The Sikorsky S-92 has been awarded US Federal Aviation Administration certification, which the company hopes will boost orders for the 19-seat helicopter. The S-92 is Sikorsky's first civil rotorcraft to be certificated since the debut of the smaller S-76 in 1978.
The helicopter was certificated under Federal Aviation Regulations Pt29 after clocking up 1,570h of flight tests under the "most stringent rotorcraft safety requirements imposed to date", says the company. Launch customer Cougar Helicopters is not scheduled to take delivery of the first aircraft until the Heli Expo air show in early 2004.
Sikorsky expects certification to kick-start a sales drive for the hitherto slow-selling aircraft. "We now have a green light to start selling a certificated aircraft and are working hard to have some sales to report relative to 2004 deliveries," says the company.
Sikorsky has commitments and deposits covering 18 civil machines for Norway's Air Contractgruppen, Finland's Copterline, East Asia Airlines of Hong Kong, Gulf of Mexico operator Era Aviation and Vancouver-based Helijet, as well as Halifax, Canada-based Cougar. Sikorsky has ordered long lead items and subassemblies for the first machines, but declines to say how many will be delivered in 2004.
Sikorsky has no orders for the H-92 military utility version nor for the HV-92 government VIP variant. Sikorsky hopes to secure European certification in late 2003, while work is carried out in Alaska to expand the aircraft's maximum ceiling to 15,000ft (4,575m) and allow take-offs and landings from an 11,000ft elevation.
Source: Flight International