Rotor Torque

The RFT brief said the MTUAS‑IC looks “to extend and enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities of a parent unit or ship to increase situational awareness using a variety of sensors”.

Featuring a carbon fibre and titanium fuselage, the S-100 has a maximum takeoff weight of 200kg and can carry a 34kg payload of electro-optics and infrared sensors for up to 10 hours. It has a maximum speed of around 120kt and is powered by a 55hp (41kW) Diamond piston engine.

The S-100 VTOL UAS has a beyond line-of-sight capability out to 200km. Able to fly fully autonomously, it can be operated from a pilot control unit with missions planned and controlled via a simple point-and-click graphical user interface. High definition payload imagery is transmitted to the control station in real time.

In August, the S-100 will embark on a Navy Adelaide class FFG to conduct vertical takeoff and landing trials.

Bell’s 505 Jet Ranger X certified

Transport Canada Civil Aviation (TCCA) awarded type certification to Bell’s new 505 Jet Ranger X on December 21 2016, meeting the manufacturer’s target for certification before the end of the year.

US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification is expected to follow in a matter of weeks, and Bell is also expecting to imminently receive its production certification for the 505 before announcing its first customer deliveries early in the new year.

Unveiled in 2013 to replace the Bell 206 JetRanger, which ceased production in 2010, the new fiveseat, single turbine helicopter went from concept to first flight in just 20 months and has since flown more than 1,000 hours in flight testing. Powered by a Safran Arrius 2R engine with dual channel FADEC, the US$1 million 505 features a fully integrated Garmin G1000H cockpit with dual 26cm screens, has a useful load of 680kg and a range of 360nm.

The 505 will be built on Bell’s Mirabel, Quebec production line, with the first production 505 making its first flight on January 22. Bell currently holds more than 400 letters of intent for the 505 and plans to produce 50 in 2017 before ramping up to 150 in 2018.

LifeFlight’s Dan Tyler awarded for 50 years of incident-free flying

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has presented LifeFlight’s Dan Tyler its most prestigious accolade, the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award, to acknowledge 50 years of accident and violationfree flying, exemplary service, professionalism and devotion to aviation safety.

The US-born Tyler (also an early ‘Rotor Torque’ columnist in Australian Aviation) has amassed an impressive number of military and civilian commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart for his service in the Vietnam War, the 1999 Prince Phillip Helicopter Rescue Award for civil flying achievements, and is one of only two Australian-based pilots to receive the Helicopter Association International Pilot of the Year Award, for his involvement in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race rescue in Bass Strait.

“All of those previous awards are kind of for doing ‘something stupid’ and getting away with it,” said Tyler. “Whereas this award is actually for making sure I did things right.”

Tyler began his helicopter rescue with the Surf Life Saving Association’s then Wales Rescue Helicopter Service in 1979. With a Bachelor of Law from Sydney University he would maintain two separate career paths by working as a solicitor and as a rescue pilot for almost 15 years.

“It reached the stage when I had to decide whether I was going to be a lawyer with a pilot’s licence or a pilot with a law degree – I decided to be a pilot with a law degree,” said Tyler.

“Because there was such a massive let-down from the intensity of your day-to-day life in Vietnam when you returned home, a lot of people just couldn’t get along without the adrenaline.

“I honestly believe that I was addicted to my own adrenaline and that is probably why I got into the rescue business. I was gradually able to withdraw from that need to become a very conservative pilot.”

With over 11,500 flying hours, Tyler is now the simulation manager at the Thales LifeFlight Simulation Centre, part of LifeFlight’s training academy at Brisbane Airport. However, he maintains that the cockpit of a helicopter is where he still belongs.

Boeing delivers reconfigurable maintenance trainers to Army

Boeing Defence Australia (BDA) has delivered two CH-47F Maintenance Blended Reconfigurable Aviation Trainers (MBRATs) to the Army Aviation Training Centre (AAvnTC) at Oakey, Queensland.

Delivered under the Army Aviation Training and Training Support contract through subcontractor Kratos Defense and Security Solutions, the pair of MBRATs will provide Australian Army maintenance personnel with a virtual, full-task training experience that combines computer-based learning with replicated physical controls.

The MBRATs can be reconfigured to suit the Defence’s helicopter fleet whether it be the Chinook or a future platform, ensuring longevity and adaptability of the trainers.

Navy’s flight trial unit gears up for a busy year

The Royal Australian Navy’s Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit (AMAFTU) is preparing to conduct seven first of class flight trials (FoCFT) before September.

Having completed FoCFT for the ScanEagle unmanned aerial system on HMAS Choules and clearing the Army’s CH-47F Chinooks to operate from the Navy’s LHD amphibious assault ships HMAS Adelaide and Canberra in 2016, in late January the unit began FoCFT of the MH-60R Romeo Seahawk aboard the Adelaide class FFG HMAS Melbourne.

The Army Tiger Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) and MRH 90 were then due to conduct flight trials onboard HMAS Canberra from February to April, while the MH-60R will also embark on the LHD in late February to continue its trials.

Mid-year, the MRH 90 will conduct its first of class flight trials on the Anzac class frigate.

“For the Romeos we are expanding on the ship helicopter operating limits they have at the moment and we are looking to provide a lily pad capability for the MRH 90 on the Anzac class,” AMAFTU Officer In Charge Commander David Hutchinson told Navy Daily.

Then in August come trials with the Schiebel Camcopter S-100 UAS on an Adelaide class FFG.

“Navy [does not have] any [UAS] experience with vertical takeoff and landing, so the unmanned aerial systems trials in August will be valuable,” said CMDR Hutchinson. “We are not walking into it thinking it will be a box-ticking exercise. We have also never taken a Tiger helicopter to sea before.”

Then in September the AMAFTU will conduct FoCFT for Defence’s Helicopter Aircrew Training System’s (HATS) new EC135 T2+ training helicopters.

Helicopters remembered at Granville rail disaster 40 years on

A memorial service marking the 40th anniversary of the 1977 Granville rail disaster was held on January 18 which included a flypast by emergency service helicopters to honour the crews who assisted on the day.

A morning commuter train collided with support pylons holding up the Bold Street Bridge at Granville, west of Sydney, causing the roadway above to collapse onto three packed carriages killing 83 and injuring 213 on board.

The then Wales Rescue Helicopter Services’ Bell 206B JetRanger along with a Bell Kiowa from Army’s 161 Reconnaissance Squadron at Holsworthy responded to the disaster and were used to transport casualties to hospitals, blood transfusion supplies and vital equipment to the scene.

“When I realised the helicopter crews had never been acknowledged in 40 years, we swung into action to make it happen,” said retired Chief Inspector Gary Raymond, then a member of the NSW Police Rescue Squad who attended the disaster and helped arrange the anniversary flypast. “The flypast was a great success, not only to remember those killed at Granville, but to honour the helicopter pilots and crews that performed the role of support on that tragic day in 1977.”

The anniversary flypast was led by the NSW Police Force’s Bell 412EPi Polair 5, VH-PHZ, followed in trail by the Westpac Lifesaver’s BK117 B2 Lifesaver 21, VH-SLU; the NSW Rural Fire Service’s BK117 B2 Helitack 202, VH-VRQ; and the Toll NSW Ambulance Rescue’s AW139 Rescue 202, VH‑TJF, which passed over the bridge and the disaster’s memorial site.

“Granville had the first Australian use of helicopters in a major urban disaster,” said Ian Badham, who was the director of the Wales Rescue Helicopter Service at the time.

As hospitals closer to Granville were crowded with injured patients, both helicopters were used to transport the critically injured to more distant hospitals with the Wales Rescue helicopter landing in the car park of the Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick in Sydney’s southeastern suburbs.

Traffic congestion on Sydney’s roads was a factor considered in subsequent debriefs following the disaster which eventually led to rescue helicopters being incorporated into the state’s disaster plans.

Briefs

»» The NSW Police Force’s Aviation Support Branch has ordered an additional Bell 412EPi to add to its law enforcement fleet. The NSW Police Force said the new twin Bell will join 412EPi VH‑PHZ, call sign Polair 5, when the helicopter is delivered and comes online later this year.

»» Kaman Aerosystems delivered its first K-Max airframe from its re-opened production line in Jacksonville, Florida to the company’s final assembly plant in Bloomfield, Connecticut in January. The delivery of the first new customer K-Max is scheduled to occur in the second quarter of this year.