The first Eurocopter EC120B Colibri light helicopter was delivered on 23 January to Japan's Nozaki, with Eurocopter claiming orders for "more than 100" aircraft in the 11 months since marketing began.
USFederal Aviation Administration certification of the five-seat Colibri is imminent, the helicopter being one of the first cleared to new FAR Part 27 crash standards, calling for pilot, passenger and fuel-system survival of a 30g vertical and 18g horizontal deceleration.
Final assembly of the Colibri is carried out at Eurocopter's Marignanne factory, with China Aero Technology Import & Export responsible for design and manufacture of the main structure, and Singapore Technologies Aerospace supplying the tailboom and access doors, both as risk-sharing partners.
Eurocopter sees a market for around 1,600 helicopters in the five-seat category over the next ten years, and plans to deliver 30-40 aircraft in 1998, building up to between 60 and 100 in 1999. "We plan to have at least 100 aircraft in operation by 2000," says Colibri programme director Francis Combes. The helicopter is priced at $795,000 to June 1999.
Source: Flight International
