Eurocopter may have to radically alter the design of its proposed X4 civil helicopter - potentially limiting use of green technologies - if the French government denies an application for financial support, chief executive Lutz Bertling has warned.
While confirming that Eurocopter will develop a new Dauphin family of rotorcraft regardless of the French authorities' decision, Bertling says that without co-investment the X4 would have to be "a totally different aircraft" from that envisaged, with the EADS-owned manufacturer unprepared to bear the full risk associated with planned innovations. Read more...

Why is it that only Eurocopter knows how to make a good-looking helicopter? I almost want to pin this picture up in the men's room.
The A109 is very pretty too!
Put a Fenetron-tail on any helicopter and it immediately looks 10 times better!