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Aviation History
1992
1992 - 0714.PDF
HELICOPTERS Sikorsky S-92 makes debut at Heli-Expo '92 Sikorsky has unveiled a full-scale mockup of the new 19-seat S-92 commercial heli copter at Heli-Expo '92 in Las Vegas to "test the market" for an S-61 replacement. A military version of the pro posed helicopter, a growth de rivative of Sikorsky's H-60 family, is also being shown to potential customers in full-size model form. The S-92 couples systems from the UH-60 Black Hawk and SH-60 Seahawk with a new, larger airframe. Given a go- ahead towards the end of 1992, says Sikorsky, the first S-92 would fly late in 1994, leading to certification and first deliver ies by mid-1996. Sikorsky is proposing com mercial and military versions because, as it admits, the civil market — mainly for offshore oil support — is "small". The company says there is "no hard requirement" for the military S-92, which could carry 18-24 troops 370km (200nm), but it is promoting the helicopter as a replacement for the Boeing CH- 46 and, therefore, an alternative Bidders gather for BIH sale British International Heli copters (BIH), part of the collapsed Robert Maxwell business empire, is expected to find new owners by June. Overseas operators in North America and Europe are considering bids for BIH, which operates around 30 hel icopters mainly on offshore oil support. No deadline has yet been set for offers, but the drawing up of a shortlist of buyers is expected to begin in April. Negotiation is under way with perhaps five or six "seriously interested bidders", says the company. BIH has been operating in administration (which is simi lar to US Chapter 11 bank ruptcy protection) since the collapse of its parent, Robert Maxwell Holdings, at the end of 1991. • to the Bell/Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt- rotor transport. "The big plus of the [current] S-61 is its size," says Sikorsky, "but there have been no dynamic [sys tems] improve ments." The S-92 would use Seahawk's 2,500kW (3,400shp) trans mission; a modi fied main-rotor head from the Black Hawk; wide-chord all- composite blades with swept/ drooped tips, already under de velopment for the H-60; and the Seahawk's cross-beam tail-rotor, mounted on a longer boom to increase moment arm. The S-92 will be powered by two l,640k\V General Electric CT7 or Rolls-Royce/Turbomeca RTM.322 turboshafts. The new fuselage would have a conventional metal structure. The proposed 5.9m-long cabin has a 1.83 x 1.83m cross- section, which compares with the 1.96m-wide, 1.91m-high, 8.2m-long cabin of the 26-seat S-61. The military S-92 would have a rear loading ramp, op tional on the commercial ver sion, replacing the standard rear baggage bay. The aircraft would have retractable tricycle landing gear — the main wheels will Unveiled at Heli-Expo: Sikorsky's civil and military S-92 retract into sponsons housing crash-resistant fuel tanks. Avionics would include five- tube electronic flight- and en gine-instrument crew-advisory systems, dual digital automatic flight control and attitude head ing reference systems and health and usage monitoring system with flight-data and cockpit- voice recorders. The military S-92 would have an aerial- refuelling boom and exhaust infra-red signature suppressor. The unveiling of the commer cial S-92 mockup at Heli-Expo marks the start of a marketing effort to determine the purchase price and operating costs which potential customers will expect of an S-61 replacement. The other option is to "...give up that market by default" to the Euro- copter AS.332 Super Puma, says Sikorsky. The US company be lieves that the EH Industries EH.101 is "unaffordable" as a replacement. • Probe into North Sea accident starts An initial report is being pre pared by investigators into the circumstances of an offshore support helicopter accident in the North Sea on 14 March. One of the two pilots was among the 11 dead when the Bristow Helicopters Aerospatiale AS.332L Super Puma (called 'Tiger' by Bristow) came down during a short flight between the Shell Expro Cormorant Alpha platform and the Safe Supporter accommodation barge. Survi vors' reports suggest the aircraft pulled sharply to the right and flew into the sea. The last of six survivors was rescued well over an hour after the accident. Prevailing weather conditions were poor, with winds of 50kt- plus, snow squalls and a 10m sea. A UK Department of Trans port Air Accidents Investigation Branch special bulletin is ex pected to be published by the end of March. There are now around 50 AS.332Ls flying North Sea sup port services and, since the heli copter entered service there in 1982, only two accidents have been reported, neither fatal. Almost 30 years of helicopter operations in the UK sector of the North Sea oil and gas field have seen nine aircrew and 70 passengers killed in support flights as well as eight crew and four passengers during search- and-rescue operations and train ing missions. • FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 25 - 31 March, 1992
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