Aviation Week reports that Airbus Helicopters’ uncrewed VSR700 rotorcraft “has completed its latest flight test campaign, demonstrating its ability to take off and land in fully automatic mode on a French Navy frigate.” The flight test campaign “took place Oct. 2-9 on board the Provence frigate off the Mediterranean coast.”
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Tag: Airbus Helicopters
Airbus Helicopters Aims to Test Three New Technology Demonstrators by Year’s End
FlightGlobal reports, “Airbus Helicopters is gearing up for a busy second half of 2023 as it pushes ahead with an ambitious programme that by year-end will see it flight testing a trio of technology demonstrators. To date, those technology demonstrators comprise the H130-based FlightLab and clean-sheet DisruptiveLab – both single-engined conventional rotorcraft – but they should be joined in the autumn by the Racer high-speed helicopter.”
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Airbus Helicopters Sees Need for 300 New Rotorcraft in Pacific in Next Decade
FlightGlobal reports that Airbus Helicopters “sees a requirement for 300 new civil helicopters in the Pacific region over the next decade, with oil and gas to return as a major segment.”
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Airbus Helicopters Achieve Power-On Milestone
FlightGlobal reports that Airbus Helicopters “has moved a step closer to the first flight of its Racer high-speed rotorcraft, having achieved power-on of the technology demonstrator.” Disclosing the milestone “via Twitter on 20 December, the manufacturer posted a short video clip showing the Racer largely complete, sporting its distinctive V-wings, H-shaped vertical tail and pusher propellers.” However, it is “still lacking its main rotor.” In November, Airbus Helicopters “revealed that the rotorcraft’s maiden sortie had slipped to 2023, from a previous target of 2022, thanks to the late delivery of undisclosed components.” Developed as part “of the EU-funded Clean Sky 2 programme, the Racer’s compound architecture builds on the airframer’s earlier X3 design and should allow it to achieve a cruise speed of 220kt (407km/h).” In addition, one of “its twin Safran Helicopter Engines Aneto-1X turboshafts will be able to be idled and rapidly restarted during the cruise, contributing a 15% fuel-burn reduction while at 180kt.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)
Airbus Helicopters Flightlab to Test UAM Technologies
Aviation International News reported that Airbus Helicopters “started in-flight tests onboard the European aerospace group’s rotary-wing Flightlab facility.” The Flightlab facility is “exclusively dedicated to maturing new technologies for the company’s current helicopters and future fixed-wing and eVTOL aircraft designs,” and “will be used to test hybrid and electric propulsion, autonomy, noise reduction, and improved maintenance and safety technologies.” Noise reduction flight tests began in April 2020 and “focused on buildings’ impact on people’s sound perception with a view toward applying the data to sound modeling and regulation of urban air mobility (UAM) aircraft.” In December, flights “concentrated on evaluating the rotor strike alerting system.” Other tests that will be conducted this year include a dedicated health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) for light helicopters, a camera image-detection solution to enable low-altitude navigation, and an engine back-up system that provides emergency electric power in the event of turbine failure.
Full Story (Aviation International News)