EC 135 Operators
The Irish Gardai will receive a EC 135 in July 2001.It is envisaged that Air Corps pilots will operate the helicopter. It is now apparent that the empty equipped weight of the aircraft is 2126 Kgs..the all up weight is 2720 kgs with the high skid option as selected. Therefore the prospective operator has serious concerns regarding the endurance of the aircraft. When you add in the standard crew of one pilot and two observers...not much room for juice (fuel burn is approx 3kgs/min...)
By my calculations that leaves approx 1HR:35MIN to DRY tanks !!
(The helicopter is fitted with avionique nouvelle + flir + skyshout+ nitesun)
The Bavarian Modular Police fit was discounted and the MHL fit selected.
Is this a true reflection of 135 EEW and endurance??
I believe that the AUW may be increased to 2835 for high skids in the near future..??
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