November 2013

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Serving the Worldwide Helicopter Industry rotorandwing.com November 2013
Joint Multi Rolls Along
Maintenance Software
ADAC Hosts Operators
Heli-Union Training
Builds on New Tech
BELLHELICOPTER.COM
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3 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE
For photocopy or reuse requests:
1-800-772-3350 or [email protected]
EDITORIAL
Andrew Parker Editor-in-Chief, [email protected]
Andrew Drwiega International Bureau Chief/Consultant,
[email protected]
Ernie Stephens Editor-at-Large, [email protected]
Claudio Agostini Latin America Bureau Chief
Contributing Writers: Rick Adams; Chris Baur; Lee Benson;
Igor Bozinovski; Keith Brown; Keith Cianfrani; Steve Colby; Dan
Deutermann; Peter Donaldson; Ian Frain; Pat Gray; Emma Kelly;
Frank Lombardi; Elena Malova; Vicki McConnell; Robert Moor-
man; Douglas Nelms; Mark Robins; Dale Smith; Terry Terrell;
Richard Whittle.
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[email protected]
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Eastern United States & Canada
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International Sales, Europe/Pac Rim/Asia
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1-301-354-1459 [email protected]
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Customer Service/Back Issues 1-847-559-7314 [email protected]
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WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
By Andrew Parker
Join the Conversation:
10,000 and Counting
T
he Rotor & Wing Facebook
page (www.facebook.com/
rotorandwi ng) recentl y
topped 10,000 fans. As a sign
of appreciation to those who have
made this milestone possible, I’d like
to dedicate this column to sharing
some of my favorite comments to
two recent questions that garnered a
high number of responses. Feel free
to join us as well on Twitter (twitter.
com/rotorandwing) and LinkedIn,
with more than 2,300 group mem-
bers: www.linkedin.com/groups/
Rotor-Wing-3788071
Question 1: What is your favorite
childhood memory involving a
helicopter?
Lindy DeMunbrun: Flying below
the rim at Grand Canyon delivering
medical supplies, mail and groceries
then picking up the other kids for
school. And the early Flight for Life
program out of Vegas always came out
and gave the park service kids rides
and fly-outs for birthdays.
Sirajuddin Kamaruddin: S-61 landed
in front of my balcony when I was just
five years old. What an experience!
Arthur C. Fisher: I recall watching
the TV flutter roll in during the
evening as the signal of our antenna
being disturbed by Sikorsky aircraft
returning from their Stratford home
base. No cable back then.
Cathie Opland: Reading about the
history of helicopters at the library and
thinking how incredible the idea was.
Best invention EVER! I’ve had dreams
of flying ever since I can remember.
James McCaffrey: When you work
with helicopters, you never need
to grow up, so all memories are
childhood memories.
Josh Michael: Getting up at 3:00 am on
Saturday mornings for “Fed-Ex” patrol
with my dad. He operated Sterling
Helicopter in Philadelphia, and we’d
take the LongRanger, fly to the airport,
land next to the FedEx Boeing 747 and
load priority packages into the 206-L.
Then land at hotel heliports around
N.J. and Philly to meet FedEx trucks.
Aaron Osgood: Riding in a Bell 47
being used for aerial pesticide and
herbicide application on the family
potato farm in northern Maine (late
70’s, early 80’s).
Rorique A Vernon II: As a military
brat, I remember my parent’s medical
squadron picnic in Germany. We had
to clear the helipad for a UH-60 to drop
off a patient part of the way through.
Mike Nolan: My father worked for
the post office in the 50’s. One of his
duties was to meet an LA Airways S-55
when it landed at the Victory-Vanowen
Park heliport in north Hollywood. He
would take the mail they brought from
Terminal Annex. I loved going with
him to watch them land. That spot is
now the 170 Hollywood Freeway.
Mohd Arief: My dad is a helicopter
pilot and I liked to follow him for a
maintenance ground run for an S-61N
during the night time. That’s a sweet
memory for me until today.
Thomas Varg: I was 12. A police
helicopter landed in the area that I
lived in when I was young. I went crazy
for helicopters after that.
Ryan Potter: My first ride in an
MD530!
Mark Sales: A number of flights to/from
Kuparuk Oil Camp and Pingok Island,
Alaska in 1985, to include a Grizzly
bear up close, set the hook. Actually I
was hooked from the first hover. I’ve
always thought I’d meet up with that
unknown pilot somewhere.
Question 2: How and why did you
fall in love with helicopters?
John Lovell: Because they are the
proverbial magic carpet.
Philippe Boulay: I was eight, and saw
a H-21 of French ALAT landing in the
pasture owned by my father behind
our house, in a village in the center
of France. It was an extraordinary
experience: the wind, the noise. An
engine problem had occurred and the
crew had to phone to their base. They
phoned at our home and after they
showed the machine to us. Fabulous
From that moment, I was an addict!
Juan Gutierrez: Always wanted to fly,
helicopters are more interesting and
challenging than fixed-wing aircraft,
and the things that I have done in a
helicopter you can never do in a plane.
That is why I love them!
Troy Peterson: Not sure – only that
my parents told me that even when
I was toddler I was fascinated with
them. I am 50 this month and even
though I can pretty much name
the model by only sound, I still run
outside to look in the sky at them as
they fly by anywhere I may be. I am a
maintainer and not a pilot. Still have a
lifelong dream of flying them though,
just never the means to do so!
Bruce Couillard: I fell in love with the
collective.
What’s your favorite childhood
memory involving a helicopter?
How did you get involved with the
rotorcraft industry? Send responses
to: [email protected]
[email protected]
Editor’s Notebook
©2013 Garmin Ltd. or its subsidiaries
Garmin HTAWS:
For an extra margin
of safety between
you and terra firma.
Whether you upgrade your current GNS 430/530 series GPS/Nav/Comm – or trade up to the new
touchscreen-controlled GTN 750/650 avionics – Garmin HTAWS (Helicopter Terrain Awareness and
Warning System) makes it easy to add the alerting technology that can help you fly free and clear
of hazardous terrain, towers and obstacles ahead. Crisp 5-color shading (red, orange, yellow, green
and black) brings extra detail to your terrain display. And audio callouts announce your height
above ground level when descending below 500 feet. Garmin HTAWS: It’s flight safety, simplified.
To learn more, visit Garmin.com/helicopters
HTAWS
6
WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
Public Service Military Commercial Personal|Corporate
THIS MONTH FROM
12
FEATURES
28 ■ Heli-Union Training Builds on New Tech
First-hand look at Heli-Union Training Center’s operations in
Angouleme, France. By Thierry Dubois
34 ■ Software Meeting New Technology Needs
As next generation software becomes ever more sophisticated, the
software industry is rising to meet the maintenance challenge. By
Douglas Nelms
COVER STORY
38 ■ ADAC Brings Together HEMS Operators
ADAC HEMS Academy hosted an EC145/145T2 networking event in
Germany. By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief
40 ■ JMR: Proceed with Caution
The U.S. Army’s selection of two coaxial and two tiltrotor competitors
for the JMR TD Phase 1 could be a shrewd move toward the eventual
development of Future Vertical Lift. By Andrew Drwiega
On the Print Edition Cover: Inside one of the ADAC HEMS Academy full flight simulators showing crew
visual HEMS. Photo courtesy of ADAC
Digital Edition Cover: Heli-Union Training Center full flight simulator. Photo courtesy of Heli-Union
(Above) EC725 during a test of a Brazilian-made countermeasures
system, by Anthony Pecchi. (Bottom) MQ-8C ground tests, courtesy
of Northrop Grumman. (Right) AVX JMR design, courtesy AVX.
DEPARTMENTS
12 Rotorcraft Report
20 People
21 Coming Events
27 Hot Products
45 Classified Ads
47 Ad Index
COLUMNS
4 Editor’s Notebook
8 Feedback
10 Meet the Contributors
46 Public Service
48 Law Enforcement
50 Military Insider
25
7 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE
Services Products Training Public Service
©2013 by Access Intelligence, LLC. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission.
Publication Mail Sales Agreement No. 40558009
POST YOUR HELICOPTER PHOTOS
• Have any breathtaking helicopter photos that can hang with the best of them?
Share them on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/rotorandwing
SIGN UP FOR THE ROTOR & WING COLLECTIVE
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visiting: www.aviationtoday.com/rw/collective_form.html
STORIES & PHOTOS ON THE WEB
• Go to rotorandwing.com to see more photos and read some of the stories that
didn’t make it into this month’s print edition, for example:
• Turbomeca to Repair Makila Engines for Netherlands Air Force
• Lynx Vital to Counter Drug Trafficking Operations in the Caribbean
• Elbit Helmet Mounted Display Confirmed for South Korea’s Surion
• Eurocopter Foundation and NGO Support Storm Victims in Mexico
• Russian Helicopters Delivers Mi-171E to Kazakstan Ministry
• Initial Production AgustaWestland AW189 Completes Maiden Flight
• Erickson Inks $60 Million Deal to Support Australia’s NAFC
DIRECT TO YOUR DESKTOP: CHECK YOUR EMAIL
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 1:
• Digital edition of Rotor & Wing November 2013. Electronic version with enhanced
web links makes navigating through the pages of Rotor & Wing easier than ever.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 11:
• HOT PRODUCTS for Helicopter Operators—Latest in equipment upgrades, performance
modifications, training devices and other tools for the rotorcraft industry.
WEEK OF NOVEMBER 25:
• Rotor & Wing’s Helicopter Safety & Training e-letter. Get the latest updates from
helicopter training organizations around the world.
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Vol. 47
|
No. 11
November 2013
The editors welcome new product information and other industry news. All editorial inquiries should be directed to Rotor & Wing magazine, 4 Choke Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, Md. 20850, USA; 1-301-354-1839; fax 1-301-762-8965. E-mail: rotorandwing@
accessintel.com. Rotor & Wing (ISSN-1066-8098) is published monthly by Access Intelligence, 4 Choke Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, Md. 20850, USA. Periodical postage paid at Rockville, Md. and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: Free to qualified individuals
directly involved in the helicopter industry. All other subscriptions, U.S.: one year $89; two years $178. Canada: one year $99; two years $198; Foreign: one year $129; two years $258.
POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rotor & Wing, P.O. Box 3089, Northbrook, Ill. 60065-3089, USA. Change of address two to eight weeks notice requested. Send both new and old address, including mailing label to Attn: Rotor & Wing magazine, Customer Services,
P.O. Box 3089, Northbrook, Ill. 60065-3089, USA or call 1-847-559-7314. E-mail: [email protected]. Canada Post 40612608. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.
POST YOUR HELICOPTER PHOTOS
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Share them on our Facebook page:
SIGN UP FOR THE
• Subscribe today for our free weekly e-letter for helicopter news—The
40
8 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
Do you have comments on the rotorcraft industry or recent articles and viewpoints we’ve published? Send them to Editor, Rotor
& Wing, 4 Choke Cherry Road, Second Floor, Rockville, Md. 20850, USA, fax us at 1-301-354-1809 or e-mail us at rotorandwing@
accessintel.com. Please include a city and state or province with your name and ratings. We reserve the right to edit all submitted
material.
Services Products Training Public Service Military Commercial Personal|Corporate
F
eedback
WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
EC135 LIFESTAR Model
I was very excited to see the Univer-
sity of Tennessee Medical Center
LIFESTAR Eurocopter EC135 on the
front cover of the October issue. As
this helicopter is only 40 minutes from
my home, I’m pleased to see the UT
medical system chosen as your feature
article. What is more exciting is that the
helicopter is shown prominently on the
front cover.
I’m currently building a 1/6 flying
replica of the UT LIFESTAR EC135.
This is an electrically powered (12S,
44V 5000mAh powered setup) heli-
copter weighing in at 26 lbs. I’ve put
some photos on the web to update
the progress.
David Lyons
Poor Decision-Making
The question in the October 2013 issue
was: What more needs to be done to
improve the safety record of HEMS oper-
ations?
I’m an EMS pilot for a major carrier
and have been for the previous seven
years, I live in northeastern Kentucky
and hold a commercial pilot license. I
have about 3,000 total hours, 2,000 in
the U.S. Army, and another 1,000 flying
EMS. I have a bachelor’s degree in gen-
eral aviation topics and am about two
classes shy of completing my master’s
degree in aviation safety.
In my opinion, almost every single
accident has been due to poor pilot
decision-making. Be it running out of
fuel or taking off or continuing in poor
weather conditions. So if we know what
the problem is, what can we do to fix it
and reduce the mishaps?
Well first and foremost we need to
develop a training program that teaches
pilots from an early stage what a good
decision really means. The climate for
safety needs to be such that there is
no question about what the right deci-
sion should be, and no pressure to fly.
I believe we have enough rules on the
books to keep us safe, what we need is
pilots that execute the rules in a man-
ner that results in almost zero accidents
(recognizing that absolutely zero acci-
dents is an unachievable goal). The FAA
and other organizations have given
pilots all the tools we need. Goggles, ter-
rain avoidance, traffic avoidance, weath-
er, synthetic vision, autopilot (in some
aircraft), ASAP and the list goes on. All
these tools will not save another aircraft
and crew if the pilots flying continue to
push the limits and ignore obvious cues
for mission abort. Those cues might
include, fuel less than required to com-
plete the leg, approaching the low-fuel
light quantity, weather within one mile
or 100 feet of established minimums, to
just name a few. HEMS operations are a
dynamic environment and it takes pilots
and medical crew that are not willing to
accept pushing minimums to get the
job done. If it appears that conditions
are approaching the limit that no longer
supports safe flight, then we simply end
the flight, even if that means landing in
some field with no access to civilization.
Medical crewmembers need to know
what these minimums are and have a
voice in the go/no go decision-making.
It is ironic that as helicopter pilots
we fly in a machine that can essentially
land anywhere, yet instead of simply
landing in a field somewhere we choose
to continue in deteriorating conditions.
Why is that? Is it a company or cus-
tomer induced climate that does not
support pilots ending flights? Or is it a
self-induced climate brought on by the
crew themselves? In either case, the
climate must support the most conser-
vative response to safe flight operations.
To me, its really just that simple.
Mike Ojeda
Correction
The captions were incorrectly labeled
for two photos on page 32 of the Sep-
tember 2013 issue as part of “Not Just
Folding Wings and Tails,” a story about
marinized helicopters. The images
show a Kaman Seasprite photographed
after decades sitting in a boneyard, and
not after exposure to a realistic mari-
time environment.
The SH-2G Super Seasprite fleet has
accumulated more than 1 million mari-
time flight hours, and has been proven
in the field by operators worldwide. It is
the only helicopter designed from incep-
tion specifically to operate in a marine
environment, according to Kaman.
Any implication that Seasprites
experience corrosion or damage in a
maritime environment was inaccurate
and unintentional. We sincerely regret
the error.

R&W’s Question of the Month

What is your favorite child-
hood memory involving a heli-
copter? Why and how did you
fall in love with helicopters?
Let us know, and look for responses in a future issue.
You’ll find contact information below.
EC135 model.
D
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www.aero-access.com | [email protected] | 1-800-251-7094
©2013 Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. All rights reserved.
Innovation. Reliability. Performance.
The Aeronautical Accessories brand offers an innovative suite of products enabling superior
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vibration-related maintenance issues. The result is improved uptime, lower operating costs,
greater safety and reliability. Contact us today to learn how we can help improve your rotorcraft’s
dependability and improve your bottom line.
10
WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
FRANK LOMBARDI, an ATP with both
fi xed-wi ng and rotary-wi ng rati ngs,
began his f lying career in 1991 after
graduating with a bachelor’s of science
in aerospace engineering, working on
various airplane and helicopter programs as a flight test
engineer for Grumman Aerospace Corp. Frank became a
police officer for a major East Coast police department in
1995, and has been flying helicopters in the department’s
aviation section since 2000. He remains active in test
and evaluation, and holds a master’s degree in aviation
systems-flight testing from the University of Tennessee
Space Institute.
DOUGLAS NELMS has more than 30 years
of experience as an aviation journalist and
currently works as a freelance writer. He
has served as managing editor of Rotor &
Wing. A former U.S. Army helicopter pilot,
Nelms specializes in writing about helicopters.
DALE SMITH has been an aviation jour-
nalist for 24 years specializing in business
aviation. He is currently a contributing
writer for Rotor & Wing and other leading
aviation magazines. He has been a licensed
pilot since 1974 and has flown 35 different types of general
aviation, business and WWII vintage aircraft.
ERNIE STEPHENS, Editor-at-Large, spent
27 years with a maj or county pol ice
department, retiring as a decorated ser-
geant and chief pilot of its aviation sec-
tion in 2006. He began his flying career in
the late 1980s when he earned his rotorcraft license and
incorporated a small aviation company as a sideline to
his law enforcement career. Ernie holds a B.S. in Manage-
ment of Technical Operations and an M.S. in Aeronauti-
cal Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Univer-
sity, where he is also a professor and former director of
academics for one of the school’s satellite campuses. He
has been writing features and columns for Rotor & Wing
since 2003, and has performed evaluation flights in some
of the latest, most technologically advanced rotorcraft in
the world.
LEE BENSON is a retired senior pilot for
the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Before he was named senior pilot, Lee ran
the aviation section’s safety and training
programs, including organizing the sec-
tion’s yearly safety meeting with other public agencies and
the press.
PETER DONALDSON has more than 25
years of experience as a journalist and writer
covering aerospace and defence technology
and operations. Subjects he has written about
include: engines and power transmission
systems for helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, unmanned vehicles
of all kinds, ships, submarines and ground vehicles. He has also
covered electronics and mission management systems for these
vehicles, military command, control, communications, intel-
ligence, surveillance, targeting and reconnaissance systems in
addition to guided weapons, guns and ammunition. Peter has
also been involved in shaping conferences covering such top-
ics as civil and military helicopters, electronic warfare systems,
night vision systems, search and rescue.
ANDREW DRWIEGA, International Bureau
Chief, is a senior defense/aviation journal-
ist with a specialization in international
military rotorcraft. Based in London, he
has reported from Iraq and Afghanistan
on numerous occasions on attachment with American and
British helicopter forces. Andrew is a member of the Army
Aviation Association of America, the Royal United Ser-
vices Institute, the Air Power Association and is an associate
member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has a BA
(Hons) degree in War Studies. Andrew covers defense and
global rotorcraft markets.
PAT GRAY is our “Offshore Notebook”
contributor, having flown in Gulf of Mexi-
co helicopter operations for 20-plus years.
Prior to that, he was in Vietnam in 1958 as
a young paratrooper. He retired from the
Army Reserve as a chief warrant officer 4, with more than
30 years active and reserve service. Gray’s civil helicopter
experience covers crop dusting and Alaska bush, corporate,
pipeline and offshore flying.
Meet the
Contributors
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Services Products Training Public Service Military Commercial Personal|Corporate
12 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
The UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has announced that it will review
North Sea helicopter operations together with the Norwegian CAA and the
European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). According to the CAA statement,
the review “will study current operations, previous incidents and accidents and
offshore helicopter flying in other countries to make recommendations aimed at
improving the safety of offshore flying.”
CAA’s head of flight operations, Capt. Bob Jones, will lead the review, work-
ing closely with Geir Hamre, head of helicopter safety for the Norwegian CAA
and will be supported by industry experts and independents. The review will
focus on operator decision-making and internal management; the protection of
passengers and crew; pilot training and performance; and helicopter airworthi-
ness. The review will be published in early 2014.
The CAA announcement came a day before Avincis Group, Bristow Group
and CHC unveiled plans to work together to review procedures, share best prac-
tices and improve safety. The joint review will examine processes, safety, training
and flight operations, focusing first on Europe. Other areas will include automa-
tion, emergency equipment and response, human factors, manufacturing, safety
communication and training.
■ TRAINING
|
SAFETY
CAA and EASA Start Offshore
Review as Avincis, Bristow
and CHC Team on Safety
■ PRODUCTS
|
AVIONICS
Bell’s Short Light
Single to Feature
Garmin G1000H
During Helitech International 2013 in
London, Bell Helicopter formalized a
contract with Garmin International
to supply its G1000H integrated
avionics suite for the as-of-now-named
Short Light Single (SLS). The move
furthers the relationship between the
helicopter OEM and the Olathe, Kan.-
based avionics specialist, as Garmin
introduced the G1000H on the 407GX
and is providing the G5000H for
Bell’s 525 Relentless on the larger end
of the spectrum (the 525 is intended
primarily for the offshore market).
Turbomeca’s Arrius 2R will power
the SLS, which seeks to compete with
the Robinson R66 and Eurocopter
EC120. The G1000H supplies flight
instrumentation, communication, nav-
igation, diagnostics, terrain, conflicting
traffic, maintenance and weather data
on high-resolution LCD screens. Bell’s
SLS performance targets are a speed
of 125 knots with a range of 360 to 420
nm and a useful load of 1,500 lbs.
■ COMMERCIAL
|
TECHNOLOGY
Helicopter OEMs to Assist with NASA
Advanced Composites Research
Experts from NASA, FAA and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory have chosen six
companies to participate in the Advanced Composites Project from a list of 20 proposals.
The project falls under the Integrated Systems Research Program at NASA’s Aeronautics
Research Mission Directorate.
The companies are Bell Helicopter/Textron; Boeing Research & Technology in St.
Louis; Cincinnati-based GE Aviation, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Palmdale, Calif.;
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, Calif.; and United Tech-
nologies Corp. (UTC), as well as its Pratt & Whitney subsidiary in Hartford, Conn.
The panel chose the half-dozen companies for the government/industry project due
to their “technical expertise, willingness and ability to share in costs, certification experi-
ence with government agencies, focused technology areas and partnership histories,”
according to NASA.
Developing “articles of collaboration” and figuring out how the partnership will work is the
first assignment. NASA hasn’t ruled out adding more companies into the partnership.
Example of the Garmin G1000H panel for
the Bell short light single (SLS).
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According to Dr. Andrew Black,
director and head of analysis at Hawk
Intelligence Source Management,
Russian manufacturers will produce
the largest number of heavy helicopters
between 2013 and 2022, followed by
Sikorsky, Boeing and NH Industries.
Black also warned that established
western companies’ market share
could also come under threat from new
entrants to the world market, including
India’s Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd.
(HAL) and China’s AVIC, with the light
military sector providing them with
early opportunities.
In a mildly pessimistic presenta-
tion on the outlook for the rotorcraft
sector – upcoming opportunities and
challenges – Black also told Helitech
International 2013 conference attend-
ees that the light civil aircraft sector has
the brightest prospects over the 10-year
forecast period, followed by the mili-
tary medium/heavy sector, although
even this will be weaker as the wars in
south west Asia wind down. Demand
for medium/heavy aircraft in the civil
sector will continue to be affected by
the recession, he said.
However, the industry panel took
issue with some of these generaliza-
tions. Roberto Garavaglia, AgustaWest-
land’s senior vice president for strategy
and business development, argued that
the company’s more detailed model
showed that the rapid change in the oil
and gas support business, for example,
with rigs moving up to 300 nm off-
shore, would drive the market for more
capable aircraft.
Bell’s director of marketing and sales
support, Chuck Evans, argued that the
need to replace 10,000 to 12,000 first
generation five-seat turbine helicopters
is a big opportunity for its new Short
Light Single (SLS).
Eurocopter UK’s managing director,
Markus Steinke, said that the helicopter
market today is where the fixed-wing
market was 50 years ago, focused on
special missions and the rich.
Alluding to the development of
hybrids, he said that helicopters of the
future will be fundamentally different
mass market aircraft. “Beyond that
10-year outlook, you will all be sur-
prised.” —By Peter Donaldson
■ COMMERCIAL
|
AIRFRAMES
Analyst: New Entrants Could Capture Market Share
Sikorsky has started final
assembly on the S-97 Raider
prototype after receiving
the fuselage structure from
Aurora Flight Services on
September 20.
The composite fuselage
structure – which includes a
cockpit, cabin and tail cone
– is undergoing completions
at Sikorsky’s Development
Flight Center in West Palm
Beach, Fla.
Sikorsky plans to convert
the fuselage, which is 36 feet
long and weighs 11,000 lbs,
into the S-97 Raider proto-
type. Demonstration flights
are targeted in 2015 for U.S.
military and other potential
buyers.
Sikorsky launched the S-97 Raider
program in late 2010 as the first off-
shoot of its X2 Technology demon-
strator, choosing 36 industry partners
in 2011. Sikorsky and Boeing are
submitting a version of the X2/S-
97 as one of the competitors in the
U.S. Army’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR)
technology demonstrator, which leads
into the Future Vertical Lift program
(medium variant).
■ PRODUCTS
|
AIRFRAMES
Aurora-Built S-97 Fuselage Arrives at Sikorsky Flight Center
S-97 fuselage arrived at Sikorsky on September 20.
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Rotorcraft Report
■ MILITARY
|
AIRFRAMES
MD Sells Dozen MD530Fs,
MD902 Pair to Kurdistan
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has placed
orders for a total of 14 new helicopters from MD as the
Middle Eastern nation looks to add to its VIP transport and
law enforcement fleet of helicopters. The order includes
12 new MD530Fs and a pair of MD902 Explorers. KRG
plans to use the 530F fleet for airborne law enforcement
and firefighting operations, and the 902 Explorer fleet for
transporting senior government officials.
The UK’s Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory (dstl) is
requesting industry assistance as it
searches to develop systems to help keep
helicopter crews from being hit by man-
operated hostile ground fire.
Locating and avoiding ground fire
is one of the biggest challenges any heli-
copter crew can face when flying above
an operational environment. Training
synthetically, either in a laboratory or
in the air with simulated live fire, must
reflect the qualities of real engagements.
“We are looking for a two-stage
approach: a simulated approach in a
laboratory environment and then a live
flight environment using a simulated
weapons system,” states dstl’s Ian Poth-
ecary, a member of the Countermeasure
Concepts team.
From the threat operator’s perspec-
tive, the system needs to simulate weap-
on characteristics including a rapid rate
of fire and effects such muzzle flash,
vibration, smoke and tracer.
Representing the aircrew’s perspec-
tive, Royal Air Force Squadron Leader
James Birtwistle explained that the
importance of simulation is that it is
cheap, easy to repeat and you have full
control. But he did not ignore the very
necessary need to conduct live flying
training as well.
The main requirement is to repro-
duce the human performance reactions
of flightcrew as well as that of the threat
operator. What dstl needs is a way of
simulating the weapon effect and fus-
ing that data with that of the aircraft. In
other words, “replicating these interac-
tions in simulation, coupled with Defen-
sive Aid Suite (DAS), in order to develop
countermeasures.”
Dstl’s hostile fire research is con-
ducted at Porton Down in southern
England, one of three sites where dstl is
located. The organization provides sci-
ence and technology (S&T) research for
the UK Ministry of Defence and is run
along commercial lines. —By Andrew
Drwiega, International Bureau Chief
■ MILITARY
|
MISSION EQUIPMENT
Industry to Assist with UK Hostile Fire Systems Development
With three manufacturers who are developing high-speed
rotorcraft represented on the panel, the Helitech International
2013 Conference provided an opportunity to gauge the
differences in emphasis between the AgustaWestland
AW609, Sikorsky’s X2 and Eurocopter’s X3 and their likely
effects on the civil market.
Roberto Garavaglia, AgustaWestland’s senior vice presi-
dent for strategy and business development, pointed to the
AW609’s combination of 270-knot speed, 700 nm range and
pressurized cabin that allows it to fly above the weather at
25,000 feet, calling it “a phenomenal way of developing the
civil market into areas where today there is no possibility to
operate.” Hinting at future Arctic operations, he talked of
operating to rigs “which are further away and maybe even in
the north of the planet.”
Significantly, Sikorsky’s sales director for Europe, Alex
Sharp, did not conjure visions of X2 Technology compound
coaxial helicopters serving distant rigs. “We see at least the
initial market being almost totally military,” he said. “What we
are really seeing driving the offshore market,” he continued,
“is a focus on range as opposed to speed… So we tend to focus
on that area and not so much on what X2 gives us, which is
a lot of speed and performance at altitude and in really hot
climates, where we see the military operating. We are going
to let the military side develop the technology and then see
where the application is on the civil side.”
In contrast, Eurocopter UK CEO Markus Steinke said
that the X3 compound helicopter concept demonstrator was
aimed directly at the civil market. “It is about productivity;
we deliver more output in a given time for a given amount
of money,” he said. “And I think what you have in front of you
is various ways into the future – proof that the future will
change.” —By Peter Donaldson
■ COMMERCIAL
|
TECHNOLOGY
Different Strokes at High Speed: Tiltrotor, X2 and X3
Cockpit flight simulator.
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16 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Rotorcraft Report
Eurocopter invited Rotor & Wing to
participate in the demonstrations to
customers of its EC130 T2 and EC145
T2 helicopters just prior to the Helitech
exhibition in late September at ExCel in
London’s docklands.
The first helicopter was the EC130
T2, flown by experimental test pilot
Olivier Gensse. He has flown every
Eurocopter variant in the company
inventory with the exception of the
Tiger attack helicopter. With wiring
still evident on this pre-certification
aircraft, he nevertheless took four pas-
sengers into the surprisingly spacious
cockpit with two seats to spare (three
front and four back).
Following takeoff, we conducted
a few maneuvers within the airport
perimeter in ground effect, including
an effortless glide sideways at 40 knots.
Gensse said the climb rate was around
2,500 feet per minute. After further
demonstrations, we learned the full
understanding of the power delivered
by the Turbomeca Arriel 2D engine
as Gensse first climbed the helicopter
vertically then did a stall turn. This was
followed by another vertical climb with
him pushing over at the top of the climb
into a stable hover. From there the only
way was down – which is exactly what
we did, as Gensse pushed the nose
forward into a vertical descent with a
180-degree turn on the way down and
a recovery back to level flight. With
five onboard, including the valuable
cargo of MD Steinke, the power point
was proven without doubt. Needless
to say, with such a large amount of glass
surrounding both pilot and passengers,
visibility is excellent.
Flying in the twin engine EC145
T2 with test pilot Diethelm Berndt
was a more orderly affair with him
demonstrating over 30 minutes the
handling capability of the four-axis
autopilot and dual-channel FADEC.
The one-engine operative demon-
stration was carried out virtually
seamlessly from the passenger point
of view. Internally the six passenger
seats installed for the demonstration
were easily located in the cabin, and
the rear clamshell door design gives
visibility out of the rear of the aircraft
for aircrew.
The f l i ght s were schedul ed
from Eurocopter UK’s home base at
Oxford airport and at Denham aero-
drome, a small airfield to the west of
London but within the M25. There
were up to 100 invites sourced from
utility operators, police air support
representatives and those directly
■ PRODUCTS
|
AIRFRAMES
Eurocopter Demos T2 Variant EC130, EC145 at Helitech
(Below) EC145T2. (Below right) A pair of Squirrels – AS350 taking off with AS355 in the
background. (Above left) Experimental test pilot Olivier Gensse at the controls of the EC130
T2 above the Oxfordshire countryside, before exhibiting the engine ‘grunt’ through a brief
but impressive aerobatic demonstration. (Above right) EC145 T2 glass cockpit.
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including performance-based services, consulting solutions through its Dublin-
based subsidiary, demonstrations of its online information services such as e-Tech
publications and other aspects of support.
“Our main goal is first and foremost keeping customer satisfaction at the heart of
Eurocopter’s strategy,” explained Guillaume Faury, Eurocopter president and CEO.
“This means offering not only the best products and evolutions but also efficient and
modern service solutions, tailored to the diverse needs of operators.” —By Andrew
Drwiega, International Bureau Chief
involved in providing helicopter
emergency medical services.
Said Markus Steinke, managing
director of Eurocopter UK: “Bringing
these rotorcraft to the UK enables
a broad section of the user commu-
nity to fully appreciate their latest
technology for enhanced mission
capability and flexibility.”
Eurocopter’s EC130 T2 is the
latest version of the lightweight
single-engine Ecureuil product line.
According to the company, around
70 percent of the EC130 T2’s air-
frame structure has been modified,
including the incorporation of a
more powerful Turbomeca Arriel
2D turboshaft engine and upgraded
main gearbox.
The twin-engine EC145 T2 also
incorporates new Arriel 2E engines
as well as a Fenestron shrouded tail
rotor; upgraded main and tail rotor
gearboxes; and new digital avionics
suite with four-axis autopilot.
Once the Helitech opens on
Tuesday, Eurocopter will exhibit a
full-scale mock-up of its EC175 in
corporate configuration along with
two model other variants: the EC130
T2 Stylence and the EC145 T2, both
shown as passenger carrying aircraft.
In addition, an EC120 together with
an EC145 in firefighting version will
be displayed on the outdoor helipad,
exhibiting their mission versatility.
The company’s range of services
initiatives will also be highlighted
18 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Rotorcraft Report
■ SERVICES
|
MAINTENANCE
Guimbal Details Maintenance Numbers
for the Costs to Operate Cabri G2
French manufacturer Helicopteres
Guimbal has unveiled numbers
on the cost of a Cabri G2 overhaul.
The first examples of the two-seater
were overhauled last summer at the
Guimbal factory in Aix-en-Provence,
after 2,200 flight hours.
For each of the two 2010 Cabris
operated by Jonkoping, Sweden-
based flying school Northern Heli-
copters, the downtime was six weeks,
according to the airframer. “In 2,200
flight hours, each of these Cabris generated revenues in the amount of about
three times its selling price,” founder and CEO Bruno Guimbal said. Then, the
overhaul cost 25 percent of this price, he went on.
A Cabri G2, in its baseline version, today sells for €293,000 (around $395,000).
By contrast, a Robinson R22 sells for $276,000. But an R22 overhaul costs twice
that of a Cabri, according to Guimbal.
“Thanks to its reduced maintenance needs, infinite fatigue life for all com-
ponents (including the main rotor and the composite airframe) and absence
of hard-time limits, the Cabri G2 is proving it is the most cost-efficient training
helicopter on the market,” Guimbal asserted.
The EASA recently granted the company a Part 145 approval for maintenance
and overhaul of the helicopter and its systems. Over 50 Cabri G2s are flying in
Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Helicopteres Guimbal now has 36 employ-
ees. —By Theirry Dubois
■ TRAINING
|
AIRFRAMES
Aviamarket Flies R66 Around the Globe
A pair of Robinson R66 turbine helicopters completed a six-week around-the-world
flight on Sept. 15, an expedition organized by Moscow-based Robinson dealer
Aviamarket.
The company organized the flight in an effort to test the newly Russian type certi-
fied R66. The flight took the helicopters from Russia and across Europe before cross-
ing the North Atlantic Ocean heading west over Canada, with a passage through
Alaska and finally crossing the North Pacific Ocean to Siberia and back to Moscow.
Crossing the Atlantic presented the biggest challenge of the trip, as it featured the
longest stretches over
water, the longest
being 490 miles.
A team of four
pilots flew about 620
miles per day in the
R66s which were out-
fitted with auxiliary
fuel tanks to extend
their range.
■ MILITARY
|
OPERATORS
Lynx Departure
Signals End of
British Military
Flying in
Germany
British military flying in Germany
came to a close October 4 with
the departure of the last Westland
Lynx Mk9A of 1 Regiment Army
Air Corps (1AAC) from Gütersloh
airfield in northern Germany.
The AAC departure marks the
end of British military flying in
Germany since the end of World
War II, as well as bringing to a
close 1AAC’s residency in Güter-
sloh that began in 1993. Initially
both Lynx and Gazelle helicop-
ters were operated from the base
but the Gazelles left for good on
March 31, 2000. In 2002, the Lynx
Mk7 lost its tube-launched TOW
missiles but was replaced by the
Lynx Mk9 in 2005, then the Lynx
Mk9A by the end of 2011.
Once back in the UK, 1 Regi-
ment AAC will begin to merge
with 9 Regiment AAC as a result
of the Ministry of Defense’s Army
2020 plan. This should be com-
pleted by 2015 with the new unit
shedding its Lynx Mk9As for the
new AgustaWestl and Wil dcat
helicopters, all under a single
headquarters located at Yeovilton,
Somerset. They will become part
of the newly formed Aviation
Reconnaissance Force.
The Regiment has deployed
helicopters 17 times on opera-
tions away from its home base,
i ncl udi ng Operati on Protego
(London Olympic Games) and
Operation Herrick (Afghanistan).
During its last deployment to
Afghanistan, 661 Squadron flew
more than 1, 000 hours and in
40 deliberate missions in sup-
port of International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) troops.
—By Andrew Drwiega
Cabri G2 in flight.
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Part of the around-
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20 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Rotorcraft Report
PEOPLE
The boa r d of
directors of Russian
H e l i c o p t e r s
ha s pr omot e d
A l e x a n d e r
Mikheev to CEO.
He replaces Dmitry Petrov, who will
take a role within Rostec State Corp.
Russian Helicopters is a subsidiary of
Oboronprom, which is part of Rostec.
Mikheev is the former deputy CEO
of Rosoboronexport, a division of
conglomerate Russian Helicopters.
Rostec CEO Sergey Chemezov
noted in a statement that the strat-
egy for Russian Helicopters “targets an
increase in global market share to 18-20
percent from the current 14 percent
by 2020, including by expanding its
presence in the CIS, China, India, the
Middle East, Africa and Latin Ameri-
ca.” That includes a goal of producing
470 helicopters annually by 2020, with
revenue projected at around 240 billion
rubles.
Mike Atwood
r e c e i v e d t h e
NIGHTCON Life-
time Achievement
Award at this year’s
convention in Dal-
las, Texas. Atwood, who is CEO of
Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU),
was nominated for his work in helping
to develop and advance the use of civil
night vision goggles in civil aviation.
“Mike truly has pioneered the use of
NVGs in the civilian world not only in
North America, but also throughout
the world,” said ASU President Jim
Winkel.
Rebt e ch ha s
hired Curtis Ar-
nold as comple-
tions manager based
in Bedford, Texas.
Arnold has more
than 21 years of aviation experience,
holding an A&P maintenance certificate
with IA authorization and a commercial
pilot certificate with single and multi-
engine instrument airplane ratings.
Bristow Group has appointed Steve
Predmore as vice president and chief
safety officer for the company’s global
operations regarding safety, safety
auditing, health and environmental
issues. Predmore has 11 years of avia-
tion industry experience with JetBlue
Airways as vice president and chief
safety officer, and a further six as direc-
tor safety performance and quality
with Delta Air Lines. His last position
was senior vice president of safety
for MV Transportation. He has also
served with the National Transporta-
tion Safety Board (NTSB) and the
Management Advisory Committee to
the FAA administrator.
Waypoint Leasing (Ireland) has
appointed six people to its manage-
ment team: Robert Van de Vuurst,
general counsel; Peter Dahm, strate-
gic accounts executive; Dave Gorsky,
vice president of operations and tech-
nical; Ken Dowling, vice president
of financial reporting and business
planning; Marc Schechter, vice presi-
dent of risk and analytics; and Todd
Wolynski, vice president of legal and
associate general counsel.
Peter Bull has joined the advisory
board of helicopter leasing organiza-
tion Milestone Aviation Group. Bull
has more than 30 years of experience
in a variety of posts covering aircraft
maintenance, leasing, asset manage-
ment, risk consulting and continuing
airworthiness. He arrives from Air-
claims, where he was executive director
responsible for worldwide aviation risk
and asset management. He is a Fellow
of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the
Institute of Directors and the Char-
tered Management Institute.
EADS has made three further senior
nominations for its future Defense &
Space division. They are: Pilar Albiac-
Murillo, who becomes executive vice
president operations and will lead the
transformation of Airbus Defense
& Space; Christian Scherer who
takes the post of executive vice presi-
dent sales and marketing; and Lars
Immisch, who will be the division’s
executive vice president for HR.
Aubrey Point has replaced Peter
Dahm as vice president helicopters
at Avinco. Point has been with the
company since 2006, before which he
gained management experience in
sales and support with Eurocopter in
Thailand, Hong Kong and China.
Lease Corpora-
tion International
(LCI) is looking to
newly appointed
Mark Kelly to lead
its marketing across
the EMEA. Kelly’s
title is vice president of marketing and
he will be based in Dublin, Ireland. An
experienced helicopter pilot, Kelly will
address both marketing and business
development issues. His previous posi-
tion was managing director of CHC,
Ireland, where his main responsibil-
ity was the safe, efficient and compli-
ant operation of the search & rescue
service for the Irish Coast Guard. As a
SAR commander, Kelly flew over 250
missions including receiving an award
for his part in one rescue mission.
Circor Aerospace Products has
promoted Daniel Godin to vice presi-
dent of operations for North Ameri-
ca. Godin has been general manager
for the New York and Ohio facilities
since 2008, where he was responsible
for business and financial profitabil-
ity, operations, supply chain and team
management, as well as driving strate-
gic growth initiatives.
Rockwell Collins president Kelly
Ortberg has been given the addi-
tional role of CEO by the organization’s
board of directors. He has also been
appointed to the board and to the
board’s Executive Committee. Ortberg
succeeds Clay Jones, 64, who retired
as CEO after nearly 34 years with the
company. Jones will continue as non-
executive chairman. Ortberg joined
Rockwell Collins in 1987 and became
president in September 2012.
Bell Helicopter has made additions
Rotorcraft Report
21 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Dec. 2–5: Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and
Education Conference (I/ITSEC), Orlando, Fla. Contact I/
ITSEC, phone 1-703-247-2569 and 1-703-247-9840 or visit www.
iitsec.org
2014:
Feb. 24–27, 2014: Helicopter Association International (HAI)
Heli-Expo 2014, Anaheim, Calif. Contact HAI, phone 1-703-
683-4646 or visit www.rotor.org
March 12-15: HAircraft Electronics Association (AEA)
International Convention and Trade Show, Nashville, Tenn.
Contact AEA, phone 1-816-347-8400 or visit www.aea.net
May 4–6: Quad-A Annual Convention, Gaylord Opryland
Hotel, Nashville, Tenn. Contact HAI, phone 1-203-268-2450 or
visit www.quad-a.org
July 19–20: Farnborough International Airshow, Farnborough,
UK. Visit www.farnborough.com
Sept. 17–19: ATC Global, Beijing, China. Contact ATC Global,
phone +44 (0) 207 921 8149 or visit www.atcglobalhub.com
c
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13631
to its executive leadership team. Gun-
nar Kleveland becomes senior vice
president of integrated operations; Dr.
Cathy Ferrie will serve as senior vice
president of engineering; and Matt
Hasik is senior vice president for com-
mercial programs. Kleveland, Ferrie
and Hasik will succeed Pete Riley and
Jeff Lowinger.
The Alliance for Aviation Across
America has appointed Mark Baker
as the new president of the Aircraft
Operators and Pilots Association
(AOPA). Baker replaces Craig Fuller,
outgoing president of AOPA, who has
led the organization for the last five
years. Baker is a pilot and has been
president of several companies.
Eagl eMed has named Chuck
Welch as national director of new
business development. He reports
to EagleMed president Larry Bugg.
Welch will be responsible for manag-
ing the company’s fixed-wing and
rotor wing business development
activities throughout the United
States.
22 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Rotorcraft Report
London-based Avincis Group made a splash during Helitech
International 2013 in late September. In addition to teaming
with Bristow Group and CHC to examine safety practices
following a CAA review into North Sea offshore operations,
the company has reached agreements with helicopter makers
AgustaWestland, Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter, as well as
engine manufacturer Turbomeca.
Avincis has placed an order for up to 20 helicopters from
Bell, consisting of the 429, 412 and 412EPI. The company plans
to use the Bell variants in air medical/life and rescue operations.
The operator has also purchased five helicopters from
AgustaWestland. The order includes two AW189s intended for
offshore missions in the UK’s North Sea with Avincis subsidiary
Bond Aviation. The other three helicopters – one AW139 and a
pair of AW169s – will support EMS operations in Italy.
According to the com-
panies, the preliminary
agreements” for the five
helicopters are part of a
wider arrangement for
up to 16 helicopters from
the AW139, AW169 and
AW189 family. The heli-
copters will serve in vari-
ous roles, including offshore, EMS, utility and SAR, mainly in
the UK and Italy.
Eurocopter purchased three EC225s for Avincis subsidiary
Bond Helicopters Australia. Bond will use the aircraft to sup-
port PTTEP Australasia’s activities in the Timor Sea (PTTEP
Australasia is part of Thailand’s national petroleum exploration
and production company).
According to Eurocopter executive vice president of global
business and services, Dominique Maudet “over 75 percent
of the EC225s worldwide are now back in service.” Further
emphasizing Eurocopter’s pushback on the recent incidents,
he added that “the EC225 will be a benchmark in oil and gas
operations for years to come.” Avincis Group director of fleet
and engineering Martin Whittaker said that his company was
looking forward to deploying the aircraft and adding them to
their existing Eurocopter fleet of around 170 helicopters (out of
a global fleet of 350 helicopters).
Safran Group subsidiary Turbomeca has inked a global
support contract with Avincis, covering engines in operation
with Australian Helicopters, Bond Air Services, Bond Offshore
Helicopters and Inaer. The contract, which totals around 180
engines on 14 different helicopter types, includes Turbomeca’s
Support by the Hour (SBH) program for the Bond and Inaer
fleets.
■ COMMERCIAL
|
EVENT COVERAGE
Helitech’s Move to London Results in Attendance Boost
According to Reed Exhibitions,
organizers of Helitech International
2013, the move from rural Duxford
airfield to ExCel in London resulted in a
12 percent increase in attendance.
More than 5,600 people came to the
three-day event in late September, with
more than 220 exhibitors (70 of which
for the first time at the UK-based show).
According to estimates, the event was
around 30 percent larger than Helitech
2011, with the proportion of interna-
tional attendees rising 20 percent. Reed
hosted Helitech 2013 in col-
laboration with the European
Helicopter Association, and
OEM partners included AgustaWest-
land, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter, Rus-
sian Helicopters and Sikorsky.
Read more about Helitech Inter-
national in Rotor & Wing’s Post-Show
Wrap: http://accessintelligence.
imirus.com/Mpowered/book/
vheli13/i2/p1
■ SERVICES
|
OFFSHORE
Avincis Reaches Agreements with AgustaWestland, Bell,
Eurocopter and Turbomeca During Helitech
Interior view on the show floor of
Helitech International 2013 at ExCel.
Avincis CEO James Drummond and
AgustaWestland CEO Daniele Romiti.
AgustaWetland displayed a number of
helicopters during Helitech. A
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24 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Rotorcraft Report
■ TRAINING
|
MAINTENANCE
Sikorsky Picks Kratos for CH-53K
Maintenance Training
Si korsky Ai rcraf t has
granted an $8.5-million
contract to Kratos Defense
& Securi ty Sol uti ons
related to maintenance
training systems for the
CH-53K. The agreement
involves a Maintenance
Trai ni ng Device Suite
(MTDS) and a Helicopter
Emulation Maintenance
Trainer (HEMT) that will
be based at the U.S. Marine
Corps Air Station in New
River, N.C. The CH-53K
i s USMC’s heavy l i f t
helicopter program that is scheduled to enter service in 2019.
The MTDS will supply a “true-to-life environment” for evaluating multiple
subsystems on the CH-53K, supporting
maintenance training and remove-and-
replace training for avionics, electrical
and hydraulic systems, according to
Kratos. HEMT will use a 3D virtual
platform to train aircrew and mainte-
nance personnel on topics such as fault
isolation, troubleshooting, functional
tests and removal/installation of 27
subsystems.
■ COMMERCIAL
|
FORECASTING
Teal Group 10-Year Outlook Puts
Helicopter Market at $193 Billion
Civil and military rotorcraft operators will require 16,126 new helicopters worth
$193.1 billion over the next decade, according to the Teal Group’s annual world
rotorcraft review released September 24 at the Helitech International 2013
conference in London.
The 10-year forecast projects civil users will require 10,308 rotorcraft worth
$60.3 billion and the military will require 5,818 new helicopters worth $132.8
billion through 2022. AgustaWestland, Bell, Boeing, Eurocopter and Sikorsky are
expected to account for 96 percent of sales of new rotorcraft over the next decade,
according to the Teal Group. Richard Aboulafia, vice president of the Teal Group,
said his company’s forecast does not account for “heavy upgrade activity” that will
be required to maintain aging fleets.
Boeing and Sikorsky will continue to dominate the military market, while
Eurocopter and AgustaWestland will battle to dominate the civil market, the Teal
Group said in its forecast. Besides the five major rotorcraft airframe manufactur-
ers mentioned in their report, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) is expected to be
the only company to establish new market presence.
■ MILITARY
|
MISSION EQUIPMENT
Elbit Obtains HMD
Contract for South
Korea Surions
Elbit Systems has received a follow-
on contract to supply its Helmet
Mounted Display (HMD) systems
for the Republic of Korea Army’s
Surion helicopter. The Korean Utility
Helicopter (KUH), otherwise known
as the Surion, is a joint venture between
Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) and
Eurocopter along a 51/49 percent split,
respectively. The Korean Army has
ordered around 200 Surions to replace
its aged fleet of MD500 and UH-1H
helicopters, while 40 additional KUHs
will go to the Korean Marine Corps
for amphibious duties. Deliveries have
already begun and should be completed
by 2022, with Marine deliveries taking a
year longer to complete.
Yoram Shmuely, general manager of
Elbit Systems’ Aerospace Division, said
that his organization was considering
involving the recently formed local
company, Sharp Elbit Systems Aero-
space, in the project. The HMD system
was chosen by KAI in 2009 as part of
the initial Korean Helicopter Program
(KHP).
■ SERVICES
|
REPAIRS
Vertical Aviation
Approved for
Robinson R66
Services
Scottsdal e, Ari z. -based Verti cal
Aviation has received approval from
Robinson Helicopter to serve as an
R66 service center. The location is
also a service center for the Rolls-
Royce RR300, which powers the R66.
Vertical Aviation is a sales and service
center for Eurocopter, Turbomeca,
Rolls-Royce and a dealer for Guardian
automated f light following (AFF)
and flight data monitoring (FDM)
systems.
CH-53K graphic.
Kratos HEMT.
Kratos MTDS.
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25 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
PRODUCTS
|
AIRFRAMES
Bell Launches
Upgrade on 412EPI
Bell Helicopter has initiated an
upgrade program for the 412EPI,
with a focus on i mprovi ng the
helicopter’s Category A certification
and increased operational flexibility
for Category A Part B procedures.
Danny Maldonado, executive vice
president for sales and marketing at
Bell, calls the 412EPI that “backbone
of mi ssi on- cr i t i cal hel i copter
operations,” and says the upgrades
will increase operational flexibility
for operators. The upgrade program
will begin in November, with the first
completion scheduled for the first
quarter of 2014.
■ MILITARY
|
UNMANNED
Navy Wraps Up MQ-8C Ground Testing
The U.S. Navy’s first MQ-8C Fire Scout
unmanned helicopter has completed
ground testing and engine runs during its
initial testing at Naval Base Ventura Country
Point Mugu, Calif.
Northrop Grumman engineers pow-
ered up the aircraft’s rotor blades for the
first time Friday, as the company looked to
collect enough data to ensure the Scout’s
systems are functioning properly ahead of its
upcoming first flight.
“Completion of these tests signifies our
steady progress toward the first flight of the MQ-8C Fire Scout,” said George Vard-
oulakis, vice president of medium range tactical systems at Northrop Grumman.
The Navy currently has the company under contract to produce an MQ-8C for
deployment beginning next year. According to a spokesperson for Northrop Grum-
man, the first flight of the MQ-8C is scheduled for October.
A range of international operators at Helitech agreed
that the certification process stipulated by authorities to
allow helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS)
operators to use night vision goggles (NVGs) in Europe
needs to be quicker and more streamlined.
While all confirmed that safety had to be the main
consideration whether operators were conducting day
or night missions, it was unanimously agreed night
operations using NVGs were always safer than not
using them.
During the conference those speaking included rep-
resentatives from the East Anglian Air Ambulance (with
support provider Bond Air Services), Spanish operator
Inaer, DRF Luftrettung from Germany and the Norwe-
gian Air Ambulance.
“Flying with NVGs is much better than flying with-
out,” said Erik Normann, manager of flight operations
for Norwegian Air Ambulance. In 2012, Normann
said that his organization had flown 7,757 flight hours,
or which 1,716 were at night (22 percent) and 1,158
(15 percent) on NVGs. In Norway, particularly taking
into account is position in the Northern Hemisphere,
darkness is always a factor in providing a service to the
population. Because of the rugged geography in some
parts of the country, what is only a 15-minute flight be
helicopter can be up to seven hours by car.
In terms of crew resource management (CRM), Nor-
mann said that both the pilot and HEMS crewmember
in the cockpit had NVGs and that even the doctor in the
back was given a hand-held device: “During a landing –
all eyes count,” he said.
While the Norwegians have been operating with
NVGs since 2002, the East Anglian Air Ambulance
became the first UK HEMS operator to certified to use
NVGs earlier this year. Bond Air Services director of
flight operations Capt. Pete Cummings said: “East Anglia
have been the first to really push for night HEMS. The
CAA were supportive within their regulatory frame-
work – and always erring on the side of caution.” With
the application process beginning in November 2011,
a list of considerations to gain approval was received
from the CAA a month later. The CAA eventually pub-
lished its safety directive in July 2012 – which included
the requirement to illuminate the final approach area
with white light from a height of 500 feet. This required
the fitting of a Trakka 800 light onto the front left
hand skid. Eventually, all points were satisfied and the
first night HEMS flight took place on May 13, 2013.
—By Andrew Drwiega
Read the Full Story at www.rotorandwing.com
■ SERVICES
|
CERTIFICATION
Operators: Speed Up NVG Certification Process
MQ-8C ground tests.
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Rotorcraft Report
■ PRODUCTS
|
MISSION EQUIPMENT
Thommen, Trakka in the Spotlight
New competitors have recently enlivened a market dominated by Boeing’s
Spectrolab, and Helitech 2013 provided Rotor & Wing with an opportunity to
examine Thommen’s HSL-1600 and Trakka Corp.’s Trakkabeam A800 – two
very different solutions to the same set of problems.
The HSL-1600 looks the more conventional of the two with its large diam-
eter parabolic reflector that forms the output of the 1,600-watt short arc xenon
bulb into a beam. A self-contained unit, it has no separate components except
the hand control unit and associated cabling. Stepper motors move it in eleva-
tion and azimuth and digital control enables faster movement in all directions,
“keep out” zones to protect heat-sensitive aircraft equipment such as antennas
and precise coordination with camera pods. It can also be removed and rein-
stalled without realignment, says the company.
Its other party trick is an integral IR filter that slides around the bulb hous-
ing on command, the whole mechanism remaining inside the searchlight
housing.
The Trakkabeam A800 is slimmer in profile, a clue to a different operating
principle. Instead of a large diameter reflector, it shines the short arc xenon
bulb’s light through a system of lenses. This, says European sales manager
Christian Steward, provides a much more uniform distribution of light within
the beam, eliminating the dark spot at the center and the peripheral fade asso-
ciated with reflector searchlights.
Another unique feature of the A800 is its small diameter filter wheel that
contains, in addition to an IR filter, an amber filter to improve penetration of
fog and a visible red filter. The latter eliminates the vertigo sensation that look-
ing up at white light can induce in people working underneath the helicopter
and having to look up at it, according to Mick Rennie, key account and service
support manager for Europe. —By Peter Donaldson
Read the Full Story at www.rotorandwing.com
■ COMMERCIAL
|
AIRFRAMES
First Bell 429 Operational in UK, 407GX in Switzerland
Adding to a
string of recent
regional firsts,
the Bell 407GX
has entered
service with its
first operator
b a s e d i n
Switzerl and.
The handover
comes shortly after the first Bell 429 took
flight as part of a UK-based fleet with
National Grid, as well as the first 429 in
VIP configuration with TJ Morris Ltd.
Inspection and maintenance of
power lines is the primary role of the
National Grid 429. Bell’s European head-
quarters in Spain added EASA-certified
equipment to the helicopter, including
an operator workstation with SkyQuest
20-inch display, L-3 Wescam MX-10
control unit and Nano Flash recorder.
Bell gave the VIP 429 keys to TJ Mor-
ris during a September 21 ceremony
that marked the opening of a new com-
plex for Heli-Charter, the manufac-
turer’s Independent Representative and
Customer Service Facility in the UK.
Next on the docket is a 429 delivery to
Starspeed, a helicopter management
company that will use the VIP aircraft
for a private operator, as well as corpo-
rate charter flights.
Alpinlift Helikopter will deploy the
407GX to utility missions in Switzer-
land. Sascha Kempf, Alpinlift manag-
ing director, noted the safety features
of the 407GX, including the Garmin
G1000H avionics and synthetic vision,
as part of the reason for purchasing
the Bell variant.
■ SERVICES
|
REPAIRS
Gulf Helicopters
and QAI Team
on Component
Repairs
Quality Aviation Instruments (QAI)
and Gulf Helicopters have agreed to
establish a component repair facility
in Doha, Qatar. The joint venture will
cover component repairs for helicopter
accessories, avionics and instruments.
The companies intend to open in the
repair center in late 2013 or early 2014
following a certification process with
FAA and EASA. The site will provide
repairs for the AgustaWestland AW139,
other AgustaWestland types and
various Bell Helicopter and Eurocopter
platforms.
National Grid Bell 429.
Gulf Helicopters
AW139.
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27 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
for Helicopter Operators
Max-Viz EVS System from Astronics
An Astronics Max-Viz EVS system can increase safety and mission success
in both rotary and fixed-wing EMS fleets for approximately half the cost
of night vision goggles (NVGs) with no need for costly flight deck lighting
modifications and hours of expensive initial and recurrent flight crew
training and currency.
Max-Viz EVS can give your pilots and aircraft capability no night vision
goggles can. Unlike NVGs, Max-Viz allows your flight crew to see through
smoke, haze and light fog. Day or Night. They can accurately see terrain,
tree lines, landmarks, landing zones and obstructions. Situational aware-
ness and spatial orientation are improved dramatically. Stress and fatigue
are reduced. And the ability to more effectively discriminate between MVFR and IFR conditions can minimize or even elimi-
nate the chances of IIMC.
Max-Viz is certified on 16 different helicopters and over 200 fixed-wing aircraft. Let us show you how we can help with col-
laborative STC development and special needs for aircraft installations not currently available. Interested in preserving your
assets? See Max-Viz in action. For more information, visit www.max-viz.com/solutions/ems
GDC64 Tablet Aircraft Interface Unit Available from DAC International
Many developers are writing apps that can use aircraft position,
weather info, and/or discretes from the aircraft. Applications for
weight and balance information, OOOI reports, data recording
and reporting, and many other apps that can be developed and
tailored for the user.
DAC International’s GDC64 Tablet Aircraft Interface Unit
(TAIU) GDC64 is specifically designed as an aircraft interface
device to feed aircraft data to an iPad® without additional costly
Wi-Fi devices. This unique interface product routes data from
aircraft sensors and systems to the iPad enabling a wide range of
incremental functionality for the flight crew. You simply plug your
iPad into connector conveniently located in the cockpit to get data
and power to keep the iPad fully charged during flight.
With this product in the cockpit, operators will be able to fully leverage the benefits of using today’s apps as well as future ones
being developed to reduce cockpit workload and increase crew information and situational awareness. To find out more call DAC
International at 1-512-331-5323 or visit www.dacint.com
True Blue Power Releases Lithium-Ion
Batteries for Business and GA Use
Mid-Continent Instrument subsidiary True Blue Power has introduced two
advanced lithium-ion batteries for business and general aviation applications. The
TB17 and TB44 feature A123 Systems’ Nanophosphate lithium-ion chemistry.
The TB17 weighs 16 pounds, offering a 45 percent weight savings compared to
older, lead-acid and nickel-cadmium alternatives, according to True Blue. The
larger TB44 weighs 53 pounds, offering a 40 percent weight savings. It is designed
for the turbine market, including fixed-wing and rotorcraft applications. These
next-generation battery systems are engineered to provide an overall lower cost
of ownership with 50 to 75 percent less scheduled maintenance cost. Find out
more at www.truebluepowerusa.com
28 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
TRAINING | SIMULATORS
Heli-Union’s Traini
Builds on New Tech
Rotor & Wing was invited to get a
first-hand look at the operator’s
training center in Angouleme, France.
By Thierry Dubois
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H
el i -Uni on i s growi ng uti -
l i zation of its Angouleme,
France-based pilot training
center thanks to the adoption
of the latest tools available – a Thales/
Eurocopter Dauphin full flight simulator
(FFS) and Guimbal Cabri G2 light piston
singles. In addition to answering Heli-
Union’s in-house needs, the Heli-Union
Training Center (HUTC) is increasingly
looking for third-party customers for
both its ab-initio and recurrent training
programs. During a visit to HUTC in
October, Rotor & Wing could see first-
hand team efforts to reach and maintain
student pilot proficiency, especially in
offshore oil-and-gas operations.
With its offshore experience, Heli-
Union a few years ago identified a niche
in Eurocopter AS365 N3/N3+ Dauphin
pilot training.
“The authorities were increasingly
demanding in recurrent training and we
wanted to offer our customers a consis-
tent, high-level standard in oil-and-gas
training,” Jean-Baptiste Olry, head of
HUTC’s busi ness development, told
Rotor & Wing. In 2009, HUTC ordered
the first FFS for the type and inaugurated
it in 2012. Rotor & Wing understands
there are only two in service around the
world, the other one is based in Singa-
pore.
HUTC’s FFS Level B/flight training
device Level 3, under European regula-
tions, also meets the FAA Part 60 Level 6
standard. “An FFS Level D is much more
expensive but is only slightly more real-
istic and brings little more possibilities,”
Olry said. The same recurrent training
can be performed on an FFS Level B,
he summarized. The only difference is
for type rating, as the student will have
to be trained an extra two hours on the
real aircraft. Inside the simulator, a few
differences appear – some flight instru-
ments are not physically the same as
those of the real aircraft, while buffeting
vibration cannot be felt.
Heli-Union Training
of the latest tools available – a Thales/
(FFS) and Guimbal Cabri G2 light piston
singles. In addition to answering Heli-
looking for third-party customers for
both its ab-initio and recurrent training
programs. During a visit to HUTC in
October, Rotor & Wing
hand team efforts to reach and maintain
offshore oil-and-gas operations.
With its offshore experience, Heli-
ing Center
chnologies
Full-flight simulator at Heli-
Union’s Training Center.
30 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
HUTC’s FFS offers a 210 x 70-de-
gree field of view. It has six degrees
of motion freedom. Actuators are
electric with pneumatic assistance.
This makes maintenance much easi-
er, compared to previous-generation
hydraulic technology. The simula-
tion data package – algorithms that
link pilot inputs to aircraft outputs
– is Eurocopter’s original. The reac-
tion time of HUTC’s FFS is 60 mil-
liseconds, which is equivalent to a
Level D.
Three cockpi t confi gurati ons
are available. They use either a con-
ventional “steam gauge” instrument
layout or more modern electronic
displ ays; and one of two autopi-
lots – three-axis or four-axis. On
top of the baseline configuration,
equipment has been added as part
of the offshore standard – TCAS,
EGPWS, AVAD (automatic voice
alert device) and ADELT (automati-
cally deployable emergency locator
transmitter), Olry explained.
The instructor can choose from
two geographi c databases. One,
with a resolution in the order of a
few feet, represents the southeast
quarter of France. Then, the world-
wide database has a 50-foot resolu-
tion. It allows simulating the off-
shore environment with oil rigs and
vessels in day or night conditions.
Particular attention was given to
helideck realism, in line with CAP
437 rules, Olry said.
Simul ated navigation aids are
updated regularly to be consistent
with the real world. Atmospheric
conditions can be recreated, such
as pressure, temperature, humidity
and wind. Lighting conditions can
be recreated, too – sun and moon,
dusk and dawn, clouds etc.
While the benefits of simul a-
tors are well known to the airline
TRAINING | SIMULATORS
Guimbal Cabri in the Heli-Union training fleet.
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through research, education
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60% will be never or former smokers.
32 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
industry, they are still relatively new
for civil helicopter pilots, instruc-
tors and operating companies. First,
to train for offshore landings, the
student and his instructor do not
have to spend time f lying to the
platform. In one click of a mouse at
the instructor observation station,
the helicopter and the crew find
themselves in approach.
Some failures are never trained
in flight, like an engine shutdown
on a platform. In a simulator, such
a failure can be introduced for the
student to deal with it from A to Z,
Olry said.
When si mul ati ng a di tchi ng,
the student will actually pull all the
handles that release the liferafts,
chief instructor Thierry Vermeersch
added. The risk of accident or inci-
dent is nil. In addition, the simula-
tor suppresses external constraints
such as air traffic control, weather,
pilot duty ti me etc. Moreover, a
representative of an oil company
can attend a simulator session to see
how pilots of his transport service
provider behave. Finally, one “flight”
hour on a simulator is roughly 50
percent cheaper than one real flight
hour on the same type.
Vermeersch is a highly experi-
enced offshore pilot who regularly
goes back in the field during the
year. This is the key of Heli-Union’s
approach to training – being as close
as possible to real-life conditions.
“Our flight documents are used in
operation,” Olry emphasi zed. He
added Heli-Union has reworked the
platforms available in Thales’ soft-
ware, for better realism and compli-
ance to lighting standards.
HUTC instructors are consis-
tently endeavoring to improve their
trai ni ng methods. Acci dent and
incident reports inspire training
TRAINING | SIMULATORS
Flight navigation procedure trainer (FNPT) at the Heli-Union
Training Center in France.
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scenarios, Vermeersch said. The Air
France 447 crash in 2009 prompted
hi m to have hi s student s trai n-
ing for pitot airspeed probe icing.
Sharing experience is valued – a
student pilot in recurrent training
can describe a particular manner to
apply a procedure at his company.
This can lead the chief instructor to
reconsider his own habits.
When Rot or & Wi ng vi si ted
HUTC, a debate was going on about
filming student pilots with a small
camera installed inside the simula-
tor. The hoped-for teaching benefit
was when a student pilot challenges
the instructor. Watching the video
enables the i nstructor to clearly
show why he deemed the perfor-
mance substandard. A di fficul ty
was seen, however, in the time to be
spent finding the relevant segments
in a long video.
The FFS will operate for some
1,700 hours this year, which trans-
lates into 250 student pilots. Olry is
aiming for 2,000 hours in 2014. Of
these, Heli-Union’s in-house needs
account for a constant 1,000 hours.
FFS customers, mai nl y f rom
overseas, include oil-and-gas, emer-
gency medical service and corporate
operators. Several foreign air forces
have chosen HUTC for its ab-initio
program, whi ch bri ngs students
with zero flight time experience to
fully qualified IFR pilots, Olry said
What about the bottom l i ne
of usi ng a si mul ator, versus real
aircraft, for recurrent training? As
an operator, Heli-Union is already
seeing a difference. The chief pilot
has noticed his Dauphin crews have
improved their piloting skills since
they have begun using the simulator,
according to Olry.
The FFS is HUTC’s flagship but
is not the company’s only tool at
Angouleme Cognac airport. Another
one is an AS365N Dauphin, now
undergoing a cockpit upgrade. In light
singles, a Schweizer 300 is still flying
but will soon be phased out. Two
Cabri G2s are replacing it. The first
one was delivered in February and the
second one in September. They are
mainly used for ab-initio training.
Olry explained that the type was
chosen against the ubiquitous Robin-
son R22/R44 for its easier autorota-
tion procedure, crashworthiness and
design philosophy. With its shrouded
tailrotor and modern cockpit, it is
closer to the helicopter types the
students will fly eventually, he said.
According to Guimbal’s numbers,
the higher acquisition cost will be
recouped in a few years, thanks to
much cheaper maintenance.
Last, but not least, is the flight
navigation procedure trainer (FNPT
II). Although not a moving device,
it is valuable for basic helicopter
handling and navigation (including
IFR) learning. Based on a Eurocop-
ter AS355 N Ecureuil light twin,
HUTC’s FNPT II offers a 180° x 45°
field of view.
In 2012, HUTC trained 392 stu-
dent pilots, for a combined 2,879
hours .
Heli-Union Key Facts
The Heli-Union Training Center,
founded in 2002, is a subsidiary
of Heli-Union. The parent com-
pany is an offshore oil-and-gas
transport specialist with opera-
tions in Africa, Asia-Pacific and
South America. The fleet is made
of 35 helicopters – Eurocopter
AS365N/N3 Dauphins, AS332 L1
and EC225 Super Pumas, EC145s,
and Sikorsky S-76C++s. It will be
one of the first operators of the
soon-to-be-certified Eurocopter
EC175, wi th an order for four.
Hél i -Uni on fl i es about 17, 000
hours per year.
Heli-Union Training
Jean-Baptiste Olry, head of HUTC’s business development, with a Cabri.
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I
t still takes a good mechanic with
the right set of tools on the main-
tenance floor to get a helicopter
out of the hangar and back in the
air, regardless of how sophisticated the
aircraft’s technology is. However, the
way he or she approaches the repair is
being dramatically changed by the intro-
duction of increasingly sophisticated
information technology – or commonly
known as IT.
Specifically, it is the growing impor-
tance of IT software being designed
to make aviation maintenance more
efficient, cost effective and error free…
while meeting the challenge of advanc-
ing technology. Key to that development
is a rapidly improving seamless aircraft
operations and maintenance process.
“In the future, aviation maintenance
software should promote seamless,
integrated flow of information among
OEMs, regulatory agencies, operators
and maintenance provides, a virtual
single system,” said Jack Demeis, presi-
dent of Continuum Applied Technology.
“Standardization of information – in for-
mat, as well as content – will have critical
impact on efficiency, safety, cost of own-
ership and aircraft uptime.”
The need to incorporate mainte-
nance operations into the virtual single
system is what is now driving software
companies to develop programs that
provide seamless maintenance opera-
tions—from routine maintenance and
squawk reporting to return to service
and final invoicing, he said.
“The problem today is that there are
SERVICES | MAINTENANCE
As next generation rotorcraft become ever
more sophisticated, the software industry is rising
to meet the maintenance challenge.
By Douglas Nelms
NEW TECHNOLOGY NEEDS
G ING TIN ETI ET EE E ME E M RE M AR WA OFT OF W SO W S EW S NE FTW IN N TW EW S E M AR A NG TIN TI ET EET E MEE E ME RE M ARE M WAR FTW OF W SO W S EW S NEW S N
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35 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Maintenance Software
disparate, duplicate sources of data and
disconnected systems. This produces
inefficiency, errors and expense.”
Through its program called COR-
RIDOR, Continuum Applied Technol-
ogy is taking those packages of data,
using 25 modules broken up by tradi-
tional responsibilities within the sup-
port organization, then taking a holistic
approach to develop a fully integrated
real time system linking everything
together, he said. “The unique thing is
how information flows between these
informational areas within the mainte-
nance organization and to other third-
party systems.”
For instance, a part requisition gets
routed to the appropriate person in
procurement, while simultaneously
and automatically being routed to the
appropriate folks for technical and/or
regulatory approvals. “While all this
is going on, the entire process is being
communicated to the appropriate
technicians responsible for making the
repair on the helicopter so they don’t
have to be constantly checking to see
what the status of the parts is.”
The company is releasing Version
11 of CORRIDOR, which includes
additional modules such as planning
and scheduling, tool crib and calibra-
tion management that ensures the
right tools are available and accurately
calibrated for the job. It also includes
personnel training management to
ensure that the mechanics doing the
repairs have both the qualifications and
certifications to do the repairs.
CORRIDOR tracks the job through
to the very end, Demeis added. “Once
the job is done, a single button push
American Eurocopter’s distribution
center at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW).
Operators are able to order parts online
through the Keycopter system and the
parts are packaged and ready for shipping
in less than four hours.
36 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
SERVICES | MAINTENANCE
creates an invoice for the customer.
Everything involving the job – account-
ing, invoicing and regulatory – is done
automatically. It’s a seamless operation.”
The OEMs have already started
working toward making seamless main-
tenance support a part of their customer
support programs. Last December,
Eurocopter added an eTech capability to
its Keycopter support program, allowing
operators to simply download main-
tenance publications onto an iPad or
jump drive, according to Ericka Wright,
American Eurocopter’s e-Commerce
business manager.
“Previously we just had the IPC (inter-
process communication—the method of
exchanging data among shared memo-
ry) available (on Keycopter). The eTech
system is web-based, so the customer
just logs into the URL, then logs into
Keycopter where all of their publications
are stored on the server. They can access
it from anywhere in the world that has
Internet access.”
Eurocopter started with one model
in December, but has now added all of its
models to the eTech capability.
Keycopter is American Eurocopter’s
E-Commerce customer service portal.
Along with allowing a customer to man-
age his account activities with Eurocop-
ter, it allows the ability to order parts and
spares, find alternate part information,
check technical publications and carry
out repair and overhaul tracking.
Eurocopter has also signed an agree-
ment with Ramco Aviation to serve as
the maintenance tracking tool, Wright
said. With the Ramco system, every
helicopter in the fleet will have its data
captured and stored in a data base,
allowing operators to track trends and
problems in the aircraft, “which will be a
huge safety benefit,” she said.
The Keycopter program is also used
for spares management, with over 80
percent of spares now ordered through
that system…up from only 30 percent
three years ago, she said. “When a part
is ordered from the spares warehouse
at DFW, it can be taken down, given an
air waybill number and out the door in
four hours.”
Ramco CEO Virender Aggarwal said
that maintenance providers “want to
offer one-stop shopping to their custom-
ers. They are looking for software which
can address much more to the fleet… to
meet the needs of operators of small and
medium helicopter clients.”
He noted that software must be
developed to “deal squarely with con-
stant changes in configuration, differing
maintenance philosophies and increased
maintenance activities to adapt to the
differing mission types.” It also needs to
be able to control the key aspects of the
maintenance business, to include the
supply chain, technical documents, costs
and licenses – all in a single system.
The Ramco system is cloud-based,
“which makes it user friendly for small
and large operators,” said P.R. Vende-
trama Raja, RAMCO’s vice chairman
and managing director.
With tens of thousands of parts
in an aircraft, tracking and manag-
ing each stage of maintenance work
would become unmanageable without
a user friendly and comprehensive
M&E/MRO solution, he said. “The
Ramco-Eurocopter cloud-based MRO
software addresses the unique needs of
smaller operators, MROs and CAMOs,
which until now had to either run on
disparate point solutions or operate
manually using paper/excel to track
maintenance and manage safety and
regulatory compliance.”
As more operators buy into a cloud-
based environment, cloud is rapidly
becoming a method of choice for fun-
neling information from data centers to
the user. It is a method in which users
can access the data they need from
remote servers via the Internet rather
than having to be connected to a local
server. They simply lease the service
from third-party providers, which gives
them not only access to the data they
need for repairs or upgrades, but also
provides a fixed cost that can be pro-
grammed into the overall cost of their
maintenance program.
Obviously, Eurocopter is not the
only OEM offering improved software
packages for maintenance support of
its family of helicopters. Sikorsky uses
the HELOTRAC 2X software system,
“a web-based program that records,
manages and reports essential informa-
tion for enhanced fleet management
operations,” said Lawrence Varholak,
chief engineer and director of analytics,
technology and engineering for Sikorsky
Aerospace Services (SAS), the sup-
port arm for Sikorsky Aircraft. This is a
“sophisticated, yet low cost maintenance
tool” that eliminates the need for down-
loads or software installations, providing
“easily and quickly access (to customers’)
fleet information anytime, anywhere,”
he added.
It offers instant links to Sikorsky
service bulletins and FAA airworthiness
directives, as well providing scheduled
and unscheduled maintenance tracking.
“It also monitors and reports Mainte-
nance Due Projections, History Log and
Archival system (while) offering direct
interface to interactive Electronic Tech-
nical Manuals,” he noted.
HELOTRAC 2X can be integrated
directly into those Sikorsky helicopters
equipped with health and usage moni-
toring systems (HUMS) “providing real-
time aircraft status,” Varholak said.
He noted that a “new and improved
Oracle software platform” is being devel-
oped for the S-76D “that will further
enhance its capabilities.”
New software is also being devel-
oped for program-specific maintenance.
StandardAero recently released its Pow-
erCheck 4.9 engine monitoring package
that computerizes engine power checks
for all airframes using the Rolls-Royce
M250 turbine engine.
Previously, maintenance engineers
would take engine readings such as N1,
Ramco CEO Virender Aggarwal.
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Maintenance Software
N2, and torque based on an aircraft flown
at specific parameters such as outside air
temperature, pressure altitude, density
altitude, barometric pressure, etc., and
line the figures up in the aircraft manual
charts using pen and ruler to compute
power efficiency of the engine.
With PowerCheck 4.9, the figures are
simply put into the computer program to
generate the power margins remaining
within the engine.
“This makes it easier for the opera-
tors, who now don’t have to work with
the charts,” said Shannon Barylink, Stan-
dardAero performance engineer. “It also
cuts down on possible errors, and allows
the operator to save the data and look at
trends over time. This allows him to see
when he starts having degradation so
he can work out a schedule for further
maintenance. It also allows a power
check after the maintenance is done so
he can see the ‘before and after’ readings.
It gives the operator a good overview
and allows him to watch trends over his
entire fleet.”
A new piece of hardware that is help-
ing helicopter fleet maintenance is the
LiveAero transmitter/receiver. OpenPort
Aero was designed by Iridium Commu-
nications and built by and rebranded as
LiveAero by LiveTV, a major provider of
in-flight entertainment. It is distributed
by Greenwich AeroGroup.
This provides a broadband wi-fi
bi-directional signal to and from the heli-
copter with a guaranteed 134 kilobytes
per second, with speeds up to 300 kbps
with network optimization. More spe-
cifically, it can transmit under the rotors
rather than through them, “so there is
no loss going through the rotor,” said
Mark Fisher, Greenwich director, MRO
aviation programs. The system sends
and receives from 66 satellites “that are
constantly moving, so you are picking up
the signal on the horizon to allow it to go
under the rotors.”
Value of the new system is that it
allows direct, real time aircraft HUMS
information to be transmitted in-flight
back to the operator’s maintenance
facility. This means that if a helicopter
is having any kind of trouble en route to
an oil rig as much as 200 miles offshore,
the aircraft’s HUMS will transmit the
problem back to the maintenance facil-
ity, allowing the maintenance people to
figure out what the problem is before the
pilot even calls them. They can then have
a maintenance helicopter en route to the
rig to fix the problem even before the
initial helicopter lands, he said. “Today,
HUMS is already being transmitted over
the Iridium network, but it transmits at
2.4 kbps. So they have to break it up into
data packages and send out a package
ever so often. What you can do with the
134 kbps, since you can actually com-
press it, is send a whole packet of data
every so many seconds. You can send a
megabyte in less than 60 seconds, so you
can send all of the HUMS data at one
time if needed.”
Along with being the worldwide
distributor, Greenwich does all the
testing, integration and STC certifica-
tion requirements for the system. It is
currently working on an STC for the
AW139, “and looking at the Eurocopter
Super Puma, and Sikorsky S76 and S92,”
Fisher said. “We’re also looking at other
(helicopters) that are on our roadmap, as
well as working with multiple helicopter
OEMs to provide LiveAero for future
production deliveries.”
A major item currently impacting
on helicopter avionics maintenance
is ARINC 661. This is the standard by
which avionics “black boxes” are basically
made generic to allow LIUs (LAN inter-
face units) between multiple systems,
according to Matt Jackson, product
manager for Presagis, a provider of com-
mercial off-the-shelf software programs.
Although ARINC 661 has been
around for about a decade, the intro-
duction of the avionics standard “is
starting to pick up quite quickly in the
rotary wing industry because it gives
airframe manufacturers the ability to
make customizations to their custom-
ers very, very quickly without too much
overhead for certification,” he said.
“They can deliver a customized heli-
copter to the customer with minimized
certification cost.”
ARINC 661 “defines how boxes talk
to the rest of the avionics,” Jackson said.
“So our tools allow [the user] to generate
that software load to be compliant to
ARINC 661, which then allows the com-
panies to build these generic boxes.”
Since ARINC 661 provides for com-
mon boxes throughout the cockpit, it
allows ground maintenance crews to
switch out a box that has failed. In flight,
a second box can take over because it
has the same capacity, he said.
“With ARINC 661, people can have
common units and share them. There
are aircraft around now that have the
same box in the rear of the cabin as in the
front of the cabin. The ground crew can
just switch them around if one fails.”
Presagis is now building the soft-
ware tool “to allow our customers to
prototype, build and deploy the actual
glass cockpit. We generate the software
that fits inside those boxes.”
Presagis also ensures that the code
used to develop the software is correct
to DO-178B standards, which provides
the guidelines for developing aviation
software that complies with accepted
airworthiness requirements.
Graphic showing how various elements interact using Corridor.
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T
he 2nd annual ADAC HEMS
(Helicopter Emergency Medi-
cal Service) Academy network-
ing event for EC145 and EC145
T2 operators took place September 5-6
at the Bonn-Hangelar airfield near the
city of Bonn in northern Germany.
The ADAC HEMS Academy,
established in July 2009, was formed
to help integrate the training of air-
crew and medical specialists who fly
together on HEMS missions. The
training center comprises a simula-
tor hall and media equipped training
rooms for individual, computer-based
and group sessions for pilots, doc-
tors and paramedics. The simulator
hall has EC135 and EC145 full flight
simulators (FFS Level A to JAR-FSTD
H). There is also a Christopher Sim
medical simulator and trauma room
training facility.
Talking about the reasons behind
the establishment of the event, Thomas
Gassmann, the academy’s director of
business development and sales, stated
that “in the rapidly evolving role for small
helicopters in HEMS, law enforcement,
offshore energy and VIP transportation,
the clustering of knowledge becomes
paramount in order to ensure the best
training for pilots and crews.”
The networking event this year
brought together flight operations man-
agers and heads of training from EC145
operators spread over 15 countries,
mostly from Europe but also from places
like Australia, Japan and Brazil.
The first day began with a night vision
goggle/night vision imaging system
(NVG/NVIS) European status update
with individual presentations from five
operators: ADAC-Germany, HDM-
Germany, Rega-Switzerland, INAER-
Spain and the U.S. Army Falcon Team
– JMRC from Hohenfels/Germany.
Largely operators discussed their dif-
ferent approaches to NVG use in terms
of crew composition, training, and
infrastructure limitations or enhance-
ments. Said Gassmann: “The variety
of different angles being employed to
reach the same goal was astonishing,
even impressing the most experienced
of operators present.”
DRF Luftrettung is a large rotorcraft
operator with an extensive fleet of rotary
and fixed-wing aircraft: 16 EC135s;
seven EC145s; 25 BK117s; four Bell
412s; and three Bombardier Learjet 35.
PUBLIC SERVICE | TRAINING
ADAC Academy Networks
EC145 HEMS Operators
Reviewing the recently held EC145/EC145T2 networking
event staged by ADAC HEMS Academy in Germany.
By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief
39 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Those aircraft operate from 28 bases in
Germany and two in Austria. In total
the personnel comprise: 180 pilots; 300
HEMS crewmen; 500 emergency doc-
tors and 70 technicians.
HDM Luftrettung is a subsidiary
of DRF founded in 1972, and currently
operates NVIS services from three of
its five HEMS bases at Munich (2009),
Regensburg (2010) and Berlin (2011). It
has five EC145s (which are NVIS certi-
fied by EASA) as well as four Bell 412
HP/EPs (which have no NVIS certifica-
tion) with NVIS equipment. The NVGs
being used are ITT 4949s and Nogalight
NL 93s (with the XR5 tube).
Accordi ng to HDM’s Vol ker
Schreiber, all helicopters and pilots are
IFR certified with dual-pilot missions
conducted for night and IFR missions.
Both pilots use helmet-mounted NVGs
and they are used for takeoff, during
flight and landing (as required). How-
ever, rescue forces on the ground must
prepare remote sites, including lighting
the landing area and illuminating imme-
diate hazards.
U.S. Army Capt. Nathan Stewart
made the point that NVG operators
need to understand how their equip-
ment’s performance characteristics
were affected by the environment in
which a mission was being flown, such
as the level of illumination, the terrain,
different seasons, the moon light/angle
among others: “Remember, perfor-
mance specifications and capabilities
change. Accurate today, may not be
accurate tomorrow!”
Carlos de la Cruz Caravaca, a base
manager with Spanish HEMS opera-
tor INAER, said that the nightly flights
recording by his crews hit an average of
1.539 flight hours per night during July
2013. He told delegates that 25 percent
of his organization’s flights took place at
night (170 from 660 hours per helicop-
ter.) He is based in the Castilla la Mancha
with four Eurocopter aircraft (two each
of EC135 and EC145) virtually covering
the area of operations during the night
with a 30-minute response time. Night
operations began in 2006 and through a
process of infrastructure build up there
would be around 225 identifiable and
usable night helipads by the end of 2013.
Swiss operator Rega has been flying
NVIS operations since 1988. Flying 1,250
sorties per year, Lukas Kistler stated that
the reason for NVG use was to “enhance
safety, rather than the mission envelope.”
He added that Rega’s “rule of thumb”
for NVG operation was to use them
when they would prove better than the
eye in movements such as climbing,
cruising, landing site reconnaissance
and approach-to-landing. He concurred
with other speakers that hover, take-
off, landing and maneuvering close to
obstacles were usually better performed
off NVGs.
Quoting U.S. Army statistics, he said
that 95 percent of all incidents happen
on NVG when the helicopter is being
hovered close to the ground.
Rega’s crew concept was to have a
single pilot with NVG training using hel-
met-mounted NVGs. The HEMS crew-
member would also be NVG trained,
but would use a hand-held NVG device.
The medical doctor onboard would
not be NVG trained or equipped. He
added that communication was very
important, even just to say “on goggles”
or “naked eye” or “below goggles.”
Later in the day, Gassmann said that
Mark Wentink, chief technology officer
of Desdemona, Netherlands, gave a
report on disorientation training in the
impressive Desdemona device from
Austrian company AMST (discussed
online in March 2011 and Decem-
ber 2012 of www.aviationtoday.com).
Wentink highlighted the brownout
training in Afghanistan, as well as invert-
ed deep-stall training for F-16 pilots and
stall recovery for airline pilots.
Wentink said it was important for
Royal Netherlands Air Force (RNLAF)
pilots to understand and be aware of the
dangers of “seat-of-your-pants” flying.
Part of the advanced training that they
received revolved around real-life, stress-
ful scenarios involved looking at drift and
wind effects, particularly over un-even
terrain. On NVGs, pilots had to be mind-
ful of the effect that a smaller field-of-
view would have over visual references.
He raised the issues of false horizons dur-
ing the hover, the experience of reduced
contrast when landing into (runway)
lights, and the danger of speed/height
perceptions in low-level flight.
Toward the end of the day, CueSim’s
Andy Rowe demonstrated several new
visual features for the latest flight simula-
tors including “improved volumetric
clouds, SpeedTrees, automatic runways
and high-density traffic.” Finally, the fun
element to the event saw all participants
trying their skills on a Segway parkour to
test their balance and handling skills.
The second day was focused on
customer experience and began with
reports from two pilots, Masahiro Naka-
mura from Aero Asahi, Japan, and Peter
Howe who flies with CHC-Australia.
Aero Asahi had experience no HEMS
accidents since 2001 said Nakamura,
despite a national average of around 350
HEMS mission per base. Aircraft used
by the organization include the EC135,
BK117C2 (EC145), MD900, Bell 429 and
AgustaWestland AW109. Japan’s HEMS
experience has included providing ser-
vices post earthquake and tsunami.
Nakamura added that the medical staff ’s
favorite aircraft remained the BK117
due to its internal space and the added
bonus that over 100 kg of medical equip-
ment was regularly carried. However, he
said that the performance of the EC145
was making a significant difference
when it came to improving vertical
takeoff limits.
Finally, ADAC Luftrettung’s deci-
sion to go forward with the purchase of
14 EC145T2 was explained by Thomas
Hutsch of ADAC Luftfahrttechnik and
Stefan Brade from ADAC Luftrettung.
From the simulation perspective, the
process and timeline needed to make
changes in the simulator composition
toward the development of an additional
EC145T2 simulator at the academy
were explained, and an offer made to all
EC145T2 clients to become involved in
this new development.
Thomas Gassmann concluded by
revealing that the networking event
would be run again next year from Sept.
4-5, 2014.
ADAC HEMS
HEMS crewmen; 500 emergency doc-
has five EC145s (which are NVIS certi-
HP/EPs (which have no NVIS certifica-
40 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
MILITARY | TECHNOLOGY
The U.S. Army’s selection of two coaxial and two tiltrotor
competitors for the JMR TD Phase 1 – two Davids and
two Goliaths – could be a shrewd move toward the
eventual development of Future Vertical Lift.
By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief
PROCEED WITH
The U.S. Army’s selection of two coaxial and two tiltrotor
two Goliaths – could be a shrewd move toward the
eventual development of Future Vertical Lift.
CAUTION
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JMR Tech Demo
A
s soon as the U.S. Army’s
Avi at i on and Mi ss i l e
Research, Development
and Engineering Center
(AMRDEC) awarded four Tech-
nology Investment agreements in
respect of the Joint Multi-Role (JMR)
technology demonstrator (TD) Phase
1, the main question on industry
observer’s lips was: Where the heck
did Karem Aircraft come from?
That the Sikorsky/Boeing joint
venture/teaming/buddyship (they
had not the official name at time of
writing) received an agreement was
as certain as that granted to Bell Heli-
copter. AVX Aircraft has been making
itself known on the periphery for a
while now, but with the absence of the
big European players of AgustaWest-
land and EADS (Eurocopter), it might
have been a reasonable to assume that
perhaps the Piasecki Aircraft would
have been invited to the party with its
compound vectored-thrust ducted
propeller (VTDP). But Karem Aircraft
came out “straight out of left field” for
many observers.
It is worth remembering that, in
the eyes of the Department of Defense,
“Future Vertical Lift (FVL) is an initia-
tive; not yet a solution.” It is borne out
of the determination to develop a sci-
ence and technology (S&T) plan based
on capability assessment. DoD issued
“The Future Vertical Lift Initiative: A
Strategic Plan for United States Depart-
ment of Defense Vertical Lift Aircraft”
in October 2011.
Herein lies the reason for the inclu-
sion of AVX Aircraft and Karem Air-
craft, two “blue sky” research compa-
nies who may not have the industrial
muscle of Bell, Boeing and Sikorsky, but
could well offer the kind of unfettered,
non-corporate way of thinking that
the big boys sometimes find hard to
deliver – at least deliver quickly. And it
is not beyond the wit of man to see that
both of these fresh approach choices
will provide alternatives and angles
on coaxial and tiltrotor development.
DoD is virtually, unofficially teaming
two Davids with two Goliaths.
Looking for a
Roadmap
What the DoD is looking for is a much
more focused roadmap for rotorcraft
capability development than it has had.
The initiative defines vertical lift as
“controlled vertical takeoff and vertical
Avi at i on and Mi ss i l e
and Engineering Center
(AMRDEC) awarded four Tech-
did Karem Aircraft come from?
as certain as that granted to Bell Heli-
Karem Aircraft is designing its TR36
technology demonstrator for the U.S.
Army’s Joint Multi-Role competition.
42 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013 WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
landing with a mission payload.’”
The inclusion of AVX and Karem
are deliberate attempts by the DoD, the
author believes, to introduce an ele-
ment of friction and competition into
this S&T process. The need to develop
an S&T plan that moves a good dis-
tance away from what has been stan-
dard policy in the past.
In a way, this has been reflected in
the process to identify a successor to
the U.S. Army’s existing reconnaissance
platform, the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.
After the failures of the Boeing/Sikor-
sky RAH-66 Comanche (maiden flight
1996) and the Bell ARH-70 Arapaho
(maiden flight 2006), the new Armed
Aerial Scout (AAS) competition called
for all interested companies to take part
last summer in a technology demon-
stration event where they brought what
they had to the table. This included
Bell’s OH-58D Block 2, the MD540F,
Boeing’s AH-6, EADS North America’s
AAS-72X and the AW139 (flying to
represent the AW169). Sikorsky did not
participate as it was in the early stages
of developing its S-97 Raider. But when
Lt. Gen. William Phillips stated that
none of the aircraft displayed could
meet the Army’s requirements, he was
in fact sealing the fate of a commercial-
off-the-shelf (COTS) aircraft. This pro-
vided industry with some confusion, as
the message from Program Executive
Office chief Maj. Gen. William (Tim)
Crosby in 2011 had been to find out if a
COTS solution could get close to what
the Army needed.
In fact the original Request for
Information (RfI) published on April
25, 2012 from the Armed Scout Heli-
copter Program Management Office
specifically sought information on
“commercial, commercial-modified,
military and conceptual air vehicle
technologies” and asked industry for
“voluntary flight demonstrations of
their existing air vehicles to display the
state of the art in regard to helicopter
systems and subsystem(s) technolo-
gies.” The government estimate of the
unit cost was $12-15 million. This must
be viewed remembering that talk at
the time was of cutting back and doing
more with less.
But if the AAS is not to be a COTS
solution without further improvement,
as Gen. Phillips stated, then the devel-
opment of the FVL seemingly needs
to break out of the “one OEM; one
solution” mold of previous acquisitions.
However, having been there once with
Comanche, the “old firm” of Sikorsky/
Boeing is set to try again. How much
of the legacy breakthroughs from the
stealthy RAH-66 have made their way
into Sikorsky’s X2 development is not
precisely known, but its decision to
forge ahead and onward toward the
S-97 Raider.
But AMRDEC has apparently intro-
duced the “honest brokers” of AVX and
Karem to keep the big corporate OEMs
focused. Interestingly AVX’s Com-
pound Coaxial Helicopter (CCH) has
been under design since 2009 through
the JMR Configuration Trades and
Analysis (CTA) program. According
to the company, results achieved by
the end of the JMR TD Phase 1 “will be
used to inform the Future Vertical Lift
effort regarding promising vehicle con-
figurations, the maturity of enabling
technologies, obtainable performance
capabilities, and will highlight the
affordable technical solutions required
to achieve those capabilities while
reducing program risk.”
According to the company, the
AVX CCH TD will be a three-quarter
scale version of the JMR objective air-
craft. But does it really have a chance
of progressing to the down-select stage
where AMRDEC is to nominate a max-
imum of two TDs to progress to actual
MILITARY | TECHNOLOGY
AVX Aircraft’s JMR design concept.
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build and flight testing, which has been
scheduled to take place between from
2017 through 2019?
Likewise Karem Aircraft leans on its
founder, Abraham Karem, for much of
its reputation. He founded the firm to
examine advanced tiltrotor aircraft but
by circumstance has a past that is inter-
twined with Boeing. Karem’s compa-
nies were behind the development the
GNAT 750 (a forerunner of the UAS
MQ-1 Predator) and another UAS, the
A180 Hummingbird Optimum Speed
Rotor from Frontier Aircraft (now
owned by Boeing). In fact Frontier Air-
craft was then absorbed into Boeing’s
own prototyping and secretive devel-
opment center, Phantom Works.
So now Karem Aircraft is taking
tiltrotor technology (remember the
Bell-Boeing partnership over the V-22
Osprey) and pitching it against Bell
Helicopter. It’s a curious world isn’t it?
Karem’s website focuses on Joint
Heavy Lift and Joint Future Theater Lift
(JFTL) aircraft, together with a civil ver-
sion powered by an Optimum Speed
Tilt Rotor (OSTR). A statement from
Karem revealed nine years of private
investment in OSTR civil transports,
although the backers were not identi-
fied. In a release after the AMRDEC
award (but not on the website), Karem
announced that its JMR offer would be
a TR36TD design featuring OSTR and
would provide a “leap ahead” in terms
of vertical lift. It would be powered
with twin 36-foot-diameter variable-
speed rotors and existing turboshaft
engines. The speed would be around
360 knots (414 mph) – fast compared
to the 280 kts predicted by Bell for its
V-280 and a leap ahead of the 230 kts
predicted by AVX and Sikorsky/Boe-
ing for their coaxial.
Speaking to the director of Inte-
grated Systems, Ben Tigner, Rotor &
Wing asked how the U.S. Army had
been persuaded that a company with
only a small number of employees had
come to be one of the four chosen for
the JMR TD award. His answer was to
point to the work already done by the
company over the FHL. He also said
that the company’s “extensive portfolio
of patents and patents pending” indi-
cates its understanding of the tiltrotor
concept and how it was being devel-
oped. The company has 30 patents
or patents pending include: tilt actua-
tion for a rotorcraft (2009); rotorcraft
JMR Tech Demo
V-280 mock-up.
Mock-up of the Bell V-280 Valor tiltrotor from the side (above) and front.
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engine and rotor speed synchroniza-
tion (2010); and anhedral tip blades for
tiltrotor aircraft (2011).
Of Abe Karem, Tigner said: “Abe
is our company founder and provides
the guiding vision behind much of
our technology.” But outside that he
had little to add to statements already
publically made about the company,
and nothing regarding where or how
the technology demonstrator would
be made, or which companies Karem
would partner with. Lockheed Martin
has been a partner already. When
Karem designed its TR75 as a Joint
Heavy Lift (JHL), Lockheed added the
capabilities offered by its OSTR during
the 2007-2010 Concept Design and
Analysis program extension.
Bell Announces Team
Valor Partners
In the run-up to AUSA Bell Helicopter
began revealing a string of industry
partnerships on the V-280, the biggest
of which was with Lockheed Martin
announced on September 9. Lockheed
has already offered to provide a mission
equipment package to all contenders,
although Bell was the first to accept.
When asked if this debarred it from
working with the other teams, Lock-
heed Martin spokesperson Keith Little
would only comment that the com-
pany was “willing to support all OEMs
as they create their air vehicles for the
JMR phase.”
On October 16, GE Aviation was
announced as the engine supplier.
Talking of the tie-up, Jean Lydon-Rod-
gers, vice president and general man-
ager, GE Aviation Military Systems
Operation said: “GE is proud to team
with Bell on the V-280 Valor with a
proven propulsion system to support
this technology demonstration. GE
continues to invest in next generation
propulsion technology through the
Future Affordable Turbine Engine
(FATE) program.” The V-280’s V-tail
and ‘ruddervators’ will be designed
and manufactured by GKN Aero-
space. Kevin Cummings, CEO, GKN
Aerospace North America said that his
company’s “expertise across metal and
composite design and manufacture”
was what Bell wanted for the aircraft.
In mid-October Moog was added
to Team Valor. Moog will design,
manufacture and qualify the V-280’s
integrated flight control system. In
addition, AGC Composites has agreed
to provide the over wing fairing for the
V-280.
Eyes on the Horizon
The DoD’s strategic plan is to provide
a foundation for future rotorcraft
design “by shaping the development
of vertical lift aircraft for the next 25 to
40 years.” With the rotorcraft industry
straining to get its teeth into the cor-
porate financial security that a winning
design would bring, AMRDEC’s timely
reminder that “80 percent of decision
points for the DoD vertical lift fleet to
either extend the life, retire, or replace
with a new solution occur in the next
8-10 years” will focus minds even
more.
The next nine months will pass by
quickly for the four chosen organiza-
tions now pouring their knowledge
into their individual JMR TD projects.
Only two will then be selected to prog-
ress, but will the remaining two then be
in a position to sub-contract or even
team with the winners?
Dr. William Lewis, director of the
AMRDEC’s Aviation Development
Directorate, retains the strategic per-
spective of the challenge in hand: “We
must continue to push implementa-
tion of the FVL Strategic Plan which
will positively impact Vertical Lift Avi-
ation operations for the next 50-plus
years. Absolutely, that is what JMR is all
about.” He talks about mitigating risk
and the results of JMR TD Phase 1 as a
starting point for the future.
There seems to be a determina-
tion by AMRDEC not to rush into
prototyping too early. There is a warn-
ing that “the JMR TD program is
not building prototypes of the FVL
solution nor a pre-selection program
for FVL.” The discoveries made and
results that emerge are covered by
words of restraint for industry: “prom-
ising vehicle configurations, the matu-
rity of enabling technologies, attain-
able performance and capabilities,
and highlight the affordable technical
solutions required to achieve those
capabilities.”
While industry will want to get to
the job of what it does best – build-
ing airframes – sequestration is still
driving the mindset of those looking
for this future rotorcraft program. A
leap into the future may be the aim,
but these first “new born” steps are still
swaddled in caution.
MILITARY | TECHNOLOGY
Graphic showing the rear ramp of the AVX Aircraft Joint Multi-Role design.
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45 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
45 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
46
WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
T
his is being written during
the fifth day of the U.S. Fed-
eral government shutdown
and our politicians are at 110
percent of N1 political spin mode. My
personal politics are somewhat to the
right of Attila the Hun, but I hope that
my prejudice does not seep into this
message. A political pundit stated the
other day that “I do not understand
the political right’s (conservative)
complaint that the U.S. government
is too big, after all the number of U.S.
federal workers has dropped over the
last few years.”
When I first heard that, my inher-
ent prejudice about the size and scope
of government caused me to say No
Way. Upon looking at the stats avail-
able on some government and other
websites, a reasonable person would
not argue the point. Then I looked
at the number of regulations written
that will have an economic impact
worth more than $100 million. Sure
enough, that figure has been on the
rise over the last five years. But, is
that really causing the feeling in the
country that the federal government
is too big, or is it something else? So
I thought about the helicopter com-
munity. Most of us would assume
that the helicopter community is
more conservative than the general
population. Certainly there is a liberal
element, but that viewpoint is not
widely expressed. So what would
cause this culture to adopt a more
conservative viewpoint? I think I
know the answer. When a person
decides that helicopters will be their
life’s work, whether as an engineer,
technician or pilot, they understand
that people’s lives – including their
own – will be affected by their com-
petency. So we share a culture of like-
minded people who believe in them-
selves and accept the responsibility of
our work product being safe, not only
for ourselves but others as well.
So if my fellow travelers in the heli-
copter world live in a fairly competent
world, what is it that is causing the
consternation among us? Number one,
we are not being governed well at all. I
think the clearest example of this is the
abrogation of the U.S. Congress in its
responsibility to pass laws that are well
written and do what they are intended
to do. What I see is that Congress is
shirking the hard work of understand-
ing the issues and instead they are
passing a framework or general notion
of what the law should be. Then with
Congressional blessings, the federal
bureaucrats are actually writing the
detail of the law and we all know the
devil is in the details. At some level, rely-
ing on subject manner experts within
the federal bureaucracy to have input
on rules and regulations is an appropri-
ate solution. We passed appropriate
a long time ago. The legislators from
both sides have neglected their respon-
sibilities and the regulators are working
in a vacuum. Unfortunately, it appears
to me that in this vacuum, the worst
kind of power-hungry bureaucrats at
all levels realize that this vacuum will
let them get away with whatever their
agenda is, and off they go.
Some examples: a good friend of
mine owns a company that provides
heavy equipment to coal mining oper-
ations, bulldozers and earthmovers,
etc. An EPA inspector found a can of
WD40 where the markings on the can
wore off from rolling around in a tool-
box in the service unit for the heavy
equipment. He closed the mine down.
Another friend is an FAA Designat-
ed Engineering Representative (DER).
He recently submitted a proposed
modification to his local FAA Aircraft
Certification Office (ACO) to include
a currently produced Mil-Spec wiring
harness for the purposes of the modi-
fication. He was ordered to conduct a
burn test on a harness. I repeat, this is
a harness with a Mil-Spec cert that is
used for another similar application in
production aircraft.
The list goes on, there are many
better examples of plain stupidity
within the federal and state bureau-
cracy. The purpose of this column
is to encourage all of us not to get
mad at the regulator. Next time you
see this kind of stupidity, write your
legislator at the appropriate level and
tell him or her that this is a symptom
of their work product and that you
will be supporting candidates that
understand the need to stop the slide
toward being ruled by unelected
bureaucrats rather than our elected
representatives.
Unelected Bureaucrats
Writing the Rules
Public Service Public Service
By Lee Benson
TRAINING | REGULATIONS
47 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M

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advertiser index
Page# ..... Advertiser ...................................................... Website
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9.......................Aeronautical Accessories ........................................................................ www.aero-access.com
45 ....................Alpine Air Support.................................................................................. www.alpine.aero
52 ....................American Eurocopter ............................................................................. www.eurocopterusa.com
2.......................Bell Customer Service ............................................................................ www.bellhelicopter.com
45 ....................Chopper Spotter ..................................................................................... www.chopperspotter.com
47 ....................Component Control ................................................................................ www.componentcontrol.com
5.......................Garmin International ............................................................................. www.garmin.com
45 ....................HR Smith ................................................................................................ www.hr-smith.com
45 ....................Machida Inc. ........................................................................................... www.machidascope.com
3.......................Mid-Continent Instruments & Avionics ................................................. www.mcico.com
15 ....................Milestone Aviation ................................................................................. www.milestoneaviation.com
51 ....................Reed Exhibitions/HeliTech ..................................................................... www.reedexpo.com
45 ....................Survival Products ................................................................................... www.survivalproductsinc.com
57 ....................Tanis Aircraft........................................................................................... www.tanispreheat.com
D1 ....................Trakka Corp. ............................................................................................ www.trakkacorp.com
D2 ....................UTC Aerospace Systems .......................................................................... www.utcaerospacesystems.com
11 ....................Vector Aerospace .................................................................................... www.vectoraerospace.com
Helmets
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Catalogue on website: www.aviationhelmets.com
HELIPORT LIGHTING FAA-approved equipment.
MANAIRCO, INC. (419) 524 - 2121, www.manairco.com
Heliport Lighting
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WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
By Ernie Stephens
U
pon my arrival at the Air-
borne Law Enforcement
Association (ALEA) exhi-
bition hall in Orlando a
couple months ago, I got a big surprise.
It was the appearance of a helicopter
from an agency I know.
It was move-in day, which is when
the exhibitors set up their booths, and
the various helicopters that will be on
display are wheeled inside. I was there
to get the Rotor & Wing booth ready
when I saw a helicopter belonging to a
department I’m familiar with. I won’t
identify the specific agency, or the
particular villain in this story, but there
isn’t a law enforcement aviator on this
planet who hasn’t seen the same thing
at least once.
The reason the presence of this
particular aircraft and crew surprised
me was because for nearly 10 years the
commander of that unit had kept the
operation bound, gagged, and kept in
what amounted to a state of exile. You
see, for him, the standard operating
procedure could be summed up by a
little statue of the “See-No-Evil, Hear-
No-Evil, Speak-No-Evil” monkeys he
kept on his desk. He felt that the best
way to keep his job from being compli-
cated was to see nothing, listen to noth-
ing, and say nothing – and to make sure
nobody under him did. “Look,” he once
told me. “The less people there are and
the less flying they do, the less chances
there are of something happening.”
So, for far more years than it should
have been, this individual kept the avia-
tion unit off the radar, which included
trashing letters of commendation,
because those had to be forwarded
up the chain; keeping requisitions to a
minimum, because that requires writ-
ing justifications; and rejecting all invi-
tations to display their aircraft at ALEA,
because it draws outside attention.
Most air unit bosses are excellent.
They’re motivated to learn, and want
to see the operation run properly. But
there are a few leaders want to keep a
low profile for no other reason than
they’re ashamed of how little knowl-
edge they have. They’ve discovered
that the way they used to run other
units just doesn’t work when it comes
to a section as specialized as aviation.
So, they slouch down in the back of
the classroom, and pray that nobody
calls on them to say or do something.
The guy who was hamstringing the
agency I’m focusing on today may
have had some of that in him. But from
the conversations I’ve had with him
that were borderline confessions of
embezzlement, he was just trying to
do as little as possible without being
caught by his bosses.
The good news is that an incoming
chain of command realized that he was
dead weight, and drop-kicked him to a
more conspicuous assignment where
he couldn’t be dead weight anymore.
He tendered his resignation papers a
few months after that, but not soon
enough for me to win the bet I had
that said he’d be gone within two pay
periods.
Back at the hangar, a new com-
mander had come in, and discovered
an aviation unit that had not progressed
one step in years. The equipment was
outdated, the staff had been woefully
neglected, and – worst of all – there
was plenty of money on the books that
could have fixed all of that years ago,
had the bad guy been about the busi-
ness of running the place properly, or
at least willing to delegate tasks to any
one of the fine, capable people he had
under him.
Things are great at the unit, now.
The atmosphere improved overnight.
The helicopters received badly needed
upgrades, the crews got some things
they needed, and they’re in the air
catching bad guys and finding lost chil-
dren the way they’ve been wanting to
for the past decade. And yes, they were
in attendance at ALEA, along with
several high-ranking members of their
department who had come to show
their full support.
What saddens and angers me is that
the agency I’m referring to is not the
only one that has been on such a ride.
As I talk to my law enforcement avia-
tion buddies across the country, they
say they have been through the same
ups and downs, or at least know some
folks who have. It’s hard to see an oth-
erwise effective unit trying to do their
jobs with a concrete-block-of-a-leader
chained around their necks. And we all
know that bucking the chain of com-
mand to get help can be the third rail of
a paramilitary organization, right?
Perhaps the lesson to be learned
from these cases is that the winds of
change can blow in both directions,
and often come between the lines of a
transfer list – or maybe even general
election results, depending upon the
level of the problem child. So, I suppose
it’s all about riding out the hard times,
and hoping the good times will return
before the only attractive solutions left
are those that can lead to a stretch in the
state penitentiary.
Out with the Bad... Finally
PUBLIC SERVICE | POLICE
Law Enforcement
49 NOVEMBER 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M
Operator Profiles: Special Double Fea-
ture—We sent Editor-at-Large Ernie Stephens to fly
with a handful of operators and compile an Opera-
tor’s Report from various segments of the industry.
Among them is Canada’s Cougar Helicopters in St.
John’s, Newfoundland. The section will also include
highlights of what operators tell us are the most vital
pieces of equipment and services that support their
flight operations.
Sikorsky S-92 Rig Approach—Pat Gray, our
Offshore Notebook columnist, witnesses the first
run of Sikorsky’s new IFR rig approach for the S-92
along with offshore operator PHI. The FAA-approved
approach is set to help offshore operators perform
autonomous landings to rigs and platforms.
Year in Review—We’ll examine the biggest sto-
ries in the helicopter industry from 2013, with an eye
on the potential impact on 2014 and beyond. What’s
your favorite helicopter story from 2013 and why?
Send your feedback to [email protected]
Columns—Leading Edge by Frank Lombardi;
Safety Watch by Terry Terrell; Training News; and Mili-
tary Insider by Andrew Drwiega
Annual Reports—As we approach the start of
each new year, Rotor & Wing surveys its advertisers,
key vendors and suppliers in the helicopter mar-
ketplace, and we ask them to provide our readers
with an updated profile of their company and oper-
ations. We ask them to tell us how they are doing,
what important changes they’ve made in the past
year, and to provide an update on what new prod-
ucts, initiatives or innovations we might expect to
see from them in the coming months. After all, in
the turbulent marketplace and world economy we
live in today, the one true constant is change!
2014 Rotorcraft Outlook Panel—We take a
different approach this year by having our contribut-
ing writers interview each one of the executives that
take part in the Annual Reports profiles and compile
a story about what CEOs and other company leaders
see in the crystal ball. The feature story will lead off a
section that includes answers from executives about
industry trends and what to expect in the future.
Columns—Public Service by Lee Benson; Law
Enforcement Notebook by Ernie Stephens; and Mili-
tary Insider by Andrew Drwiega
December 2013:
January 2014:
Bonus Distribution: December 3-5, Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Confer-
ence (I/ITSEC) in Orlando, Fla.
50
WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2013
By Andrew Drwiega
MILITARY | PROCUREMENT
T
he long-running and painful (to
both sides) Canadian Maritime
Replacement Program may
be heading toward a solution
after the Canadian government took
the drastic step of bringing to a meeting
those involved – and rivals – to try and
force an answer. According to The Cana-
dian Press, a meeting was staged at the
beginning of October between Cana-
dian Defense and Public Works offi-
cials and representatives from CH-148
Cyclone manufacturer Sikorsky – as well
as industry rival OEMs AgustaWest-
land and NH Industries. The meeting,
which has been reported widely in the
Canadian media, was allegedly staged
to find a workable alternative (a Plan
B) to the Cyclone helicopter should
the government wish to change course
and abandon its procurement. Options
reportedly under examination include
NH Industries’ NH-90, Sikorsky’s own
MH-60 Sea Hawk, as well as the AW159
and AW101 from AgustaWestland. The
AW101 was the original aircraft selected
to replace the Sea Kings in the 1990s
but the decision was overturned after a
Liberal government was elected in 1993.
Coincidentally, the AW101 been in ser-
vice with the Canadian Air Force for 11
years as the CH-149 Cormorant. Its first
operational flight took place in July 2002.
Of course should the government
take the step of bringing to an end the
Cyclone procurement, then long-run-
ning legal battles are sure to ensue, unless
the alternative identified ended up being
the MH-60 Sea Hawk.
Sikorsky President Mick Maurer said
earlier this summer at the Paris Air Show
that dealing with two Canadian govern-
ment departments of Defense and Pub-
lic Works had made the procurement
more complicated than it might have
been. But Sikorsky has until now been
insistent that it can deliver the remaining
24 CH-148s (four are already with Cana-
dian Forces for evaluation).
Political delay and mission creep
blight many defense procurement pro-
grams, but the whole campaign has
been generally agreed as a nightmare by
all sides. The contract for 28 CH-148s
(Canada’s military version of the MH-92)
was signed in November 2004 with the
aircraft intended to replace the existing
Sea King. Canadian crews have being in
trained for the aircraft and Sikorsky has
tried the tactic of asking the Canadian’s
to accept an interim aircraft solution on
a rolling acceptance basis. However, in
June this year the Canadian government
stated that it would not accept “non-
compliant” aircraft.
Bravo Bears into Battle
“The Chinook pedals in the cockpit of
any CH-47 still say Vertol,” explained
David Pitchforth, managing director of
Boeing Defence UK, during his presenta-
tion to members and guests at the Royal
Aeronautical Society’s Cierva Lecture on
October 1. The Cierva lecture, so named
to remember Juan de la Cierva’s autogyro
of 1923, is an annual event staged by the
Society’s rotorcraft group. A senior figure
connected to the rotorcraft industry is usu-
ally invited to give a lecture with Pitchforth
this year addressing “Boeing Rotorcraft:
History and Continuous Innovation.”
This history snippet harks back to
1960 when Boeing bought Vertol Air-
craft Corp. The venerable ‘Dakota’ of
the helicopter world has clocked-up five
million flight hours to date and is still
going strong. Chinook crews flying one
particular aircraft – Bravo November
ZA718B – have won four Distinguished
Flying Cross (DFC) medals, Pitchforth
noted. The last recipient was Flight Lt.
Ian Fortune in 2010 but the list goes
back to Flight Lt. Craig Wilson in June
2006 (both of these DFCs were won in
Afghanistan), Squadron Leader Steve
Carr in Iraq in 2003, to the first winner
Squadron Leader Dick Langworthy dur-
ing the Falklands War in 1982. Accord-
ing to the Royal Air Force, “over the last
10 years the Chinook force has received
17 DFCs and five Air Force Crosses.”
Currently there is an ongoing push
to modify British Chinooks to Mk4
and Mk5 configurations. Project Julius
involves Thales as the main subcon-
tractor for the mission display system
upgrade, which will include four MFDs.
“Project Julius will touch every wire
in the cockpit,” Pitchforth explained.
Sixteen of the aircraft had already been
modified, he continued, with all modifi-
cations on the RAF’s Chinook fleet due
for completion by the end of 2016. The
first Chinook Mk4 aircraft was delivered
to 7 Squadron, RAF in February 2013.
Switching to the Apache aircraft,
Pitchforth stated that it takes only five
minutes to “pulse” the AH-64 produc-
tion line at Mesa, Ariz., meaning to move
all the production aircraft to the next
bay. He added that the total wiring now
incorporated into each Apache Guardian
(AH-64E) helicopter had been reduced
from 11 miles down to nine. He could
not give any indication on the path that
the Army Air Corps was likely to take as
they ponder how to take forward their
own Westland (now AgustaWestland)-
built Apache fleet.
Canadian Conundrum
Searches for Contingency
Military Insider
51 OCTOBER 2011 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE WWW. R OT O R A N D WI N G . C O M

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