Rotor Torque

By September next year, the now vacant site on the eastern side of the airport, not the original location as was originally announced, will comprise three operational hangars, two maintenance hangars, administration offices and a training centre housing full-motion flight simulators, a water training pool, environment training facilities and medical simulation rooms.

“This facility and the new partnership with Toll Group will cement us as a mobile emergency health service in the sky,” said NSW Ambulance Commissioner David Dutton.

“It’s a significant investment in our aeromedical staff of doctors, flight nurses and paramedicswhose clinical capability virtually allows them to take the Emergency Department to the patient wherever they are, whenever they need us.

Aeromedical retrieval in NSW is predicted to increase another 23 per cent by 2022 and we will be able to deliver improved patient retrieval coverage across the state and see patients receive emergency care up to 30 minutes faster than ever before due to the capability of the new AW139 fleet. ” Training operations are expected to begin at the Bankstown Airport base from July 2016.

Toll is due to accept its first AW139 from AgustaWestland’s Vergiate, Italy factory in late October before it is freighted to Australia in mid-November to be reassembled and placed online by AgustaWestland’s Service SupportCentre at Essendon Airport. The 139 will then be used for aircrew training from early December before having its EMS fitout in late January.

MQ-8C Fire Scout demonstrates long-range endurance

The US Navy has set a new flight time record with its Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout unmanned helicopter during a recent 150nm flight from Naval Base Ventura County, Point Mugu.

The 11-hour flight, part of a series of capability tests to validate the Fire Scout’s concept of operations, was completed with over an hour of fuel in reserve.

“With adjustments, our production aircraft will have 12 hours of total endurance on a standard day,” said Northrop Grumman’s vice president, medium range tactical systems, George Vardoulakis. “Increased time-on-station and fewer launch and recovery cycles better enables the Navy’s diverse missions. ” The MQ-8C Fire Scout completed its developmental flight test program earlier this year and has accumulated over 513 flight hours and flown 353 sorties.

ATSB stabiliser recommendation for CH-7B owners

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating a second fatal accident involving a Cicaré CH-7B helicopter where a loss of control was attributed to an inflight separation of the horizontal and vertical stabiliser.

A preliminary technical examination at the ATSB’s facilities in Canberra indicated that in both instances the stabiliser attachment brackets failed due to cracking associated with metal fatigue.

In the most recent accident involving Cicaré CH-7BT VH-JEW, which collided with terrain near Roy HillStation, Western Australia on July 28, the ATSB said the crack in the stabiliser attachment bracket propagated in a circumferential manner through approximately 75 per cent of the welded structure prior to failure.

An examination of the component showed cracking in the stabiliser attachment outboard of the tail boom, corresponding with the welded intersection of the conical and tubular sections of the attachment.

While the ATSB works to establish the factors leading to the two failures, the bureau has advised pilots and owners of CH‑7B helicopters to exercise extreme caution and to ensure the integrity of the stabiliser prior to further operation. It also noted the location of the cracking in the attachment cannot be easily inspected as they are obscured by the upper and lower vertical stabiliser fairings.

Airbus Helicopters completes Australian H145 demo tour

Airbus Helicopters concluded its Australian leg of the H145 demonstrator in late July after more than five weeks in-country touring the eastern seaboard and demonstrating the type to prospective customers.

Australia was the last leg on the type’s global tour that saw factory demonstrator D-HADW arrive in mid-June and fly more than 50 hours.

“We have always known that there is strong local market potential for the H145 and that has been enhanced by the helicopter’s presence in-country,” said director civil helicopters, Airbus Group Australia Pacific, Cedric Bessette. “As a result of this demonstration tour, our prospects for future sales are very exciting. ” Airbus Group Australia Pacific delivered its first H145 in theregion to an unnamed New Zealand customer in April.

Navy Seahawk delivers blow to V8 Supercar driver

The Navy and V8 Supercars have commenced an investigation into an incident that saw Holden Racing Team driver James Courtney injured by flying debris during a handling display by an 816 Squadron Seahawk.

S-70B-2 Seahawk N24-006 was performing an authorised and routine handling display as part of the V8 Supercar series track entertainment at the Sydney Motorsport Park on August 21 when downwash from the hovering helicopter dislodged promotional hoardings.

Sheets of metal hoarding from the Holden Racing Team’s garage were blown away, striking James Courtney, breaking two of his ribs and causing pneumothorax, a small pocket of air in his chest.

Courtney was taken to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition but his injuries ruled him out of the weekend’s races.

Airbus’s Sferion pilot assistance system matures

Airbus Defence and Space demonstrated the capabilities of its Sferion pilot assistance system in August, designed to increase safety and situational awareness for pilots and flightcrew when flying in restricted visibility conditions.

Displaying a synthetic picture with visual cueing and symbology overlaid on actual terrain through a helmet visor, the system comprises a laser-based obstacle warning system and a data fusion system that can detect the smallest of obstacles as well as ground slope, power lines and structures. Combined with real-time sensor data sourced from a database, a full-spectrum pictureis produced through the visor no matter where the pilot or crew looks in a heads‑up or heads‑down view.

Tactical mission information, flightplan or ADS-B traffic information is also displayed in 3D with colour‑coded pixels carrying varying threat levels of possible collision with audible warnings.

During a series of demonstration flights at the German army’s International Helicopter Training Centre in Bückeburg using a Bell 206 JetRanger, Airbus Defence and Space showcased the system’s ability to prevent controlled flight into terrain, wire strikes and improving situational awareness by landing at a site surrounded by hills and obstacles.

“In addition to the task of simply flying the aircraft, crews generally have to complete extremely challenging missions,” said test pilot of the demonstration and former UK chief Apache instructor, Mark Condon. “This leads to an enormous workload for the entire crew, and can result in complete loss of situational awareness and thus tragic accidents. Sferion is aimed at helicopter crews that have to fly at low altitudes and in a degraded visual environment such as brown-out, white-out or darkness to reduce the workload. ” A video from a landing demonstration showed the system generating ‘running rabbit’ symbology at 0. 8nm to indicate the way to a landing site with a suitable glide slope to clear any terrain. Along with terrain contours, at 0. 4nm from touchdown, Sferion determines whether the slope of the landing site is suitable and then displays a box around the site in the visor that represents an area of 40 by 40 metres to ensure adequate disc clearance on landing.

The pilot can also select relevant information for any phase of the flight like the next waypoint,alternate possible landing sites and any other critical obstacles of relevance in the vicinity.

USAF looks to replace UH-1N fleet

The USAF met with helicopter manufacturers in mid-August to discuss options for replacing its fleet of UH-1N Iroquois.

The USAF detailed its desired capabilities to potential vendors, including Bell and Airbus Helicopters, about the successor to its more than 40-year-old light-lift utility UH-1N, a military variant of the Bell 212. The wishlist includes a digital avionics suite and all-weather navigation.

The USAF is looking to procure up to 72 replacement helicopters through either a sole-source contract or an open tender competition. A final contract award is not expected until 2017.

Tiger Mk3 on the drawing board

Airbus Helicopters is working on a new version of its Tiger (EC665) attack helicopter, with the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) commissioning an architectural study on July 31.

Dubbed ‘Tiger Mk3’, the 18-month study aims to define the future configurations for the mid-life upgrade (MLU) of current operational Tigers.

The study will allow operating nations, including Australia, to choose which combinations of equipment, functions, performances and architectures should be selected for the future development phase of Tiger’s weapon system to be delivered within the next 10 years.

OCCAR says the first stage of the study will look at potential new features with a strong focus on reducing lifecycle cost. Features are likely to include the integration of new armament types, inclusion of civil GPS and inertial navigation and military IFF to meet regulations, enhanced combat survivability and ballistic protection, the addition of electronic warfare systems, satellite data transmission, UAV integration and the capability to operate in degraded visual environments.

A de-risking phase would then proceed if considered necessary ahead of launching development activities before the end of the decade.

Tiger made its combat debut in Afghanistan in 2009. French Tigers have also seen service in Libya and Mali. OCCAR says its study will also incorporate lessons learned from more than six years of permanent deployment.

Work on the first upgraded Mk3 within the current fleets is expected to commence by around 2025.

Robinson’s HeliSAS autopilot system approved for the R44

Robinson Helicopter announced in late August that the Genesys Aerosystems helicopter stability augmentation system (HeliSAS) and autopilot, certified in January for use on the R66, is now available as an option for its R44.

Robinson’s R66 flight test and FAA certification program for the autopilot installation was carried over to the R44. The autopilot options include basic stability augmentation, heading hold, altitude hold, navigation signal tracking and approach guidance.

The HeliSAS and autopilot is available as an option on all R44s and R66s equipped with Aspen’s Evolution 1000H Primary Flight Display (PFD) for around US$60,000. The Aspen PFD fits in a standard eight-hole instrument panel. Autopilot controls are located in the avionics stack with additional trim and off buttons located on the cyclic.

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