Originally Posted by
Runaway Gun
Full points to the ex-military guy who questioned why a military Blackhawk could carry pax, but a painted one couldn’t carry firefighters. I’m sure CASA have their reasons, but it can’t be simply explained. Also a few times it was mentioned “but they do it like this in America…” but only when they couldn’t explain things.
I think the issue is that CASA lacks the technical ability to certify helicopters. For instance, I know they do not employ a helicopter test pilot, so what do they do?
The answer is that they just accept what other certifying authorities have done.
In the case of the Blackhawk that would be the FAA, so I offer the following news clipfrom 8 Dec 2021 <https://www.defenseworld.net/news/30955/Sikorsky___s_S_70M_Black_Hawk_Helicopter_Gets_FAA_Civil_Cert ification>:
“With type certification, new production S-70M Black Hawk helicopters in the latest configuration are available to the U.S. commercial/civil market for the first time,” said Jason Lambert, vice president of Sikorsky Global Commercial & Military Systems.
“Internationally, where the FAA restricted category is not widely accepted, we can now discuss with other civil aviation authorities the potential of validating the aircraft for challenging civil operations in their countries’ airspace.”
So just one "Blackhawk" type, the S-70M, is certified and only ex-factory new ones and in a category that CASA may not recognise.