Helicopters

Chinese state-owned manufacturer Avicopter this week received the type certificate for its AC311 light utility helicopter, expanding the AVIC subsidiary’s growing product portfolio. The AC311 is a single-engine helicopter that is reminiscent of the Eurocopter AS350. It has an mtow of 4,850 pounds, can carry six people and is offered with a choice of Honeywell […]

For that special buyer who demands nothing less than the ultimate in luxury and comfort aloft, Eurocopter has put the EC 135 in the gifted hands of the designers at Hermès, the French fashion house known best for its ultrahigh-end leather handbags, shoes and accessories. The result is an interior space dominated by rich brown […]

Eurocopter is making a grand U.S. tour with its X3 hybrid developmental heloplane, which features a pair of conventional looking turboprops in addition to a conventional looking rotar. The craft, which Eurocopter developed in just three years’ time, is nearly 100 knots faster than the fleetest comparably sized conventional helicopters. The X3 has achieved better […]

Gamera II, a giant human-powered helicopter developed by students at the University of Maryland’s Clark School, has been vying this week for both new world records and the $250,000 Sikorsky Prize. On Thursday, the team made an unofficial 40-second human powered flight, shattering the group’s previous 11.4-second record set with a flight of the Gamera […]

E-Volo, the company that performed the first flight of an all-electric, 16-propeller multicopter last October, is pressing forward with the development of commercial versions of the craft and giving the public a glimpse into just what those variants might look like. Over the next two years, the company says it hopes to develop a regulation […]

Eurocopter is bringing its X3 experimental hybrid helicopter demonstrator to the United States this month for a summer tour that could include a visit to a town near you. The first stop will be American Eurocopter’s headquarters in Grand Prairie, Texas, on June 20. Where it heads from there is anybody’s guess. The X3 is […]

The FAA and EASA recently issued emergency airworthiness directives (EAD) for Eurocopter’s popular twin-engine helicopter – the EC 135. There are some differences between FAA’s EAD 2012-10-51 and EASA’s AD 2012-0085-E, but both were implemented because cracks have been found in the hub-shaft flange of a main rotor hub. These cracks could result in the […]

Since Eurocopter‘s formation 20 years ago from the merger of helicopter producers in France and Germany, the company has steadily increased its market share, capturing and holding onto the coveted spot as the world’s largest civil helicopter maker. One product above all others deserves the credit for initiating this rise to prominence: the EC 135. […]

AgustaWestland’s AW169 took to the skies for the first time last week, marking a significant milestone on its path to certification in 2014, the company announced. According to AgustaWestland representatives, the AW169 – launched nearly two years ago at the Farnborough International Air Show – performed and handled “as expected” during the test flight at […]

Placing large loads onto small pins using an Erickson Air-Crane, a machine with 9,600 shaft horsepower and a 72-foot rotor, is a bit like threading a needle with a leaf blower. The key is the back-seat driver. Unique among helicopters, the Erickson Air-Crane has a third pilot’s seat, facing aft toward the tail rotor. An […]