Rotor Torque

Battle for Rescue Helo for Mt Isa Grows

The Central Queensland Helicopter Rescue Service has increased its efforts to raise sufficient funds to acquire its own rescue helicopter to operate in the Mount Isa region. 78 Australian Aviation September 1995 Thus far the Queensland State Government has pledged $300 000 to the service each year to fund the operation, but has not so far promised funds to help with initial start-up costs. The Rescue Service is now seeking extra government funding and corporate sponsorship to get the service up and running. The news that Mount Isa Mines is retiring its Agusta A109 helicopter, which has in the past been used for emergency rescues, has added impetus to the service’s activities.

Md 600n Orders Reopened

McDonnell Douglas has begun accepting new orders for its eight place MD 600N stretch of the popular MD 520N. The first year of MD 600N production was sold out in one day at this year’s Heli-Expo show, and those customers receive their aircraft in the second half of 1996. Deliveries against orders now being accepted will occur in 1997. The new helicopter has attracted particularly strong interest from aeromedical operators. A second prototype MD 600N is currently under construction and should fly by the end of this year, and will take part in an accelerated certification programme.

Marines Cancel Cobra Cockpit Upgrade

The United States Marine Corps has cancelled plans to upgrade the cockpit and avionics of its fleet of Bell AH-1W SuperCobra attack helicopters, in preference to upgrading them with a four blade main rotor. The Integrated Weapon System (IWS) upgrade had to be abandoned as funding restrictions allowed for only one of the two planned Cobra upgrade packages. The IWS is also a victim of the UK’s decision to select the Westland/McDonnell Douglas WAH-64D Apache over the GEC/Bell AH-1W CobraVenom. The CobraVenom was being offered with a four blade rotor and an advanced cockpit. A US Marine Corps deal would have seen the USMC fund development of the four blade rotor system, while the British would have funded the cockpit upgrade (jointly developed by Bell and GEC-Marconi Avionics). However some reports at least have suggested that the decision to favour the rotor upgrade was made before the UK attack helicopter announcement. The IWS programme resulted from Gulf War experience which showed that the AH-1W’s cockpit enforced a high workload on its crews, and seven companies were planning to compete for the $US700m IWS programme. The four blade AH-1W/UH-1N upgrade programme is expected to improve safety and increase performance of the two types. Bell Helicopter Textron is expected to be awarded a contract to develop a common four blade bearingless rotor for the UH-1N Huey and AH-1W, while the UH-1Ns will also be re-engined with GE T700s.

Agosta Power to Increase A 109 Production Rates

Agusta hopes that its newly announced A 109 Power will help boost A 109 annual production to 40 to 45 machines, double the current rate. The twin PW206C powered A 109 Power will start rolling off Agusta’s production line in mid 1996, and will be built alongside the Allison 250 powered A 109C and the Arrius powered A 109K, which are currently built at a rate of 20 to 25 a year. Agusta is also optimistic about the success of the newly announced A 119 Koala, with a projected annual production rate of 20 to 25. The A 119 is based on the A 109, but powered by a single, as yet unspecified, turboshaft (refer Rotor Torque last issue). Both the A 119 and A 109 Power will feature a new four blade main rotor. The Power will cost around $US2.7m, the Koala around $US1.5m, while Agusta has cut the cost of the A 109C to $US2.5m.

Dutch Sign for Apaches

The Royal Netherlands Air Force has signed a Letter of Offer and Acceptance covering 30 AH-64D Apache helicopters, putting paid to any speculation that the Air Force’s decision would be overturned by the Dutch parliament in favour of a European helicopter. The AH-64D Apache was selected after evaluation against the Eurocopter Tiger, Agusta A 129 Mangusta and Bell AH-1W SuperCobra. Production deliveries will begin in 1998, while in the meantime the RNeAF will lease a number of US Army AH-64A Apaches to build operating experience with the type. McDonnell Douglas has built over 880 AH-64 Apaches for the US Army and five international customers. More recently the British Army (refer separate story) has joined the US Army and RNeAF in ordering AH-64D Apaches.

Helicopter Carrier Heliport on Track

Plans to use retired helicopter carrier USS Guadalcanal as a heliport moored off Manhattan in New York are a step closer with the successful conclusion of financial feasibility studies. Intrepid Heliport, the planned heliport’s operator, says that the project is on track to open in January 1997. Guadalcanal would be converted to a full service heliport, with the carrier’s lifts providing access to the hangar deck, where helicopters would be stored and have maintenance work carried out. The Guadalcanal would be moored perpendicular to the USS Intrepid, a long retired aircraft carrier which forms the centrepiece of the Intrepid Museum in New York. Intrepid Heliport’s financial feasibility study proved the Guadalcanal heliport would be financially beneficial to the museum. The feasibility study will be presented to the FAA, and an environmental impact study expedited. If the carrier heliport is opened, one of New York’s four other heliports would close, although Guadalcanal would have twice the capacity of any of the existing NY heliports.

Study Improves Oil Rig Helicopter Operations Safety

Melbourne based VIPAC Engineers and Scientists has performed what it says was the first study into safer helicopter operations around oil rigs and exploration vessels by a company outside the oil industry. VIPAC’s study combined wind tunnel tests and analytical thermodynamics to model the effects of thermal radiation from the flare tower and turbine exhausts of a planned oil rig platform for the east coast of Malaysia. Project researchers were forced to devise their own research methods due to a lack of published information on the topic. Their solution was to combine information about the ambient climate conditions at the planned oil rig site with advanced thermodynamics to determine how the hot exhaust gases from the platform’s three turbine powerplants and the superheated air around the flare tower interacted with prevailing winds. The results of these studies were then analysed to see what effect these factors would have on helicopter operations to the rig. The results of the VIPAC study led to a redesign of the rig’s configuration, resulting in safer flying conditions (the original siting of the exhausts increased the temperature across the helideck, potentially making flying operations unsafe).

New Rescue Helicopter for Adelaide?

Surf Life Saving SA has proposed operating its own rescue helicopter service over popular Adelaide beaches by next summer.

Gulf Helicopters

A leading operator of a mixed fleet of Bell Helicopters working throughout the Arabian Gulf and beyond has immediate vacancies for the following Engineers:

412 Type Rated Licensed Engineers

ICAO recognised A&C type rating. Approved training course, 5 years post qualification experience. 80 Preference for additional 206 and 212 type ratings.

Unlicensed Engineers

206, 212 and 412 experience. Preference for Engineers with 412 approved type training. Licensed positions available on 6:1 married accompanied and 2:1 unaccompanied basis. Unlicensed positions available on 2:1 unaccompanied basis only. CV’s to: Gulf Helicopters PO Box 811, Doha, State of Qatar. FAO Chief Engineer, Fax No: 0974 351322 Australian Aviation September 1995 McDonnell Douglas has unveiled a military version of its MD Explorer twin. Dubbed Combat Explorer, a demonstrator was displayed at this year’s Paris airshow. The Combat Explorer is designed to accommodate a variety of mission equipment packages such as the Nighthawk targeting system, FLIR, Hellfire anti armour missiles, 2.75in rockets and machine guns. (McDonnell Douglas) The proposal is part of a plan to have professional lifeguards patrolling Adelaide’s popular beaches on weekdays during the summer holiday period, pending local council financial support. Surf Life Saving SA has sent a discussion paper for comment to the relevant councils. Currently local authorities can call upon the SGIC Rescue-Two JetRanger if an emergency airlift is required.

Briefs

Bell has lifted its planned monthly production rate for the 407 and 407T series of helicopters to 7.5 per month to meet strong demand. This is the second time Bell has increased the planned production rate.

The Surfers Paradise based Westpac Life Saver helicopter was left stranded recently when thieves broke into its hangar and stole equipment vital to emergency rescue operations, including a radio, a pager and a video camera.

Eurocopter is to shortly begin flight testing of a synthetic aperture radar mounted above the rotor hub of a BK 117. The radar consists of four antennas on the ends of a cruciform support fixed to the rotor hub. The revolving radar provides imaging through fog and cloud, giving the helicopter an all weather capability.

The Phoenix Police Department’s fleet of four McDonnell Douglas MD 520N Notars have logged over 20,000 accident free flying hours since they were first delivered almost four years ago. The Phoenix police MD 520Ns fly more than 7500 hours annually, on missions ranging from surveillance, to firefighting and rescue work. Says Phoenix police’s Lt Mike Casey, “We’ve arrested a number of suspects (with the MD 520N) where we were overhead and they didn’t even know we were there.”

Esso Resources Australia is selling three of its Sikorsky S-76s, on an as is, where is basis.

Aero Asahi, Japan’s largest helicopter operating company, has taken delivery of its first MD Explorer helicopter. Aero Asahi has ordered 15 Explorers, the largest order yet for the McDonnell Douglas helicopter.

The only Boeing Heliwing UAV was badly damaged in a crash recently, two months after its first flight. The Heliwing is being offered to the US Navy to meet its Vertical Launch and Recovery surveillance UAV requirement. Boeing says most of the critical testing had been performed before the crash.

A $2m rooftop helipad is to be built at the Royal Adelaide Hospital