Rotor Torque

“The Bell 505 performed exactly as anticipated today,” said Lavalle.

Images from the late afternoon maiden flight confirmed the 505’s final design closely resembles thatof the mockup aircraft Bell and its distributors displayed around the world since the helicopter was unveiled, including at the AHIA’s Rotortech 2014 conference on the Sunshine Coast in May.

Bell says it has received more than 240 letters of intent for the aircraft.

Navy’s first Romeo arrives at Nowra

Torrential rain and gale force winds failed to dampen the delivery of Navy’s first of 24 MH-60R Seahawk ‘Romeos’ at HMAS Albatross, Nowra on October 14.

Arriving on board a RAAF C-17 Globemaster from Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida the first Romeo, N48-003, shared thecargo hold with Navy’s non-flying MH‑60R ‘Bromeo’ maintenance training aid airframe.

Speaking at the arrival, Commander Fleet Air Arm, Commodore Vince Di Pietro, said it was absolutely fantastic to welcome the newest member of the Fleet Air Arm to its new home. “I was involved in the introduction of the Seahawk into service in 1988 as a young lieutenant instructor at Connecticut in the US,” Commodore Di Pietro told Navy News. “To be personally a part of the next generation of Seahawk a quarter-century later as it arrives in Nowra is pretty special. It’s just a terrific Navy day and this rain has absolutely zero chance of taking the smile off my face. ”The first Romeo was expected to be back in the air by November fitted with flight test instrumentation to commence first-of-type flight trials with the Navy’s Anzac class frigates.

HATS off to Boeing Defence Australia, Thales Australia

Defence Minister Senator David Johnston formally announced the teaming of Boeing Defence Australia and Thales Australia as the winning tenderer of the Project AIR 9000 Phase 7 Helicopter Aircrew Training Systems (HATS) on October 23.

To be based at HMAS Albatross, HATS will use 15 Airbus Helicopters EC135s, three fullmotion flight simulators and theaddition of a flightdeck to Navy’s new seagoing training vessel to train about 130 helicopter aircrew members for both services per year.

“This will deliver a fully integrated modern training environment with both inflight and virtual environments on contemporary twin-engine helicopters and flight simulators,” Senator Johnston said. “These will prepare both Navy and Army for the new generation of advanced combat helicopters such as the Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter, MRH90 Tiapan, MH‑60R Seahawk Romeo and our new CH-47F Chinook Foxtrots. ” Last December the Boeing/ Thales team was informed they were the preferred tenderer, selected ahead of a direct bid by Australian Aerospace (now part of Airbus Group Australia Pacific) with the EC135, and a teaming of Raytheon Australia and Bell which had offereda solution based on the Bell 429.

The EC135s for HATS will be acquired through a commercial agreement from Airbus Helicopters with the first machines expected to commence training in late 2016, and will replace about 13 Navy AS350BA Squirrels and 30 Army Bell 206B Kiowas.

R66s go there and back

Two Russian-registered Robinson R66 helicopters flew into Sydney Airport on November 1 as part of a mammoth 60,000km journey from Moscow to New Zealand and back.

Starting in Moscow on September 16 the two pop-out float-equipped R66s, registered RA-06360 and RA-06345, arrived in Sydney from Lord Howe Island after crossing the Tasman from New Zealand’s north island.

Having already visited northern Queensland en route to New Zealand, the R66s and their four pilots flew onto Australia’s own helicopter explorer Dick Smith’s residence at Gundaroo, north of Canberra, before heading across Bass Straight to Hobart and back to Melbourne. At the time of writing the R66s were to head north for Asia, the subcontinent, Saudi Arabia and Greece en route back to Moscow.

The whole trip was flight planned to be completed in just 59 days and scheduled to visit 20 countries with more than 300 hours expected to be logged.

Final Kiwi NH90 TTH delivered

More than 40 months behind schedule, the ninth and final NH90 TTH for the RNZAF was delivered to RNZAF Base Ohakea on October 31on board an Antonov An-124 from Airbus Helicopter’s facility at Marignane, France.

Of the nine ordered in July 2006, to replace its UH-1H Iroquois fleet, only eight NH90s will be used operationally for search and rescue, disaster relief, troop transport and cargo resupply missions, with the ninth helicopter held as a spares source.

The RNZAF’s Helicopter Transition Unit achieved 1,000 flying hours in the NH90 on March 28 and is now looking to retire its remaining 10 UH-1Hs in service with 3 Squadron.

The RNZAF’s NH90’s are expected to receive final release of capability in the last quarter of 2015 with SAR, advanced SAR, fast roping, rappelling and limited embarked operations becoming capable with this milestone.

Thales Australia, CareFlight Group (Queensland) to deliver AW139 training

Australia’s first AW139 helicopter training centre has been launched with a partnership between Thales Australia and CareFlight Group (Queensland) to introduce full flight simulation training on the type.

Fitted with the latest Hexaline electric motion system, Thales’s Reality H Full Flight Simulator (FFS) will serve the training requirements of CareFlight and other AW139 operators in Australia and New Zealand, with the Level D FFS located at CareFlight Group’s aeromedical training academy based at its Brisbane Airport facility in conjunction with Aviation Australia.

The FFS will support type rating, instrument rating and recurrenttraining, along with custom-made mission courses. Pilots and aircrew will be able to train in high-risk scenarios such as engine or hydraulic failures, severe weather and offshore flying including the use of NVG.

“This represents a significant milestone in civil helicopter training in Australia,” CareFlight Group CEO Ashley van de Velde said. “Up until now this level of sophisticated helicopter mission training in Australia has only been available to military pilots.

“Thanks to the combination of Thales’s technology with CareFlight’s aeromedical training expertise, flightcrews from throughout Australasia and beyond will be able to receive world-class training at an easily accessible location. In addition, there is the opportunity to access further training services offered by the CareFlight Group including underwater escape training, emergency breathing systems and crew resource management. ” The AW139 FFS is currently under construction and is expected to be operational in 2016.

New helipads for Tamworth and Geelong hospitals

New helipads for aeromedical retrieval operations will soon be built at the Geelong, Victoria and Tamworth, NSW hospitals to allow for improved and faster patient transfer from the helicopter to the emergency room.

Already squeezed for space, a helipad will be built on top of the new Epworth Geelong Hospital, allowing the new hospital site to expand its building footprint onto land currently occupied by a helipad.

In Tamworth, the new helipad will be larger than the current pad and will also improve landing and takeoff operations in a range of weather conditions during the day and at night. The helipad will connect to the hospital’s new emergency department via a lift and covered walkway while ambulance loading spaces provided next to the pad will improve patient transfers.

EC135 T3/P3, EC145 T2 attain EASA and FAA certifications

Airbus Helicopters’ new EC135 T3 and P3 variants attained EASA certification on October 20, while days earlier the bigger EC145 T2 was certified by the FAA.

The EC135 T3/P3 offers more than 200kg of additional payload in hot and high conditions and has improved operations at sea level allowing a 70kg increase in payload for single engine/CAT performances.

Notable technical improvements in the T3/P3 variant include a larger main rotor and lateral air inlets. New FADEC software optimises engine control while the cockpit features Garmin’s GTN750 fully integrated navigation, communication and GPS avionics suite.

The nearly 1,200 EC135s already in operation globally can be retrofitted to T3/P3 standards with Airbus Helicopters offering special retrofit packages based on the flight hours of each helicopter.

Following the certification by the FAA on October 15, deliveries of the EC145 T2 to US customers are scheduled to begin immediately, with an unnamed VIP customer and Dare County EMS the first operators to receive the new type. The EC145 T2 received certification from EASA in April.

Airwork’s BK117 engine STC approved by FAA

New Zealand’s Airwork received a FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) in mid-October for its BK117‑850D2 engine upgrade and follows certification by EASA, Transport Canada and NZ CAA.

Developed by Airwork, the STC exchanges Honeywell’s LTS101‑750B1 engines for higher powered LTS101-850B2s, providing operators with a Cat A, Class 1 compliant utility helicopter, with usable performance at maximum all-up weight.

Airwork says the -850B2 upgrade takes just three days and can be done by any Part 145 maintenance facility. Over 30 BKs have been converted to -850B2 status operating in Canada, Australia, Africa, Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.