DAY 2 March 6, 2019 HAI PUBLICATIONS Convention News Heli-Expo attendees crowded the Kopter booth on the show’s opening day as CEO Andreas Löwenstein revealed the company’s plan to build new SH09 helicopters for the U.S. market at a former Bell facility in Lafayette, Louisiana. The single-engine SH09 is near design freeze, and certification is planned in 2020. Löwenstein expects more than 50 percent of sales to be in the U.S., and plans call for another factory in Asia to serve those markets. MARIANO ROSALES Industry Pre-owned sales on Kopter lands in Bayou State the rise › page 24 by Curt Epstein OEMs Swiss OEM Kopter selected Lafayette, Loui- The state initially funded construction proceeding, according to Don Pierson, Lou- Airbus snags major siana, as the location for its U.S. production of the $25.3 million facility, which occupies isiana’s economic development secretary. medevac order › page 3 and service facility, company CEO Andreas nearly 15 acres at Lafayette Regional Air- “We have here a turnkey solution,” said Löwenstein and Louisiana Gov. John Bel port/Paul Fournet Field. While the lease on Löwenstein. “It’s a facility that has been Edwards (D) jointly announced yester- the facility was clear for reassignment, lit- built to assemble and deliver helicopters.” Technology day morning at Heli-Expo 2019. Kopter is igation against the former occupant is still continues on page 30 ASU designs, builds preparing to freeze the design on its large- cabin, single engine SH09 helicopter ahead own NVGs › page 20 of anticipated certification in the second quarter of 2020. Insurance The company expects more than 50 per- Kaman seeks FAA approval cent of its market over the next decade to Rotorcraft coverage come from North America, with orders for costs rising › page 14 25 SH-09s already on the books from U.S. for pilot-optional K-Max customers. Thus, the announcement tracks with its stated intention to have production Kaman aims to have the first pilot-optional Corps in Afghanistan in 2011 to test unmanned Leasing facilities located near its demand centers. A helicopter certified by the FAA, the Con- capabilities in combat zone cargo deliveries. similar facility is also planned for Asia. necticut-based airframer said this week at “It started out as a limited objective experi- Milestone Aviation Kopter will lease an 84,700-sq-ft facility Heli-Expo 2019. It expects to have such a ment and was supposed to fly for 30 days,” diversifying › page 12 from the Lafayette Airport Commission, version of its K-Max heavy-lift helicopter said Romin Dasmalchi, the company’s senior which owns the complex, that was once available for commercial use by 2020. director of business development. “It was occupied by Bell as a planned construction The aircraft, with its unique intermesh- such a resounding success that three years Innovation site for its 505 light single helicopter. Bell ing twin rotors, was first certified in 1994 for later they decided to redeploy back to the U.S. decided to build the 505 at its Mirabel facility manned operations, but two were used in a after the work was done in Afghanistan.” Lord bearings planned in Canada, leaving the Louisiana site fallow. demonstration project by the U.S. Marine continues on page 30 for AS350 › page 21 STORY INDEX Aero Asset ...................................................... 24 Aero Products ..................................................18 Airbus Air Methods ....................................................29 Airbus Helicopters .....................2, 3, 4, 8, 10, 23 Aircraft Belts Inc. ............................................22 embraces Astronautics .....................................................12 Astronics Corp. ................................................. 2 Av-Base Systems ...........................................25 big data Aviation Search Group .....................................12 Aviation Specialties Unlimited ........................20 by Mark Huber Bell .............................................................4, 28 Blue Sky Network ...........................................22 Airbus Helicopters (Booth C305) is Brightwater Aviation .......................................29 embracing big data. On Tuesday, the com- Dallas Airmotive ...............................................11 pany announced a pair of deals to speed Dart Aerospace .........................................22, 28 the flow of real-time data from its helicop- Enstrom Helicopter ........................................... 3 ter to the ground and then have that data GPMS ..............................................................28 expeditiously analyzed post-flight. Helicopter Insurance .......................................14 Airbus signed a letter of intent (LOI) HeliOffshore ..................................................... 8 with Skytrac that will enable Airbus heli- MARIANO ROSALES HeliSpeed .......................................................22 copters equipped with Skytrac equip- Airbus Helicopters and Skytrac Systems signed a letter of intent for Skytrac’s airborne HFI .................................................................20 Hillsboro Aviation ............................................16 ment to transmit flight data directly to transmission of flight data to Airbus ground servers. Honeywell Aerospace ....................................22 Airbus’ ground servers for analysis. The IDAG .................................................................. 3 data will be pooled with data collected as ISEI Helicom, the Appareo 1000 flight JetNet ............................................................... 6 from other sources to assist Airbus in data recorder, and the Outerlink Iris data Kaman ...............................................................1 refining its analytics and thus optimizing recorder. Data includes altitude, ground Kopter ................................................................1 costs and reliability. speed, vertical speed, and engine param- Leonardo Helicopters ................... 22, 23, 24, 31 According to Airbus, about 600 heli- eters. It is then augmented with weather Lord Corp. ........................................................21 copters are currently sharing flight and data and sky conditions. The app also per- Luxaviation Helicopters .................................. 23 maintenance data with the helicopter forms a confidence check for each event Macquarie Group .............................................. 6 manufacturer across virtually all models. assessing the reliability of the data. Mecaer Aviation Group ....................................18 “By opening new pathways and collec- Flight Analyser users are given access to Metro Aviation .................................................18 tively pooling the rich data available, we dashboards that are updated post-flight. SIEBENMARK JERRY Milestone Aviation ...........................................12 help operators gain greater visibility into The output can be used in a safety manage- This Sikorsky S-92 heavy twin is OPS Inc. ..........................................................12 their day-to-day operations and access ment system to support decision- making. Everett Aviation’s first, and it is on Phoenix Heli-Flight .........................................26 new tools and analytics for pilot and crew,” “We’re helping our customers uncover display at Sikorsky’s booth at Heli- Precision Aviation Group .................................18 said Stephanie Bonnefoy-Fourie, Airbus issues that would have been near impos- Expo 2019. Robinson Helicopter ........................................31 Rolls-Royce ..................................................... 24 Helicopters head of connected services. sible to see in the raw data,” said Gilles Schweizer ......................................................... 3 Concurrent with its LOI with Sky- Bruniaux, Airbus Helicopters’ head of avi- Sikorsky ..........................................................30 trac, Airbus officially launched its Flight ation safety. “Being able to make sense of Tanzania’s Everett Universal Avionics ..........................................22 Analyser application that evaluates data this rich data and learn from it represents Aviation taking Van Horn Aviation ...........................................26 from a variety of onboard sources such another step forward for safety.” n delivery of S-92 East African aircraft operator Ever- ett Aviation has acquired its first Sikorsky S-92, with the heavy twin on display this week at Heli-Expo 2019 (Booth B2507), the fixed- and rotary-wing provider announced. “Many countries across sub-Saha- ran Africa are seeing a tremendous boom in infrastructure and civil engineering projects and our new S-92 is ideally suited to supporting those missions,” CEO Simon Ever- ett said. The helicopter will be the larg- est of its type to operate in his company’s region, so the S-92 will bring a unique capability to its fleet. Everett will take delivery of the 19-seat helicopter in mid-April and will initially base the S-92 at its headquarters facility in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Everett, which is nearly 23 years old, offers offshore and onshore crew transportation, search and rescue, medevac, external load, MARIANO ROSALES aerial survey, and VIP transpor- tation. Its customers represent Helmet heaven for rotorheads energy, government, and other Gearing up for helicoptering is not only an important element of participation in the rotorcraft industry but it’s