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Heli-Expo Images

Eurocopter (Booth No. 3128) brought back its full-scale, medium twin EC175 mockup to Heli-Expo–with a twist: it is reconfigured for search-and-rescue (SAR) operations.

The EC175 SAR suite includes a 360-degree search radar, an electro-optical system, high-intensity searchlight, two class-one rescue hoists, bubble windows and additional aircraft lighting. Eurocopter says the EC175 is more

Cobham Avionics, specifically the former S-Tec autopilot house in Mineral Wells, Texas, yesterday described the functions, features and financial benefits of its HeliSAS digital two-axis, stability-augmentation and autopilot system (SAS) for light helicopters. Jim Shirey, Cobham Avionics helicopter autopilot product manager, gave $125,000 as the approximate “installed, out-the-door, in the custo more

In the wake of a tail-boom failure on a Gulf Airways AW139 in August last year, AgustaWestland (Booth No. 1629) is assuring customers with helicopters on order that it will deliver them with a newly designed boom starting in April. The tail boom on the Gulf AW139 failed several months after the tail boom had struck an oil rig and while the helicopter was taxiing on the ground in Doha, Qatar. There more

The annual Russian Hour at Heli-Expo yesterday played to a full house. It is the third year that Russian exhibitors at the show have joined to offer a presentation profiling their nation’s helicopter industry and market activity, and there was plenty
to talk about.

Mikhail Kazachkov, head of Russian Helicopter Systems, left no doubt as to the size of the helicopter community in more

Helicopter completion center and air medical operator Metro Aviation (Booth No. 3528) announced developments in both its core businesses and a strong 2009 during a press conference yesterday. On the completions side, the company, which specializes in the Eurocopter AS350 series, is teaming with Cobham Avionics (Booth No. 4405) to obtain an STC for installation of HeliSAS on the AS350, which is exp more

Potomac Aviation Technology (Booth No. 2203) is showcasing SuperAWOS, its proprietary approach to supplying automated pilot weather information, at Heli-Expo. Contained in a single compact unit, SuperAWOS operates on CTAF frequencies, eliminating the need for a discrete AWOS frequency.

“The broadcast has everything that an AWOS III has, but the system has artificial intelligence that more

Iran appears determined to not only maintain its enormous fleet of hundreds of Bell helicopters in the wake of the ongoing U.S. arms embargo against it, but also to make indigenous and unauthorized copies of them. In 2006, Bell filed suit against Iran for making unauthorized knock-offs of several models including 206s and 205s. 

Since the 1990s, Iran has reverse-engineered parts, more

Larry Alexandre, recently named CEO of Sagem Avionics after five years as COO for Turbomeca USA, acknowledges that he has much to learn about avionics but he insists that the engines and instrumentation businesses have one vital common element–concern for the customer.

His goal, as it was at the Safran Group engine manufacturer, is “to instill customer awareness at every level of ou more

A Sikorsky panel yesterday painted a positive picture of the company’s Sikorsky Global Helicopters division, basking in the warmth of 136 large and 79 light helicopter sales in 2008-2009, and a year that ended with a backlog valued at $12 billion.

David Oglesbee, v-p of customer relations, took special note of efforts to produce a civil variant of the popular Sikorsky S-434 produced b more

We hear a lot about turbofan engine research, in such things as unducted fans, open-rotor designs and geared turbofans. Where is rotorcraft engine technology headed?

Helicopters take a lot of power on takeoff and use a lot less in cruise, which means that a helicopter is forced to carry a much bigger engine than it needs at cruise. So the basic question is, how do you d more