HAI president and CEO James Viola marked this year’s return of Heli-Expo, arriving on an Airbus Helicopters H225 Super Puma to kick off the event’s fly-in on Friday. Configured for firefighting missions, the Air Center Helicopters Super Puma, N561AC, was among the 41 helicopters that arrived at the vertiport adjacent to the convention center that range in size from that aircraft and the Sikorsky S-92 to the Guimbal Cabri G2.
Upon arrival, the helicopters were towed into the convention floor. In the cases of the larger aircraft, the blades were removed on-site before the helicopters were stationed either on the static display or at a booth. Along with those flying in, another handful was trucked into the convention.
Although Viola participated in the previous fly-in in Anaheim, California, piloting a Bell 505, this year was the first time HAI has staged a ceremonial first-flight event and was especially poignant for the participants as Heli-Expo resumed. He was joined on the H225 flight by Airbus Helicopters North American head Romain Trapp, Visit Dallas president and CEO Craig Davis, and Rod Tinney, founder, president, and CEO of Air Center Helicopters.
“It was very emotional,” Trapp told AIN, saying this was particularly the case since Heli-Expo this year is in the “backyard” of Airbus Helicopters’ Grand Prairie, Texas campus.
In collaboration with the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Sikorsky Aircraft recently completed the first autonomous—and uncrewed—S-70 Black Hawk flight. The milestone mission last month lasted 30 minutes at the U.S. Army's Fort Campbell base in Kentucky.
The unmanned helicopter was part of DARPA’s Alias—for Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System—program. Sikorsky’s Matrix hardware and software autonomy technologies are at the heart of Alias, and Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky Innovations, is at the center of Matrix.
In addition to the military applications such as Alias, Cherepinsky sees Matrix as a game-changer for high-risk civil missions, including nighttime aerial firefighting and over-water search and rescue (SAR). Lockheed Martin subsidiary Sikorsky is working with the FAA to certify the system, which uses onboard sensors, lidar, and cameras mated to proprietary hardware and software.
The system comes with a kit that converts virtually any aircraft to varying degrees of add-on fly-by-wire control that Cherepinsky likens to “lane assist” on cars. “Depending on the type of steering it has, some cars do well with lane assistance and some cars do not so well,” he said.
Matrix can be flown both line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight, and an aircraft equipped with it can have its mission changed from an operator “in the cockpit, backseat, Oklahoma, or the moon,” he said.
Jaunt today announced an alliance with engineering services group L&T Technology Services (LTTS) to work on the development of the all-electric, five-seat Journey eVTOL that it aims to bring into commercial service by 2026. Jaunt is also working with VerdeGo Aero on a hybrid-electric version of the aircraft that would offer a range greater than the 70-mile limit of the initial model.
LTTS, which has more than a decade's experience working on various aerospace and defense programs, will support the Jaunt team in establishing new design and production facilities in the Montreal area. Jaunt has established a Canadian subsidiary and will now ramp up the recruitment of more engineers and other specialists.
"At Jaunt, our vision is to usher in a range of new-age aircraft-driven urban commuting that is fast, safe, and convenient,” said CEO Martin Peryea. “Strategically, we are continuing to expand our Tier 1 partnerships and recognize LTTS as a best-fit engineering partner, and together we are confident of pushing the mass-scale commercialization."
BAE Systems is already closely involved in the project, with its input mainly focused on the battery and power management system, which Jaunt said is already exceeding projected performance specifications. Other partners already include aerostructures group Triumph and flight training organization CAE.
After enduring a Covid-induced delivery slump in 2020, Robinson Helicopter is experiencing a resurgence. Company president and chairman Kurt Robinson told AIN that after a dip in deliveries to 177 units in 2020, the Torrance, California-based manufacturer rebounded to 244 deliveries last year even as it continued to sort out Covid restrictions and supply chain disruptions.
Making up its 2021 deliveries were 33 R22s, 10 R44 Cadets, 34 R44 Raven Is, 81 Raven IIs, and 86 of its top-of-the-line turbine-powered R66s, for a 37 percent rise in deliveries over the previous year. “That was a significant increase, and actually, it was the first time we produced more 66s than Raven IIs,” explained Robinson, adding that “last year, the orders just kept coming in and so we’ve been trying to raise production [rates].”
After tallying orders for approximately 450 helicopters last year, Robinson noted the company now has a backlog of 300 helicopters with orders placed now likely to be fulfilled in early 2023. “If I had a ship completed now we could sell it in about a minute,” said Robinson. “What we’re really impressed with is demand seems to be coming from all over the world.”
Robinson expects this year’s delivery total to continue that upward trajectory. “I’m targeting the 340-350 range, but we’ll have to see how it goes” with supplier, workforce, and other issues, he said.
Alpine Advanced Materials is hoping to break into the helicopter industry with its nanocomposite material called HX5, which was originally developed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. Alpine president Roger Raley told AIN that HX5 is 50 percent lighter than 6061-T6 aluminum with 93 percent of its tensile strength, making the material useful for a variety of components used on rotorcraft, aircraft, and advanced air mobility (AAM) vehicles.
Alpine’s business model was built around HX5, which he said Skunk Works designed for the F-35 fighter but eventually put on the shelf because it was such an early technology. Lockheed didn’t end up using HX5 for the F-35’s wing leading edge and wingtip, but did employ it on the UH-60W Black Hawk helicopter for an electronics enclosure.
Once Alpine had the HX5 intellectual property in hand, it created an engineering team to help potential customers understand how they could convert metallic parts to non-metallic ones. Adding production capability has been another component of rounding out the business. Examples of parts that can be fashioned from HX5 are seat hardware, brackets, fasteners, rail slides, and avionics enclosures.
So far, Alpine has had “multiple engagements” across the rotorcraft industry and is “getting a lot of traction” in the burgeoning AAM sector.
The first-day digital flip-through issue of AIN’s award-winning HAI Convention News is now available online. It’s a great way to quickly scan the news from HAI Heli-Expo 2022, whether you’re in Dallas attending the show or watching from afar.
AINalerts News Tips/Feedback: News tips may be sent anonymously, but feedback must include name and contact info (we will withhold name on request). We reserve the right to edit correspondence for length, clarity and grammar. Send feedback or news tips to AINalerts editor Chad Trautvetter.
AINalerts is a publication of AIN Media Group, 214 Franklin Avenue, Midland Park, New Jersey. Copyright 2022. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
