Rotor Torque

The five-seat 505 is due to make its first flight later this year, and will be marketed towards the utility segment, corporate and private owners, and training schools.

American Eurocopter rebrands, launches EC225e

The re-branding of the former EADS and Airbus sub-brands is continuing, with American Eurocopter changingits name to Airbus Helicopters Inc (AHI) on February 1.

Heading up the new entity will be president and CEO, Marc Paganini, with the company headquarters to remain at Grand Prairie near Dallas in Texas, and the manufacturing and assembly site to remain at Columbus, Mississippi.

The re-branding came in the leadup to the annual Heli-Expo show at which AHI booked 78 orders across its product line including its new EC175 and EC145 T2, and newly announced EC225e and “low cost” AS332 C1e Super Puma variants.

The EC225e was launched on the back of an order for 15 by Lease Corporation International (LCI).

Designed for the offshore mission, the EC225e will feature improved capabilities including reduced fuel consumption, more payload,a revised cabin layout, and a new avionics suite.

The new engines are the Turbomeca Makila 2B turboshafts which incorporate new combustion chambers and highpressure turbine blades for better performance in all conditions.

“We developed the EC225e to meet growing requirements for longer-range flights, while retaining top levels of performance, passenger comfort and operational safety,” said Airbus Helicopters president Guillaume Faury. “This is particularly valuable for oil and gas missions as the exploration and recovery of energy resources moves further offshore and into deeper waters. ” The new avionics will include a Euronav7 moving map system, a marine automatic identification system (AIS), a TCAS2 system, andnew flight management system.

The new model should help to rejuvenate the EC225 line after the global fleet suffered from a prolonged grounding in 2012/13 due to gearbox issues.

Rolls-Royce helo engine support goes 24/7

Rolls-Royce announced at Heli-Expo 2014 in March that it has opened a 24/7 operations centre for its civil helicopter engines.

The company says the new centre will be “the focal point of a series of improvements to the customer experience for helicopter engine operators and fleets, aimed at further enhancing mission success. ” Rolls-Royce says about 4,500 customers flying nearly 16,000 helicopters will be supported by the new operations centre.

Hawker Pacific & Bell sign regional sales support MoU

Hawker Pacific has signed an MoU with Bell Helicopter with the intent to enter into future purchase agreements for various Bell helicopter models based on anticipated market growth. The agreement was signed at February’s Singapore Airshow by Hawker Pacific CEO Alan Smith and Bell Helicopter president and CEO John Garrison.

“We continue to see growing support and serious enquiries from the market for Bell helicopters across our region,” Tony Jones, Hawker Pacific’s COO – Asia said. “Based on this feedback, we have put the wheels in motion with this MoU and are planning for numerous aircraft putting us in an even stronger position to meet our customers’ needs in a timely manner. ”

CH-53K engines power up

Sikorsky has successfully powered up the new engines and rotor head of the new CH-53K helicopter on its ground test vehicle (GTV) development airframe. Called ‘bare head light-off’ testing because it is conducted without rotor blades being attached to the head, the test validated the aircraft’s dynamic components.

“GTV main engines powered ‘on’ is a significant step for the CH-53K helicopter program,” Mike Torok, Sikorsky’s CH‑53K program VP said. “Having independently tested the aircraft’s many components and subsystems, including electrical and avionics, hydraulics and flight controls, landing gear, propulsion, transmissions and rotors, now we have begun testing these critical functions as an entire system powered by the GTV aircraft’s three GE 7,500shp class engines. ” Essentially a scaled-up re-design of the CH-53E Super Stallion, the 40-tonne CH-53K will be able to carry triple the weight of the current CH-53E, and will be the largest helicopter in the US when it enters service with the USMC in 2018. The USMC has a requirement for up to 200 CH-53Ks to replace the CH-53E.

Navy builds Romeo capability

The RAN’s MH-60R Romeo Seahawk stocks have been bolstered by the delivery of the third and fourth aircraft to NUSQN725 at the US Navy’s NAS Jacksonville (Jax) base in Florida.

“It’s great to welcome two new aircraft to the RAN family. We can’t wait to introduce them to Jacksonville and later in the year, to the Fleet Air Arm back in Australia,” Commanding Officer NUSQN 725, CMDR David Frost said. “So far, we’ve flown more than 100 hours in aircraft one and two, and we look forward to having the new kids on the block taking some of the load. ” The arrival of the new aircraft coincides with the arrival in Jacksonville of another group of RAN maintainers and aircrew which has seen the unit’s numbers grow to 95. The maintenance technicians arebeing trained on the aircraft at the Centre of Naval Aviation Technical Training Unit (CNATTU) at Jax, while aircrew will be trained by HSM-40 at nearby Mayport.

The unit has also taken delivery of its ‘Bromeo’ maintenance training device, a retired SH-60B Seahawk airframe which was retrieved from the desert ‘boneyard’ and upgraded with Romeo systems.

“The Bromeo is a complete, functioning aircraft that will be used to train sailors who are undergoing initial trade training at NUSQN 725,” CMDR Frost said. “It will also be used to conduct annual escape training and operational flying training ground familiarisation events. ” The squadron is scheduled to return to Australia at the end of the year where it will be formally commissioned and move into its new headquarters buildings at Nowra.

Second MQ-8C Fire Scout flies

Northrop Grumman successfully flew the second MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter at the US Navy’s Point Mugu test facility in California on February 12. The aircraft joins the first example which first flew last October and has since completed 41 test flights totalling 66 hours.

“The addition of the second MQ-8C means we can begin testing on more components and equipment needed to operate the system as an intelligence-gathering platform,” George Vardoulakis, VP medium range tactical systems at Northrop Grumman said. “This includes installing and conducting tests on the full sensor suite. ” The MQ-8C utilises a Bell 407 airframe and is a growth version of the original but much smaller MQ‑8B Fire Scout which was based on the Schweizer 333. Shipboard trials of the new Fire Scout are scheduled to start this northern summer.