No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 SERVICES LIFE OF THE RANGE LOGBOOK Five points about The H125: versatility The Monaco Grand Prix: technical documentation at an affordable cost a race on land and on high Speed within reach of everyone © Airbus Helicopters Design Studio - 2016 Design Studio © Airbus Helicopters CONTENTS FEATURED ARTICLES 10 SpeedSpeed wwithinithin reachreach ofof everyoneeve © Airbus Helicopters Design Studio - 2016 Design Studio © Airbus Helicopters IN THE SPOTLIGHT LOGBOOK No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 4/Kuwait orders 30 H225M 22/The Monaco Grand Prix: a race Caracal helicopters on land and on high SERVICES LIFE OF THE RANGE LOGBOOK Five points about The H125: versatility The Monaco Grand Prix technical documentation at an affordable cost takes place in the air, too 360° SERVICES 5/Highlights from Airbus 24/Technical documentation, Helicopters at the heart of helicopters’ lives LIFE OF THE RANGE BEHIND-THE-SCENES Speed within reach of everyone 8/The H125: versatility at an 26/MSC: Supporting those © Airbus Helicopters Design Studio - 2016 Design Studio © Airbus Helicopters aff ordable cost who protect us Communication Director: Yves Barillé (Publication Director), Editor in Chief: Belén Morant ([email protected]), UP ABOVE AROUND THE WORLD Director of photography: Jérôme Deulin, Translation: Burton, Van Iersel & Whitney, Munich; Amplexor. Published by: , 18/An H135 aboard a super yacht 28/Cooperation at its best Printed by: SPI, N° ISSN 1169-9515 (Copyright Airbus Helicopters in Amsterdam in Korea 2016, all rights reserved). Airbus Helicopters logo’ and the names of its products and services are registered MISSION OFF THE BEATEN TRACK trademarks of Airbus Helicopters. Magazine printed on Triple Star, paper originating from sustainable forests. 20/Aerial fi re fi ghting in Canada 30/Rescues on the roof of the world For more information Follow us on Join us on Follow us on www.airbushelicopters.com twitter/AirbusHC facebook/AirbusHelicopters youtube/AirbusHelicopters 2 / ROTOR - No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 EDITORIAL © Lorette Fabre © Lorette In this, our latest issue of Rotor magazine, “ The Clean This programme is harnessing skills across I have the pleasure of revealing to you the bright Sky 2 project Europe, with France, Germany, Spain, the future that awaits our high-speed demonstrator U.K., Poland and Romania all contributing project, the latest instalment in the gripping heralds directly to the development of the prototype. adventure that is helicopter innovation. the arrival While the European Union is providing half Forming part of the Clean Sky 2 European of the high- of the funding, we will meet the remaining research platform, this fl agship programme speed development costs with our industrial partners. allows us to continue with the work we suc- We have assembled a formidable team of cessfully carried out on the X3 demonstrator. helicopters stakeholders who need no persuading that As you will recall, the prototype pushed the of tomorrow.” speed will be a key factor in saving lives in the boundaries of helicopter flight, achieving a future, and that it will enhance performance Guillaume Faury world-record level fl ight speed of 255 knots in SAR operations, homeland protection and in 2013. It also gave rise to new technologies passenger transport. that can now be found in aircraft we are cur- It is with ever increasing enthusiasm that rently developing: the H160 and the future Airbus Helicopters is helping to shape the “X” projects. helicopter of tomorrow by turning the imag- The Clean Sky 2 project heralds the arrival inary into reality. In this issue we share that of the high-speed helicopters of tomorrow. passion with you. ROTOR - No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 / 3 IN THE SPOTLIGHT 9 AUGUST 2016 The Kuwait Ministry of Defence orders KUWAIT 30 H225M Caracal helicopters. 4 / ROTOR - No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 Pecchi © Anthony © Anthony Pecchi © Anthony 90 AIRBUS HELICOPTERS ROTORCRAFT TAKE PART IN THE RIO 2016 OLYMPIC BRAZIL GAMES A fl eet of 90 Airbus Helicopters rotorcraft was deployed at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for use in surveillance, airspace defence, anti-terrorism, law enforcement, command/control/ communication, air medical rescue DELIVERY OF THE FIRST H175 and electronic image capture during IN VIP VERSION the month of August in Rio de Janeiro and other states where competitions Airbus Helicopters delivered the fi rst VIP took place. This fl eet was comprised FRANCE version of the H175 in July. Handed over of 83 military helicopters, among which to an undisclosed customer who will operate were Caracals, and seven civil Ecureuils. it in Europe as a complement to a yacht, To support these operations, Helibras the H175 off ers a totally personalised VVIP built a specialised spare parts inventory cabin comfortably accommodating seven and stationed dedicated support teams passengers. in Itajubá and in Afonsos Park, the Air The aircraft features a unique cabin layout Force base that housed the Army’s provided by Pegasus Design, who has built helicopters during the Games. a worldwide reputation in the design of business jet and super yacht interiors. It off ers two distinct seating areas: a forward zone that provides a lounge atmosphere with facing club seating for four passengers and a galley, as well as sofa-style seating that comfortably accommodates three passengers at the rear. © ST MárcioCCOMSEX © ST MárcioCCOMSEX ROTOR - No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 / 5 360° c Island Air CHINESE CONSORTIUM © Pacifi ACQUIRES 100 H135s CHINA FROM AIRBUS HELICOPTERS A Chinese consortium made up of China Aviation Supplies Holding Company (CAS), Qingdao United General Aviation Industrial Development Company (Qingdao United) and CITIC Off shore Helicopter © Airbus Group 2016 - P. Pigeyre 2016 - P. © Airbus Group Co. Ltd. (COHC) has ordered 100 H135 light-twin helicopters, becoming China’s fi rst customer SECOND H145 TO YORKSHIRE to form an industrial partnership to launch an H135 AIR AMBULANCE fi nal assembly line (FAL) in Qingdao, Shandong province. The FAL is expected to start operations Airbus Helicopters formally from a unique long-term, by 2018 in order to assemble 100 H135s over the handed over the second comprehensive support© XXXXXXX xxx next 10 years. and fi nal H145 to Yorkshire arrangement, specifi cally This is an important step forward, fulfi lling Air Ambulance (YAA) at the tailored to the projected 800+ the commitment of purchasing 100 H135s signed Farnborough Air Show 2016. fl ying hours per year the charity in the Letter of Intent last year. The aircraft, hoist-equipped plans to fl y. The agreement, UNITED KINGDOM and night-fl ight capable, will which covers material be fi tted with a Bucher medical management and 24/7 Airbus interior specifi cally tailored Helicopters support across to YAA’s requirements. the U.K., will help optimise YAA will also benefi t the aircraft’s availability. THE H160: A NEXT-GENERATION PASSENGER EXPERIENCE The H160’s aeromechanical confi guration – a crucial FRANCE milestone allowing the programme teams to confi rm some key aspects of the helicopter’s design and performance – has been validated. After more than 200 hours accumulated in fl ight-testing, the H160 has demonstrated exceptionally low vibration levels along with remarkable aircraft stability levels, setting new benchmarks in the fi eld. Next steps of the fl ight campaign will focus on hot weather trials, to take place over the summer, followed by continued performance testing of the Arrano engines – now equipping both prototypes – as well as cold weather tests later in the year. A third prototype will join the fl ight- test programme next year to support the certifi cation process ahead of the H160’s entry into service. © Anthony Pecchi © Anthony 6 / ROTOR - No. 105 - OCTOBER 2016 THE H175 EXPANDS ITS OPERATIONS TO DENMARK The H175 helicopter now similar missions for other Kervella © Stéphane counts Denmark among customers from the North DENMARK its countries of operation, Sea bases of Den Helder, increasing its total to fi ve Netherlands and Aberdeen, countries, with operations Scotland, and also in already underway in the Western Africa. Netherlands, Scotland, Since their entry-into- Mexico and Ghana. service in December 2014, The start of operations in NHV’s H175s have completed Denmark was announced more than 3,000 fl ights FIRST FIRING CAMPAIGN on 23 August by Belgian- and accumulated almost WITH HFORCE SYSTEM based NHV Group, which 5,000 fl ight hours. The will fl y oil & gas transport company is the global Airbus Helicopters has completed a fi rst round of missions for Maersk Oil out launch customer of the H175 BELGIUM fi ring tests in Belgium with HForce, a generic weapon of Esbjerg in the North Sea. and has already received system in development for the company’s helicopter NHV has already been fl ying 8 out of the 16 units ordered. range. The fi ring campaign, involving an HForce- equipped H225M, allowed Airbus Helicopters to demonstrate HForce’s performance with ballistic weapons, including 12.7 mm guns, 70 mm rockets, and 20 mm cannons. NEAR 100 PERCENT AVAILABILITY FOR DAUPHIN AS365 N3+ The three Dauphin AS365 N3+ aircraft of the LITHUANIA Lithuanian Air Force (LAF), confi gured for 24/7 search and rescue (SAR) operations, have HPILOT CLUB NOW IN CENTRAL ASIA achieved a 99 percent availability rate in their fi rst © Airbus Helicopters year of service. Lithuania is one of the fi rst Airbus Airbus Helicopters launched around 50 to 60 pilots and Helicopters clients to have opted for an HCare the HPilot Club in Central technicians to get together Infi nite contract, under which Airbus Helicopters Asia during the inaugural and exchange on subjects is responsible for guaranteeing greater than Helicopter Flight Safety related to aviation and Seminar organised by the safety. 80 percent operational availability. In addition KAZAKHSTAN to technical assistance and access to the parts Eurocopter Kazakhstan Currently, the HPilot Club inventory consigned to the main base (Šiauliai), Engineering Joint Venture in has more than 1,200 Lithuania can draw from the Airbus Helicopters early June in Kazakhstan.