-sided and the “yee-haws” from Lucky told me he was feeling much better about our prospects. Spiraling all the way down with our tail section in the white stuff, the sucker hole stayed open, and we broke out at about 500 feet above the ground, plenty of time to beep-up the engine speed and take a deep breath!

The lush green meadow became our LZ, conveniently bordered on the east by a full-service gas station where we used the pay phone to call the Repo Depo. We could actually see the facility from the meadow! The Depot pilots were old hands at this sort of thing and told us, “Leave ‘er there, boys. We’ll come get ‘er.”

Ha! They didn’t have to twist our arms. And I honestly don’t remember my mechanic’s name these many years; but after that flight, he was “Lucky” to me! o

Former U.S. Army helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo is author of Wind Loggers and The Rise and Fall of Captain Methane: Autobiography of a Maverick.


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Veteran helo jock recounts harrowing hop in a Huey

Dorcey Wingo has vivid memories of his dicey last cross-country in a “Circle Red-X” U.S. Army Huey 40 years ago.

U.S. Army vet Dorcey Wingo preflighting a Huey in Vietnam circa 1970, and today.

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HAI Convention News 3-7-11