Heliexpo 2014 Report

Police Aviation News Special Edition © Police Aviation Research SPECIAL EDITION March 2014 ©Ian Turner Police Aviation News Special Edition March 2014 2 PAN—Police Aviation News is published monthly by POLICE AVIATION RESEARCH, 7 Wind- mill Close, Honey Lane, Waltham Abbey, Essex EN9 3BQ UK. Contacts: Main: +44 1992 714162 Cell: +44 7778 296650 Skype: BrynElliott E-mail: [email protected] SPONSORS Avincis/Bond Aviation Group www.bondaviationgroupo.com Broadcast Microwave www..bms-inc.com Churchill Navigation www.churchillnavigation.com Enterprise Control Systems www.enterprisecontrol.co.uk Honeywell [Skyforce] Mapping www.skyforce.co.uk L3 Wescam www.wescam.com Excellence in avionics www.phoenixavionics.com Powervamp www.powervamp.com Airborne Law Enforcement Association www.alea.org European Law Enforcement Association www.pacenet.info THE EDITOR - A BIT UP FRONT This year’s event was a little strange. It marked the de- mise of Eurocopter in name and the arrival of the re- branded Airbus Helicopters but, in some undefined manner, it failed to be the expected major celebration for the company or the event. Yes it was almost the same people – except of course that the man at the top had changed, the Airbus Heli- copter CEO is now Guillaume Faury and he was ably supported for this his first Heli-Expo by the long term head of its U.S. arm, Marc Paganini but others also no- ticed they were ‘visibly penitent’ when discussing the ©PAR company - there were some signs that the company was injured by recent safety developments with the EC225 and had thereby lost a little of the usual spring in their step. Yes they are still the deserving holders of the greatest market share in helicopter production but there remained this suggestion that the almost wholly new experience of an aircraft with a significant Achilles Heel added to the lateness of both the EC175 and EC145T2 [due mainly to delays with the Helionix avionics system they have in common] devalued their pre -eminent position in the market somewhat. Perhaps all the circumstances just ganged up on them to take away their usual edge. Naturally Airbus Helicopter’s competitors wish to take over the mantle of the company with the greatest market share so they each brought something to the Anaheim table to interest the customers and the world’s media that would spread the word beyond the shores of the US. In that AgustaWestland and Bell surely succeeded, the others less so. AgustaWestland have made significant inroads on overall market share; no matter how you look at it they offer their potential customers a range of modern fleet options that is starting to make even the new – or should I say many times revised legacy - Airbus products look somewhat lacklustre for all the interest they raise. I am not knocking the Airbus product as such but the company is still very reliant on their legacy products for sales opportunities while they await such as the EC175 and X4 to come on stream, however you look at the product line and regardless of customer demand and overall sales, the Airbus breadwinners remain the 30+ years old AS330, 350 and BK117 derivatives where the AgustaWestland FRONT COVER: Airbus Helicopters brought their latest edition of the Super Puma, the AS332 L1e, to Anaheim. Flown in to a nearby Convention Center parking lot F-WWOV was captured there by Ian Turner in this impressive nose shot. ©Ian Turner Police Aviation News Special Edition 3 line is now led by three high selling new builds. But this is America and sadly things have yet to turn around for US industry. Bell are doing well now but it has been a long struggle for them to get over their own reliance on legacy products of even greater vintage than those from the European manufacturers – Bell’s experience has been a warning that the Europeans heeded a long time ago although the truly new Airbus models are still in the pipeline. It is all a matter of timing rather than anything. Elsewhere in the USA there is little positive to report Sikorsky are still far too dependent on a military that is surely set to disappoint them. They have the excellent S-92 but it has yet to be proven that the latest super revamp of the legacy S-76 will be sufficient to fill the production lines vacated by the military. The pre-Heli-Expo announcement of 600 jobs to go is hardly a promising portent on that front. MD Helicopters represents a tiny proportion of production – around 2% - but it is surprisingly still counted among the greats in the industry, more based on its past production than the 50 or so airframes that come out of its gates in some years [but not all]. They play this dan- gerous legacy design game as well as the others but they have a spring in their step again from foreign military sales of the 50 years old 500 and yet more high hopes that may yet again founder. That is an overview of the show and the state of the industry, perhaps a little dark in conclu- sion, now for some of the detail. Of an event that was not exactly one to remember for the right reasons. Bryn Elliott The ‘star’ event was when Bell Helicopter revealed the name of their SLS project as the Bell 505 Jet Ranger XTM before hundreds of attendees gathered at their booth to witness the unveiling of something near hardware for the newest generation of Bell helicopters. There was a tendency for those present to groan in disbe- lief after learning of the ’new’ name. Legacy lives on it seems and in this instance I suspect the 505 will actually survive the complete lack of adventure in the name. The original 206 JetRanger is said to have changed the face of the industry nearly 50 years ago and clearly the manufacturer hopes to repeat that effect on the world despite itself. Similar launches at HAI have unveiled single examples of the new product – the last being the 525 in mock-up form – but this launch ©PAR was of no less than three mock-ups, each bringing a different ele- ment to the display – including one configured in the law enforcement role. Bell are sticking to their $1M target price, a level primarily aimed at taking on the Robinson R66. The Robinson is still cheaper but it is significantly smaller than the Bell newcomer. Many of the raw performance points favour neither the Bell or the Robinson, the differ- ences are small and ownership is more about the broader details. The Bell 505 is competitively priced, offering a combination of features, capabilities and support should provide the Bell with a significant edge but the margin will only become clear when all the final performance figures are proven. The Bell 505 features the Garmin G1000H avionics suite and switches to Turbomeca for the first time from the 206 JetRanger Rolls-Royce power. The Arrius 2R engine offers a dual channel Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC). Tradition remains with the MRB, the Bell 505 features a high inertia rotor system based on the original and delivering superior auto rotation capabilities. With the ideal combination of speed, range and useful load, the Jet Ranger X is designed to deliver best-in-class performance. ©PAR http://www.bell505.com PolicePolice Aviation News News SpecialSpecial Edition Edition March March 2014 2014 44 The law enforcement 505 mock-up ©PAR The latest news of the Bell 525 Relentless, dubbed the world’s first fly-by-wire helicopter was fronted by a full-size mockup configured for search and rescue (SAR) missions. This year the Bell booth was dominated numerically by mockups but it is unlikely to be a situation repeated in the future. On the 525 Bell are hitting a number of milestones - including extensive testing in their systems integration lab, the production of thousands of parts and the construction of a 525 assembly facility in Amarillo. The first flight is set for late this year with two aircraft already in assembly. Abu Dhabi Aviation signed for ten Relentless Aircraft at the show; choosing the type for off- shore oil and gas, emergency medical support, VIP transport, firefighting and search and rescue. Bell Helicopter has designated Abu Dhabi Aviation as the lead customer for the Middle East, Africa and Eurasia. They are the largest commercial operator in the Middle East, currently operating nearly forty Bell Helicopters – a marque operated by them for more than 30 years, flying more than 750,000 flight hours in Bell 412 and Bell 212 helicopters. ©PAR Police Aviation News Special Edition 5 Van Horn Aviation, noted in recent years as manufacturers of pattern Bell rotor blades con- tinues to work with Bell on the design, certification and manufacture of their designs to facili- tate Bell Helicopter’s adoption of the product as a certified part offering a significant en- hancement on the original. Bell acknowledge ‘a significant reduction in Direct Maintenance Costs (DMC) of the Bell 206B/L tail rotor blades currently on the market.’ When certified, the Bell 206 main rotor blades along with the Bell 212/412 tail rotor blades will be distributed under Bell Helicopter’s Aeronautical Accessories brand. Under that brand, Bell currently serves as the exclusive distributor for the Van Horn composite tail rotor blade for the Bell 206 B/L aircraft. Also displaying their Model 407 and the wheel equipped version of the 429 Bell Helicopter certainly appear to have enjoyed a great show.

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