Helicopters

Civil rotorcraft special: Sikorsky S-76D progress

By John Croft

First Sikorsky S-76D starts to take shape

Sikorsky S-76D programme manager Mark Hammond says that the first two fuselage assemblies for the S-76D have been delivered from Aero Vodochody in the Czech Republic and that Pratt & Whitney Canada has a fourth PW210S test engine on line in Montreal with more than 550 test hours on all engines.

Avionics and controls provider Thales has begun avionics and flight controls integration testing at its Bordeaux and Toulouse facilities in France and plans to deliver its first hardware components for the prototype helicopter soon. Washington-based Hexcel Structures, maker of the S-76D main rotor blade, reports that the main spar has been fabricated and is undergoing fatigue testing and that blade skins and core elements are being fabricated. Sikorsky plans to test the main rotor blades on a surrogateS-76 test aircraft this summer to validate the design. But the company is not saying when its new helicopter will fly.