Kopter To Produce and Service SH09 at Louisiana Center

Swiss OEM Kopter selected Lafayette, Louisiana, as the location for its U.S. production and service facility, company CEO Andreas Löwenstein and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (D) jointly announced yesterday at Heli-Expo 2019. Kopter is preparing to freeze the design on its large-cabin, single-engine SH09 ahead of anticipated certification in the second quarter of 2020.

Kopter will lease an 84,700-sq-ft facility from the Lafayette Airport Commission, which owns the former Bell complex, as a planned construction site for its 505 light single helicopter. 

The company expects to begin outfitting and staffing the U.S. facility later this year, with an eye toward beginning production there later in 2020. The first U.S.-assembled SH09 is expected to be delivered in 2021. The company expects to ramp up production to 100 aircraft a year from the location by 2025.

Löwenstein said the most attractive feature for the location is its role as a hub of activity for the U.S. helicopter market, with many operators serving the oil-and-gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico, and it is centrally located to customers throughout the U.S.  

The company expects more than 50 percent of its market over the next decade to come from North America, with orders for 25 SH09s already on the books from U.S. customers.

Schweizer Inks $11M Fleet Order from IDAG

International Defense and Aerospace Group (IDAG) has signed an $11 million deal to buy 25 Schweizer S300CBi helicopters, less than two weeks after IDAG bought the former Bristow Academy, Schweizer announced yesterday at Heli-Expo 2019. Fort Worth, Texas-based Schweizer said the deal marks the first commercial sale of the S300CBi since it purchased the helicopter line from Sikorsky last year.

“With our multiple flight training operations in Europe and with our recent acquisition of United States Aviation Training Solutions (USATS) in Titusville, Florida, IDAG is the largest Schweizer operator worldwide,” IDAG chief executive Robert Caldwell said. Pennsylvania-based IDAG currently has a fleet of more than 30 S300s, as well as an existing company fleet of more than 50 primary, advanced, and tactical training aircraft, including UH-60 Black Hawks. “This purchase allows us to deploy assets across multiple satellite locations as we look to expand operations” inside and outside of the continental U.S., Caldwell added. 

In late February, IDAG purchased USATS from a group of private investors, who purchased the flight training school in 2017 from the financially challenged offshore operator Bristow Group.

Schweizer said S300CBi deliveries to IDAG are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2020.

Astronics Max-Viz EVS Gets OK on More Helos

Astronics Corp. has received an amended STC for the Max-Viz 2300 enhanced vision system (EVS) that covers multiple Bell and Leonardo helicopter models, the latter including the AW109 and AW119. Approval was obtained in cooperation with Avio of Calgary, Canada.

The Max-Viz 2300 produces EVS images that can be presented on multifunction displays (MFDs), primary flight displays (PFDs), and on standalone displays, depending on aircraft configurations. The amendment also upgrades the wiring package to include Vivisun switches, which improve usage of night vision goggles in search and rescue, emergency medical services, aerial firefighting, and military applications.

Meanwhile, Astronics also announced a new, mostly solid-state CorePower frequency converter unit (FCU), which takes variable frequency power—115-volt AC, that can be from 350 to 800 hertz—and converts it to straight 400-hertz power. This is used on special mission aircraft and some older helicopters when they need a straight-frequency power for some mission equipment. Price is in the $15,000 range.

Visit the AIN team at Booth B2218 for a chance to win a Bose Soundlink Revolve speaker or Bose Frames. Raffle sponsored by Bose Aviation.

Leonardo Testing RFID Tags To Monitor AW189 Components

Leonardo and Gulf Helicopters of Qatar are testing Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags on the latter’s fleet of AW189 super-medium, twin-engine helicopters. Approximately 60 major components of Gulf Helicopters' AW189 fleet will be RFID tagged, allowing automatic downloading of data when the aircraft returns from a mission via dedicated smart tag readers. The pilot project is planned to be completed by mid-2019.

Once fully available, RFID solutions will be available for all Leonardo Helicopters models and will be retrofitted at customer option. Leonardo said its RFID pilot project is part of the company’s wider digitalized service initiatives that include the Skyflight mission planning mobile service, Helilink product support engineering assistant, training predictive/adaptive learning, and Heliwise/HUMS.   

Airbus Offering Crash-resistant Fuel System for Singles

Airbus Helicopters will make a retrofit crash-resistant fuel system (CRFS) available for its AS350B3 and EC130B4 single-engine models for the first time, will lower the price of the CRFS, and will provide customers who have already purchased the CRFS at a higher price for other models of Airbus H125 helicopters a credit for the price difference, the company announced yesterday at Heli-Expo. Kits for the B3 and B4 will be available for customers beginning in early 2020.

The company is also offering training credits to customers who purchase CRFS retrofits from third-party providers for earlier H125 variants, including B2 and earlier models. Airbus Helicopters CEO Bruno Even said it was the company’s “duty” to increase the safety of its helicopters.

Any Airbus H125 or H130 family model can be retrofitted with a CRFS either through Airbus or a third-party provider, based on model, and Airbus said it expects to have CRFS as factory standard equipment on all new-build H125s worldwide by 2020. H125s currently assembled by Airbus in Columbus, Mississippi, are already equipped with CRFS, and the H130 has come standard with CRFS since 2012.