Rotor & Wing 2009-06.pdf

June 2009

Serving the Worldwide Helicopter Industry

rotorandwing.com

OPeratOrs’

RepoRt:

The Robinson R44

Helicopters vs. Pirates

Paris Air Show Preview:

What the World Will See

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CRITICAL AND SERIOUS, LOST AND FOUND,

WANTED AND APPREHENDED, FAILURE AND SUCCESS.

The Evolution of the Bell 4 Series. Four multimission helicopters, delivering more

reliability, maneuverability, safety and built-in performance. Not to mention the backing of Bell’s

internationally acclaimed support. Welcome to the leading edge of vertical lift . ™

bellhelicopter.com

1-800-FLY-BELL

Vol. 43 | No. 6

June 2009

Personal|Corporate

Commercial

Military

Public Service

Training

Products

Services

46 Departments

10 rotorcraft report

People

Coming Events

Program Insider

Sikorsky’s Training Program

Columns

4 editor’s notebook

7 Feedback

8 meet the Contributors

52 eurowatch

54 Law enforcement

Cover: An Atlantic Rotors R44 takes off. Photo by Ernie Stephens.

Here: David Oliver, COO EADS, North America. Photo by Ernie Stephens.

Below: A Eurocopter EC225 leaves an oil rig. Photo courtesy of Eurocopter.

notebook

56 military Spin

58 advertisers’ index

60 technology

Features

Cover STory

■ Crisis in the Gulf of Aden

Nearly every country has joined the fray to stop these bandits and

every country is using helicopters to help. By Richard Whittle

■ Paris Preview

An historic look at the show that is celebrating 100 years, plus what

visitors will find in 2009. By Douglas Nelms

■ r44 operator’s report

See what operators and pilots have to say about the R44.

By Ernie Stephens and Bill Richards

■ ArH Program

Will an armed version of the EC145 be the U.S. Army’s next scout

helicopter? By M. R. Jones

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: rotorandwing@accessintel.com. 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: RW@omeda.com.

Canada Post PM40063731. Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to: Station A, PO Box 54, Windsor, ON N9A 6J5.

Publication Mail Sales Agreement No. 40558009

June 2009 | RotoR & Wing magazine

Editor’s Notebook

By Ernie Stephens

And the Winner of the

New ARH Program Is...

D avid R. Oliver, the chief oper-

slices of my often-convoluted logic to

support my position.

First of all, the 645 will be based on

a platform that’s already in service with

the U.S. Army. Granted, an offering from

Boeing would probably be based on the

AH-6 Little Bird, and if Bell should take

another bite at the apple, its design would

more than likely be loosely based on the

OH-58 Kiowa, which are both versions of

operational military rotorcraft. But what

gives the 645 a leg-up in my mind is that

it is the most recently accepted design in

former Black Hawk pilot who told me it

was harder to fly formations when the

slower AH-6s were escorting UH-60s.

Even with all the stuff that goes “boom”

hanging off its side, the 645 should be

able to keep up with the Hawks with

greater ease.

Then there’s training. If the Army

chooses the 645, transitioning a pilot

into it will mirror most of the process

used to check-out a pilot in the UH-72A.

And besides a few software changes,

current multi-million-dollar Lakota

flight simulators will be able to perform

double duty by training the gunship

aviators—uh, I mean the armed scout

helicopter aviators.

EADS also has a pretty good reputa-

tion in the industry. That’s not to say that

Boeing doesn’t. But it also means it doesn’t

have the black eye Bell got with the ARH.

But this morning, Mike, a recently

transitioned UH-72A pilot I know, said

he wasn’t so sure if I was right about the

ease with which EADS could make the

Lakota work as an armed platform. He

started flying military hardware shortly

after the E ar th co ole d, so I listene d

c aref ully when he said the U H-72A

Lakota’s airframe, in his opinion, wasn’t

beefy enough. He feels the modifica-

t i o n s I th o u g h t w o u l d b e rel at i v el y

simple would be complicated enough

to nullify my arguments, and that the

added weight of guns and a stiffened

hull to carry them would severely rob

the 645 of power and useful payload.

Having weighed the above pros and

cons of the 645, and taking into account

political variables, I still think EADS

will be the winner of an armed scout or

reconnaissance helicopter competition.

All they have to do now is not shoot

themselves in the foot with it.

ating officer of EADS North

A m e r i c a , p a r e n t c o m p a n y

of America Eurocopter,

announced that his organization will be

teaming up with Lockheed Martin to

build the Armed Scout Helicopter 645,

a gun-slinging version of the UH-72A

tw i n-eng i ne, l ight util ity hel icopter

currently being delivered to U.S. Army

National Guard units. The announce-

ment was made during the opening day

of the Army Aviator’s Association of

“I said to myself, EADS has just

won the ARH program.”

America’s annual convention in Nash-

ville, Tenn., known better as Quad-A.

Please note that the Department of

Defense has as yet to officially solicit

bids for an armed “scout” helicopter,

EADS’ name for something that walks,

quacks and swims like the duck formerly

called the armed reconnaissance heli-

copter (ARH); the program won by Bell

Helicopter’s 407 in 2006, but cancelled

by Congress in 2008 for being late and

over budget. The ARH was supposed to

replace the aging OH-58 Kiowa, also a

Bell product.

As soon as the words left Mr. Oli-

ver’s lips, I said to myself, “EADS has

just won the ARH program.” Later that

day, several people asked why I was so

quick to take this position, especially

when you consider how quickly the

wheels can fall off a proposal during

the approval process. In defense of my

kne e- jerk reaction, I offere d se veral

service. So, I think the Pentagon will find

the 645 easier to evaluate and accept,

si nce the b a sic pl atfor m w a s ve tte d

so recently.

The se cond par t of my argument

relates to the first part, in that the 645 will

be so much like the UH-72A, spare parts

and maintenance procedures will be com-

mon between the two. Just ask the folks

at Southwest Airlines how much time,

effort and money they’ve saved through

the years by flying one aircraft model,

the Boeing 737. I suppose there will be

some variations between the 645 and the

UH-72A, but even if half of the parts can

be interchanged, that’s a 50 percent reduc-

tion in the number of non-interchange-

able parts taking up space at the repair

depot. Swapping seats, skids, doors, etc.

between a Lakota and its pistol-packing

cousin will be a snap.

Since I have no personal experience

flying military missions, I will defer to a

RotoR & Wing magazine | June 2009

WWW.RotoRandWing.com

You’re a guardian. Ready at a moment’s notice to assist and save. You’re one who restores life.

We get it. We do the same thing for helicopters. From repurposing a helicopter to a new role, repairing a trusted machine or needing

a new helicopter completed to your own exacting speciﬁ cations, our reputation for making your mission-speciﬁ c helicopter a reality

is legendary. We’re Edwards & Associates, Inc., the helicopter company that’s dedicated to seeing your Performance Exceeded.

www.edwards-assoc.com • 800-251-7094 • 423-538-5111

P.O. Box 3689, Bristol, TN 37625

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: