Rotor Torque

From January 1 the 24-hour service to transfer medical teams and patients from anywhere in NSW to leading hospitals in Sydney, Newcastle and Canberra are operated by CareFlight’s Bell 412 and BK-117 helicopters based at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead in Sydney.

CEO of the national aeromedical charity Derek Colenbrander said: “The long history of caring for kids means we are the ideal service to undertake this very important mission in partnership with the NSW government. This is welcome news for the community which has supported our charity so strongly over the past 26 years through donations, the purchase of CareFlight bears and other fundraising activities,” Colenbrander added.

However, the contract award has come as a blow for the Telstra Child Flight service, which has operated the service for 23 years. “After more than two decades in the air, the only emergency helicopter service specialising in the transport of critically ill kids has lost its Ambulance NSW contract to a new operator,” Child Flight said in a statement.

“The new contractor will be challenged to be a service equal to Child Flight, which raises concerns for the communities affected and questions about the fairness of the NSW government’s tender process.”

“The new contractor will be challenged to be a service equal to Child Flight…” Child Flight

Eurocopter opens Perth support centre

A new support centre for Eurcopter’s growing business in Western Australias has been opened in Perth, in what the manufacturer sees as a major boost to the offshore oil and gas industry.

More than 25 17/19-seat Puma helicopters are in operation in the state providing supply and passenger airlift support to resource industries.

Located at Canning Vale between Perth and Jandakot airports, the new office, training, maintenance and warehousing facilities will be managed by local Eurocopter subsidiary Australian Aerospace.

Eurocopter’s senior vice president for sales and customer relations Olivier Lambert said: “The Perth support facility will benefit all local Eurocopter customers. The Western Australia Police, for example, has been operating Eurocopter aircraft in the community for more than 25 years and recently added a new AS365N3+ to the fleet. Eurocopter is set to deliver an EC130T2 to Perth, the first to be delivered in Australia Pacific.”

First two EC725s delivered to Malaysia

Eurocopter has delivered the first two of 12 EC725 medium lift helicopters to the Royal Malaysian Air Force.

The aircraft, which will be delivered through to the end of 2014, will enhance Malaysia’s search and rescue and utility capabilities.
To support the new aircraft Eurocopter is developing new facilities at the Malaysian International Aerospace Centre. In parallel, the manufacturer is extending its local industry participation by integrating Malaysian industry in the supply chain for engineering and maintenance and training.

Helicopters Australia rebrands as HNZ

Perth-based Helicopters Australia has been formally renamed HNZ Australia following its acquisition by Canadian Helicopters Group.

The company, which has been operating for the last 25 years in Western Australia, has been offering support operations to fire and aeromedical services, and the resources sector. From May this year HNZ Australia extends a current contract with Rio Tinto for a further 10 year, at the same time replacing its existing EC145 aircraft with new Agusta AW109SPs. The contract covers marine pilot transfers to the mining company’s iron ore ships at Dampier and Cape Lambert ports. The new contract is valued at $125 million.

HNZ, which is headquartered in Nelson, New Zealand, was acquired by Canadian Helicopters Group in 2011.

Helo charter on the rise

Rising demand in the resources sector has led to a dramatic increase in the demand for helicopter charter. According to Adagold Aviation, demand for multi-engine helicopters is predicted to nearly double from the current 211 units to around 400 over the next seven years.

Adagold’s head of charter operations Simon Llewellyn said demand was being felt across the spectrum of light to heavy helicopters.

“The helicopter fleet in Australia is growing at an impressive 11.4 per cent a year,” he said, adding some experts were predicting that rate to go higher as a result of the energy and mining boom.

Llewellyn said the same trend was being experienced in Papua New Guinea where aerial work, power line construction, oil and gas exploration and surveying demands were close to exceeding capacity.

Photo story caption

A Bell 412 owned by Falcon Aviation Services has towed the world’s largest aerial banner during National Day celebrations in Abu Dhabi. Measuring more than 50,000ft2 (4,600m2), the banner could reportedly be seen from 20km away. (Bell)

RNZAF Huey crash findings released

An RNZAF investigation into the crash of an Iroquois helicopter that killed three airmen and seriously injured one other on April 25 2010 has found cost pressures and inadequate training as the primary causes.

As reported in the New Zealand Herald, the helicopter, one of three flying in formation to attend an ANZAC day ceremony in Wellington, crashed 36 minutes into the flight in pre-dawn light.

The RNZAF report that concluded the investigation said: “The need to minimise accommodation costs incurred by 3SQN due to pressure on the accommodation budget was recognised and contributed to the… decision (not to fly the day before).

The crew was using night vision goggles for the flight. The report concluded that four of the six pilots in the three helicopters had received inadequate training in the use of night vision goggles, representing a significant causal factor in the accident.

In a damning statement on the condition of the RNZAF, the report stated the air force was unable to “adequately and reliably ensure safe and effective military air operations”.

The sole survivor of the accident is pursuing prosecution of the air force under health and safety regulations.

RFP issued for new US presidential helicopter

The US Naval air systems command (NAVAIR) is preparing to issue a request for proposals (RFP) to replace the fleet of ageing VH-3D and VH-60N presidential helicopters.

Expected in mid-2013, the RFP will likely attract significant interest from Agusta/Westland/Northrop Grumman, Boeing, EADS North America and Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky.

NAVAIR is reportedly engaging suppliers to help define performance-based specification requirements, airworthiness, transportability in the C-17 and mission systems integration.

The earlier program to replace the helicopters was abandoned in 2009 following cost blow-outs. To that point the AW101 had been selected and was intended to operate in the fleet as the VH-71 Kestrel.