Italian Minister of Defence Lorenzo Guerini and Italian Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Alberto Rosso attended the acceptance ceremony of an Italian Air Force HH-139B helicopter during an official visit to Leonardo’s helicopter facility in Vergiate (Italy). Leonardo CEO Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo General Manager Lucio Valerio Cioffi, and Leonardo Helicopters’ MD Gian Piero Cutillo were...
60 years ago, on June 24, 1961, Mi-8 took off for the first time, ultimately becoming the most widely used twin-engine helicopter in aviation history. It is called the “helicopter with hundred professions” that can be seen all over the world: over 13,000 have been delivered to more than 80 countries. The development of Mi-8 by Mil Design Bureau began in the second half of the 1950s....
Leonardo announced that building work will shortly commence on a new c.£30 million single-site logistics facility at Leonardo’s helicopter site in Yeovil. The ground-breaking facility, spanning an area of nearly 20,000m2, the equivalent of 2.7 football pitches, is scheduled to be completed in Q4 2022. The project sees the consolidation of eight existing warehouses into one all-enc...
SAF Group will be operating three more five-bladed H145s for emergency medical services (EMS) in France. These three aircraft will be based in Grenoble, Valence, and Montpellier. They will complement the three H145s already ordered by SAF in 2018 and 2020, the first of which was delivered recently and will be deployed for EMS missions in Belgium. SAF CEO Tristan Serretta says: “Introducin...
At a ceremony on its Philadelphia campus and under the backdrop of the Stars and Stripes, Leonardo officially delivered the first TH-73A training helicopter to the U.S. Navy. The ceremony was attended by Vice Admiral Kenneth Whitesell, commander of Naval Air Forces and Commander, Naval Air Force U.S. Pacific Fleet; Rear Admiral Gregory Harris, Director of Air Warfare Division (N98); and Captain Ho...
Russian Helicopters has successfully tested the additional fuel tank of the Ansat helicopter for resistance during an emergency landing. Certification tests were carried out at the Kazan Helicopters plant by dropping a tank filled with a contrast liquid from a height of 15.2 meters. This kind of testing was done for the first time in Russia, but has been carried out earlier abroad. A special pl...
AUK Protection gains Babcock Scandinavian Air Ambulance (BSAA), Uppsala, as a new client. With this, BSAA joins the group of operators choosing to fly their missions in the new EMS Collection by AUK Protection. BSAA offers medical transports with airplane and helicopter from several regions in Scandinavia and will initially be equipping their helicopter pilots at the base in Uppsala with...
Airbus Helicopters is bringing the industry together to drive the deployment of biofuels, through the creation of a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) User Group dedicated to the rotary-wing community. As a pioneer in the civil turbine rotorcraft market, the company is calling all major stakeholders to join the initiative, which aims at reducing aviation’s impact on citizens and the environment...
A rescue helicopter has flown on sustainable aviation fuel for the first time, achieving a new milestone in international aviation. Operated by the German non-profit organization ADAC Luftrettung, the Airbus H145 rescue helicopter had its Arriel 2E engines ceremonially refueled with biofuel, a type of SAF, at the air rescue station at Munich's Harlaching Clinic in the presence of the ADAC...
International rotorcraft safety organizations, regional safety teams, and other global safety stakeholders are pleased to announce the establishment of the Vertical Aviation Safety Team (VAST). In cooperation and collaboration with the worldwide vertical flight community, VAST aims to achieve a vision of zero fatal accidents, providing “Safety Above All.” In pursuit of that vision, VAS...
United Engine Corporation of Rostec has created a new helicopter engine design, designated VK-1600V, completely using 3D modeling software for the first time in Russian history. All design documentation for the engine demonstrator created at UEC-Klimov has been released in electronic form. 3D models provide significant advantages: they are easy to read an...
Helicopter Service Company of the Russian Helicopters holding company (part of the Rostec State Corporation) and RF Focus Corp signed a service contract for on-site overhaul of Mi-172 helicopter operated in the Republic of Korea. The event took place during the International Helicopter Industry Exhibition HeliRussia 2021. The contact covers overhaul of Mi-172 and its system organized...
