Airbus Helicopters is introducing instrument flight rules (IFR) capability for its H125 single-engine rotorcraft. Developed in partnership with Genesys Aerosystems, the upgrade could significantly improve the operational flexibility for missions such as law enforcement and emergency medical services. The partners expect to make it available in the second half of 2024.
The changes needed to free the H125 from the constraints of operating only under visual flight rules (VFR) will include an upgraded cockpit, a three-axis autopilot, and redundant hydraulic and electrical systems. Genesys has already installed the same autopilot under a supplemental type certificate on the larger Airbus H145 and also on Sikorsky’s UH-60A Blackhawk.
Lockheed Martin’s Sikorsky unit is getting into the eVTOL race in a big way. It announced plans on Tuesday to partner with GE to develop “HEX,” a fully-autonomous, hybrid-electric demonstrator eVTOL prototype. The company expects the uncrewed aircraft to fly by 2026 or 2027, have a maximum weight of more than 7,000 pounds, and a range of greater than 500 nm. The prototype would serve as a flying testbed to evaluate large aircraft design and novel propulsion and control architectures for sustained hover. Igor Cherepinsky, director of Sikorsky’s innovations and rapid prototyping group, will lead the project.
For HEX, GE will combine its CT7 turboshaft engine with a 1 MW-class generator and associated power electronics, building on hybrid propulsion systems it is already developing for NASA and the U.S. Army. The aircraft will use Sikorsky’s Matrix autonomy flight control system and Sikorsky will design, build, and system integrate the aircraft. The company envisions HEX spawning an entire family of eVTOLs scaled to carry passengers and payload for both the civil and military markets.
With dozens of companies planning to begin operating new eVTOL aircraft as early as 2025, federal agencies are pondering how to safely integrate them into the national airspace—and how to handle the inevitable accident investigations.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will take charge of investigating all accidents and certain incidents that occur during eVTOL flights, Tim LeBaron, director of the NTSB’s Office of Aviation Safety, said Tuesday during a panel discussion on aviation policy at Heli-Expo in Atlanta. That covers passenger-carrying air taxi operations as well as cargo transportation missions using new eVTOL aircraft, which can take off and land vertically but fly like an airplane with a fixed-wing during cruise.
Sikorsky senior executives continued to voice the company’s support of the civil market, even as they announced on Tuesday the shelving of the S-92B program and moving the anticipated certification date of its A+ upgrade for the helicopter into 2025, some three years later than originally planned.
As a result, deliveries of A+ kits ordered today would not happen until 2026. While several helicopters in the installed fleet of more than 300 S-92s have nearly reached their 30,000-hour life limit, Sikorsky has no plans to extend it. And, while Sikorsky continues to take orders for new S-92s, it cannot deliver one for at least two to three years.
Leonardo senior executives at Heli-Expo said the company’s rotorcraft development programs are making solid progress while admitting that some prices and wait times have doubled along the supply chain company-wide. However, military sales offset Covid-generated disruptions in civil helicopter production, including the marketing of civil platforms for military and para-public applications on the AW119 and AW139, the latter with a combined fleet that has amassed more than 3.6 million flight hours. In what is perhaps Leonardo’s most successful dual-use program to date, Boeing announced on Tuesday that the first batch of 13 production MH-139A Grey Wolf helicopters will commence manufacture. In the U.S. Air Force program, Boeing takes a new-build Leonardo AW139 manufactured in Philadelphia and adds military modifications and mission equipment. Up to 84 MH-139As could be produced during the course of the entire program, the value of which could reach $2.4 billion.
Meanwhile, refinement of in-production aircraft continues, including the development of more than 200 kits for the AW189 super-medium model.
The digital flip-through issues of AIN’s award-winning HAI Convention News are now available online. It’s a great way to quickly scan the news from HAI Heli-Expo 2023, whether you’re in Atlanta 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 2023. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is strictly prohibited.
