FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2062.PDF
Covei POCK T ROCKET A decade after its relaunch in Power guise, the A109 has shed its early performance limitations to become one of the world's most adaptable fast helicopters ANDREW HEALEY /LONDON It used to be known as the Flying Ferrari and was about as practical. Now it is one of the world's most versatile helicopters. How did AgustaWestland's Italian company manage such a change of fortunes for its A109? When Gary Savage was sales manager for Alan Mann Helicopters, Agusta UK agent throughout the 1980s, he tapped a small but enthusiastic market for the A109A. "It was the pocket rocket of helicopters. Passen gers loved it even if, with limited legroom in the rear cabin, they had to interlink knees like a zip-fastener." With a 140kt (260km/h) cruise speed, it was claimed at the time to be the fastest civil helicopter in the world. "Then Agusta added enormous amounts of weight to it and the performance suffered. As I recall, there were also niggling problems with water ingress - to get round them we had to effectively 'marinise' the avionics." Since these limitations became apparent, variants of the A109 have gone on to fulfil one of the most diverse role portfolios in the world - and a good proportion of their missions take place in the unforgiving mar ine environment. They transfer ship pilots off the South African coast, fly to oil plat forms off China and intercept drug smug glers in the Caribbean. They fight forest fires in Malaysia and support police and ambu lance services in 10 countries. Soon they will carry out light transport duties for the South African National Defence Forces (SANDF) and fly on anti-submarine duties from Swedish navy stealth frigates. In its Elite guise, the A109 still sells as a pocket rocket; AgustaWestland has had to double production to satisfy demand. Fifteen Elites have been delivered since the VIP variant was launched at the 2001 Paris air show. The first sign of the A109's potential came in 1992, when Swiss rescue operator Rega took delivery of the first of 16 Turbo- meca Arrius 1K1-powered utility A109K2s, to form the mainstay of its air ambulance fleet. It was the type's first substantial utility order from outside Italy. Since then, Rega's fixed-undercarriage helicopters have under taken 52,000 missions - most of them in the harsh Alpine environment - with only two accidents. Technical pilot Peter Haessig says he and his colleagues "have always been happy to fly the K2 and we have never had a significant technical problem". Rega is near completion of a five-aircraft order for Eurocopter EC145s, to replace K2s that operate at lower altitudes. It is about to start an evaluation process for the rest of the fleet, and is waiting to see what Agusta will come up with. "The only rea son we are looking at newer types", says Haessig, "is because the K2's maintenance costs are climbing". Merging variants The turning point came in 1993, when two variants - A109K2 and A109C - were united to produce the A109 Power. Among other design convergences, the retractable under carriage from the existing line was moved outboard onto extensions. It still retracted into those sponsons and extra fuel capacity went into the saved internal space. A fully articulated, forward-inclined four-blade main rotor was added and new digitally- controlled engines - either Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206Cs or Turbomeca's Arrius 2Kls - delivered the power increases. Director of civil sales Leonardo Monti explains the conditions that led to the "re invention" of Agusta's then sole home grown product. "Between its launch in 1971 and the early 1990s, we developed numer ous variants to fit market sectors such as passenger transport, emergency medical ser vices, aerial work, civil protection and mili tary missions. In certain cases, these variants consisted simply of installing suitable equipment while with others, as with the A109K2, we had to consider profound mod ifications to optimise it for a particular oper ating requirement," he says. The number of variants became a source of concern, as it led to limited commonal- • ity. This caused problems in the organisa- 5 tion of production, long lead times for cus- \ tomisation and, in a market that had i become extremely competitive, unaccept- t able costs levels, Monti says. 28 23-29 SEPTEMBER 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
