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| Eurocopter celebrates the maiden flight of its new EC175 helicopter |
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EC175, the latest member of the Eurocopter range, today
performed its official maiden flight in the skies above Marignane. At
the controls were Alain Di Bianca, Eurocopter Experimental Test Pilot,
as well as Michel Oswald and Patrick Bremont, Flight Test Engineers.
Officials, industrial partners, launch customers and Eurocopter
employees were all on hand for the event. This newest addition to the
Eurocopter family in the 7-metric-ton class has been developed and
manufactured in cooperation with the China Aeronautics Industries Group
Corp. (AVIC), a longstanding Eurocopter partner.
"It's
an immense pleasure to see the EC175 soaring through the skies,"
declared Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling. "This helicopter was developed
in close cooperation with our customers to ensure it would be perfectly
suited to their needs—particularly in terms of safety and comfort. This
is the product everyone's been waiting for on the civil market. I would
like to congratulate and thank our colleagues from China, all our
personnel who invested so much time and effort in this project, and, of
course, our industrial partners. Their combined efforts have made it
possible for the EC175 to perform its maiden flight right on schedule,
that’s to say exactly four years after the program was launched, which
is a real technological wizardry. "
The new generation EC175 has a multirole design and can carry
out a wide scope of civil missions. It slots perfectly into the
Eurocopter range between the AS365 Dauphin (4/5 metric tons) and the
AS332/EC225 Super Puma (9/11 metric tons) families. It benefits from a
mix of proven and advanced technologies, making it a very performing
and reliable helicopter. Depending on its configuration, it can hold up
to 16 passengers. A total of 114 EC175s have already been ordered by 14
different customers. Certification of the EC175 by the European
Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is slated for 2011, and the first
deliveries are scheduled to follow in 2012. Eurocopter expects to sell
800 EC175s over the next twenty years, creating nearly 2000 new direct
and indirect jobs.
Cooperation
The EC175
program was launched on December 5, 2005. The helicopter was developed
in cooperation with Chinese industry in just four years thanks to
innovative new computing tools that offer major time savings. The work
teams, separated by some 10,000 km, have been working together under
the aegis of the French and Chinese governments. Their cooperation has
been exemplary, and has benefitted from 30 years of close ties between
the partners, first through the Dauphin and then through the EC120.
During the development phase, an average of 50 Chinese employees joined
their Eurocopter colleagues in France to define the helicopter's
characteristics. Now it’s the turn of Eurocopter's employees to
reciprocate, and a staff of 30 is currently on permanent assignment in
China to assist the teams with design, quality, production and
procurement work.
The development and industrialization work has
been equally split between Eurocopter and AVIC according to the
specialties of each company. Two different helicopters will result from
the common platform: The EC175 manufactured, sold and maintained by
Eurocopter in Marignane and the Z15, manufactured, sold and maintained
by the AVIC Group.
Missions
The EC175 is a
medium-lift twin-engine helicopter that can perform many different
civil missions. Initially designed for the oil & gas industry to
carry work teams to the platforms, it meets the strictest safety and
availability requirements that have become a must for operators in the
industry.
The helicopter is also being developed for missions
such as search and rescue and emergency medical transport, and can also
meet the needs of the commercial aviation industry for VIP and
corporate transport.
Technical characteristics
The
EC175 benefits from the most cutting-edge technology available. It is
powered by twin Pratt & Whitney PT6C-67E engines with dual-channel
new generation Full Authority Digital Engine Controls (FADEC). With its
completely new avionics, the EC175 has an effective and easy-to-use man
machine interface, which considerably reduces the pilot workload. Both
the pilot and co-pilot can therefore concentrate more fully on their
missions. The EC175 is indeed equipped with a full screen cockpit and a
digital four-axis Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) that
outperforms any other automatic pilot system on the market. It also has
a five-blade Spheriflex main rotor and an airframe that complies with
the most stringent certification requirements.
The EC175 offers
the widest cabin of any helicopter in its category, which provides an
unmatched level of comfort. The aircraft can be boarded easily using
the wide sliding doors on either side of the fuselage and the immense
baggage compartment is also accessible from both sides of the
helicopter. All very large windows offer a great visibility and can be
jettisoned so that passengers and crew can quickly exit the helicopter
in the event of an emergency.
The EC175 has also been designed
to reduce vibration levels to a minimum; its blade design has taken
forward the concepts that have proven so successful on the EC155 and
EC225. Special care has been taken to reduce both internal and external
noise levels to make the EC175 the quietest helicopter in its class,
offering levels well below the limits recently established by the
International Civil Aviation Organization.
About Eurocopter
Established
in 1992, the Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a Division of
EADS, a world leader in aerospace, defence and related services. The
Eurocopter Group employs approx. 15,600 people. In 2008, Eurocopter
confirmed its position as the world’s No. 1 helicopter manufacturer in
the civil and parapublic market, with a turnover of 4.5 billion Euros,
orders for 715 new helicopters, and a 53 percent market share in the
civil and parapublic sectors. Overall, the Group’s products account for
30 percent of the total world helicopter fleet. Its strong worldwide
presence is ensured by its 18 subsidiaries on five continents, along
with a dense network of distributors, certified agents and maintenance
centres. More than 10,000 Eurocopter helicopters are currently in
service with over 2,800 customers in more than 140 countries.
Eurocopter offers the largest civil and military helicopter range in
the world.
For more information, please click external link at bottom of page, or contact Eurocopter Southern Africa by clicking here
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| CECILE VION-LANCTUIT |
| Thursday, 17 December 2009 |
| http://www.eurocopter.com/site/en/ref/Press-Releases_310y2009.html |
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| LAW ENFORCEMENT SEMINAR |
| Eurocopter Southern Africa proudly supported by Carl Zeiss, Denel Aviation and Turbomeca Africa will be hosting a Law Enforcement Seminar in Cape Town |
| more... |
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| AFRICAN AEROSPACE & DEFENCE 2010 |
| African Aerospace & Defence will be hosted at AFB Ysterplaat, Cape Town from the 21st – 25th September 2010.
You can visit us in Hall 5. |
| more... |
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