How the AW139 reshaped EMS around the world

The AW139 has reshaped the world’s helicopter market in many aspects over the last 15 years. It introduced best-in-class performance, the latest certification and safety standards, large space in the cabin and a level of versatility which is still unmatched today. The product achieves a significant level of maturity while keeping a modern design, and it still keeps growing. It has demonstrated its capability in all environmental/weather conditions and proven that it does everything, everywhere in the world. Combined with a comprehensive syllabus of support and training capabilities and backed by high customisation levels (over 1000 kits certified to date), it’s unrivalled in what it does and what it offers. 

What distinguishes it from its rivals?

It maintains a unique combination of best-in-class performance and cabin space, an aircraft that is supported by comprehensive dedicated maintenance and training services. Its certification and safety standards are sometimes even exceeded, and its growth potential is still there.  

How can the aircraft be adapted for EMS and SAR?

The AW139’s large cabin delivers high modularity and can be quickly and easily reconfigured depending on the kind of EMS/SAR mission that operators need to carry out. A range of equipment and sensors are readily available or can be integrated to provide many options. It allows for full patient body access transporting up to four litters plus medical attendants, transversally or longitudinally. The AW139 is the fastest helicopter in its class and has outstanding power margins guaranteeing responsiveness, effectiveness, and safety in demanding conditions.

Vibration control technology makes the flight smoother and more comfortable for patients and crews. Advanced mission systems and avionics allow all weather flights (including optional full or limited ice protection), combined with a 4-axis AFCS, advanced satellite navigation, NVG, collision avoidance and terrain/proximity warning technologies. Support solutions such as mission planning are also available to guarantee increased effectiveness. In a fleet of nearly 1100 units in service with more than 3.3 million FH logged, nearly 400 are being used for emergency/rescue missions and have exceeded 900,000 FH to date across geographies. 

How much do these adaptions differ between operators? Presumably, different forces have slightly different needs?

They differ greatly to accommodate multiple needs, depending on mission procedures, environments, and operators’ assigned tasks. Each country or medical service/search and rescue organisation has its own requirements; however, the extreme versatility of the platform and highly tailored solutions make this extensive and diversified success possible. For example, EMS can be carried out by medical services or firefighting and law enforcement agencies, and SAR can be carried out by coast guards or armed forces, depending on geographies. Clearly, weather has an impact: some operators may need ice protection, others may need particle separators to protect engines from sand etc. as a very simple example.   

Talk me through some of its Australian operators. 

No doubt Australia is one of the nations where the AW139 has found much success in the EMS role. The AW139’s speed, payload and range have surely played a major role in this result.  

Vast distances coupled with a variety of terrain and weather conditions require a very capable high-performance helicopter to provide this vital service. It is evident by the AW139 being utilised for EMS/SAR missions in all but one Australian state and 55 AW139 EMS helicopters operating in Australia; the AW139 has become the benchmark multirole EMS helicopter in its category, representing 85% of all EMS helicopters in operation within Australia. The fleet continues to keep growing, adding SAR and military training to its range of emergency response and utility duties throughout Australia. 

Talk me through the AW139 for firefighting. How does it fit into a typical firefighting fleet? What are its primary firefighting roles?

The AW139 delivers true “unrestricted” multirole capabilities when dealing with all kinds of emergency response missions, including a growing role in firefighting. Therefore, the AW139 is increasingly being selected by many government agencies around the world to carry out front-line firefighting missions equipped with rescue hoist, surveillance sensors, purpose-built high-capacity fire tanks, and cargo hook equipment such as the Bambi Bucket. Having full Civil Certification, the AW139 can effectively transfer firefighter teams and specialist equipment close to the targets where needed, whether on nearby landing sites or by Rescue Hoist and Fast Roping deployment in case of restricted access. The AW139 combines safety, high performance, and advanced multirole capabilities to supply the firefighting sector with a very efficient and effective capability. 

Similarly, how does the AW169 adapt itself to EMS and SMS configuration? 

The AW169 can be considered the ‘smaller brother’ of the AW139, leveraging the unique advantages of the AW Family concept based on high performance, commonalities across certification, safety standards, a range of components, and Leonardo’s comprehensive customer support and training approach. Therefore, it mirrors the benefits of the AW139 for EMS in a smaller scale, delivering an ideal combination of light category ergonomics, a large unobstructed cabin suitable for multiple modular configurations, the latest flight and navigation technology, and a compact footprint for operations in confined and urban areas. Also, the AW169 allows litters to be positioned longitudinally and transversally, guaranteeing full access to the patient’s body for in-flight stabilisation and other actions by the medical crew. 

Unique in its class, the AW169 offers an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) mode as a standard capability that provides electrical power to the aircraft for heating, cooling, and powering medical and monitoring equipment without the rotors turning. Another unique benefit of the AW169 is that customers have the choice of either retractable landing gear, fixed-wheel landing gear or skid-type landing gear. Additionally, the latest Performance Increase package makes the AW169 the aircraft with the best power-to-weight ratio in its category, providing significant benefits for the demanding multirole EMS and SAR missions in all environments.

The AW169 has proven extremely successful among EMS and emergency operators in Italy, UK, USA, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and New Zealand, and across the Scandinavian region.  

What makes the AW609 so well disposed for EMS operations? 

The distinctive combination of rotorcraft versatility (vertical take-off and landing/hovering) and turboprop performance (speed, range, altitude) constructed with civil certification standards make the AW609 a revolutionary asset for EMS operations. The AW609 can build point-to-point connections between emergency sites (also remote areas) and hospitals or between separate hospitals with fast transport of patients, equipment, or organs. It does so by flying above weather with a pressurised cabin, allowing operations to be conducted where and when other surface or flying means of transportation would be unable to act in a timely manner. The pressurisation also allows for better stabilisation of the patient’s body and a more comfortable environment for people on board. The transitions from helicopter to airplane mode and vice versa is smooth and regular with no need for a varying balance, unlike some manoeuvres of helicopters, ensuring the patient can be treated stably onboard during transfers. Today, emergency response is often managed via a combination of ambulance, airplane and helicopter to carry out a single mission. The AW609 can cover the entire mission from A to B, from the beginning to the accomplishment. In Australia, these outstanding characteristics are being carefully evaluated.    

How do these three aircraft differ – and what are the similarities?

As stated earlier, the AW169 and AW139 benefit from the commonalities developed through the AW Family concept. The AW139 has a 7 t MGW, while the AW169 has a 4.8 t MGW. The AW609 is, of course, a completely different aircraft. However, it still maintains some commonalities in terms of cockpit layout and symbology.  

How can you manufacture aircraft that can constantly adapt to the changing needs of emergency services – as techniques and onboard technologies change?

The industry must carefully observe trends and projections to enhance what is already available or design new solutions. To provide an example, the world’s population has shown specific trends in terms of people weight and height over years, which has required us to reconsider the use of available space in the cabin with the introduction of new, larger types of models which are able to maintain a compact size while offering good volume on board. Technology has allowed the introduction of additional medical equipment in the cabin, greater ergonomics regarding litters upload and download from the cabin, and lower noise and vibration through dedicated systems and solutions. Better rotor clearance on the ground makes operations safer, while navigation and mission capabilities have developed to be suitable in all-weather using advanced satellite navigation and collision avoidance systems.

How were these aircraft able to adapt to COVID restrictions and rules during the pandemic? 

Interestingly, the AW139 and AW169 were the world’s first helicopter types to be certified to transport COVID-19 patients with the relevant equipment, thanks to their modern design. This allowed Leonardo and the relevant healthcare authorities (starting from Italy) to collaborate and quickly respond to the unprecedented emergency. This was possible thanks to the cabin design and ergonomics that host the equipment while guaranteeing adequate distance among the paramedics and the possibility of providing energy to the system during flight.   

Talk us through your wider contribution to the Australian aviation industry. 

While the Leonardo helicopter fleet is manufactured in Italy, the United States and the UK, the sale and support of the fleet in each region is centred around the Customer Support network provided locally. For example, Leonardo Australia’s Customer Support Centre for Oceania is based at Essendon Fields in Melbourne, where the full complement of engineering services, technical representation, spare parts, and customer support is managed. Further to the sale and support of the region’s AW helicopter fleet, in 2020, Leonardo Australia established a helicopter gearbox Maintenance Repair and Overhaul Facility (MROF) in Fishermans Bend (VIC) in partnership with the Commonwealth of Australia. The MROF is a test and evaluation facility able to reproduce and simulate the dynamics of flight conditions for helicopter transmissions and dynamic components. The MROF operates with an all-Australian team of 15 aviation technicians and engineers who have undertaken more than 12 months of dedicated transmissions training in Australia and Italy. In 2021, Leonardo Australia also completed the acquisition of Partech Systems, an Australian leader in the provision of avionics testing and repair solutions for the most complex aviation platforms. Strategically located in Nowra NSW, Partech provides ongoing support to ADF rotary and fixed-wing assets.

What’s the future? And how will Leonardo transition (or work with) a world of drones and eVTOLs? Will we see drones do more situational awareness with crewed aircraft focussing on the rescue? 

The future will see several different technologies, solutions, and architectures coexisting to meet a range of operational and service requirements. Over the next few decades, helicopters will still serve the main role in the rotorcraft scenario but will have increased capability with the adoption of innovative solutions in terms of propulsion, connectivity, digitisation, materials, autonomy, and flight capabilities. Other streams of development will include fast rotorcraft, such as the tiltrotors, creating an opportunity to expand the inherent limits of conventional rotorcraft in terms of speed, range and altitude. Uncrewed air systems will grow further, and we will also see advanced air mobility solutions increasing the use of electrical propulsion. Leonardo is focused on all of these areas as part of its vision for the decades to come. They will all play a critical role and will be ideally suited for specific missions, including those within urban areas. It is worth underlining that it won’t be exclusively a matter of technology maturity but also regulations, infrastructures and social acceptance. The industry will need to consider all of these important elements.