Light aircraft were the stars of the show at Helicopter Association International’s Heli-Expo 2014, which took place last week in Anaheim, Calif.
Over 19,000 attendees visited the exhibition, and among the 65 aircraft on display on the show floor was Bell’s new short light single, which was unveiled following a dramatic multimedia ceremony along with its new name — the Bell 505 JetRanger X. By the end of the first day, Bell had received almost 100 letters of intent for the aircraft.
Elsewhere on the show floor, Enstrom unveiled the TH-180 — a low-cost, two-seat, piston-powered trainer — based on Enstrom’s FX-280. The company said the aircraft, powered by a Lycoming HIO-390 engine, would have a launch price of $365,000, and that direct operating costs would be around $175 per hour. French manufacturer Guimbal announced it had entered the U.S. market with the delivery of the first Cabri G2 — a light single training helicopter — to Precision Helicopters, while Scott’s – Bell 47, Inc. brought a full-scale mockup of its highly-anticipated 47GT-6 (powered by a Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft engine) to its booth.
These aircraft will be competing with the established giant of the light single-engine aircraft market, Robinson Helicopter, which announced that it is changing the instrument panels of all Robinson models to facilitate the incorporation of glass avionics displays.
In other light single-engine aircraft news, Marenco SwissHelicopter brought the first prototype of its eight-seat SKYe SH09 to Heli-Expo — replacing the mockup that it had brought to the previous three versions of the show. The aircraft, which has an attractive high-visibility cockpit, generated a lot of interest on the show floor.
AgustaWestland’s major booth announcement was the unveiling of the AW109 Trekker — the first light twin produced by the manufacturer to offer skid landing gear. Aimed towards utility and aerial work operators, the Trekker is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207C engines and has a Garmin G1000HTM glass cockpit.
As for the other major original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the recently-renamed Airbus Helicopters unveiled the EC225e — an enhanced version of the EC225 that will offer greater range and payload, along with new avionics and a new cabin layout — and displayed the first production AS332 C1e in the livery of launch customer Starlite Aviation. During the show, the manufacturer took 78 bookings for aircraft across its civil range, including 14 for its recently-certified EC175, 25 orders (all from Waypoint Leasing) for the EC145 T2, 27 orders for the EC225 and EC225e, and two orders for the AS332 C1e.
Sikorsky brought a mockup of the S-97 Raider — the aircraft that’s being developed from the high-speed coaxial X2 technology demonstrator — as well an S-76D in the livery of launch customer Bristow, and announced the sale of an additional eight S-92s to leasing company Milestone Aviation Group, and two S-92s to Macquarie Rotorcraft Leasing (the company’s first purchase).
In addition to its new AW109 Trakker, AgustaWestland brought the three members of its “Family” aircraft group — the AW139, AW189, and AW169, and its AW609 TiltRotor performed its first customer demonstration flights.
Finally, while the 505 JetRanger X was undoubtedly the star of Bell Helicopters’ booth, it also brought a mockup of the 525 Relentless in a search-and-rescue configuration and unveiled its new VVIP interior concept for the Bell 429.
