CHC Helicopter orders 20 additional Eurocopter EC225s, expanding world’s largest fleet of Super Puma family helicopters

Marignane, France, Sept. 29, 2011

CHC Helicopter has ordered and will incorporate 20 more Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma twin-engine helicopters into its operations over the next several years, CHC and Eurocopter announced today.

 

Deliveries of the newly ordered EC225s – including an option for four additional aircraft beyond the initial 20 – will occur during the next four-plus years, into 2016. According to CHC, the helicopters will be needed to accommodate anticipated growth from both current and future customers. The aircraft are expected to be deployed to serve oil-and-gas customers in the U.K., Norway, Australia and Brazil.

 

"We are extremely optimistic about the future of this industry and CHC's place in it," said CHC President and Chief Executive Officer William Amelio. "The EC225 is an excellent aircraft for extending CHC's global reach, responsiveness and leadership in safety – qualities that enable us to provide great value to our customers."

 

Amelio added that the EC225 has a "well-deserved reputation for high reliability in the most demanding operational conditions."

 

CHC is the largest operator of Eurocopter's Super Puma family helicopters in the world, including the most extensive fleet with the EC225 version. By 2016, CHC could have as many as 50 EC225s in operation on behalf of its customers.

 

"The EC225's success story could not have been written without CHC, and it is an honor for Eurocopter to have CHC as the EC225's flagship operator throughout the world," said Lutz Bertling, Eurocopter's President and CEO. "We are especially proud of the long-term relationship and mutual confidence that has been built with our valued partner, and we look forward to further contributing to the success of CHC's operations with the newly-ordered EC225s."

 

Eurocopter's EC225 offers superior speed, range, payload, optimal safety and reliability. Deployed worldwide for civil and military search and rescue, as well as off-shore and passenger transport missions, it is the latest-generation member of the Super Puma/Cougar family, which has logged more than four million flight hours in operations around the globe.

 

The EC225 is perfectly adapted to missions in severe weather, as it is designed to meet the highest safety standard levels with system redundancy, a highly capable automatic flight control system, and the capability for full deicing – which allows flight in all known icing conditions.

When configured for offshore crew change operations in support of oil and gas producers, the EC225 can be rapidly converted for search and rescue operations.

 

About CHC

CHC Helicopter is the world's largest helicopter services company specializing in three main areas of operation: transportation to offshore oil and gas platforms; civilian search-and-rescue

services, and helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul. The company is headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and has a fleet of more than 250 aircraft and operates in about 30 countries around the world.

 

About Eurocopter

Established in 1992, the Franco-German-Spanish Eurocopter Group is a division of EADS, a world leader in aerospace, defense and related services. The Eurocopter Group employs approximately 17,500 people. In 2010, Eurocopter confirmed its position as the world's number one helicopter manufacturer in the civil and parapublic market with a turnover of 4.8 billion Euros, orders for 346 new helicopters and a 49 percent market share in the civil and parapublic sectors. Overall, the Group's helicopters account for 33 percent of the total worldwide civil and parapublic fleet. Eurocopter's strong worldwide presence is ensured by its 30 subsidiaries and participations on five continents, along with a dense network of distributors, certified agents and maintenance centers. There are currently 11,200 Eurocopter helicopters in service and some 2,900 customers in 147 countries. Eurocopter offers the largest civil and military helicopter range in the world.

 

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Eurocopter’s EC225 helicopter Full Flight Simulator at Aberdeen, Scotland logged 1000 hours of training in September, 2011

Pics: Eurocopter's EC225 helicopter Full Flight Simulator at Aberdeen, Scotland logged 1000 hours of training in September, 2011, © Copyright Ken Taylor Eurocopter's EC225 helicopter Full Flight Simulator at Aberdeen, Scotland logged 1000 hours of training in September, 2011, © Copyright Ken Taylor  

 

 

 

Eurocopter's latest high-fidelity helicopter training device, the EC225 simulator at its new North Sea Service Centre in Aberdeen, Scotland offers unmatched training opportunities for helicopter pilots who fly in the challenging off-shore environment for the oil and gas industry, as well as for crews performing search and rescue missions.

Aberdeen,  29 September 2011

 

This simulator which has demonstrated more than 98% availability over the first six months of operation has already delivered instructor, conversion and recurrent training to more than 200 pilots. Following UK Civil Aviation Authority, Brazilian and Malaysian authority's certification, Transport of Canada certification was received on September 15. This state of the art simulator has a dual certification (FFS B and FTD3), taking the highest constraints of both meeting a full range of training requirements set by national airworthiness authorities – including night landings on oil-rigs and vessel heli-decks for the off-shore market.

 

"Safety is a top priority for Eurocopter, and providing the best training for our global operators with highly capable devices such as the Aberdeen EC225 simulator is central to our strategy", said Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling. "It represents the company's major investments in a global network of simulators, which will be further expanded in the months and years to come at other locations worldwide."

 

Its high-fidelity reproduction of EC225 flight operations is secured with an extensive EC225 data package from Eurocopter (including real software and real parts) and suppliers that ensures full simulated functionality for the helicopter, its engines, autopilot and other systems.

 

This full flight simulator has been tuned and validated for more than 3 months by Eurocopter's test pilots, flight test engineers and other design office experts that have contributed to the helicopter development itself. This specific validating process is the only way to ensure a complete and exact reproduction of real helicopter behaviour.

 

This simulator benefits from a full replica of the helicopter's cockpit with real equipment; SAR capability and NVG compatible; along with features such as its unique visual system and a six-degree-of-freedom motion capability with vibration platform and sound.

 

Eurocopter's EC225 simulator is located in the company's new purpose-built North Sea Service Centre, which was officially inaugurated seven months ago at Aberdeen Airport, the busiest Heliport operation in the world and key operating hub for helicopters that support the North Sea oil and gas industry.

 

The EC225 simulator's visual system has a 210-deg. horizontal field-of-view, along with a vertical field range of +30 deg. above the horizon and -50 deg below the horizon. This allows a highly accurate representation of the landing and takeoff environment at off-shore platforms and ships – whilst also enabling the look-down coverage necessary for search and rescue mission training. Extensive photography of key off-shore helicopter operating locations such as the North Sea's Andrew and Miller platforms, along with the CSSO Wellservicer diving support ship, were taken for integration into the flight simulator's visual system database.

 

In addition to the high-fidelity EC225 full flight simulator, Eurocopter's Aberdeen Centre also has an integrated Part Task Trainer for the FLIR (forward-looking infrared) camera that is used in search and rescue (including 4 axis, specific SAR modes and hoist loads), allowing SAR mission training with front and rear crews fully integrated into the simulation.

 

Moreover, Eurocopter implemented a high level debriefing station able to replay the training sessions whilst looking at all the instruments.

 

"Our North Sea Service Center is the incarnation of our customer's wishes and of our dedication to Life cycle support and consequently has become the worldwide benchmark for Services to the Oil&Gas helicopter industry" says Markus Steinke, Managing Director of Eurocopter UK Ltd.

 

Eurocopter's North Sea Service Centre is a 20,000-sq.ft facility featuring Technical Support, Logistical Services, Dynamic Component MRO, customer facilities and simulator training on the door step of the helicopter operators. It has the capacity to add another simulator, such as the company's new EC175 helicopter, which is also expected to be extensively used by the off-shore energy market.

 

Additional EC225 full flight simulators are planned for installation by Eurocopter in China, Brazil and Malaysia, whilst for the AS365 Dauphin N3 helicopter are to be located in France and Singapore.

 

"This is part of our strategy to be present locally in markets around the world, facilitating our customers' operations through the full availability of Eurocopter services", said Philippe Crespo, Vice-President Worldwide Training Services. "We are increasing our training footprint from the four simulators operated by Eurocopter four years ago to a total of 20 by the end of 2013, which represents a major commitment by the company."

 

 

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Primer vuelo mundial de un helicóptero híbrido que combina un motor de combustión interna con un electromotor: Eurocopter pone la innovación al servicio de la seguridad

Primer vuelo mundial de un helicóptero híbrido que combina un motor de combustión interna con un electromotor: Eurocopter pone la innovación al servicio de la seguridad (Ref. DIGIT-04492, © Copyright Eurocopter, Patrick Gertner).    

 

 

Eurocopter ha ensayado con éxito un helicóptero híbrido dotado de un motor turboeje de combustión interna y de un electromotor. Esta primicia mundial marca un hito en su hoja de ruta hacia la innovación y deja abierto el camino a futuras mejoras de la seguridad en las aeronaves de ala rotatoria.

 

Marignane,  04 octubre 2011

 

 

 

Para este logro inicial del estudio de la concepción híbrida, Eurocopter se ha servido de un sistema eléctrico adicional destinado a aumentar la maniobrabilidad de un monoturbina durante el aterrizaje en autorrotación – un método utilizado por los pilotos en caso de avería del motor.

 

El aparato utilizado como demostrador es un modelo de serie del helicóptero ligero monoturbina AS350, equipado con un electromotor adicional. En caso de avería del motor, el electromotor genera energía para propulsar el rotor, permitiendo al piloto gobernar el aparato durante el descenso con gran facilidad y llegar sano y salvo a tierra. La próxima etapa consistirá en madurar la concepción y evaluar su introducción en la fabricación en serie de los helicópteros de Eurocopter.

 

"Nuestros esfuerzos en materia de investigación y desarrollo nos permiten ir cada día más lejos y aumentar la seguridad y las prestaciones de nuestros aparatos en beneficio de sus clientes. Nos sentimos orgullosos de haber puesto en vuelo el primer helicóptero equipado con un motor de combustión interna y con un sistema de propulsión eléctrica", dijo Lutz Bertling, presidente y delegado general de Eurocopter. "La propulsión híbrida -que es un elemento importante de la hoja de ruta de innovación de Eurocopter con vistas al desarrollo de la próxima generación de helicópteros- ofrece nuevas oportunidades de aumento de la seguridad, además de todo un potencial de reducción de consumo de combustible y de emisiones".

 

El demostrador híbrido AS350 está provisto de un electromotor altamente compacto y de una batería de polímero de litio (Li-ion) instalada en la parte central del helicóptero. Un control electrónico permite la alimentación precisa de la energía producida por el electromotor durante la autorrotación.

 

El AS350 de Eurocopter es uno de los helicópteros de mayor éxito, con más de cuatro mil aparatos en servicio en todo el mundo que, en 2010, sumaban ya más de un millón de horas de vuelo. Destaca por sus propiedades a altas temperaturas y a muy grandes altitudes, ostentando el recórd de ser el único helicóptero que se ha posado en la cima del Monte Everest.

 

 

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Vietnam’s Southern Service Flight Company orders a third Eurocopter EC225 helicopter for offshore oil and gas operations

The Southern Service Flight Company (SSFC) of Vietnam has signed a contract with Eurocopter South East Asia for a third EC225, with an option for another, to be added to its fleet for offshore oil and gas operations. It is scheduled to be delivered in early 2013.

 

SSFC purchased its first rotary-wing aircraft from Eurocopter in 1986, and specializes in the provision of helicopter services for the oil and gas industry. With a fast-expanding business base, SSFC's Eurocopter fleet grew to a total of eight helicopters, comprising both medium and heavyweight aircraft.

 

"The EC225 is a very powerful and reliable helicopter that has served us well over the years," explained SSFC Director, Captain Vi Cong Dung. "Offshore operations are subject to many challenging situations. The EC225 with its advanced technologies, possesses all the necessary qualities for our demanding operations."

 

In addition to the EC225s, SSFC has four AS332 L2 heavy twin-engine helicopters, which also are members of Eurocopter's world-renowned Super Puma family. The remainder of its Eurocopter fleet is composed of two EC155 Dauphin family helicopters.

 

"We are encouraged by the trust that our customers have placed in our products, and the opportunity to further strengthen our long-term partnership. This latest EC225 contract is also a testimony to the strength of Eurocopter helicopters in serving the needs of oil and gas operators," said Dr. Bernhard Brenner, the President of Eurocopter South East Asia. "Vietnam is a growing market with strong potential, and is certainly one of our key areas in Southeast Asia."

 

The EC225 is a high-performance heavy twin-engine helicopter in the 10-11 metric ton category. It seats up to 24 passengers, with the latest technologies that make it a leader in the field of flight safety. The EC225 is recognized as the reference for offshore and passenger transport missions, as well as search and rescue (SAR) operations.

 

Eurocopter's business activities with the EC225 in Asia have gained further momentum in recent years, including the supply of 12 EC725 military versions to the Royal Malaysian Air Force for SAR and utility missions; the order of three EC225s by the Japan Coast Guard for use in SAR and law enforcement; as well as the delivery of two EC225s to the Rescue & Salvage Bureau of the Ministry of Transport in China.

 

About Eurocopter South East Asia

 

Eurocopter South East Asia (ESEA) is the regional headquarters of Eurocopter, the world's leading helicopter manufacturer. Established at Singapore in 1977, ESEA handles the sales and customer support activities of 15 territories in the region. In 2010, ESEA achieved a turnover of 127 million Euros. With a staff-strength of more than 200 professionals, the company has developed a successful commercial network of Singapore-based sales team and regional sales managers and technical representatives.

 

www.eurocoptersea.com.sg

 

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