Civil Service Leveraging its fixed-wing and military products, Honeywell Aerospace is expanding its offerings for civil rotorcraft By Robert W. Moorman espite the softening of civil The Honeywell HTS900 engine provides a high performance capability for the Bell 407HP, helicopter sales, Honeywell particularly at high altitude and hot ambient temperatures. (All photos courtesy of Honeywell DAerospace continues its long- Aerospace) term strategy to penetrate this sector Honeywell and Honeywell new helicopters supporting the oil and with numerous products ranging from BendixKing avionics, sensors and safety gas business particularly are down and sophisticated avionics and sensors products are on Leonardo Helicopters’ will remain flat for the next few years. to engines, safety and satellite-based AgustaWestland AW139, the Sikorsky The projected drop in deliveries will be connectivity technology. S-92 and S-76 variants, the Bell 429, and concentrated in the light-twin, medium- At a recent presentation, Honeywell on smaller, single-engine helicopters. twin and heavy-twin product classes. President and CEO Tim Mahoney said In addition to forward-fit products, In its 18th Annual Turbine Powered now was the time for the company to Honeywell has numerous supplemental Civil Helicopter Purchase Outlook, invest in the vertical-flight industry, so type certificates (STCs) for several Honeywell forecasts 4,300 to 4,800 as to be prepared when the oil and gas civil helicopters, including the Airbus civilian-use helicopters will be business recovers. Helicopters AS350, EC135 and Bell 407. delivered from 2016 to Among the key points in his Honeywell’s commitment to 2020, roughly 400 presentation, Mahoney noted that the the civil rotorcraft sector is laced helicopters lower company’s sales in avionics is up 6% with cautious optimism, than the 2015 five- vs. industry growth of 4%; mechanical understandably. Sales of systems is growing at 4%, compared to the industry average of 2%. To keep operations costs in line, Honeywell is cutting costs in all areas except research and development, where it continues to invest, he said. “Within the last 24 months, we’ve made a conscious shift to focus our products on the helicopter industry, not as an afterthought, but as a strategic initiative of the company,” said Tom Neumann, director of Global Commercial Helicopter Business, Honeywell Aerospace. Neumann is responsible for Honeywell’s $300M commercial Sky Connect Tracker III is a lightweight Iridium satellite transceiver enabling aircraft tracking and helicopter business, which includes a flight data monitoring. Combined with the optional Sky Connect MMU-II panel-mounted dialer, diverse product line. the system simultaneously supports two-way text messaging and voice telephony. 12 VERTIFLITE September/October 2016 chairman through April 2018. Darius Adamczyk, who became the president and chief operating officer in April 2016, will take over as CEO. Avionics and Connectivity oneywell’s long-term commitment to the civil rotorcraft business is Hshowcased by numerous leading avionics, connectivity and propulsion products. Among those products being marketed to the civil helicopter industry is the Sky Connect Tracker III flight Sky Connect Tracker Map is a full-featured web-based map used by fleet operations centers to data recording system, which enables track aircraft, monitor flight plans, and observe sophisticated weather data. Interfaces provide two-way text messaging with aircraft and management of notifications for operational and voice, text, aircraft fleet tracking and flight data monitoring alerts. real-time flight data monitoring in a single box. The system can collect data year forecast. This is prompting fleet Significant growth in the aerospace from onboard systems and transfer them managers to “evaluate new helicopter segment began in November 1986 when to the ground operations center via purchases closely, and that’s why we’re Honeywell purchased Sperry Aerospace satellite. Tracker III can monitor airspeed, seeing a more cautious five-year demand from Unisys Corp. for $1.025B. Sperry altitude, oil pressure, torque and fuel projection compared with previous was a provider of flight controls, space flow. The system is designed to improve years,” said Carey Smith, defense and vehicles and the first FAA-certified operations, speed up maintenance and space president at Honeywell Aerospace. windshear warning system. reduce direct operating costs. Still, the forecast noted that the lull in Another key acquisition occurred in Satellite-based connectivity systems the civil rotorcraft sales is temporary. the mid-1980s when then-named Allied have until recently been the province “Honeywell is playing the long Corporation purchased Bendix Aviation of airlines trying to attract and retain game in the helicopter market,” said and King Radio and combined them to market share through multi-part, in-flight Rich Pettibone, aerospace analyst with create BendixKing Avionics. In late 1985, entertainment systems. Now, helicopter Forecast International. “They know that Allied Corporation merged with Signal crews and passengers benefit from these this market isn’t going to be depressed Companies to become Allied-Signal and systems as well. forever. They are getting everything in shortened the name to AlliedSignal in Whether targeted for fixed- or rotary- position when the inevitable upswing 1993. AlliedSignal acquired Honeywell wing aircraft, “the trend in the industry occurs. And when that happens, they will in June 1999 and elected to retain the is moving to having a fully connected be there to take advantage of it.” Honeywell name for its brand recognition. aircraft,” said Rick Angelo, director of In a lean-minded move, Honeywell strategic marketing, Global Commercial History and Expansion International Chairman and CEO David Helicopters, Honeywell Aerospace. M. Cote later combined three competing oneywell Aerospace today “That means the aircraft is talking to cultures of AlliedSignal, Pittway (another the ground, the ground is talking to the produces aircraft engines, Honeywell acquisition) and legacy avionics, auxiliary power units satellite and the satellite is talking to the H Honeywell to form a “One Honeywell” aircraft.” (APUs), wheels, brakes, synthetic vision structure. Although Cote announced technology, runway systems and other Honeywell’s next generation Aspire in June that he would step down in 200 satellite communications system, aviation related products. The aerospace March 2017, he will remain the executive segment is an amalgamation over the enhanced by High Data Rate (HDR) years of many companies, including Sperry, AlliedSignal, Garrett and BendixKing. The history of the Aerospace segment dates back over 100 years. The roots of its parent, Honeywell International, Inc., a multi-national conglomerate, date back to April 1886 when inventor Albert Butz invented a device called the “damper flapper,” the predecessor to the modern thermostat. Honeywell International today is composed of three groups: Honeywell Aerospace, Honeywell Automation and Control Solutions, and Honeywell The Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS), a Honeywell innovation, offers Performance Materials and Technologies. advanced safety functions for larger IFR-equipped helicopters with radio altimeters. Vol. 62, No. 5 13 software, reduces the Other Honeywell products are making impacts of rotor blade their way onto helicopters. They include interference to create a high- the AH-1000 Attitude and Heading bandwidth environment Reference System (AHRS), the Embedded for helicopter operators Global Positioning System/Inertial worldwide. The Aspire 200 Navigation System (EGI) for military is lightweight and rugged applications, and the LASEREF VI Inertial to withstand the pounding Reference System for civil uses. of helicopter operations. Honeywell BendixKing RDR 2000 The system is now available digital weather radar provides enhanced on the AW139 and is being situational awareness, particularly marketed for other platforms. useful for EMS and offshore helicopter What was once operations. The RDR 2000 offers not only unthinkable for rotorcraft weather, but also an overlay of flight plan, a few years back is now traffic and lightning data. possible with the Aspire 200, according to Honeywell Propulsion executives. In layperson parlance, the signal is able to oneywell has taken steps to penetrate through the rotor increase support of its helicopter in the same synchronized Hengines. In addition to the military fashion as machine gun T55 turboshaft engine used on the CH- rounds that successfully went 47 Chinook, the company recently signed between prop blades on a licensing agreement with McDermott World War I fighter aircraft, Aviation — Australia’s largest privately Neumann said. Aspire To date, Honeywell has delivered more than 2,000 helicopter owned heli-aviation company — under EGPWS units. The display provides the pilots with real time which McDermott will support the 2,930 200 provides high-speed maps of terrain. connectivity in spite of shp (2,185 kW) T55-08D turboshaft engine that powers the Bell 214B rotor blade interference. (For more on when conducting onshore and offshore “Heavy-Lifter,” which it calls “the largest, satellite-based communications and helicopter operations for the energy most powerful single engine helicopter the Aspire system, see “HUMS Over The industry, as well as for EMS operations that manufactured and operated in the world.” Horizon,” pg 32.)