The H175 twins

“I think there is also potential for Airbus Helicopters to do either acompletion and delivery centre or even final assembly in China as and when the market develops,” says Barron.

Airbus, which has been cooperating with the Chinese for more than 30 years, has a codevelopment agreement with AVIC, a 50/50 development program to produce what is essentially the same helicopter at Airbus Helicopters’ facility at Marignane, near Marseille and at AVIC’s plant in Tianjin.

“So we have two helicopters, one made in Europe and one in China, off the same platform, the same development program. They make their parts of the aircraft and we make our parts and we supply to each other for each other’s version,” explained Barron.

The H175 was certified last year and is now in service, but everything hasn’t gone smoothly on the Chinese side. “The Chinese version will be a bit later, mainly because they’re not allowed to use the same engine and they had to sign a deal last year with Turbomeca to get a French engine to power their machine. We have a Pratt & Whitney Canada engine which the Americans wouldn’t let the Chinese buy. So there was a delay. ” The European version is powered by Pratt & Whitney’s latest PT6 turboshaft engine version – the PT6- C67E – developed specifically for this helicopter. Certification is expected by the end of this year for the new Turbomeca Ardiden 3C engine, called WZ-16 by the Chinese, which is under development for the Z352.

While the Chinese version will have a different powerplant it is expected to perform just as well as the H175, which has already secured 64 orders.

Designed to meet global marketrequirements across a full range of missions, including offshore crew transport for the oil and gas industry, search and rescue, VIP, utility and medical evacuation operations, the launch customer was Noordzee Helikopters Vlaanderen (NHV), a Belgian-based group that delivers offshore crew change services in the North Sea, Africa and other locations world-wide. It already has three, with 13 more on order. The Houstonbased Bristow Group, another operator providing helicopters to the worldwide offshore energy business, also has 17 on order and a Russian airline and helicopter operator, UTair, has ordered 15.

The H175 is proving to be a big hit. Three months after it entered service with NHV at its base at Den Helder in the north of Holland the company is more than pleased with performance. “Since we put it into service two days after delivery (in December) we performed at least two commercial flights and a couple of training flights each day,” said Pieter Broos, NHV base manager in Den Helder.

“Flight hours rose, the number of flights increased, and we built both the operational and technical experience of the team. It soon became clear that the H175 is living up to its reputation. ” Mainly used for transporting crews and supplies to oil and gas platforms in the North Sea where conditions can be harsh, particularly in winter, by the end of February it had flown 415 hours in 230 flights with a fleet availability of 90 per cent.

“Due to the high level of reliability, we’ve been able to adhere to tight flight schedules without delays. This results in a less hectic work environment, and the ability tocarry out more flights per day than before”, said Broos.

Airbus says the H175 provides the best payload range-per-passenger/radius-of-action (RoA) in the medium-class helicopter category. With 16 passengers aboard in an oil and gas configuration, it can fly to distances of 140 nautical miles RoA, increasing to nearly 200 nautical miles RoA when 12 passengers are carried, with no auxiliary fuel tank required. In a higher density configuration, it can carry as many as 18 passengers up to 105nm RoA. It also has a high power margin in one engine inoperative (OEI) conditions. The helicopter can perform Performance Class 1 takeoffs and landings at MTOW in ISA+20°C conditions from a 70ft high platform. Next year, the H175 will also be available with an extended maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 7,800kg from 7,500kg, offering an additional payload of 300kg or an additional 40nm RoA. Other performance figures include a recommended cruise speed of 150kt and the fast cruise speed of 160kt; hover out of ground effect (HOGE) with a maximum 7. 5 tonne takeoff weight at 5,800ft (ISA+20°C conditions); and extensive power reserve and heli-deck performance (PC1) at maximum takeoff weight in ISA+20°C conditions.

Airbus also boasts that high levels of mission flexibility are ensured with its new Helionix avionics and a digital four-axis autopilot that increases safety through reduced pilot workload, enhanced situational awareness, improved flight envelope protection and system redundancy. In addition, the Rig ’N Fly GPS navigation-assisted software has been incorporated in the H175’s avionics suite to make approaches to, and takeoffs from, platform-based helipads safer and simpler.