New Products: Heli-Expo Edition

Bell 525 Helicopter

The Bell 525 helicopter has fly-by-wire flight controls improving operator safety and reliability, and decreasing pilot workload even in the demanding missions and challenging environments. Garmin G5000H avionics incorporates the first touchscreen glass flight deck designed for helicopters. Four high-definition displays and two touchscreen controls provide important flight information.
Wrap-around windscreens and a side-stick control scheme provide a wide field of view during takeoff, cruise and landing, and excellent over-the-nose viewing. Superior speed, payload, and range capability help meet customers’ demanding missions. A 16-passenger flat floor cabin and large cargo bay provide flexible configuration options and simple passenger ingress/egress. 20-inch-wide seats and large windows provide comfort and situational awareness for passengers. An innovative drive system is designed to the latest regulatory standards and offers rugged reliability for the harshest environments. Marinized airframe and MSG-3 maintenance plan design reduce operating costs. An Integrated Vehicle Health Management system provides extensive aircraft monitoring along with smart predictive and diagnostic tools to improve flight safety and optimize availability.

Hill Helicopters HX50

The HX50 helicopter is a 1,650-kg (3,638-pound) five-seat rotorcraft equipped with a GT50 turboshaft engine producing 400 hp. This and its high-inertia, three-blade rotor system gives the helicopter a cruise speed of 161 mph and a range of up to 806 miles. The propeller’s blades are retractable and fold backward when the helicopter needs to be stored in small areas. Its sleek, elegant exterior contours are sculpted along futuristic lines for maximum performance. The retractable undercarriage is ideal for long-distance where fast cruising flight is a priority.

Its digital cockpit, which comprises two 15-inch glass instrument panels and an iPad, presents all flight information, making it ideal for recreational pilots. VFR flight instruments present this required information via traditional gauges in a dynamic digital presentation along with multi-sensory stimuli. This integrated and connected approach dramatically reduces pilot workload and effectively draws attention to changing conditions when necessary. The HX50 will be available to buy under the experimental homebuilt category. A fully certified model, identical to the HX50 and built in the same facility, called HC50 will be available to the market and commercial use later, albeit at a higher cost.

Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion

Sikorsky’s CH-53K King Stallion has been designed and built to the exacting standards of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). Set to replace the aging CH-53E Super Stallion, it will serve as a critical land- and sea-based logistics connector. This new heavy lifter will allow the USMC and international militaries to move troops and equipment from ship to shore, and to higher altitude terrain, more quickly and effectively than ever before. With a 36,000-pound payload capacity, it can carry everything from a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) to a Light Armored Vehicle (LAV) to humanitarian assistance to disaster relief supplies.

Its external load carrying capacity is nearly triple that of the legacy CH-53E aircraft. Ideal for transporting cargo or troops with fewer trips, its large cabin offers flexible configurations for maximum mission effectiveness, and facilitates loading/unloading of cargo without reconfiguring and removing troop seating. At 170 kts (315 km/hr) cruise speed, it can get in and out of critical situations quickly, reducing exposure of its passengers and crew in hostile environments. Its Integrated Vehicle Health Management System (IVHMS) enhances safety and supportability. A Digital Glass Cockpit and Fly-by-Wire (FBW) Flight Controls reduce pilot workload and assist all weather operations. The U.S. Navy declared full rate production of it in December 2022, a decision that is expected to increase production to more than 20 helicopters annually in the coming years.

Northrop Grumman UH-60V

The Army’s new and updated UH-60V Black Hawk helicopter has a modular, open-systems digital cockpit. It has a comprehensive cockpit redesign that replaces the UH-60L’s legacy analog instrumentation with a fully open, digital, and integrated avionics suite. Modernized with a glass cockpit, it has an integrated computational system, visual display system, and control display units. Its open and scalable, fully integrated mission equipment package includes enhanced pilot situational awareness and mission safety, decreased workload and life cycle cost, and a common training environment.

With its open architecture system, operators are free to work with multiple developers to upgrade capabilities. State-of-the-art video input and output flexibility to allow near- and far-term integration of imaging information, including compatibility with both digital and legacy video formats. The upgraded helicopter will replicate the UH-60M pilot-vehicle interface and improve interoperability. The solution extends the life and mission capabilities of the UH-60 platform.

Becker Avionics AMU 6500 Digital Intercom System

U.S. Helicopters has selected the Becker Avionics AMU 6500 digital intercom system for the avionics upgrade of their AS350 helicopters. The state-of-the-art 3D audio embedded in Becker’s AMU 6500 intercom would be a key element for U.S. Helicopters pilots operating in the very dense traffic environment of the U.S. Eastern corridor. The Becker AMU6500 is a standalone audio management unit, which was designed for rotary and fixed-wing aircraft. A modular and decentralized system design philosophy has been implemented to allow a maximum of flexibility during the system integration and to ensure optimum performance and reliability during in-flight operations.

The spatial discrimination inherent in 3D audio allows the pilot to prioritize which radio of the two or more radios he has selected to concentrate on. This spatial discrimination also allows the pilot to recognize from which position in the helicopter a crew member is speaking to him or her on the intercom. Both capabilities enhance the pilot’s situational awareness seamlessly particularly in the ENG mission where multiple radios and crew personnel are the norm. The AMU 6500’s software architecture allows rapid changes to meet different mission profiles. AMU 6500 can control up to 12 radios with up to three intercom stations, with Bluetooth capability and world class 3D audio.

Rotor Technologies Inc. CloudPilot

In late 2022, Rotor Technologies Inc.’s uncrewed helicopter prototype had its first flight and received experimental certification. By combining flight control algorithms, computer vision, and satellite communications, CloudPilot was created. It’s an operating system that will make aircraft operations safer and easier. With it, a pilot can “teleoperate” a helicopter from anywhere in the world. The system uses commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations such as SpaceX’s StarLink to transfer data over long distances with minimal delay. Proprietary VR technology gives pilots better visibility than the cockpit, enabling operations at night and in low visibility and preventing accidents caused by pilot disorientation and human error, such as the Kobe Bryant tragedy. CloudPilot will initially be used to combat wildfires, where helicopters drop water or fire retardant to slow the spread of fires and provide aerial logistics for firefighters on the ground.