Rotor Torque

MDH officials, however, refute the GAO’s figures, claiming that they rise not only from misinterpretation of information supplied to the report team, but also information which is at least 18 to 24 months old and therefore out of date. Since the time period on which the GAO report is based, Apache service reliability has reportedly improved so that the US Army is now achieving better than its target of 75%mission capability in Gulf operations.

Inaugural Australian Helicopter Championships

The HelicopterAssociationof Australia (HAA) has now defined the format and events to be run at the inaugural Australian Helicopter Championships.

The Championships, to be staged in conjunction with Rotortech ’91 at the Army Aviation Centre, Oakey, Queensland on 8-10 March 1991, will be based on the annual World Helicopter Championships, testing the skills of competing crews in a series of events held over the three days. Competitors will be required to demonstrate precision navigation and aircraft handling, having to navigate over a 60km triangular course and place underslung loads accurately on targets, after guiding them through a slalom course; points will be lost when errors are made.

Entries have been received from all three services and from civilian teams, and the final day of both the Championships and Rotortech ’91 will be open to the public. The HAA hopes that the experience gained during the event will enable them to bid for the World Helicopter Championships in future years.

Dauphines for Slsa

The Surf Life Saving Association is to purchase two of the former Hong Kong Defence Force Aerospatial Dauphine helicopters for EMS work in Australia. The Association is expected to put its Twin Squirrel and MB105 on the market. Hong Kong replaced the Dauphines with Sikorsky S-76s in mid 1990.

Upgraded Bell Uh-Ih Abandoned

BH Pacific has cancelled further development of its unique

Bell UH-1H Iroquois upgrade following its failure to create interest in the helicopter with the Australian Army.

The helicopter, modified at BH Pacific’s Eagle Farm workshops, was fitted with a Bell 212 tail boom and rotor, together with an upgraded L13-730 engine and gearbox as used by the Cobra attack helicopter. If the development had proceeded it would have eventually been fitted with high efficiency Bell 212 rotors.

BH Pacific hoped to eventually modify the UH-1Hs currently in service with the Australian Army and then seek additional markets in Asia and particularly Thailand. It claimed the modifications, which greatly improved performance, could be economically carried out during scheduled heavy maintenance at a cost of around$1m per helo.

Chinooks for Army?

The Australian Army is negotiating the transfer of the 11 CH-47C Chinooks currently stored at RAAF Amberley to the US Army, with the eventual redelivery of four or five CH-47Ds as part of the deal.

The swap arrangement will probably go ahead if it meets a Defence Minister edict that it be revenue neutral. The CH-47Ds would be delivered in 1993 with the delay relating to the Army’s ability to have the manpower capability to handle the additional and complicated assets.

If the deal proceeds, the US Army will immediately have the 11 helicopters modified to CH-47D standard. It is understood that US military planners are concerned about the number of Chinooks available to their army, particularly due to possible losses if the Gulf crisis escalates.

Quiet Tail Rotor MD-500 Sale

Masling Helicopters has delivered an MD-500ER fitted with a four blade quiet tail rotor to a Queensland company which will lease it to a Surfers Paradise charter operator. The quiet tail rotor modification has opened up new areas of operation for the charter company with flights now permitted from a pad on a beach and the Dreamworld tourist attraction.

The successful Cootamundra, NSW based MOH distributor and engineering company has also recently expanded its workshops to provide additional space for its spare parts holding and to start overhaul work on the Allison 250-C30R light turbine engines. Masling also recently placed two MD-500ERs into Europe.

S-76 for Ems in Nsw

Lloyd Helicopters has placed a locally EMS modified Sikorsky S-76 at Albion Park near Wollongong. The helicopter, on a NSW Department of Health contract, replaced a twin engined Bell. The operation works from a hangar built by the NSCA (Vic).