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ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | MAY 2014 W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O MD1

Some of you may have heard of this concept that is com-monly being referred to as the Digital Revolution. I

believe it has something to do with that whole Inter-Web thing every-body’s also been talking about. And I imagine that as you read these words, many of you are expecting a sales pitch about how much better digital magazines are than print, how much more quick-ly you can receive your monthly issues and how we can now offer you search capabilities along with video and audio files into your tired old hum-drum magazine reading experience.

But while all of those things happen to be true, some of us – myself included – grew up on paper and ink, and we aren’t quite ready to relegate traditional print magazines to the trash bins of our lives just yet.

There is a zen-like quality to the experience of opening our mailbox to find the latest issue of our favorite magazine waiting for us there. And whether we take it to our desk and immediately read it, or throw it into our bag to read at home later, we always know where it is and we don’t forget about it as the other demands of our inbox start piling up to the point they can no longer be ignored. Even if we do get inter-rupted while reading our favorite print/paper publication, the mag-azine itself serves as a giant 8x11 reminder note, calling us to pick back up wherever we left off.

But the lure of the digital format

was far too much for big publish-ing companies to ignore. It mini-mizes all of the most significant expenses of producing a maga-zine – print, paper and postage. So while magazines such as ours will still gladly send a free digital version to qualified industry pro-fessionals anywhere in the world, getting the free printed magazine you received for years sometimes became next to impossible, and we were simply not set up to handle paid subscriptions.

While our company contin-ues to lead with the products and services we now deliver to helicopter industry professionals online, this note is actually about letting you know that we also understand the inherent lure and value of print. Paper and ink will always have their place. But any magazine that attempts to define itself as a News Magazine today is in fact admitting that they pre-fer to remain in the buggy-whip business. Nobody gets news on a 30-day cycle anymore. However, we can prioritize and organize the most important news of the past month for you and present it with our own commentary, and we can provide a wealth of insight on all the most impor-tant topics of our industry each month via our expert writers and columnists.

All that said, we took a hard look at our content and our cus-tomer base and came to three very basic, but very important conclusions about print magazine subscriptions today:

Many readers living and work-1. ing outside the U.S. tell us they would still like to receive a print magazine if it wasn’t so expensive.Some readers simply are not able 2. to receive a digital version of our magazine due to the security policies within their company or organization’s network.Most work in an environment 3. where there are a number of other individuals who might also like to receive a monthly subscription of their own.

Using those observations as our guide, we’ve created a new Annual Company Subscrip-tion plan that, for the old price of a single subscription outside the U.S., now allows you and up to eight qualified individuals at your same location to each begin receiving your own personal-ized print copy of Rotor & Wing each and every month, while the digital version remains available at no cost. But whether you opt for the free digital version, the new low-cost print version or both, now you only have a single form for your whole team, and a common renewal date to manage each year.

Check it out online at www.

omeda.com/rw

Which is also a fitting way to sum this all up … we will continue to provide print where print is val-ued, and we will use the internet where the internet adds value … each will always have its place.

Of Print, Paper and Pixels

By Randy Jones

rjones @accessintel.com

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4 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | MAY 2014 W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M

[email protected]

Technology is, and always will be, one of the corner-stones of Rotor & Wing’s edi-torial coverage, and the May

issue is dedicated to the subject. It is often said that military technol-ogy is 10 years ahead of civil/com-mercial technology. Around 10 years after the cancellation of the Boeing-Sikorsky RAH-66 Coman-che program in 2004, the world is experiencing a period where com-mercial applications are growing in number and diversity – ranging on the lower end from single-seat experimental designs up to tiltro-tors such as the AW609 and Bell V280 Valor or compound aircraft like Boeing-Sikorsky’s offering for U.S. Army Aviation’s Joint Multi-Role (JMR) program, a precursor to Future Vertical Lift (FVL). Then there’s prototypes like Airbus Heli-copters (Eurocopter) X3 (X-cubed). Whether military or commer-cial, some of the most interesting ideas are coming out of both the established manufacturers and the start-up companies that are alter-ing the landscape of helicopter technology. This month leads off with the Sikorsky autonomous research aircraft (SARA) on the cover with accompanying feature from Dale Smith on page 42. Igor Cherepinsky, chief engineer on Sikorsky’s Autonomous Program, said that the manufacturer is try-ing to “automate a lot of things in current VTOL machines that the human (pilot) now has to do… You can think of it like the old days when you got on an elevator and there was an operator there to run it. It was too complicated for an untrained person to do safely.”

As automation advanced, the

operator was no longer needed, he continued. “You just push a button. We are working to bring the same advancement to the pilot/aircraft interface. We’re saying it doesn’t really matter where the human being is – but there needs to be human interface at some level – but that human can either be in the aircraft or at a remote location. It doesn’t really matter.”

Next is a Pilot Report on the AgustaWestland AW609 from Edi-tor-at-Large Ernie Stephens begin-ning on page 22. Ernie is the first pilot from an aviation trade publi-cation to fly both the AW609 and the Airbus Helicopters X3, accord-ing to officials at AgustaWestland. He has also flown the AW109, 119 and 139; nine different Bell Helicopter variants; the Boeing CH-47; Airbus EC120, EC135 and AS350/355/365; Kaman H4-43 and SH-26; MD500 series, MD600 and MD902; all the Robinson types; RotorWay Scorpion; and Sikorsky S-76D and S-92 (to name a few).

Ernie’s observations about the AW609 bear repeating: “Ninety minutes after takeoff, I stepped out of the 609 feeling like I had just sampled a portion of civil avia-tion’s future. Part helicopter, part airplane, the AW609 tiltrotor is an unusual but fun machine to fly. And if it attains its FAA certifica-tion in 2017, as the company hopes it will, you may see a lot of them.”

Andrew Drwiega follows up with Eastern Innovations, the first of a multi-part series covering the Eastern Hemisphere, on page 26. Focusing primarily on Australia and New Zealand in this month’s edition, Rotor & Wing’s Interna-tional Bureau Chief reports on the

KC518 Adventourer, Coax Heli-copters and Sydney-based Stop-Rotor Technology’s RotorWing, also mentioning the Marenco Swisshelicopter SKYe SH09.

One of the design objectives of the KC518, Composite Helicopters founder and director Peter Malo-ney told Rotor & Wing, “has been to develop a helicopter that would be suitable to a low-time private pilot, yet offer the performance and pas-senger appeal of our peers. At 110 knots and using only 64 percent torque, straight and level, we were hands and feet off all controls and the helicopter remained stable until the rotors passed through a change in air density.”

Then there’s Technology Editor Frank Lombardi’s interview with Jay Carter, CEO of Carter Aviation, which has developed its “slowed rotor/compound technology,” or SR/C (see story starting on page 14). Carter notes: “Our aircraft is really a hybrid between a helicop-ter, an autogyro, and a fixed-wing airplane. The rotor is driven by the air flowing up through the rotor, like wind through a wind turbine, providing lift at low speed like a helicopter. It can be pre-spun to allow for a jump-takeoff. Our wing is sized for high-speed flight and does most of the lifting as speed increases. We have the ability to slow the rotor down in flight, which greatly reduces its drag and the horsepower required to keep the rotor spinning…”

One thing is clear: the future of rotary wing aviation is as diverse as the day is long. And the lines between helicopter, fixed-wing and hybrid offspring are more blurred than ever.

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THIS MONTH FROM


DEPARTMENTS10 Rotorcraft Report

18 People

19 Coming Events

46 Essential Equipment: SVS

51 Classified Ads

53 Ad Index

COLUMNS 4 Editor’s Notebook

8 Meet the Contributors

M2 Military Insider

52 Public Service

54 Law Enforcement

On the Front Cover: Sikorsky Matrix SARA

platform. Photo courtesy Sikorksy

On the Military Insider Cover: Aircraft Rescue

Firefighting Division during a live-fire training

exercise that tested the speed and efficiency of the

ARFF. USMC photo. Cover designs by Rob Hudgins.

FEATURES 22 ■ Pilot Report: Flying the AW609

Rotor & Wing becomes the first publication to have an editor fly both the AW609 and the Airbus Helicopters X3 (X-cubed). By Ernie Stephens, Editor-at-Large

26 ■ Eastern Innovations: Down Under First of an ongoing series that examines rotorcraft technology

developments in the Eastern Hemisphere. By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief

M8 ■ Military SAR: Extreme Challenge How two of the latest tragedies in the SAR world could be

repeated in different circumstances in the Arctic. By Andrew

Drwiega, International Bureau Chief

COVER STORY

42 ■ Sikorsky’s SARA Advances Matrix Matrix is Sikorsky’s program to improve the capabilities and

safety of flight for autonomous, optionally piloted and piloted VTOL aircraft. By Dale Smith

(Above) AgustaWestland AW609 in flight. Photo courtesy of AgustaWestland

(Bottom) U.S. Navy has ordered more unmanned MQ-8Cs from Northrop

Grumman. (Right) CoaX Helicopters up close. Photo courtesy of CoaX

22

M4

Public Service


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©2014 by Access Intelligence, LLC. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission.

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The editors welcome new product information and other industry news. All editorial inquiries should be directed to Rotor & Wing magazine, 4 Choke Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, Md. 20850, USA; 1-301-354-1839; fax 1-301-762-8965. E-mail: [email protected]. Rotor & Wing (ISSN-1066-8098) is published monthly by Access Intelligence, 4 Choke Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, Md. 20850, USA. Periodical postage paid at Rockville, Md. and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: Free to qualified individuals directly involved in the helicopter industry. All other subscriptions, U.S.: one year $89; two years $178. Canada: one year $99; two years $198; Foreign: one year $129; two years $258.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rotor & Wing, P.O. Box 3089, Northbrook, Ill. 60065-3089, USA. Change of address two to eight weeks notice requested. Send both new and old address, including mailing label to Attn: Rotor & Wing magazine, Customer Services, P.O. Box 3089, Northbrook, Ill. 60065-3089, USA or call 1-847-559-7314. E-mail: [email protected]. Canada Post 40612608. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: IMEX Global Solutions, P.O. Box 25542, London, ON N6C 6B2.

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STORIES & PHOTOS ON THE WEB• Go to rotorandwing.com to see more photos and read some of the stories that

didn’t make it into this month’s print edition, for example:• Kaman NZ SH-2G(I) Goes Airborne in Maiden Flight

• Aerochine Purchases Five 505X Jet Rangers from Bell

• ONR to Develop Autonomous Rotorcraft Landings

• Japanese Police Buy Another AW139 for Kagoshima

• New Zealand CAA Reviews Robinson Safety Awareness

• Sikorsky Starts Naval Air Systems Command Tests for CH-53K

• Mercy Life Line Receives Two Metro-Completed EC135s

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26

Vol. 48 | No. 5May 2014

Meet the Contributors


LEE BENSON is a retired helicopter

pilot who’s flying career started in Viet-

nam with the U.S. Army and concluded

as Chief Pilot for the Los Angeles County

Fire Department. Lee’s 15,500 hours of

flying and 40 years of military, commercial and govern-

ment flying operations afford him a very broad back-

ground in the helicopter world. In 2008 he started a con-

sulting company and is contracted to several helicopter

equipment companies as a subject matter expert.

KEITH CIANFRANI is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, master aviator and Army instructor pilot, rated in both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. He holds a master’s degree in aerospace safety from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Keith is a certificated flight instructor and has flown commercial aircraft for more than 20 years in and around the New York City area.

ANDREW DRWIEGA, International Bureau Chief, is a senior defense/avia-tion journalist with a specialization in international military rotorcraft. Based in London, he has reported

from Iraq and Afghanistan on numerous occasions on attachment with American and British helicopter forces. Andrew is a member of the Army Aviation Association of America, the Royal United Services Institute, the Air Power Association and is an associ-ate member of the Royal Aeronautical Society. He has a BA (Hons) degree in War Studies.

FRANK LOMBARDI, an ATP with both fixed-wing and rotary-wing ratings, began his flying career in 1991 after graduating with a bachelor’s of science in aerospace engineering, working on various airplane and helicopter programs as a flight test engineer for Grumman Aerospace Corp. Frank

became a police officer for a major East Coast police department in 1995, and has been flying helicopters in the department’s aviation section since 2000.

DOUGLAS NELMS has more than 30 years of experience as an aviation journalist and currently works as a freelance writer. He has served as managing editor of Rotor & Wing. A

former U.S. Army helicopter pilot, Nelms specializes in writing about helicopters.

DALE SMITH has been an aviation journalist for 24 years specializing in business aviation. He is currently a contributing writer for Rotor & Wing and other leading aviation magazines. He has been a licensed pilot since 1974 and has flown 35 different types of general aviation, business and WWII vintage aircraft.

ERNIE STEPHENS, Editor-at-Large, spent 27 years with a major county police department, retiring as a deco-rated sergeant and chief pilot of its aviation section in 2006. He began

his flying career in the late 1980s when he earned his rotorcraft license and incorporated a small aviation company as a sideline to his law enforcement career. He has been writing features and columns for Rotor & Wing since 2003.

TERRY TERRELL gained his early aviation experience as a U.S. Navy fixed-wing instructor and U.S. Coast Guard aircraft commander, where his service included SAR in Sikorsky S-61s. Terry served as a cross-qualified captain and safety special projects officer with Houston’s Transco Energy, and later with Atlanta-based Kennestone AVSTAT Helicopter Ambulance Program and Geor-gia Baptist LifeFlight.

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The Royal Australian Navy Sikorsky S-70B2 Seahawk joined the international search mission for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia. On March 28, a Royal Australian Air Force Boeing C-17 Globemaster transported the Seahawk from HMAS Albatross, Nowra, NSW, to RAAF Base Pearce in Western Australia, from where the search is being coordinated. The Seahawk was transported to the search area by RAN Anzac-class frigate HMAS Toowoomba, which reached the area on April 1.

“We know this will be a tough and potentially challenging deployment, but Too-woomba is capable and well-suited to this mission and our Seahawk helicopter will help

us to maximize our reach,” says HMAS Toowoomba acting Commanding Officer Matt Doornbos. Seven Chinese ships involved in the search effort or on their way are also believed to be carrying helicopters. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority is coordinating the search effort, which on April 3 was centered on an area of about 223,000 square kilometers, some 1,680-km west-northwest of Perth.

An extensive fixed-wing fleet has been deployed to date, including two RAAF Lock-heed Martin P3 Orions, two Malaysian Lockheed Martin C-130s, a Chinese Ilyushin Il-76, a U.S. Navy Boeing P8 Poseidon, a Japanese Gulfstream V, a Republic of Korea P3 Orion, a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 and a Japanese P3 Orion, with a business jet providing a communications relay. On April 3, eight military aircraft and nine ships were involved in the search. MH370, with 239 passengers and crew onboard, disappeared on March 8 on a scheduled service between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. —By Emma Kelly

■ PUBLIC SERVICE | SAR

Helicopters Take Part in Search for Malaysian Airlines MH370

■ MILITARY | AIRFRAMES

U.S. Navy Reveals Program for Next-Level Unmanned HelicoptersThe U.S. Navy has unveiled a $100-million program to fund the development of newer, more autonomous helicopter drones. The program aims to further reduce the need to have a trained aviator in the loop. Unlike current unmanned systems, the new technology will be expected to solve operational problems at landing zones, such as blowing debris and unforeseen obstacles, without on-site or remote intervention from humans.

“You can’t have an 80 percent solu-tion with an autonomous system going

into an unprepared site,” said Brig. Gen. Kevin Killea, head of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory. “It’s got to have it figured out.”

The push for more automation is driven by data collected between 2003 and 2007 that revealed that one soldier was killed or wounded for every 24 fuel resupply convoys in Afghanistan, and another for every 29 water resup-ply missions.

Moving those supplies by air elimi-nates exposure to the roadside attacks that cause most casualties, while using drones frees up aviators for duties

elsewhere.The Navy and Marines want the

new unmanned systems to be pro-grammable and executable by non-pilots through the use of a simple tablet, or similar device.

“It’s taking unmanned aerial sys-tems to the next level by introducing autonomy,” said Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, chief of Naval Research, referring to a 100-lb sensor and soft-ware system under development to replace remote pilots. “[It’s] truly leap-ahead technology.” —By Ernie Stephens, Editor-at-Large

Top photo caption: Loading the Seahawk in

preparation for MH370 search. Photo courtesy of

Royal Australian Navy

Rotorcraft Report

11MAY 2014 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINEW W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M

■ PRODUCTS | AIRFRAMES

Airbus, Avicopter Reach Framework Deal for 1,000 EC175s

With an increase in the number of vessels entering the polar circle in the Arctic, most search and rescue (SAR) specialists agree it is a matter of when, not if, an accident happens that will put many lives in grave danger. The point was made by several speakers at the start of IQPC’s Search and Rescue Europe conference (April 8-9) held in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Maj. Gen. Stig Nielsen, com-mander, Arctic Command of the Royal Danish Defence Force, said the increasing incursion of cruise ships around Greenland – some carrying more than 3,000 passen-gers and crew – posed a major chal-lenge, particularly as most of the ves-sels were not ice protected and were entering waters that still have not been properly mapped. “No matter what precautions, someday there will be an accident,” he predicted.

However, agreements with the cruise ship operators now mean that there is the ability to monitor

their position virtually continuous-ly to look out for potential dangers in advance. The challenge would be rescuing a volume of people from such a hostile environment. Nielsen said that with a population of 57,000, mainly on the southwest side of Greenland, there were only two police helicopters with 2.2 mil-lion square kilometers to cover. “In Denmark, we have three helicop-ters to cover an area 50 times small-er.” Any other helicopter support would have to come from naval ships that would be unlikely to be in the vicinity. But anyone having to enter the water would have min-utes, not hours, to be rescued.

Rear Admr. Georg Larusson, director general, Icelandic Coast Guard, shared Nielson’s fears. “With new Polar shipping routes through the arctic, and more cruise ships and oil and gas tankers, there is far more traffic than before.” Larusson said that the number of cruise ship passengers to Iceland had increased

“300 percent in the last three years.” The Coast Guard currently oper-ates three Airbus Helicopters (for-merly Eurocopter) AS332-L1 Super Pumas, two of which are leased. In 2013 the units flew 185 missions, 54 of which were over the sea. The mission breakdown was: SAR 39 percent, HEMS 46 percent, Other 15 percent. Larusson said that the influx of tourists had resulted in an increase in the number of missions, some due to the fact that people were not aware of how quickly the environment could turn against them. Other speakers on the first day included those representing the Joint Rescue Center Norway; Maritime New Zealand; the Portu-guese Navy; Polish Maritime SAR Service; JRCC Tallinn, Estonia; the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Insti-tution; the Finnish Border Guard; and the Swedish Maritime Admin-istration. —By Andrew Drwiega

Read more in Military Insider

on page M8 of this issue.

■ PUBLIC SERVICE | SAR

SAR Conference Focuses on Arctic Operations

Airbus Helicopters has reached an agre ement with China’s Avicopter to jointly produce 1,000 new generation EC175/AC352 rotorcraft.

The production agreement was signed at the Elysee Palace in Paris. Airbus will produce the EC175 for the worldwide market at its facil-ity in Marignane, France, while Avicopter will produce the AC352 mainly for the Chinese market.

France and China first launched cooperation on the EC175/AC352 in 2005. The EASA certified the airworthiness of the EC175 earlier this year.

Li Fangyong, executive vice president of Avicopter’s parent company AVIC, said the agree-

ment allows the two companies to “satisfy the Chinese and worldwide market needs in the medium heli-copter segment.”

Airbus Helicopters has reached a

framework agreement with Avicopter

covering a thousand EC175. Photo courtesy

of Airbus Helicopters


■ PRODUCTS | DATA MONITORING

Robinson Agreement Expands Spidertracks OpportunitiesAuckland, New Zealand-based Spidertracks is hopeful of other deals with helicopter manufacturers after its Spider real-time tracking system was recently selected by Robinson Helicopters as an option for all R22, R44 and R66 models.

The Spidertracks system uses the Iridium satellite network to send real-time aircraft location to a web appli-cation. Two versions are available – the Spider S3 which costs U.S. $995 and the S5 at $1795, which is enabled with Bluetooth allowing the user to send and receive SMS messages to any iOS or Android device.

The company has sold nearly 4,500 systems, with 50 percent of these used on helicopters – operators who were early adopters of the technol-ogy, says Kathryn Dallison, marketing executive. Australian operator Heli-west, for example, uses the system to track its 29 helicopters. Sundance Helicopters in the U.S. is using it to track its helicopters in the Grand Can-yon, as is Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters.

Under the agreement with Robinson, all aircraft will be pre-wired with a Spider power cord and a mounting bracket will be installed on top of the instrument cluster, offering clear view to the sky for optimal connectiv-ity to GPS and Iridium satellites, says Spidertracks chief executive officer James McCarthy. Spidertracks is talking to other manufacturers, he adds, declining to provide details. —By Emma Kelly, Australia and Pacific Cor-respondent

Rotorcraft Report

■ MILITARY | PROCUREMENT

Sikorsky Settles False Claims Act ViolationDeirdre Daly, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced on March 31 that Sikorsky Aircraft “will pay $3.5 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act arising from the submission of inflated costs in the pricing of spare parts.”

The allegation detailed that from Feb. 7, 2008 through Sept. 8, 2011 the company “failed to dis-close accurate, complete and cur-rent cost and pricing data to the Army Aviation and Missile Life Cycle Management Command (AMCOM)” for UH-60 Black Hawk spare parts.

Craig W. Rupert, Special Agent in Charge, Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS), said: “Unethical decisions and instanc-es of fraud occurring within the defense contractor communi-ty continue to burden the U.S. defense budget and puts U.S. mili-tary readiness at a disadvantage.” —By Andrew Drwiega

■ SERVICES | CERTIFICATION

Airbus EC145 T2 Achieves EASA CertificationThe European Aviation Safe-ty Agency (EASA) has granted certification for the EC145 T2 from Airbus Helicopters. The approval covers single-pilot and instrument flight rules (IFR) and single engine operations (Cat.A/VTOL), along with night vision goggle (NVG) capability. Airbus reports orders and options for more than 100 EC145 T2s, along with 15 of the military EC645 T2 variant for the German Army. (Source: Airbus Helicopters)

■ TRAINING | SAFETY

USHST Accident Report Reveals Best and Worst Segments of Helicopter IndustryThe U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) has released a follow-up report to its initial helicopter accident analysis from 2011.

The report, conducted by the U.S. Joint Helicopter Implementation Measurement Data Analysis Team (JHIMDAT), analyzes U.S. civil heli-copter accidents from 2009 to 2011, and compares the results to the Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) analysis from 2000, 2001 and 2006.

The report found an overall 21 percent decrease in civil helicopter accidents, with the top three industries showing the greatest improvement being firefighting, air tours and logging.

However, the agriculture, instructional and personal flying industries remained the top three industries that recorded the most accidents in both reports. These three industries accounted for 57 percent of all helicopter accidents, up from 46 percent in the JHSAT report.

In order to increase safety in these areas, the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST), parent organization of USHST, has improved com-munication efforts to industries with higher accident rates in hopes to decrease the number of accidents in these specific industries. —By Katie Kriz, Assistant Managing Editor

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Rotorcraft Report

■ PRODUCTS | AIRFRAMES

Q&A with Carter Aviation CEO Jay CarterA trip to one of the many aviation conferences that highlight vertical lift machines will reveal the fast-paced progress of rotorcraft technology. The desire to fly higher, faster, farther, and longer in rotary wing machines has become an increasingly important design point to many large manufacturers.

The small Wichita Falls , Texas-based aviation research and development firm of Cart-er Aviation Technologies sees the importance of these design points as well. In contrast, they have been trying to exploit the simplicity of the not-so-new autogyro concept, integrating it with their “slowed rotor/compound technology” (SR/C) with the intent of producing a fast, efficient aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL). In a recent interview with Rotor & Wing, president and CEO Jay Carter shared his thoughts and answered some questions about their current prototype – the Carter PAV, and his company’s vision.

Rotor & Wing: For those who are unfamiliar, can you explain the benefits of your slowed rotor/compound technology?Carter: Our aircraft is really a hybrid between a helicopter, an autogyro, and a fixed-wing airplane. The rotor is driven by the air flowing up through the rotor, like wind through a wind turbine, providing lift at low speed like a helicopter. It can be pre-spun to allow for a jump-takeoff. Our wing is sized for high-speed flight and does most of the lifting as speed increases. We have the ability to slow the rotor down in flight, which greatly reduces its drag and the horsepower required to keep the rotor spinning. Our high aspect ratio wing has no high-lift devices, keeping it simple and light. The wing design in combination with slowing the rotor lets us f ly closer to our best lift-to-drag ratio at higher speeds.

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Rotorcraft Report

Continued from Page 14:

Carter (continued): This allows us to achieve very high forward speed and exceptional efficiency. The ultra-high inertia rotor allows us to land like a helicopter with little or no forward speed.

Rotor & Wing: One of your most publicized achievements recently would be the breaking of the “Mu-1 barrier.” What is it and why is it impor-tant to your design goals?

Carter: Mu-1 is nothing more than an engineer-ing ratio. It is the aircraft forward speed divided by the rotor tip speed relative to the aircraft. At Mu-1, the tip speed of the retreating blade is zero, and all the flow inboard of the tip is reversed over the air-foil. This causes problems with dissymmetry of lift and rotor instability, and in fact there were 10 issues that we had to resolve before we could safely slow the rotor down to achieve Mu-1.

Flying at a Mu greater than one will allow us to fly very fast. Since the RPM of the advancing blade is slower than the aircraft airspeed, this will keep the advancing blade tip speed slow enough to avoid critical Mach and the associated increase in drag. Since the rotor is controlled to produce very little lift in this condition, we will not have to worry about retreating blade stall.

Rotor & Wing: You hold many patents. Which of your technical innovations would you say contrib-uted the most to your success in achieving Mu-1?

Carter: Probably four or five of them. But the fore and aft tilting mast is very important to hold the proper angle of attack and control the rotor RPM. Also, the tip weights at the ends of the rotor help to move the blade’s center of gravity to 75-80 percent of the blade’s chord, instead of the more conventional 25 percent chord. This helps with instability on the retreating blade encountered above Mu-1.

Rotor & Wing: You’ve often said your designs are scalable both up and down. Let’s talk about the high inertia rotor. What engineering challenges do you see in trying to scale it up to 150 foot diameter, as mentioned on your website?

Carter: Our rotor design is very clever. Even though it has a lot of tip weight, it remains very simple. It has a twistable spar and no hinges. Its stiffness will keep it away from any rotational natu-ral frequencies. Since there is no swashplate it can easily be scaled up with no issue.

Rotor & Wing: There has been an explosion of interest in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) over the last few years, and in September 2013, Carter received a contract to be one of five teams


Rotorcraft Report

to participate in a Phase I study for DARPA’s Tactically Exploited Recon-naissance Node (TERN) project. The shipboard mission presents many challenges, mostly in landing during a “class five sea state,” when there is likely the need for precise control and the ability to hover. For this project, how do you intend on powering the rotor? Will the ultra-high inertia rotor present challenges in achieving precise cyclic control?

Carter: We don’t have to have a powered rotor. We can get by with what we have, but this rotor will have full collective control. We don’t expect to require the ability to hover. This is due in part to our very strong landing gear, able to withstand loads associated with a class five sea state. Also the very high inertia in the rotor will give us plenty of stored energy to complete the landing. Precise control will be aided by GPS. Many small subcontractors have partnered with us over the larger manufacturers to help us with this project.

Rotor & Wing: In 2009 you entered into a licensing agreement with Tex-tron Systems subisidary AAI, giving them exclusive access to the SR/C tech-nology for all unmanned aerial applications. What’s the status of that deal?

Carter: They were not moving forward as we had hoped, and so Carter Aviation bought back the licensing from AAI.

Rotor & Wing: As a small aviation company trying to develop a technolo-gy, funding can be hard to come by. You’ve been able to continue development for many years. Is there anyone you’d like to thank for the continued support?

Carter: I have private investors who have stuck their neck out and believed in this technology and have supported us beyond what would be a normal investment because they believe this can be a game-changer and they’re happy to be a part of it. I’ve been fortunate that we have people like that, who will step forward when we need some help. It’s a team effort.

Rotor & Wing: What would you say your biggest challenge is? Carter: Our greatest challenge is obtaining funding and demonstrat-

ing the technology to the doubters. We have to do something that is so dramatic; something that will get the attention of upper management that will be like hitting them over the head with a two-by-four.

With proposed performance such as flying at 500 mph and altitudes of 30,000-40,000 feet, while carrying payloads over 1,000 miles, the Carter Aviation team has lofty goals for sure. Although they’ve never sold a product, they’ve been in business for 20 years. The greatest benefit to Carter Aviation will come when they produce repeatable flight test data that shows they could meet the mission spec of any one of their proposed variants. Until this happens, their tenacity, faith in their product, and will-ingness to push the limit of what they know to achieve what they believe, remain as the things that cannot be denied. —By Frank Lombardi

Carter Aviation Technologies’ Slowed-Rotor Compound. Photo courtesy of Carter


Rotorcraft Report

PEOPLE

Ru s s i a n Hel i -c o p t e r s h a s made numerous announcements and appointments in recent weeks.

Victor Novikov is now managing director for Kumertau Aviation Production Enterprise, which is part of Russian Helicopters. Kumertau produces co-axial helicopters including Ka-27, Ka-31 and Ka-226s. Novikov was previously with DBA Engineering as deputy CEO. He replaces Sergei

Mikryukov who had been in the post since 2008.

In 2009 he completed a course in Innovation Management at the Ufa State Aviation Technical Uni-versity then spent over 10 years at Gidravlika, a company special-izing in the production of auxiliary

power units for military and civil aviation, where he finished as CEO.

He has received awards including both Honored Mechanical Engineer of the Russian Federation and of the Republic of Bashkortorstan.

During a meet-ing of the Board of Directors of Russian Helicop-ters on March 18, Vladimir Artya-

kov was re-elected as chairman. Oboronprom CEO Dmitry Lelik-

ov was re-elected as deputy chair-man of Russian Helicopters.

In addition to Artyakov and Lelikow, the board of directors now comprises: Alexander Mikheev, CEO of Russian Helicopters; Ser-

gei Skvortsov, deputy CEO of Ros-tec; Pavel Osin, first deputy gen-eral director of Oboronprom; Shiv

Vikram Khemka, vice chairman of SUN Group; Jean-Loup Picard

(independent director); Jean-Paul

Béchat (independent director); and Vladimir Litvin, head of the Department of Corporate Proce-dures and Property at Rostec.

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other products for several sectors including aerospace and defense, announced on March 19, 2014 that Vincent Sandoval took office as its new group president, aerospace and defense, replacing Michael

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Rotorcraft Report


May 4–6: Quad-A Annual Convention, Gaylord Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tenn. Contact Quad-A, phone 1-203-268-2450 or visit www.quad-a.org

May 12–15: Association for Unmanned Systems International (AUVSI) Unmanned Systems 2014, Orlando, Fla. Visit www.auvsi.org

May 20–22: European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition, Geneva, Switzerland. Contact NBAA, phone 1-202-783-9000 or visit www.ebace.aero

May 22–24: HeliRussia 2014, Moscow, ICE. Call +7 (495) 926-38-83 or visit www.helirussia.ru/en

May 24–25: Rotortech 2014 Conference, Queensland, Australia. Visit www.austhia.com

July 16–19: ALEA Expo, Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, Ariz. Visit alea.org/events

July 19–20: Farnborough International Airshow, Farnborough, UK. Visit www.farnborough.com

July 20–22: Aviation Leadership Summit, Wellington, New Zealand. Visit www.aia.org/nz

July 28–Aug.3: Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) AirVenture, Oshkosh, Wis. Contact EAA, phone 1-920-426-4800 or visit www.airventure.org

Aug. 20–21: NightCon 214, Dallas, Texas. Visit www.nightcon.com

Sept. 2–5: European Rotorcraft Forum, Southamptom, Hampshire. Contact Royal Aeronautical Society at +44 (0) 207 670 4300 or visit aerosociety.com/Events

Sept. 17–19: ATC Global, Beijing, China. Contact ATC Global, phone +44 (0) 207 921 8149 or visit www.atcglobalhub.com

Oct. 14–16: Helitech International, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Contact Reed Exhibitions or visit www.helitechevents.com

Nov. 17–19: National Business Aviation Association Convention & Exhibition, Orlando, Fla. Contact NBAA, phone 1-202-783-9000 or visit www.nbaa.org

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■ TRAINING | SPECIALTY

New Issues Burden Australia’s Helicopter IndustryAustralia’s helicopter industry will meet at Sunshine Coast, Queensland, in May for its first major gathering since the sector’s new representative body – the Australian Helicopter Industry Association (AHIA) – was formed in late 2012. The Rotortech 2014 event comes as the Australian helicopter sector continues its enviable growth, although slightly slowed compared with previous years. Up until 2013, it had achieved growth in the region of 9 percent per annum, but is now around 6 percent. Australia now has the sixth largest helicopter fleet in the world at more than 2,100 helicopters, according to AHIA, which anticipates a fleet of 3,000 within seven years.

The meeting also comes as the sector is facing new regula-tory issues under the Civil Avia-tion Safety Authority’s protract-ed regulatory reform program.

AHIA warns there are “a lot of changes on the horizon; many with unknown economic ramifi-cations.” —Emma Kelly, Australia and Pacific Correspondent

Read the Full Story online at www.rotorandwing.com

■ TRAINING | SAFETY

BARS Risk Program Continues to GrowThe Alexandria, Va.-based International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) reports that its Basic Aviation Risk Standards (BARS) program has been meeting with great success in the helicopter community. IHST’s vision to see “an international civil helicopter community with zero accidents” is what drives BARS.

BARS was developed three years ago to provide a uniform, objec-tive method for evaluating an operation’s safety culture by way of an audit, which is conducted by specialist from the IHST team. The audit is provided upon request by an interested operator, and per-formed for a nominal fee.

“It assess the aircraft operator against a common standard,” said Greg Marshal, managing director of the BARS program. “It doesn’t matter where in the world it is – whether it’s helicopters or fixed-wing - there is a common standard that applies to all of those organizations.” Marshall added that a company can define the scope of the audit. Once the audit is completed, a very detailed report is prepared showing where things were done well, and where things could be improved. Marshal said that the report is often seen as a “health check” by companies that demand the aircraft operator produce one before contracting it. More than 100 operators around the world have been audited and registered with the BARS program. Approximately 40 percent operate helicopters only, 40 percent fly fixed-wing only, and 20% operate both. As of February of this year, a total of 250 audits have been completed. BARS also offers safety courses entitled, Aviation Risk for Managers, Helicopter External Load Operations for Ground Personnel, Aviation Coordinator for Onshore Personnel, and Aviation Coordina-tor Offshore Personnel.

Marshall encourages operators to visit the IHST website at www.IHST.org to learn more about all of its safety initiatives, and to download checklists that can help them prepare for a BARS audit. —By Ernie Stephens, Editor-at-Large

Rotorcraft Report

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■ PRODUCTS | SERVICES

Aerocomputers Founder Passes AwayMark Gassaway, founder and President of Aerocomputers, passed away on Monday, March 17. He will be missed by his many friends in the aviation community. Mark was both a pilot and an engineer. These combined interests led to the foundation of Aerocomputers in 1993. Aerocomputers went on to become the first company to develop a tactical moving map solution for public safety organizations in the United States and aboard. Mark accomplished these goals with an outstanding team of people. In an act of loyalty toward his team and a sense of respect towards his customers – many of whom he considered friends – Mark had developed a succession plan for the family owned company going forward. Kathy Tarr, long-time financial advisor to Aerocomputers, will step up to the position of president. In lieu of flowers Mark’s family has suggested a contribution in his name to a local flight school or an aviation scholarship program. —By Lee Benson

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PRODUCTS| AIRFRAMES


PILOT REPORT: Flying the

AW609 rotors tilting.

Photo by Ernie Stephens


AW609 Pilot Report

W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M

The idea of a flying machine that will take off and land vertically, then achieve airplane speeds, has been

around since the development of engine-driven aircraft. Several designs have been toyed with, but arguably the most successful have fallen into one of two categories: a hybrid using a main rotor and propellers, or vectored thrust (i.e., a tilting rotor). In 2012, I conducted an evaluation flight of the Eurocop-ter (now Airbus) X3 experimental aircraft, which uses the hybrid system. So, it was only fitting that I accept AgustaWestland’s offer to fly the AW609 tiltrotor, which employs vectored thrust. The 609 actually began life in 1998 as a Bell-Boeing project, and later became the Bell/Agusta Aerospace BA609. But in 2011, when Bell Helicopter

officially pulled out of the partner-ship, the rebranded “AW609 tiltro-tor” was placed under the control of the newly formed AgustaWestland Tilt-Rotor Company (AWTRC) of Arlington, Texas, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AgustaWestland.

Upon my arrival at AWTRC’s c o m b i n at i o n h e a d q u a r te r s , development facility and hangar at Arlington Municipal Airport (KGKY), I was greeted by experi-mental test pilot Dan Wells, a for-mer Army helicopter pilot who had also worked for Boeing on the V-22 Osprey program, the only other til-trotor flying today. Fellow test pilots Pietro Venanzi and Paul Edwards, also former military pilots, joined Wells. The AW609 is simple in con-cept, but complicated in execution. Its pair of three-bladed, 26-foot in diameter “prop-rotors,” coupled to their 1,930 shp Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67A turboshaft engines, must lift its 16,800-lb bulk into the pure vertical. They must then be able rotate forward and propel the 40-foot-long, 33-foot-wide, 15-foot-tall airframe at forward speeds of 275 KTAS and altitudes of 25,000 feet MSL.

To accomplish this, the engines must simultaneously rotate back and

forth between 95 degrees (straight up, plus another 5 degrees aft), and zero degrees (straight forward). The engines must also be able to turn both rotor systems at any tilt angle as a team, or independently.

To make the units tilt as a matched set, the engineers employ one tilt-axis gearbox on each engine nacelle. Lubricating systems and chip detectors are carefully posi-tioned to function throughout their range of motion, and a shaft-driven fan helps cool the engine when the normal ram air intake is rotated up for helicopter mode.

The 609’s rotor mechanism can best be described as a main rotor head that can rotate. So, if you were to look behind the cowling, you would see a set of swashplates with some clever modifications to con-trol blade pitch. Their inputs are tied one engine to the other so that pilot commands will act upon each equally. My AW609 classroom training covered substantially more details, such as hydraulic, electrical, and structural systems, but space prohibits me from sharing it here. I’ll say this, though: The designers of the aircraft did their best to make as much of the aircraft safe, reliable, and simple to maintain by using

Rotor & Wing Editor-at-Large becomes the first trade journalist to fly both the and the AgustaWestland AW609 and Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter) X3.

By Ernie Stephens, Editor-at-Large


PRODUCTS | AIRFRAMES

tried-and-true aeronautical engi-neering practices found in today’s most sophisticated airplanes and helicopters.

Flight day arrived bringing with it clear skies, winds out of the south at 12 knots, a temperature of 24 degrees C, dew point of 12 degrees C, density altitude of 1,900 feet, and an altimeter setting of 29.99. Our takeoff weight would be 16,200 lbs.

The aircraft, N609TR (serial #0001) had returned earlier that day from its date with the paint shop outside of Dallas. The “BA” had been replaced with “AW,” and the company’s logo now dominated the fuselage.

The interior, like all aircraft under development, was still free of trim panels, so that its wire runs, fasteners and other critical com-ponents could be easily reached. A circular escape trunk dominated the center of the floor inside of the single cabin door... just in case.

Today, I would be flying with Venanzi, who took the right seat. I settled into the left one. I immedi-ately noticed that both he and I were able to achieve comfortable flying positions, in spite of a substantial dif-ference in our heights and weights, thanks to seats that could travel forward and back, as well as up and down. They even had the nerve to be rather comfortable.

The windscreen and side win-dows bear a mild family resem-blance to those on the AW139, in that they droop at the corners to

give an impressive field of view when looking toward the ground.

Facing me was a well-thought-out instrument panel containing a three-display Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 glass cockpit system. Several switch panels were in customary places, such as center and overhead consoles. Some-thing foreign to me as a helicopter, though, was a cabin pressurization and oxygen control panel. Venanzi was quick to remind me, however, that any experimental aircraft’s cockpit layout is subject to change as the design team makes tweaks.

Like the V-22, the 609 has a cyclic – called a “center stick” – that is held in the pilot’s right hand. But unlike the Osprey’s fighter jet-like thrust lever, the 609 has a conven-tional-looking collective they call a “power lever.”

The pedals and toe brakes look normal, and control pivoting about the yaw axis. But they are not con-nected to a tail rotor, and there is no rudder. In a hover, pedal inputs change the pitch on the rotors cycli-cally, causing one or the other set to drive the aircraft’s nose around its yaw axis. In forward flight, pressing on the left pedal adds thrust to the right rotors, and vice versa. Like the other flight controls, it too is fly-by-wire.

Venanzi handled the start-up procedure, because every opera-tion is recorded and monitored live in the flight test control center on the ground level of the hangar.

As the FADEC brought the first engine to life, both rotors began turning, proving that they are inter-connected. As the second came online I noticed the interior was not as noisy as I would have expected. Venanzi explained that placing the engines and rotors out to the sides creates a relatively quiet cabin.

Once the pre-taxi checklist was complete, Venanzi took the con-trols and hopped us from the AW ramp across the runway to the taxiway near the tower. Once there, he set it on the ground and gave me the controls.

For takeoff, the nacelles are set for 87 degrees – as indicated on the nacelle angle indicator integrated on the PFD – which is accomplished by pushing one click forward on the nacelle tilt control (NTC), a thumbwheel switch mounted on top of the power lever. But failing to hold the brakes until airborne will cause the machine to slowly drift forward. Shortly after the nacelles hit 87 degrees, and I gently pulled up on the power lever and got the only true scare of my flight. Because even though I had been warned that the 609 did not like to hover below 15 feet, I did not realize how unsettling it would actually be.

The 609 imparts downwash on its own wings, causing the air-craft to be very unstable about its roll axis. Called “darting” by the pilots, the way to avoid it is to pull straight through to a 20-foot hover. Once there, it settles down nicely. And because the counter-rotating disks cancel any yawing induced by power changes, no real pedal work is required.

After a few pedal turns, which felt like a pedal turn in a conven-tional helicopter, I conducted a standard 609 departure by tilting the rotors to 75 degrees, which vec-tors thrust forward and up into a helicopter-like climb. But you must

AW609 in flight. Photo by Ernie Stephens


AW609 Pilot Report

remember to use the center stick to keep the deck level.

During climb out, I had to moni-tor the limiting airspeed indica-tor (LAI). This display reads the angle the rotors have assumed, and adjusts its green arc to show how much power you can pull using the power lever at that setting. As the rotors tilt farther forward, the green arc shifts to authorize higher speeds. And in case you aren’t minding the LAI as closely as you should, the aircraft will impart a gentle vibration through the power lever as a tactile indication that you are about to exceed a speed range. (You can still pull past it, however, if an emergency dictates it.)

As the green arc on the LAI climbs, the nacelles can be rotated farther forward. When they reach an angle of 45 degrees or less, the aircraft is wing-borne and should be controlled like an airplane. Unlike a standard airplane, the flapperons on the wings automatically extend and retract as speeds change, but can be manually overridden. With the nacelles at zero degrees, which is full forward, you may as well be in a turboprop plane. The center stick commands climbs and rolls just like a yoke, and the power lever per-forms like a throttle in a jet. Flying the 609 like an airplane was... well... like flying an airplane, which is great, considering it recently lifted off the ground at zero airspeed.

At an altitude of about 2,500 feet MSL, I started the nacelles on a rearward rotation to 90 degrees to put us in an out-of-ground-effect hover. It was interesting enough to feel the ship dynamically breaking from 220 KIAS down to zero so quickly, but downright bazaar to look to my left and see a huge por-tion of the aircraft silently rotating aft. Once in a hover it felt and per-formed like any other helicopter.

After about an hour executing a

variety of maneuvers, we returned to the airport where I practiced normal, steep and run-on landings. Each was followed by either a nor-mal, maximum performance, or running takeoff. We did a normal takeoff when we first departed, so our first landing back at GKY was also normal. We entered it from a right downwind to runway one-six, giving us a 30-degree quartering right headwind.

The secret to landing – or taking off, for that matter – in the tiltrotor is to select the nacelle angle that will deliver the velocity and verti-cal speed you want for the various phases of your maneuver.

For a normal landing from a 1,000-ft., I reduced and the nacelles to 75 degrees on downwind, which slowed us from 200 to about 120 KIAS. On final, I incrementally stepped the nacelle angles up and brought the power back to put me as about 50 KIAS on the lower half of my final. As I neared the point where I would have flared a normal helicopter, I tilted the rotors back to 91 degrees to really bleed off the speed. I forgot, however, to return the nacelles to 87 degree prior to reaching zero airspeed, which caused the ship to inch backwards instead of holding its place over my

touchdown point.Autorotations, however, are a

little different from what one might assume. When power is lost, the pilot must rotate the nacelles back to 95 degrees, which is done by pulling the thumb switch on the power lever all the way back past the detent. As the aircraft descends, the nose will naturally hang at a 5-degree nose-down angle, giving the pilot a better chance of spotting a suitable landing zone. Altitude permitting, the pilot can maintain an airplane configuration long enough to glide to a suitable loca-tion before rolling the nacelles back to 95 degrees for autorotation.

When the f lying was over, Venanzi let me ground-taxi us back to the hangar. That was accom-plished by tilting the rotors forward to about 88 degrees, easing the power lever up an inch or two, and using the rudder pedals and differ-ential braking for steering. Ninety minutes after takeoff, I stepped out of the 609 feeling like I had just sampled a portion of civil aviation’s future. Part helicopter, part air-plane, the AW609 Tilt-Rotor is an unusual but fun machine to fly. And if it attains its FAA certification in 2017, as the company hopes it will, you may see a lot of them.

AW609 serial #0001 is equipped with a Collins Proline 21 avionics suite, as well as a myriad

of test equipment. The pilot-in-command sits on the right.

COMMERCIAL | TECHNOLOGY


First in a continuing series to examine innovations in the Eastern Hemisphere. This month’s edition focuses primarily on advancements in Australia and New Zealand.

By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief S

everal rotary innovations have been in development for a num-ber of years in New Zealand and Australia. What unites them, as with any organization large or small searching to improve on that which already exists, is the constant and insatiable need

for funding. But with that as a constant moderator of the rate of prog-ress possible, take the influence of new composite materials together with the growing potential for unmanned systems, add a dash of the old pioneering spirit and the result is a rash of exciting initiatives which could all help to move the rotorcraft market forward.

Kiwi Copter Harbors Great AmbitionsDespite an emergency autorotation and ditching of its KC518 Adventour-er into Auckland Harbor New Zealand in May last year, an incident caused by a deterioration of the aft isolation dampers, founder and director of Composite Helicopters Peter Maloney told Rotor & Wing that aircraft No. 3 is now in the test phase while aircraft No. 4 is currently being assembled.

The KC518 took five years to design but then only two years to transi-tion into a helicopter capable of its first flight in late 2011. At the time of the ditching the company had completed over 200 flight hours in the testing

EASTERN INNOVATIONS: Rotary Down Under

program. Peter Maloney points out that at

the time of the ditching “our proof of concept prototype (s/n 001) was feeling very comfortable and prov-ing easy to fly. One of our design objectives has been to develop a helicopter that would be suitable to low-time private pilot, yet offer the performance and passenger appeal of our peers. At 110 knots and using only 64 percent torque, straight and level, we were hands and feet off all controls and the helicopter remained stable until the rotors passed through a change in air density.”

When asked the typical ques-tion about cruise speed, Maloney answers: “If we consider that 64 percent torque (+/- 205 shp) pro-vided S/L at 110 knots and maxi-mum continuous power is 284 shp, so at 110 knots we still have +/- 79 shp up our sleeve. Our flight testing program is conducted ‘one step at a time’ and we have not yet expanded the flight envelope fully.”

Originally started by husband and wife team Peter and Leanne Maloney (director and chief finan-cial officer), the Auckland-based Composite Helicopters is wholly owned by them and other share-holders from New Zealand.

The team has been strength-ened by the addition of Norbert Idelon from France’s test pilot school (EPNER) and Colin Palmer, a composites expert formerly with Americas Cup Team New Zealand. Norbert will take over test pilot duties allowing Maloney to focus on the engineering aspects of flight testing.

Said Maloney: “Colin Palmer will lead our very experienced composites team. The addition of these very experienced and quali-fied people provides industry with a clear indication of our intended development direction.”

The ambition is that the compa-ny will progress steadily from offer-ing the first helicopters in kit form, building toward the establishment of a helicopter production line with more complex aircraft. However by starting out with a helicopter in kit form, Peter Maloney said that it will appeal to experimental amateur builders of private aircraft, allow-ing the company to generate more revenue. This will lead future sales into the light corporate market and eventually the general commercial sector. Said Peter: “It will be an ‘easy to build’ helicopter with techno-logical support provided direct by the company’s engineering staff.”

The kit will come with 20 major components including airframe, cabin floor, internal beams and bulkheads. There are around 22 secondary components that com-prise carbon fiber doors and bulk hatches. It has been designed spe-cifically to meet FAA Part 27 (air-craft under 7,000 lb and with less than nine passengers – the KC518 will accommodate 5 to 6 people).

According to the company there are numerous benefits to this type of kit helicopter: the manufacturing process is quick and the assembly is straightforward and sequential. The airframe itself is light, the hold-ing fixtures are easily set up within the fuselage and there are no bolted joints. The basic price for the ini-tial kit is $335,000 although a fully

completed helicopter will come to just under $400,000. Leanne Maloney claims that the company has designed the world’s first all-composite, single turbine heli-copter. “It is a rapid build carbon/kevlar hybrid helicopter,” she says. The main and tail rotor blades are carbon fiber; the same carbon fiber as in high tech sports boats (hence Palmer) and new commercial jets, and are not subject to corrosion. It is designed to be a lightweight, high speed airframe with a robust transmission.”

Due to its design and the materi-als used, the company claims that the time between overhauls will be nearly twice that of other helicop-ters, resulting in appreciably lower direct operating costs for owners.

This year the third and fourth aircraft incorporate further refine-ments focusing on the basic fun-damentals of weight, strength and the cosmetic look of the aircraft. “We are currently awaiting the new composite main rotor blades [MRBs],” said Maloney.

The prototype KC 001 was fit-ted with aluminum MRBs using an 8-inch chord. “We did this to reduce our ‘build to flight’ time to a minimum,” he said. “Our new MRB’s are carbon-fiber with a 9.5-inch chord and designed to be ‘on condition.’ KC flew very nicely with the aluminum main rotor blades, however the design has always


Eastern Innovations

“We were hands and feet off

all controls and the helicopter

remained stable until the ro-

tors passed through a change

in air density.”– Peter Maloney



included the on-condition carbon fiber main rotor blades. Ray Prouty, a recognized helicopter main rotor expert, recommended the choice of airfoil used for the MRBs. Along with the development of the new carbon-fiber MRBs, we are expect-ing a significant increase in perfor-mance. While this is not necessary for the entry-level KC helicopter, it is an important design factor with future higher-powered derivatives. These new carbon-fiber MRB’s are designed for a gross weight of 4000lbs and MCP of 450 shp.”

From the basic design of the original KC518, the plan moving forward will be to evolve new heli-copters with an increased seating capacity and greater performance. However, the immediate need is to obtain FAA certification, which should take a further three years to

complete.Director Tim Pike made a pre-

diction that “we will do with Com-posite Helicopter what the PC did for the computing industry.”

The second KC518 airframe was built with the express pur-pose of being used as an exhibit at airshows and aviation gatherings around the world and, according to Leanne, was positively received. Proof that a new project can get off the ground, although on a different scale, was demonstrated recently by Swiss-company Marenco Swis-shelicopter when it revealed its SKYe SH09 at the end of 2013, then showed it at this year’s Heli-Expo in Los Angeles. So contrary to general belief, a new breed of innovators do exist who are seeing opportunities within the world’s rotorcraft mar-kets from a different perspective to

that of the world renowned OEMs.As for confidence in the prog-

ress being made on his “Kay Cee,” Maloney says that he looks forward “to every flight like a kid with a new toy.” That’s the pioneer spirit.

Australian Manned/Unmanned Pioneers Look to Agriculture Not ISR

Australian 2007 start-up company CoaX Helicopters Limited, based in Warnervale, NSW, is focused on developing a range of small coaxial rotor systems that can be either piloted or unmanned. CoaX is designing the rotorcraft with technology that is already available, which it intends to manufacture and sell to the home and interna-tional markets. The manned option

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Eastern Innovations


they will initially be available as a single seat version with later devel-opment toward two and four seat configurations. Power options will range from turbine, twin diesel to potentially electric motors.

In a discussion with Rob Rich, secretary of the Australian Helicop-ter Industry Association (AHIA), Peter Batten, managing director, CoaX Helicopters said that the development program was ongo-ing and therefore pricing had not been established. “Our final tech-nological challenge is to fit the Hirth engine. We anticipate this will take around 12 months before we are ready for our first release, the 17-foot Naked Sports Experi-mental Class helicopter,” he said, adding that further investment

would be advantageous.Company statements claim that

the coaxial design with the lack of a tail rotor “makes these craft more

stable, more maneuverable, quieter, safer and provides a better power to weight ratio.” They also claim lower running costs. CoaX Helicopters ALEA_EXPO14Rotor&Wingad_Layout 1 1/8/14 10:06 AM Page 1

Hybrid RotorWing from StopRotor

Technology. Photo courtesy of StopRotor



intends to provide an after-sales service together with financing and leasing options.

Speaking at the Heli Pacific conference in 2012, Batten said that it had been necessary to rewrite the initial strategic plan and that the company would focus on civil applications rather than military due in particular to the current potential for “on-off ” military budgets which would significantly impact any develop-ment plan.

This involved the optimization of the aerodynamics and power plants in particular. He said that the reliability target was 2,000 hours mean time between overhauls (TBO), although the blades would be less.

Batten’s belief is that agriculture employing unmanned systems, particularly in large countries such as China, would welcome such a light unmanned aircraft that could perform routine yet precision tasks within an area. He observes that while most military unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are currently devoted to intelligence, surveil-lance and reconnaissance (ISR), his platform would be out there “doing the job” carrying weight for agricul-tural applications such as spraying, seed laying and other industry

sector uses that could also include a variety of monitoring tasks.

CoaX Helicopters sees the potential of several variants of its flying prototype, from a manned platform with a payload of around 100 kg to a larger UAS carrying in excess of 300 kg with several hours of flight time.

The autopilot would be provid-ed by Australian company Cyber Technologies and Batten add that the Defense Science and Technol-ogy Organization (DSTO) found that the system was “unparalleled in its accuracy.” It is already Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) compliant.

Hybrid Heli-Plane or Aero-Copter?When is a plane not a plane? When it’s a helicopter. When is it neither? When it’s a RotorWing. That is the name of the concept designed by Sydney based StopRo-tor Technology. Covered before in Rotor & Wing, the company is developing a prototype aircraft that can transition between fixed and rotary wing f light. It uses existing technology with common fail-safe operations.

As a transition in forward flight was found to be difficult due to airflow being experienced over the

rotor blades, but can be accom-plished if the aircraft is in a high angle of attack. Stopping and start-ing the rotor blades needs a stable environment with symmetrical airflow acting on the rotor.

A series of successful flights have demonstrated not only regu-lar fixed and rotary wing flights including takeoff and landing, but also fixed and rotary flight in tran-sition and fixed to rotary wing in-flight conversion.

The first flight test that incorpo-rated an in-flight transition between the fixed and rotary dimensions took place last year with a two-meter-long prototype. The transi-tion is achieved by unlocking the RotorWing during a descent so that it could enter helicopter mode. Rowan Watkins, company founder declared the inflight transition to be a “key milestone in our develop-ment.” However, further invest-ment is sought. StopRotor Tech-nology’s ambition is to continue to develop this hybrid technology and demonstrate its safe conver-sion between fixed and rotary wing operation while in-flight. Objec-tives include: “demonstrating entry into and exit from the transition envelope, demonstrating sustained stable flight at high angles of attack in the transition envelope, demon-strating the stopped rotor transi-tion between flight modes, and demonstrating stopped RotorWing enabling technologies”

Further developments will include looking into alternative sources of power and a modern computer management system.

Missions will include those where the versatility of a VTOL aircraft can be mixed with the need for fixed wing range and the abil-ity to hover. Users will look to see how it might perform with mission systems such as ISR pods, among others.

CoaX aircraft in flight. Photo courtesy of CoaX Helicopters

from

The Definitive Source of Worldwide Rotorcraft Procurement Intelligence and Insight

Spring 2014 rotorandwing.com

U.S. Navy Buys Five Additional MQ-8Cs

Australia Retires Sea King Fleet

SAR & FIRE TRAINING

MILITARY INSIDER

M2 W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M

By Andrew Drwiega

Military Insider

On April 8, Gen. Frank Grass, chief of the Nation-al Guard Bureau, seemed to have conceded to the

Senate Armed Services Commit-tee what was always going to be an unwinnable fight against the sequestration-caused reshaping of U.S. Army Aviation; that the Guard could not keep its Boeing Apaches. The Guard will hand over its 192 AH-64 Apaches to the regular force while gaining 111 Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks in return – a combination of modernized UH-60Ls and new UH-60Ms. But at the same meeting, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno presented figures derived from the Aviation Restructure Initiative (ARI) that showed a saving of around $12 bil-lion through fiscal year 2017. With the Army downsizing in numbers and with a new expeditionary force structure in mind, the cuts had to be made. Let’s not forget the regular Army Aviation force is taking hits too, losing three combat aviation brigades. Pre-sequestration the Army’s research had indicated a minimum need for 15 CABs – this has now been hacked back to only 10. Gen. Odierno reminded everyone that between FY12 and FY21 the Department of Defense (DoD) was scheduled to take $900 billion in budget reductions, of which the Army’s share was $265 billion. More specifically, under the ARI the active component of Army would absorb 86 percent of the total reductions (687 of 798)

with only 14 percent (111 of 798) from the Guard and Reserve com-ponents. “The active Army’s overall helicopter fleet will decline by about 23 percent, and the Army National Guard’s fleet of helicop-ters will decline by approximately 8 percent,” he said. The stand of the Guard certainly attracted sup-port of Congressman Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), who introduced a bill to set up a National Commission to investigate the ARI. There was also logic to the argument that it should keep its attack helicopter capability and skills. Hadn’t they just proved their worth in over a decade of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan? With reserves in the more modern armies around the world now being called upon for increased commit-ment but without the financial allo-cations usually attributed to regular forces, the possibility that reserves could be gradually – well, quickly if huge cuts continue to be made – be turned into “paper tigers” has to be avoided at all costs.

The Guard’s absence of a rotary attack capability will have a ripple effect across the whole Army, not just the reserve component. Training must be put in place to ensure that the reserve component does not lose sight of the developing operational capability of the Apache force (partic-ularly manned-unmanned teaming, or MUM-T). However, the reduc-tion in monthly flying hours that will impact Army Aviation aircrews once the withdrawal from Afghanistan is complete, is going to narrow training

availability as well as currency skills. They will now need to be available to train with reserve forces as well as the regular force elements. Not everything can be achieved through synthetic simulation.

But the greater danger to all reserve forces is that they will be asked to fulfill the same role as that of their regular colleagues, but with-out the same financial commitment allocated to regular active soldiers. As an example, the British Minis-try of Defence (MoD) is currently engaged in restructuring the mili-tary into Army 2020. This will entail the building up of the Volunteer Force from its current level of 19,000 to an anticipated strength of 30,000 soldiers. While this is happening, the regular Army will reduce in size to 82,000. The vision is that: “The changing nature of the Reserves presents an opportunity for the Army to be integrated by design, with the Reserve used routinely, not just in extreme circumstances.” So in reality to achieve this they should be as well trained in virtually all aspects of soldiering as the regular force. Herein rests the comprehensive challenge: to deliver an equal effect across two different levels of force structure – while the government’s treasury benefits from the money saved. Unless specific reserves are trained for specific tasks and mis-sions, maintaining their ability to deliver an equal capability across all scenarios would seem to be an unrealistic and potentially danger-ous ambition.

Taking Hits, WhileTrouble Lies Ahead

ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | MAY 2014

MILITARY | POLICY

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Mil Insider by Andrew Drwiega M2

Australia Retires Sea King Fleet M6

SAR Extreme Maritime Challenge M8

Military Report

The Department of National Defense (DND) for the Philippines has begun the acquisition process for two brand new anti-submarine helicopters. It will be the first time the small republic has sought to procure helicopters for such a mission.

The two anti-submarine helicopters will primarily be “ship-based with mission-essential equipment,” said Lt. Cmdr. Gregory Fabic, a spokesperson for the Philip-pine Navy.

The invitation to bid on the P5.4-billion ($120 bil-lion) contract, which will include integrated logistics support, will be opened to both local and foreign rotor-craft manufacturers. A pre-bid conference to familiar-ize potential contractors with the requirements has tentatively been scheduled for April 24 at the DND’s Camp Aguinaldo headquarters in Queson City.

The proposed acquisition of the two helicopters, how-ever, did not come without controversy. Rep. Rodolpho Albano III of the Philippines House of Representatives wanted his legislative colleagues to scrutinize the need for the aircraft more closely if not cancel the process alto-gether – before moving forward with bid invitations.

“What do we need those anti-submarine choppers for?” asked Albano. “Do communist guerillas and the remaining [religious] separatists possess submarines, or are we preparing for a possible confrontation with China?” He went on to suggest that the money could be put to better use equipping ground soldiers with new uniform clothing items.

The deadline for submission of a bid is April 24, with delivery of goods required within 730 days of contract award. —By Ernie Stephens, Editor-at-Large

Philippines Dept of National Defense Opens Bids for New Helicopters

Both the British and French governments have finally confirmed an $830 million (£500-million) investment into MBDA’s helicopter launched anti-ship missile, the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon (Heavy) (FASGW(H)), which is alternatively known as the Anti-Navire Leger (Light Anti-Ship) or ANL in France.

The project was jointly announced in March 2008 with a Statement of Intent signed in January 2009. But he missile has been extensively delayed which has been mainly attributed to the French government’s lack of an immediate requirement for the missile which has caused problems for the Royal Navy (RN), placing a seri-ous question on how workable such joint projects can ever be given different priorities and budget allocations.

Thales UK, the developer of the FASGW (Light) missile is also waiting for a contract from the ministry of defense. This missile too is unlikely to be ready before 2020 leaving the AW159 without an important part of its strike capability. FASGW is intended to replace the RN’s old Sea Skua, which was to have been taken out of service around 2015.

Investment is split with the UK’s Ministry of Defense paying £280 million with France paying the remainder. The 100-kg missile will be used by the Navy’s new ver-sion of the Lynx, the AW159 Wildcat helicopters that

are beginning to come into service. However they will not be armed with the missile until around 2020.

Minister for defense equipment, support and technology Philip Dunne commented that the devel-opment would bring 200 jobs to the UK and was an indication of the strengthening relationship over joint procurement between the two countries. FASGW(H) will be suitable for use against small and medium maritime targets, particularly fast attack craft between 50-500 tons. The French Navy will use the missile on its Airbus Helicopter AS565 Panther helicopters and later with its NH90s. —By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief

Britain, France Confirm Investment in MBDA’s FASGW(H) Missile

Graphic showing a Wildcat firing a FASGW missile.

Rendering courtesy of UK MoD

APRIL 2013 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINEW W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M M5

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MILITARY INSIDER | NEWS

M6 ROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | MAY 2014 W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M

Royal Australian Navy Retires Last Six Helicopters in Westland Sea King Fleet

The Royal Australian Navy’s last six Westland Sea Kings have been removed from storage at HMAS Albatross, Nowra, NSW, and trans-ported to Port Kembla for export to the UK, where they will be broken up for parts by Aerospace Logistics (ASL).

The Sea Kings were withdrawn from RAN service in December 2011 and replaced by the MRH-90 helicopters. The Sea King was considered the workhorse of the RAN for over 36 years, logging more than 60,000 flying hours in 817 Squadron.

The type played a key role in RAN’s contribution to disaster relief and humanitarian assistance in Australia and overseas, with domestic mis-sions including firefighting in the Sydney fires of 1994, one of the largest fire-fighting efforts in the country’s history; rescue missions at sea, includ-ing the 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race; and one of its last missions rescuing people from the Queensland floods of 2010/2011.

The Sea King fuselages were wrapped in heat-shrink plastic to pro-tect them and transported on low-load trailers. ASL provides specialist services in the supply, refurbishment, exchange, repair, maintenance and overhaul of aircraft parts. The Sea King inventory will be used to support capability of international military and search and rescue fleets.

A seventh Sea King is being preserved at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Nowra. The helicopter, Shark 07, was selected as it has the most operational history in the fleet, having served in the Middle East and East Timor. —By Emma Kelly, Australia and Pacific Correspondent

RAF Chinook Pilot, Aircrew Recognized with DFC Operational AwardsAnother Royal Air Force (RAF) Chinook pilot, Flight Lt. Charlie Lockyear, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) for operations in Afghanistan with Master Aircrew (MACR) Bob Sunder-land receiving a Mention in Dispatches during the same action.

While on a mission in May 2013 to insert British forces the Boe-ing Chinook came under fire from insurgents. The incoming fire wounded MACR Sunderland and disabled the Chinook’s radio and intercom. Still under fire, Flight Lt. Lockyear aborted the mission but due to the lack of radio was not aware that some troops had already disembarked the aircraft and were engaged with the enemy.

However, aware of the damage to the aircraft, Lockyear once again landed the aircraft to extract the troops on the ground. During this time MACR Sutherland engaged the insurgents with suppress-ing fire from the helicopter despite his wounds.

Flight Lt. Lockyear flew the damaged aircraft, which also had bullet hits on the rotor blades, back to Camp Bastion where the injured could be treated. — By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief

Safety Culture Spreads Throughout UK MilitaryThe success of the United Kingdom’s Military Aviation Authority (MAA) is being regarded as a model for wider application of its principles across all arms of the military with the planned creation of a Defense Safety Authority. “We publish without approval – we don’t let other people mark our homework,” said the director general of the UK’s MAA, Air Marshal Dick Garwood. Speaking at a briefing to the Air Power Association, at the RAF Club in London, Garwood was reporting on how the MAA had developed since it was established in April 2011 in response to the Haddon-Cave Nimrod XV230 review.

This review by was triggered when a Royal Air Force (RAF) Nimrod MR2 exploded while on a mission over Afghanistan on Sept. 2, 2006, killing all 14 personnel on board. Among the findings of the subsequent investigation led by a senior British judge, Sir Charles Haddon-Cave, were that aircraft safety concerns had been overlooked to cut costs, which had resulted in a “systemic breach of the military covenant.”

Now Garwood reports directly to the Sec-retary of State, not the Chief of the Defense Staff or any military superior. Garwood stated that he did not believe that the MAA’s work had developed an insidious safety culture and, if anything, “the pendulum has swung slightly back after stringent safety application since 2011.” Now, he added, “we enforce the rules, which has come as a slight shock to some.” But he revealed that time between fatalities had significantly improved, averaging one fatality every five months to one every nine months although the last fatality had been nearly two years ago. Garwood said there was now a wider culture of understanding operating risk against operational risk. “Safety does not get in the way of operational freedoms – we can go to war,” he asserted.

Overall, Garwood said that people within the military now understood risk and that there was accountability. “You can’t quantify value for money, but the culture is changing. Duty holders and operators are compliant but we have some way to go with duty holder fac-ing organizations.” He said that around 12,000 reports per year were being generated and that his organization was continually improving how they were received and used. The main question on safety that everyone needs to ask, he says is: “Have you done all that is reasonable to do?” The ongoing strategic air safety risk that MAA is studying involves the potential for mid-air collisions, the shortfall in suitably qualified and experience persons (SQEPs), the cumula-tive effect of defense change initiatives and the effect of the redeployment home of forces in Afghanistan. —By Andrew Drwiega

One of six Sea Kings in transit through Nowra.

Photo courtesy Australian Navy

W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M 7MARCH 2012 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINEMAY 2014 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINEW W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M M7

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Two recent tragic incidents have revealed the chal-lenges of searching for, and rescuing people from,

aircraft or vessels that get into difficulties in the maritime envi-ronment.

In the case of Malaysian Airlines MH370, the challenge was actu-ally tracking and locating where it had gone after it ‘disappeared’ off its scheduled flight path with 227 passengers and 12 crew onboard. The slowness of tracing the likely

path of the aircraft, once the tran-sponder had been switched off, left many professionals mystified as to how this occurred – losing an air-liner belonging to a major airline.

The mystery deepened when it was revealed that Inmarsat’s

MILITARY | SEARCH AND RESCUE

How two of the latest tragedies in the SAR world could be

repeated in different circumstances in the Arctic.

By Andrew Drwiega, International Bureau Chief

EXTREME MARCHALLENGES

MAY 2014 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINEW W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M M9

Extreme Maritime SAR

onboard satellite communications systems had been ‘pinging’ satellites for several hours after the tran-sponder was switched off. After verifying the ‘true’ track of the aircraft, the technology providers sent the information to the airline which then allowed search forces to be guided into the southern Indian Ocean where, at time of writing, over six weeks after its disappear-ance the precise location of the aircraft has still not been verified.

The search for MH370 is now

the most expensive search and recov-ery operation (as there seems to be nobody to rescue) i n histor y. The search now moves into an underwa-ter phase with the deployment of the U.S. Navy’s Blue-fin 21 autonomous underwater vehi-cle (AUV) ,which can scan the sea-bed, albeit at a maximum of 150 meters across.

The sinking of the Republic of Korea ferry Sewol, again at time of writing less than a week after the inci-dent, seems to have claimed hundreds of lives many of whom are school children.

Current reports indicate that out of the 475 people o n b o a r d , 3 3 9 were students and teachers. To date only 174 have been rescued.

Strong currents have been reported by divers on the scene and this together with the temperature of the water 12 degrees C (54 degrees F), appears to be one of the reasons why the captain of the ferry broadcast mes-sages stating that people should remain where they were – many of whom were inside the vessel. The children onboard would likely have followed the advice given to them by adults, perhaps one of the reasons why more people did not make their way outside the ship.

The ferry was on a well-travelled route from the main port at Incheon to Jeju Island, a well-known resort to the south of the mainland. While not speculating on the reasons for the sinking, it is known through the release of a transcription of conversations between the ferry’s bridge and the Korean Coast Guard that the ship had begun taking on water by 9:00 am on April 16. By 9:30 am the ferry had a 60-degree list with passengers beginning to be rescued by small boats. How-ever, the Korean Coast Guard has released the transcription of radio conversations between Jindo Ves-sel Traffic Services Center (VTS) on Jindo island and the ferry during the crucial period in the emergency after 9:00 am.

It shows that despite the rapidly sinking ferry, there were still major concerns onboard about advising passengers to abandon the ship and get into the sea with the hope that surrounding ships would then be able to rescue them.

9:25 a.m. JINDO VTS: The evacu-ation of people on board Sewol ferry ... the captain should make a decision about evacuating them. We don’t know the situation there. The captain should make the final deci-sion and decide quickly whether to evacuate passengers or not.

9:26 a.m. SEWOL: I’m not talking about that. I asked, if they evacu-ate now, can they be rescued right away?JINDO VTS: Patrol boats will be there in less than 10 minutes.SEWOL: In 10 minutes?

By 9:38am there was no more communication with the ferry and by the time the first helicopter rescue occurred around 9:45am, the ferry had rolled over and people were on and around the upturned hull.

ARITIME S-70B Seahawk launches as a refueling probe is

transferred while both ships are deployed in search of

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Photo courtesy of RAN


An early summary of this disas-ter reveals: the ferry was travelling a known route; weather conditions were not extreme or abnormal; the ferry had good communications with the authorities; less than an hour passed between the declara-tion of an emergency and the ferry capsizing with the superstruc-ture fully emerged into the water; instructions were issued for people to remain where they were in the ship during critical periods; the location was not remote and res-cue service and other vessels were quickly on the scene but did not have an opportunity to rescue the majority of the passengers for rea-sons that are still emerging.

Cruising in the Arctic: the SAR ChallengeThe Sewol ferry disaster illustrates just how quickly an emergency can escalate into a full search and rescue (SAR) recovery operation even in benign conditions and with emergency rescue services and other vessels willing to assist rela-tively close at hand.

Less than a week earlier, several speakers at IQPC’s Search and Res-cue Europe conference (April 8-9) held in Copenhagen, Denmark, revealed their concerns about the number of vessels entering the polar circle in the Arctic, particu-larly cruise ships now able to ven-ture further north than ever before due to the receding polar ice sheet.

Most of the SAR specialists present with responsibility for the region agreed that it is only a matter of when, not if, an accident occurs that will place many lives, possibly thousands, in grave danger.

Maj. Gen. Stig Nielsen, com-mander, Arctic Command of the Royal Danish Defence Force, said the increasing incursion of cruise ships around Greenland, a few with the capacity to carry over 3,000 passengers and crew, posed a major

challenge in keeping them safe, particularly as most of the vessels were not ice protected and were entering waters that have still not been properly mapped. Weather was also going to be a crucial fac-tor in an emergency and Nelson was quick to illustrate how it could cause an emergency, or hamper the rescue services: “We have 1,900 low pressures in a year coming over the area. With climate change the ice is pulling back. The wind (speeds) are higher, we are seeing wave heights we haven’t seen before – some up to 30 meters in the Denmark Strait. It is a very hostile environment.”

“No matter what precautions, someday there will be an accident,” he predicted. However, agreements with the cruise ship operators now mean that there is the ability to monitor their position virtually continuously to look out for poten-tial dangers in advance.

The official tourist site of Green-land is eager to encourage people to join such cruises. On its web-site, Greenland.com, it builds up expectation of sailing into poten-tially dangerous waters: “Those travelling by sea enjoy sailing along Greenland’s coasts to see icebergs of different shapes and sizes; from small transparent ice floes to colos-sal 100-meter-high (330-foot-high) icebergs. Do not forget that you only see about one tenth of the iceberg above the surface of the

water – the rest has to be left to your imagination.”

The challenge to SAR agencies would be rescuing a volume of people from such a hostile envi-ronment. Nielsen said that with a population of 57,000, mainly on the southwest side of Greenland, there were only two police helicopters with 2.2 million square kilometers to cover. In Denmark we have three helicopters to cover an area 50 times smaller.” Any other helicopter support would have to come from naval ships that would be unlikely to be in the vicinity. But anyone having to enter the water would have minutes, not hours, to be rescued. Compared to the waters around the Korean ferry which has a temperature of 12 degrees C (54 degrees F) with around 90 minutes before hypothermia set in, the waters off Greenland are less than 0 degrees C (32 degrees F) so hypothermia begins to set in almost immediately.

Rear Admiral Georg Larusson, director general, Icelandic Coast Guard, shared Nielson’s fears. “With new Polar shipping routes through the Arctic, and more cruise ships and oil and gas tankers, there is far more traffic than before.” Larusson said that the number of cruise ship passengers to Iceland had increased 300 percent in the last three years.

The Coast Guard currently operate three AS332-L1 Super

MILITARY | SEARCH AND RESCUE

Tiger75, an S-70B-2 Seahawk, launches to port off HMAS Toowoomba, to conduct a

surface search as part of the Flight MH370 recovery effort. Photo courtesy Australian RAN

MAY 2014 | ROTOR & WING MAGAZINEW W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O M M11

Pumas, two of which are leased. In 2013 they flew 185 missions, 54 of which were over the sea. The mission breakdown was: SAR 39 percent, HEMS 46 percent and “Other” 15 percent. Larus-son said that the influx of tourists had resulted in an increase in the number of missions, some due to the fact that people were not aware of how quickly the environment could turn against them. There is a plan to evaluate these helicopter operations with the aim of secur-ing three to four new helicopters between 2018-2020.

One of the points made dur-ing the conference was that in such extreme circumstances, an international rescue plan would be coordinated. That would almost certainly involve the Arctic Search and Rescue Agreement (formally the Agreement on Cooperation for Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue in the Arctic), an inter-national treaty that came into force on Jan. 19, 2013, after it had been ratified by each of the eight signa-tory states (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Rus-sia, Sweden and the U.S.). The agreement has established areas of primary SAR responsibility and has overcome the sensitive issue of territorial claims with the provision that “the delimitation of search and

rescue regions is not related to and shall not prejudice the delimitation of any boundary between States or their sovereignty, sovereign rights or jurisdiction.”

One of the countries with expe-rience of, and great exposure to, the Arctic is Canada. Lt. Col. Chris Conway, director of Air Require-ments 2, Royal Canadian Air Force, revealed Canada places the Coast Guard as the lead agency in terms of maritime SAR. Given that, Can-ada had only four fixed-wing (three CC130 Hercules and one CCII Buf-falo) and four rotary assets (CH149 Cormorants – versions of the AgustaWestland AW101) that are dedicated SAR assets for the whole geographical area of Canada.

Conway made the point that because of great distances within the Canadian geographic area, “we end up choosing an aerial fixed-wing delivery platform over a rotary wing recovery platform. The first point of response will most likely be fixed-wing.”

One of the national SAR prob-lems is that the bulk of Canada does not have cell phone coverage so, unlike other countries such those in Europe, people needing rescue cannot get out their cell phone and make a call. It is also primar-ily land focused. He also made the point: “You can launch from south-

ern Ontario in plus 25 degrees C and travel into minus 25 degrees.” He said that this drives the way in which Canada will respond to remote SAR missions. A fixed wing rapid delivery of men and equip-ment and then we will figure out the recovery after that.”

Nielson helped to illustrate the type of SAR emergencies that occur in the Greenland area, from people lost on the land to aircraft in distress and boats of various sizes in distress. “There are many hunters and fisherman in small boats who sometime sail alone. Most inci-dents in south and west are because that is where the people can get to and most are because encounters with ice. There were 348 people in distress 2013,” compared to 263 in 2012; 233 in 2011; and 199 in 2010].

He help e d command the SAREX Greenland Sea exercise in 2013. Its aim was to train the SAR organizations of the eight Arctic Nations in a live exercise providing SAR cooperation training to all par-ticipants in a remote Arctic envi-ronment. It involved a search for, and evacuation of, a missing cruise ship. An extra element added in a pollution contamination factor.

“What did we learn?” asked Nielson. “That communications is always a problem, especially fur-ther north. The value of fixed-wing aircraft in the search phase and the recognition that satellites could be helpful. A common SAR log was needed.”

Tore Wangsfjord, director of the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Norway, summarized the diffi-culties of SAR operations in regions such as the Arctic. “Many incidents outside of range of SAR helicopters. We need to make arrangements to refuel them (off oil rigs, ships involved, etc.) for extended opera-tions. That all takes time – which is the main challenge in the north. It may take 24 hours before you reach people in distress.”

Extreme Military SAR

Royal Australian Navy S-70B-2 Seahawk on the tarmac at RAAF Base. Courtesy RAAF



“If a man is in need of rescue, an airplane can come

in and throw flowers on him, and that’s just about all.

But a direct lift aircraft could come in and save his

life.” ~Igor Sikorsky

By Dale Smith

Sikorsky Matrix: Advancing Autonomy to Higher Levels

It seems like autonomous helicopters or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are all the rage these days. From

individual UAVs being turned into package deliverers to a swarm of small quad-copters playing the James Bond theme, it seems like there is no limit to what we’re going to ask these small rotorcraft to do.

And while, from a technological standpoint, many of these accom-plishments are pretty amazing, other than a public-relations grab or pure entertainment, few are of any measurable benefit.

Thankfully though, company founder Igor Sikorsky’s dream of giving vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft – even those oper-ated without pilots on board – the capabilities to serve mankind’s greater good is alive an well in the form of the Matrix Technology.

Matrix is Sikorsky ’s major research program to develop, test and field systems and software that will significantly improve the capabilities, reliabilities, and safety of flight for autonomous, optionally piloted and piloted VTOL aircraft.

“What we are basically trying to do is to automate a lot of things in current VTOL machines that the human (pilot) now has to do,” explained Igor Cherepinsky, chief engineer on Sikorsky’s Autono-mous Program. “You can think of it like the old days when you got on an elevator and there was an opera-tor there to run it. It was too com-plicated for an untrained person to do safely.”

“As automation advanced, you did not need that operator any lon-ger. You just push a button,” he con-tinued. “We are working to bring the same advancement to the pilot/aircraft interface. We’re saying it doesn’t really matter where the human being is – but there needs to be human interface at some level

– but that human can either be in the aircraft or at a remote location. It doesn’t really matter.”

Cherepinsky said that with Matrix, instead of the pilot having to worry about sticks, rudders, cyclics, collectives and the like, he is able to concentrate on “managing the mission.”

This is ultimately what Matrix is all about, he explained. “But like any new technology it has an upward spiral development path. We need to start by making the machines autonomous and more reliable at lower levels (capabilities) and build up from there.”

As Sikorsky’s vice president of research and engineering, Mark Miller stated in a recent presenta-tion: “The game-changing Matrix Technology we are developing and testing will provide orders-of-magnitude improvements in sys-tem intelligence and contingency management to ensure high levels of reliability, and ultimately, make unmanned missions by helicopters and other VTOL aircraft of all sizes highly affordable,” he said.

Both Cherepinsky and Miller stressed that improving the air-craft’s reliability and, more impor-tantly, safety are the foundation of the program’s efforts. Of course if any of the autonomous aircraft have read Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics: much of this would not be a problem. But we know that as smart as they are, autonomous vehicles can’t read. But, I digress…

Cherepinsky explained that the current industry loss rate for unmanned aircraft is right around one-per-1,000-hours of operations. That’s way too high to allow any meaningful UAV applications.

“They’re maturing but most are single- or dual-strand systems. They don’t have enough redun-dancy to really sustain high-tempo


Sikorsky Matrix


Sikorksy Matrix Technology at AUVSI

Unmanned Systems in 2013. Photo by

Woodrow Bellamy III



lossless flight,” he said. “Our goal is to improve that loss rate to one-in-100,000 flight hours. The com-bination of our robust architecture, multi-level contingency manage-ment and advanced system intel-ligence algorithms will enable that transformation.”

He continued: “We have to bring autonomy into the vehicle in a very reliable fashion and to enable the pilot to become a mission operator. Pilots are never going to disappear, but their role is going to change. There are lots of missions where humans don’t really belong on the aircraft. But, there are also lots of missions where you really do want human eyes right there in the middle of the action.”

Developing the First AI AutopilotSo by now you’re thinking, okay the “pilot” can be located hundreds, if not thousands of miles away from the Matrix-equipped UAV, that’s nothing special. Yes, they both can operate remotely or even autono-mously, but Cherepinsky stressed that that’s pretty much where the similarity ends.

“Today’s UAVs borrow a lot of

technologies from the autopilot systems used by both VTOL and fixed-wing applications. They are all waypoint-oriented in the way they operate,” he explained. “You enter a flight plan and it goes off and flies the mission. That’s all fine as long as the mission is that simple and nothing goes wrong.”

Matrix is the first system “that really allows the operator to mod-ify the mission and mission goals,” Cherepinsky stated. “For example, the operator can just say I need to get from Point A to Point B – what happens between those two points becomes totally up to the machine.”

If weather or mechanical prob-lems pop up during the mission, the Matrix-enabled UAV is free to modify its flight plan to take these issues into account when continu-ing the mission or opting to land.

“The machine itself will be able to handle all major contingencies. So if there is a single-item failure, it will be handled on board. If there is something the machine cannot cope with it will notify the opera-tors,” he said. “Instead of telling you that ‘engine one is out’ it may just say that its range or payload capac-ity has gone down or give you other immediate affects on the mission.

It’s up to the pilot/mission manager to take it from there.”

Even if your UAV is remotely-piloted, if there’s a mechanical issue and it needs to land – now – it’s nearly impossible for a “pilot” who is time-zones away to know if there’s a suitable landing site within range. From Sikorsky’s point-of-view, it would be easier, and safer to give that autonomous, task aware decision-making capability to the aircraft itself.

One of the key capabilities of the Matrix Technology is the ability for the system to autonomously find a suitable site and land the aircraft.

“The basics of any truly autono-mous helicopter is it needs the capability to understand its loca-tion, obstacles, and terrain and can actively plot a path that enables it to land in the sorts of places helicop-ters need to land in both normal and emergency situations,” Chere-pinsky said. “Pilots do it all the time. They go out to a site, locate the obstacles and plot a path around them to land safely. This is one of the first capabilities we need to give to our machine.”

“At the end of a mission or during an emergency the ‘pilot’ can either make the final decision or just let the machine proceed with no interven-tion,” he said. “That’s really the first spiral of true artificial intelligence and autonomy that we are starting to put into our products.”

How does it work? Well, Chere-pinsky said it’s still top secret and if he told us he would have to … well, you know the drill.

Anyway, while a totally self-operating helicopter may seem the stuff of science fiction, and depending on the FAA, it may well be for a long time yet, Cherepinsky said that autonomous site selec-tion and landing capabilities are an excellent addition to the cockpits of crewed helicopters.

Mike Miller with Sikorsky Innovations. Photo courtesy of Sikorsky


“One application could well be a ‘Please Land Me’ mode,” Chere-pinsky explained. “Should a pilot become incapacitated or disori-ented, he could engage the system, which will use its onboard percep-tion system to examine the imme-diate areas and locate a suitable landing spot. Once there, the pilot can choose to handle the landing or the system can do it.”

“It’s just like the autopilot flies a set flightpath today, but this is much more elaborate and intel-ligent,” he said. “We see this as a major step in eliminating CFIT (controlled flight into terrain) acci-dents. We don’t want to see another machine that is perfectly capable of flying being flown into the ground because the pilot is disorientated or cannot see.”

SARA Platform

To help put all of the Matrix Tech-nology theories into practice, Sikorsky’s engineers chose to buck the small aircraft trend and go with a full-size S-76 as its test and dem-onstration platform.

“We had done some work with small remote controlled platforms,

but those tend to be computation-ally and payload constrained and are not really representative of a real aircraft,” Cherepinsky explained. “Having the large aircraft like the S-76 has been very good for us. Using an aircraft that looks and performs like our objective vehicles enables us to tackle problems that are real and not waste time dealing with issues that only show up in smaller aircraft.”

With its new fly-by-wire con-version and Matrix Technology installed, the SARA S-76 is enabling rapid flight-testing of all of Matrix’s hardware and software, including the multi-spectral sensors.

To date, Cherepinsky said Sikorsky has completed Phase 1, while Phase 2 of the Matrix’s spiral development process is progress-ing very well.

“Phase 1 demonstrated that we can provide full autonomous operations and very accurately control the vehicle to put it where it needs to be in both position and time,” he said. “We can easily hold hover that stays within a one-foot sphere in winds gusting from 12- to 28-knots.”

Cherepinsky said that Phase 2

includes the first demonstration of Matrix’s AI capabilities. “We’ve installed a multi-level sensor system on the aircraft and that’s what we’re using to locate and avoid obstacles around landing zones,” he said. “We had some big successes with it. We recently flew over an area and iden-tified the landing zones. We didn’t land yet. We were just verifying the algorithms. We are planning a series of other demos over this year with increasing complexity in these areas.”

Cherepinsky said while a full sys-tem roll out is probably years away, he does see situations in the near-term where particular applications of the Matrix Technology “suite,” including the aforementioned “Please Land Me” mode, can be put to use by commercial and military operators in the very near future.

“Of course in the near-term the major technological transfer will be in more sophisticated auto-pilots for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft,” he said. “Eliminating CFIT is a big priority. Further, there are applications for more advanced optionally-piloted and autonomous aircraft. That may take a while – not because of tech-nology, but more from a political and certification perspective.

“We’re having ongoing conver-sations with the FAA on this tech-nology and how we will roll it into the system,” Cherepinsky said. “The FAA has been doing an excellent job trying to find ways to get UAVs integrated into the NAS (National Airspace System). It’s going to take a bit to get it all done.”

Matrix Technology “addresses the unique needs of vertical flight systems,” Miller said. “By our efforts we seek to expand the types of mis-sions that can be flown, improve the efficiency of existing missions and continue to build on the safety and reliability that has been a Sikor-sky hallmark.”

Sikorsky Matrix

Sikorsky autonomous research aircraft flying over New York. Photo courtesy of Sikorsky

PRODUCTS | SERVICES


By Ernie Stephens,Editor-at-Large

Helicopter avionics have changed dramatically in the past 10 years. Tech-nology that was once

reserved for military fighters, cor-porate jets and airliners have now found their way into the cockpits of every kind of helicopter, from

the 13,000-lb offshore transport, all the way down to the 1,000-lb entry-level piston trainer. In fact, at Heli-Expo 2008, attendees were shocked to see an aftermarket glass cockpit suite made by Grand Prai-rie, Texas-based Sagem Avionics in a two-seat helicopter. Six years later, glass now comes standard in many rotorcraft, and is a popular option in the rest.

Analog gauges, often referred to as “steam gauges,” ruled the instru-ment panels of all aircraft for nearly 80 years. But with the advent of powerful and inexpensive semi-conductors, and the clarity of liquid crystal diode displays, it became easier to combine many instru-ments onto space-efficient, yet easy to read, glass screens called multi-

function displays (MFDs). Along with advancements of glass display screen came synthetic vision sys-tems (SVS).

Loosely defined as real-time, 3D color imagery, SVS makes paper navigation products nearly obsolete. Instead, it uses a pre-loaded, internal database to cre-ate a pilot’s-eye view of the terrain the aircraft is passing over at that time.

SVS began with simple topog-raphy information that only showed mountains and water-ways. But it quickly grew to include most of the other things pilots were trying to avoid, such as power lines, transmission tow-ers, and even buildings. Engineers quickly plugged greater enhance-


Essential Equipment


Synthetic vision systems, such Rockwell Collins’ Helisure, can be an invaluable feature for

pilots who must fly in mountainous terrain where visibility can be reduced by clouds and

precipitation with little advanced warning. Photo courtesy of Rockwell Collins


PRODUCTS | SERVICES

ments into SVS capabil ities , including graphic rate-of-closure information. In essence, when the helicopter closes to within a 30-second estimated time of collision with an object, the sys-tem will paint that object or ter-rain feature yellow on the pilot’s MFD. If the aircraft remains on that course, the obstacle will be repainted in red, indicating that a collision can now occur in 20 seconds.

That visual warning, plus an audible cue, will remain activated until the pilot maneuvers the air-craft away from danger.

One drawback to SVS has always been the currency of the information depicted, in that the location of radio towers, buildings and other man-made obstructions to flight is only as up to date as the last time the information was uploaded to the onboard computer. So, an area that the SVS might be showing as clear of obstructions might now contain a 300-foot radio tower that was erected a few weeks after the data was gathered and uploaded, but a few days before the next update was installed aboard the aircraft.

One of the latest fixes to solve the problem of outdated or vague information in an SVS came from Astronics Max-Viz Enhanced Vision Systems. The Portland,

Ore.-based technology company manufactures sensors that can detect the most subtle changes in heat radiated from anything with-in its field of view. With its model 1500 device mounted to the front of a helicopter and coupled to Honeywell’s Primus Epic avionics suite, a pilot will see an infrared image overlay of everything in the aircraft’s path in daylight, dark-ness, or poor visibility.

Obstacle avoidance using IR imaging was common on fixed wing aircraft long before it appeared in helicopters. The rea-son for the delay was because of the differences in the flight charac-teristics of rotorcraft as compared to planes. In an airplane, the direc-tion that the nose is pointed – or angle of attack – is usually closely, if not exactly, related to the air-craft’s flight path.

But not so in rotorcraft. In fast forward flight, the nose of a heli-copters is often pointed down below the flight path, and some-times the nose if up at very slow speeds.

In order to meet the tough standards required for FAA Part 29 (airworthiness standards for transport category aircraft), as well as the standards of common sense, the “field of regard” seen by the sensor had to precisely show the helicopter’s flight path. This

meant having to engineer the camera to disregard the angle of attack on the fuselage, and provide information on what was in the helicopters flight path at its ever-changing attitude. Once that code was cracked, the rotorcraft com-munity could enjoy the benefits of an IR image overlay for its digitally produced SVS image.

SVS is not a product reserved for larger, more expensive aircraft, though. Many of these sophisti-cated features can now be found on smaller, less expensive helicopters and airplanes, which increases the odds of any level of pilot flying with them. “Since we introduced the Bell 407GX and the Bell 429, most of the aircraft we customize arrive with a glass cockpit,” said Dennis Carothers, avionics manager for Bell Helicopter’s completion cen-ter in Piney Flats, Tenn. But “we do have customers who purchase analog aircraft or wish to retrofit older aircraft.” And in those cases, said Carothers, the most com-mon requests if for the SVS capa-bilities found in either the Garmin G-500H or the Cobham (formerly Chelton) electronic flight informa-tion system.

With so many aircraft – both large and small – coming online with electronic instrumentation, when should a pilot be exposed to them for the first time?

(Left) Garmin’s SVS includes terrain shadowing to greater enhance the pilot’s situational awareness. (Right) Honeywell’s SVS paints hazards in

colors to give an immediate clue to the danger it presents, using red and yellow as indicators of obstacle distance. Photos by Ernie Stephens


Essential Equipment

At this year’s Heli-Expo 2014, Robinson Helicopter announced a glass cockpit with an SVS option for its popular line of trainers and small 4- and 5-seat models, while Enstrom Helicopter unveiled its new glass-equipped TH180 heli-copter trainer with the same kind of technology.

Ken Byrnes, the chairman of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Uni-versity ’s Daytona Beach f light department, oversees the school’s training aircraft. In 2006, most of his fleet was replaced with glass cockpits, and he reports that all 61 aircraft will be digital by the sum-mer July of 2014.

“This is the future; [glass cock-pits and SVS] are what they’ll be flying,” said Byrnes. “Plus, to get these aircraft manufactured with round gauges would have cost more money.”

A n d re w G a p p y, h e a d o f AgustaWestland’s Navy and Marine Corps program, agrees that basic training should now be accom-plished with digital displays and SVS. The company hopes that its newest variant of the single-engine Koala, the AW119Kx, which was designed with training military pilots in mind, will be purchased or leased by the Navy.

Gappy’s logic is simple: Since primary flight training for Navy and Marine Corps pilots is in the all-glass, T-6B airplane, the primary helicopter trainer should be all glass, too.

“When they move from the T-6B to the [helicopter trainer], which is all analog, they actually have to go back and do some kind of remedial basic instrument training because they didn’t start with gauges,” said Gappy, a former Marine Corps helicopter pilot. “And then they go to the fleet and they never see steam gauges again.”

Jim MacKay, is a high-time avia-

tor who holds FAA licenses for helicopters, airplanes, gliders, auto-gyros and balloons. His opinion of SVS and digital cockpits is molded by his extensive experience flying military, medevec, VIP and off-shore missions.

“I’ve f lown both analog and glass in many different aircraft,” said MacKay, who currently pilots multi-engine Airbus and Bell heli-copters. “And an integrated glass cockpit with SVS is the best for safe, efficient, single-pilot IFR.”

For more information, call Wright’s Media at 877.652.5295 or

visit our website at www.wrightsmedia.com

Logo Licensing | ReprintsEprints | Plaques

Leverage branded content from Rotor & Wing to create a

more powerful and sophisticated statement about your

product, service, or company in your next marketing

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Content Licensing for Every Marketing Strategy

Marketing solutions it for:

• Outdoor

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Western European Impact Operators—This month we launch a new series of feature stories,

which we will be running throughout the year, where

we examine a particular region of the world and look for

helicopter operators there who are making a significant

impact in their area of expertise. The impact may come in

many forms – the exceptional service they are providing,

an exemplary safety record, a particularly unique mission

… large or small, we look for operators who are making a

difference and share their stories. For the June issue, we

focus on SAR operator Swedish Coastguard, along with

an offshore operator and a police/EMS unit.

Farnborough Preview—We query industry sup-

pliers to provide a glimpse into the new and interesting

products for helicopter operators that are likely to be

announced and on display at this year’s Farnborough

International Airshow. In addition to all the major OEMs,

we’ll talk with some of the support companies in Europe

that will offer products and services at the show.

Engineering Change(s)—We take a look at

how the changing military procurement process with

its heavy reliance on quasi off-the-shelf solutions and

increasing reluctance to fund rotorcraft R&D, together

with an ever more complex regulatory environment and

bogged-down approval process in the commercial mar-

ketplace is impacting the future of the rotorcraft market

for better and worse.

Drone Dead—When CEO Jeff Bezos uncovered

Amazon’s dream of using small drones to deliver pack-

ages, half the world started looking out their windows.

Helicopter pilots are starting to look over their shoulders.

How much longer can they expect to be in a cockpit as

opposed to sitting in front of a video game console on

the ground? Hank Perritt and Eliot Sprag conduct an

investigation of the mechanisms for sharing public safety

helicopters. They’re not looking over their shoulders.

Essential Equipment Options—This month

we present primary product options when you are in the

market to purchase the following equipment:

• Tugs and Dollies• Emergency Locator Transmitters (ELTs)

Columns—Leading Edge by Frank Lombardi; Back Shop by Douglas Nelms; Safety Watch by Terry Terrell; and Military Insider by Andrew Drwiega

June 2014: World Spotlight – Western Europe Impact Operators

Bonus Distribution: Eurosatory, June 16-20 in Paris, France. Heli-UK Expo, June 3-4 in Northampton. European Helicopter Show, June 19-21 in the Czech Republic.



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Public ServicePublic ServiceBy Lee Benson

TRAINING | FIREFIGHTING

As LA County Fire transi-tioned into its first two standard model 412s, we suffered from a series of

issues with the Sperry automatic flight control system (AFCS). Sperry had been brought out, teeth had been ground, swear words had been used, but the answer to why the aircraft would occasionally get uncommanded tail rotor inputs was only partially understood. We were working through this problem. Unfortunately, the occurrence was rare enough that diagnosing the problem was very difficult.

One fine day I was dispatched to an accident on the 605 freeway when I pulled to a high hover to turn 180 degrees and depart the scene. The helicopter went into a soft side to side motion for about five seconds, which subsided by itself. About 10 seconds later it did the same thing again a little harder, so I parked. Long story short, this result-ed in shutting down all but one lane for two hours. Lots of people going by, rolling down their windows and proclaiming what wonderful sunny beaches we enjoy in Southern California made it less than enter-taining. A maintenance team came out and after an extensive examina-tion of the aircraft, it was cleared to return to base. A week or so later FAA informed us that the crew had released the aircraft without the appropriate Maintenance Manual .

A couple of years later, I was flying one of our two standard Bell 412s FDH (fat dumb and happy) at 1,000 feet AGL, going 120 knots,

when the aircraft had a significant yaw excursion to the left followed by the nose rapidly swinging to the right. The immediate corrective action was to disengage Helipilot #1, which controls the yaw axis. “Disengaging” is a polite way of say-ing I hit the switch with about eight times more force than necessary. The yaw quit and flight returned to normal. Shortly thereafter, dispatch called and directed us to a hoist rescue about two miles away. The paramedic up front, Bill Monahan, acknowledged the call and we were on scene almost immediately. The crew and I examined the situation and determined that a hoist was absolutely the only way to get the patient out. Even with a hoist, we would still be required to descend a couple hundred feet below the rim of a narrow canyon to get the job done. So now I have Helipilot #1 off which degrades the yaw handling qualities a bit. The mission is still doable but not optimal. We will be very close to the sides of the canyon when in position, so what happens if we do get a yaw kick? Hoist rescues are desirable by the crews of LA County Fire, who consider hoists to be a good test of their proficiency, and well-accomplished hoist mis-sions are a thing of beauty to be admired. With this background and a very competent crew on board, I knew they would be disappointed if I canceled our involvement by requesting a second crew to be dis-patched to execute the mission. But the safety culture I was in and my previous teachings on this subject

told me it was the appropriate action to take. Bill ordered up a second crew and we proceeded to base. Upon arriving, Bill jumped out and did a walk around on the aircraft. This was not policy – the post-flight was up to the pilot – but I was still in the pilot’s seat finishing my paperwork. Bill asked me to come to the rear of the helicopter, where he showed me oil running off the tailboom at the 42-degree gearbox location. I quickly realized that the chip plug detector was missing from the gearbox and that no oil showed in the sight window. The 42-degree gearbox was removed by mainte-nance and I saw the box. Metal had begun to transfer from gear surface to gear surface, and complete failure was inevitable. How did the plug come to be missing? Good question, as the mechanic had completed his daily and I had performed my pre-flight check that morning, so there is good reason to think the plug was in at that time. We, the crew, had washed the aircraft that morning after the inspections. Could we have loosened the plug out of its detent? Who knows. One thing I did learn was that although these plugs are dry break when static, if the plug is missing and the gearbox is running, it will force the oil out of the box.

Bill Monahan didn’t need to do his post flight. He could have said “it’s not my job” or “it’s above my pay grade,” and maybe I get distracted by who knows what and don’t do a post flight and Bill, the other paramedic on board and myself leave widows and orphans. Thanks again Bill.

Know Your (Legal) Limits, Part 2: LA County Fire

Public ServicePublic Service


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54 W W W. R O T O R A N D W I N G . C O MROTOR & WING MAGAZINE | MAY 2014

By Ernie Stephens

Elsewhere in this issue of Rotor & Wing you may have read my piece on synthetic vision systems (SVS). As

I was compiling it, the point was driven home that glass cockpits rule the day. Sure, they all have a pri-mary display containing basic flight instrumentation, such as an air-speed indicator and altimeter. But it’s the other portions of the system that can be tailored to the needs of the operators purchasing them, like air phones for traveling executives, or software that maps the locations of oil rigs for offshore missions. As you can imagine, many available features could be pretty good for law enforcement work, too.

To begin with, all of the manu-facturers I spoke with said that it’s cheaper to have glass installed in the aircraft when you order it. (And we all know that saving money on the front end of a helicopter deal will always make the sheriff or chief a happy camper.)

How much cheaper it’ll be has everything to with what how much you want to outfit your aircraft with, of course. But any amount is good.

And then there’s space for stuff.I have flown light and medium

police helicopters, but the light, sin-gle-engine turbines were the ones I flew the most. And they proved to be the most difficult to outfit when built around steam gauges, espe-cially in the years between the late 1990s and the early 2000s.

Once the panels were stuffed

with analog dials and radios, sepa-rate monitors had to be mounted on brackets all over the place to handle a moving map here, a GPS there, and a storm scope some-where else. It all looked pretty high-tech back then, considering just 15 years earlier air patrol “technol-ogy” consisted of a handheld police radio and a set of binoculars.

Were glass cockpit displays available in the early 2000s? Yup. But they were “big boy toys” found in jets and corporate turboprops.

The times, however, have changed. Now, a police helicopter with glass specifically setup for law enforcement work is more common and way more practical. There’s a lot of information that can be placed on a couple of multi-function displays (MFDs) that only a police flight crew can appreciate.

VIP transport pilots want to pull up en route charts, weather radar images and approach plates, but generally couldn’t care less about flying to the 2100 block of Main Street in Anytown, USA, let alone help eight black and white cars with antlers on top set up a perimeter around it.

A police crew, however, needs a sophisticated moving map that will show addresses, structure shapes, and owner records. And if that crew has to cover a very large area, like an entire state, a sectional chart overlay is great. As for weather radar; well, any police pilot would like real-time storm information

laid over a chart or surface map. So, why not get all of that from one panel-mounted MFD?

And then there’s the hot item that you may have heard about from following the Malaysian air-liner situation: data gathering.

Police fleets are usually pretty small, so we need to know when our aircraft have to go down for ser-vice, what will have to be fixed, and how long it will take to get it back on the flight line. Digital health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) can be digitally displayed on an MFD, and that information – plus a whole lot more – can now be trans-mitted directly to the manufacturer of your aircraft.

Why should you send HUMS information to the helicopter man-ufacturer instead of just your own mechanic?

Because when a manufacturer can monitor the condition of every aircraft in a model line, its engi-neers can, for example, spot a subtle engine problem in serial numbers 0008-0023, give those owners a call, and tell them what repairs to make long before those powerplants go quiet in flight.

So, it seems to me that only good can come out of glass cock-pits in police helicopters. They’re cost effective, they allow you to put more technology in the same amount of space, and they can cer-tainly improve crew efficiency and safety. Check them out before your next upgrade or purchase!

Police Glass: No Longer Just ‘Big Boy Toys’

PUBLIC SERVICE | POLICE

Law Enforcement

You have spoken.

We have heard you.

With you on every light. WithYouOnEveryFlight.com

As the leading provider of commercial and civil helicopters in the U.S. for 13 straight years, Airbus Helicopters, Inc.

clearly has done a lot well. But the message we keep hearing from you is that we need to do a better job of support

and service.

Let me assure you that your message is quite clear and has been heard at the highest levels of Airbus Helicopters, Inc.

Improving our support, whether you have one aircraft or a leet, is my highest priority.

We’ve done a lot of work and invested tens of millions of dollars in recent years to improve your service experience,

including:

• Our CS3 center – Customer Support, Service and Satisfaction – is a central command post handling all incoming

customer calls. Customer Service Representatives are trained to address your issues and help get your aircraft

back lying. Service is available 24/7/365.

• We have an 85,000 square-foot parts warehouse at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport. About $90 million worth of parts –

60,000 items – are in inventory. Order a part on the Keycopter system by 2 p.m. and it will be in the hands of an

air freight shipper by 4 p.m.

• A dedicated AOG team is on call at any time of the day or night to locate parts or a factory-trained technical rep to

assist you.

Even with these important changes, we know there are times we can serve you better. My commitment is that

everyone at Airbus Helicopters, Inc. will continually work to improve our customer service. Our goal is that a year from

now you will tell us we have made signiicant progress.

We thank you for your loyalty to Airbus Helicopters, Inc. and to our aircraft. We are listening, and you have my

personal commitment that we will continually improve the level and quality of support we provide. We will be with you

on every light. Please feel free to contact me personally to share your experiences and suggestions.

Sincerely,

Marc Paganini, President and Chief Executive Oficer

Airbus Helicopters, Inc., Grand Prairie, Texas

may

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