Emergency Flotation Systems

[akhlystun]

Hey everyone,

I am doing a market study about the helicopter emergency flotation systems and I would really appreciate if someone can help me with my questions.

1) How many bottles/cylinders are usually used to inflate floats on different programs?

2) What percentage of light/small helicopters (R-44 or R-66) is equipped with inflatable emergency flotation systems?

Any help would really help!

Thank you in advance.

[John R81]

Light helicopters make do with one bottle. I have an R44 and EC120 with pop-out floats and both use 1 bottle.

I think that you can get an idea of how many R44 have floats from the registration details. I believe that only the Clipper model is floated (from the factory). I think that DART make an after-market emergency pop-out float kit for R44 (and R66, and other makes) but I don't know how common such after-market kits are. Others may know different. Looking at R44 Clipper models as a percentage of total R44 registrations will therefore undershoot the fraction of floated machines but it will give you a "more than or equal" figure.

[Ascend Charlie]

B206 has 1 bottle
S76 has 2, each one blows up a front bag on one side and a back bag on the other, I think the B412 was the same

Percentages? Lighties rarely have them due to the weight penalty and the likelihood of people stomping on the bags causing expensive damage.

[John Eacott]

212 has one, across the nose in front of the pedals. I thought the 412 was the same?

Doesn't half make a noise when the pressure relief valve blows, at night, with no warning ;)

[Saint Jack]

The physical size of cylinder/s (not 'bottle/s') will be dictated by the volume of nitrogen required to fully inflate the float bags. If a single cylinder of this size can be installed in the airframe at a convenient location without unduly affecting the helicopters centre of gravity then this will be the simplest solution. However, if a single cylinder cannot be installed - for whatever reason, including the necessary plumbing - then the manufacturer must look at multiple cylinders.

For example, early JetRangers had a dual cylinder arrangement in the baggage compartment. Later versions, including the LongRanger series, had a single cylinder under the fuselage - even this had two arrangements, some helicopters had it installed along the longitudinal axis while others had it installed along the lateral axis. This seems to have come full circle now as the latest 407's have two cylinders mounted in parallel under the fuselage along the longitudinal axis

As for "What percentage of light/small helicopters (R-44 or R-66) is equipped with inflatable emergency flotation systems?" the short simple answer is 'who knows', perhaps an e-mail to the factory will help.

[akhlystun]

Guys,

Thanks for your responses! Really great and valuable information.

[soggyboxers]

Ascend Charlie,
S76 has 2, each one blows up a front bag on one side and a back bag on the other
The S76 has 4 bottles, 2 for the 2 nose floats and 2 for the main gear floats.

The Bell 212 has either 1 large bottle in the nose compartment or helium filled lightweight bottles in the 'hell hole'

[unstable load]

Older B206 system with the bottles in the baggage bay had 2 bottles.
S61N has 2 bottles in each sponson if equipped with pop out floats.