Rotor Torque

Part 138 is being developed as part of CASA’s regulation reform program, which the regulator says aims to enhance aviation safety, address known risks and maintain the reputation of Australia’s aviation industry as one of the safest in the world.

Some of the key proposed changes in Part 138 include consolidating all fixed-wing and helicopter aerial work operations into a single rule set with operations conducted under a Part 138 certificate rather than an air operator’s certificate. Part 138 also proposes to streamline the current 41 aerial work activities into three categories of external load operations, dispensing operations and task-specialist operations, define when aerial work specialists and aerial work passengers can be carried, apply performance standards to certain aerial work operations based on assessed risk, and apply graduated training andchecking standards to aerial work operations and.

The proposed new rules also allow for the continued use of night vision imaging systems in some aerial work situations.

CASA says Part 138 has been developed following extensive consultation with the aviation community over a number of years.

CASA is encouraging the industry to provide its feedback on NPRM 1519OS no later than November 10 by completing an online form found on its website.

Fourth Bell 429 arrives for RMI 2

An additional Bell 429 will soon be delivered to Navy’s 723 Squadron, HMAS Albatross, Nowra to bolster the pilot training hours of its Retention and Motivation Initiative 2 (RMI 2) program.

Arriving in country in early August and registered as VHPOJ to prime contractor Raytheon Australia, N49-218 ‘050’ will join three other 429s used by the squadron in late October to provide Navy trainee pilots with anadvanced twin-engined platform as they transition from the AS350 BA Squirrel on to operational Seahawk and MRH 90 Taipan types.

The new 429, callsigned ‘Medusa 50’, will expand the RMI 2 contract from a two line flying program, with a rate of effort of 1,500 annual flying hours, to a three line program of 2,500 hours per year.

The RMI 2 program is due to expire just prior to the Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS) achieving final operational capability.

Snowy Hydro SouthCare completes record year

The Canberra-based Snowy Hydro SouthCare rescue helicopter service carried out more than 509 missions during the 2014-15 financial year, its largest annual mission total since the service began operations onOctober 1 1998.

Snowy Hydro SouthCare CEO, Chris Kimball said increased community demand drove the record level of operations for the service. “It’s just a reflection of the service area that we cover,” Kimball told the ABC. “We’re particularly busy up at the snow, in summer we do a lot of work down at the coast, but then in holiday periods we’ve also got some of the busiest roads and highways in the country. We’ve also got a capital city in the middle of all of that and a big chunk of farming country which brings its own issues. ” During the year, Snowy Hydro SouthCare’s Bell 412 flew 230 primary on-scene missions and 260 inter-hospital transfers, with non-medical flights supporting search and rescue and firefighting operations making up the remainder.

Army receives final Foxtrot

The seventh and final CH-47F Chinook for the Australian Army arrived at C Squadron, 5 Aviation Regiment in Townsville on August 24 onboard a USAF C-5 Galaxy, handed over by Boeing within budget and three weeks ahead of schedule.

The arrival of A15-307 completes the Foreign Military Sale program acquisition under the AIR 9000 Phase 5C Medium Lift Helicopters project signed in 2012 to replace C Squadron’s fleet of six CH-47D Chinooks.

“Our CH-47D Chinooks have been real workhorses for Australia, both here and on operations overseas, and our new CH-47F Chinooks are set to be even more dependable, affordable and capable assets,” said Rear Admiral Tony Dalton, headof Helicopters, Tactical Unmanned Aerial Systems and Guided Weapons at Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group.

For C Squadron pilots converting over to the Foxtrot, conversion training comprises approximately 31 hours in the simulator and 21 hours in the helicopter.

Three of the six D model Chinooks have so far been retired from routine flying operations, with one being donated to the RAAF Museum at RAAF Point Cook, and the other two now positioned at Swartz Barracks, Oakey and Swanbourne Barracks, Perth. The disposal plan for the remaining three Chinooks, due to be retired in 2016, is still being finalised.

The Foxtrot is scheduled to undergo its first of class flight trials from the Navy’s amphibious assault ship NUSHIP Adelaide in late 2016.

Romeo program receives project management award

The AIR 9000 Phase 8 project to acquire Navy’s MH-60R Seahawks was awarded Project of the Year in the Defence/Aerospace category at the ACT Chapter of the Australian Institute of Project Management (AIPM) awards.

“This award is particularly exceptional because AIPM, a national non-Defence body, has recognised the hard work and great results achieved by the broader acquisition,” said MH-60R project director, Captain Peter Ashworth. “The MH-60R project has also been nominated as a contender for the national awards due to the excellent teamwork, goodwill and communication by all parties involved. ” To date 14 of 24 Romeos on order have been delivered ahead of schedule to Navy’s 725 Squadron at HMAS Albatross, Nowra. Of those delivered, 13 aircraft are already here in Australia, and one is in the US for the purposes of testing. Three more of the anti-submarine warfare/anti-surface warfare multi-mission helicopters are due to be delivered by the end of this year, and the remainder will have been delivered by August 2016.

“We are beyond the point where all our major development milestones have been completed and we are really transitioning into sustaining support now, but it has been a pretty busy year; there has been a lot going on,” said Tom Kane, director of naval helicopter programs at Lockheed Martin, in a briefing.

725SQN was recommissioned in June, marking the formal induction of the Romeo into the fleet.

In other Romeo news Navy has accepted the Lockheed Martin AGM-114N Hellfire air-to-ground missile into service to equip the Fleet Air Arm’s MH-60Rs.

The Navy says the first live firing of the Hellfire N in Australia is planned to occur early next year.

“Although the Australian Navy now has experience firing the weapon in the US, completion of the first exercise firings at an Australian weapons range will establish the foundations for future firings in support of training and test and evaluation for the life of the system,” 725SQN commanding officer, Commander Dave Frost, told Navy Daily.

“The ability to deliver the weapon in a number of modes, either as a single aircraft or a section, greatly supports the Navy’s mission of fighting and winning at sea. ” The chemical composition of the AGM-114N’s metal augmented charge thermobaric warhead is substantially more effective in attacks against enclosed structures, like ships, than the blast and fragment variants used by the Army’s Tiger ARH, which employs the AGM-114M and AGM‑114R variants.

The MH-60R is manufactured by Sikorsky and equipped with mission systems and sensors by Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Training. Lockheed Martin announced in July that it had agreed to acquire Sikorsky, but its plans to align the company under the Mission Systems and Training business segment will not result in any changes in the way the aircraft are manufactured and supported, Kane said.

The RAN will be able to provide eight Romeo helicopters embarked concurrently aboard the Anzac class frigates and Hobart class Air Warfare Destroyers, with the rest based at HMAS Albatross conducting training and maintenance activities.

First Arrius 2R production engine delivered to Bell

Turbomeca has delivered its first production Arrius 2R engine to Bell Helicopter to power the first production Bell 505 Jet Ranger X.

Delivered to Bell’s recently opened 505 assembly centre in Lafayette, Louisiana the 500shp (373kW) turbine engine with dual-channel FADEC has been installed into Bell’s fourth Jet Ranger X prototype.

Arrius 2R Program vice president Jean-François Sauer said Turbomeca was on track towards EASA engine certification by the end of the year.

Future production Arrius 2Rs will be assembled at Turbomeca’s Dallas, Texas facility.

Launched in 2013, the Arrius 2R completed its first ground run at Turbomeca’s Bordes, France facility in April 2014. The company has signed over 350 letters of intent with Bell to supply the engine for the Jet Ranger X.

HATS construction starts in Nowra

A sod-turning ceremony on September 12 marked the start of construction of facilities to house and support the HATS at HMAS Albatross, Nowra.

The $157 million construction project, which will become the new home for initial helicopter training for Navy and Army aircrew, includes a new training centre, refurbished hangars and workshops and new living accommodation.

“The modernisation of this terrific base with its proud heritage of being the home of naval aviation is giving it a long awaited facelift and today we add another footprint on the journey toward this being arguably the most advanced helicopter base in the southern hemisphere,” Commander Fleet Air Arm, Commodore VinceDi Pietro told Navy Daily. “What is currently done with whiteboards and magnetic training aids will be done with computer-based modules and simulation. Emergencies we currently train for in real helicopters we will do in flight simulators. ” Expected to be completed by mid 2017, the facility will be able to train up to 130 pilots, aviation warfare officers, aircrewmen, sensor operators and qualified aircrew returning for instructor training each year, once operational in 2018.

Airbus Helicopters signals the end of the Twin Squirrel

Production of the AS355 Twin Squirrel is expected to wrap up in 2016 after Airbus Helicopters dropped the light twin model from its catalogue.

Airbus Helicopters said a decision to rationalise its product range to focus on its key products was the key driver for ending production of the AS355, with only a handful currently on order.

The Twin Squirrel made its first flight in September 1979. Airbus Helicopters has produced more than 600 Twin Squirrels with 12 currently on the Australian register.

Airbus Helicopters said production of other models in the Squirrel family, the H125 and H130, will continue.

AgustaWestland completes UK MoD RUAS trials

AgustaWestland has completed its Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial System (RUAS) capability concept demonstration contract for the UK’s Ministry of Defence, designed to support the Royal Navy’s decisionmaking on a future UAS. Using its SW-4 Solo unmanned and piloted technology demonstrator, based on the Polish PZL-Swidnik SW-4 light single, AgustaWestland’s RUAS flew a total of 27 hours and carried out 22 automatic simulated deck landings on the back of a moving trailer that simulated a ship’s deck. A lack of available Royal Navy platforms had prevented sea trials from taking place.

“We are very pleased with the outcome of the rotary wing UAS demonstration project and have learnt a lot that will inform future options,” said the Royal Navy’s Commander Maritime Capability (Aviation), Commander Bow Wheaton. “A rotary-wing UAS offers a niche combination of endurance and payload, whilst being able to launch and recover from relatively small warships with a flightdeck. ” AgustaWestland has recently demonstrated the SW-4 Solo to the Italian Ministry of Defence where it was involved in the European Defense Agency’s Exercise Italian Blade, demonstrating its intelligence gathering, manned-unmanned teaming and data dissemination capabilities.

Second 525 Relentless gets ready

Bell Helicopter is preparing its second of five super-medium 525 Relentless flight test vehicles (FTV) for its first flight, to complete its planned 1,500 hours of flight testing by the end of 2016.

Known as FTV2, the blue and white painted 525, N525BK, has completed structural assembly and is now being fitted out with instrumentation ahead of joining the first 525 prototype, FTV1, on Bell’s Amarillo, Texas flight line before the end of the year.

During the northern hemisphere summer, Bell accumulated morethan 20 hours of test flying and 40 hours of ground runs with only minor issues relating to fault codes reported.

To date, FTV1 has achieved a level flight speed above 160kt, flown to 12,000ft density altitude and at bank angles of 30 degrees and will soon complete airspeed expansion out to Vne. Initial autorotation trials have also been performed, with the Relentless demonstrating that it can enter and safely recover from an autorotative state.

Bell said it plans to release the list price for the 525 next year while also unveiling the Relentless’ executive interior concept in mockup form at the National Business Aviation Association’s convention and exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

Robotic helicopter landing gear studied

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the agency responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military, is studying the concept of a robotic landing gear system that adapts to angled, irregular and moving surfaces to keep a helicopter level when landing on uneven ground.

Unveiled at DARPA’s ‘Wait, What?’ forum in September, the system uses four articulated legs, which retract next to the fuselage in flight. On landing, each leg, equipped with force-sensitive contact sensors, extends and determines the appropriate angle to assume to ensure that the helicopter stays level so the main and tail rotor blades do not contact the ground.

DARPA conducted an experimental demonstration using a Rotorcraft Unmanned Aerial System (RUAS) and successfully landed and took off from terrain that would have been impossible using standard landing gear. Program manager Ashish Bagai said the robotic landing gear would reduce damage by as much as a factor of five during a hard landing, allow for landing and takeoff on sloping terrain of up to 20 degrees, on irregular boulder-strewn terrain and on a ship’s deck in violent sea states.

The robotic landing gear system is now undergoing further development at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.

Bell flags a civil tilt rotor opportunity

Bell Helicopter CEO John Garrison has hinted a civilian version of its V-280 Valor tilt rotor concept, being developed as a contender in the US Army-led Joint Multi-Role Technology Demonstrator (JMR-TD) program to replace its Black Hawks, could become affordable to commercial customers if produced in large numbers.

“You’re getting into a quantity level where the cost per unit is going to get to a point where it could be very competitive in a commercial space,” Garrison told the Fort Worth’s Star-Telegram in late September. “When you hit that value proposition with the volumes that we’re talking about, there may be an opportunity for a commercial tilt-rotor of that size. We’d like to believe there’s an opportunity. ” Bell took delivery of its first V-280 composite fuselage from Kansas’ Spirit AeroSystems in mid September. The fuselage was designed and assembled in Spirit’s rapid prototyping facility in Wichita, Kansas in 22 months.

The V-280 prototype is expected to make its first flight in the second half of 2017.