Agusta AW139
Ta.
HP
It's in Italy (Sesto Calende) run by a joint venture company (CAE and AW) called Rotorsim. Only recently opened.
Join Date: Jul 2004
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Further to the 139 stuff, Bell/ AWHL are in the process of developing the 139 into the 149 which will be aimed at the military market as a possible replacement for the aging Puma fleet.
Its a great looking piece of kit
Its a great looking piece of kit
Aw 139
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
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Kiwi
I can throw some light on this. I have just completed the grd school in NE Philly. The A/C is amazing. I had 76 and dauphan drivers in the class thats also expressed how easy it as to understand the systems. There was only 1 issue we hit up against and that was a weight and Balance problem, which I feel is being addressed at this time by AW. It needs a little more weight in the nose. I have not started the flight training yet, but have heard there have been some other electrical teething problems. The A/C that we fly are situated in the Gulf of Mexico. I think it maybe the humidy playing games. I'm sure other more expirenced PPruners maybe able to shed a little further light.
Darren
I can throw some light on this. I have just completed the grd school in NE Philly. The A/C is amazing. I had 76 and dauphan drivers in the class thats also expressed how easy it as to understand the systems. There was only 1 issue we hit up against and that was a weight and Balance problem, which I feel is being addressed at this time by AW. It needs a little more weight in the nose. I have not started the flight training yet, but have heard there have been some other electrical teething problems. The A/C that we fly are situated in the Gulf of Mexico. I think it maybe the humidy playing games. I'm sure other more expirenced PPruners maybe able to shed a little further light.
Darren
The 139 it's a dream! It has the power,speed,range,OEI perf,all the gadgets you can pay,and all the safety features of a truly new design...
Yes, you'll be from 7º to 9º nose up in hover but not a problem.
The problems are not so serius for a new machine.
I love it.
Yes, you'll be from 7º to 9º nose up in hover but not a problem.
The problems are not so serius for a new machine.
I love it.
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: northeast usa
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139
I flew one last year and it was sweet!
Lots of power! Trim and stick feel was like butter. Don't know if it was legit, but the RFM has a single engine HIGE chart at max continous, standard day, SL, slightly under max gross!
Lots of power! Trim and stick feel was like butter. Don't know if it was legit, but the RFM has a single engine HIGE chart at max continous, standard day, SL, slightly under max gross!
toolguy you are very right, controls are very "light" but you get used to it, and yes, around 6.300kg OEI HIGE SL 15ºC.
Also no H-V chart up to 3000' or 4000' ISA more or less.
Also no H-V chart up to 3000' or 4000' ISA more or less.
Operational Planning
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Button Moon
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Fuel planning for EMS and SAR would be closer to 1000 lbs/hr due to the lower altitudes / shorter trips, I would expect.
Aircraft is a very nice aircraft to fly when actually able to fly. Lots of downtime recently due to maintenance. Very poor support from Agusta (at least in the US).
Common problems –
Air conditioning.
Hyd servo CAS messages due to moisture and faulty switches.
Fuel probe CAS messages (mostly due to cannon plugs).
Fire warnings due to exhausts cracking and in some cases collapsing.
AHRS failing.
GPS antenna failures (not a whole lot of fun when 150 miles offshore as the FMS D/R mode isn’t so hot)
Did I mention air conditioning.
Not so common problems –
Gear dropping magically by itself.
Engine starting to spool up when hyd electrical pump turned on ???
Parking brake sticking.
And more recently an un-commanded shutdown of an engine followed by a EEC failure.
So lots of problems, but lots of good things going for it as well (power, speed, comfort, avionics). I know Agusta are capable of building a decent helicopter but this one still needs a lot of work. However, this is new technology (at least in the helicopter world) and this is an A model. I think the B model will be fantastic and its certainly a step in the right direction.
Hope this helps.
Aircraft is a very nice aircraft to fly when actually able to fly. Lots of downtime recently due to maintenance. Very poor support from Agusta (at least in the US).
Common problems –
Air conditioning.
Hyd servo CAS messages due to moisture and faulty switches.
Fuel probe CAS messages (mostly due to cannon plugs).
Fire warnings due to exhausts cracking and in some cases collapsing.
AHRS failing.
GPS antenna failures (not a whole lot of fun when 150 miles offshore as the FMS D/R mode isn’t so hot)
Did I mention air conditioning.
Not so common problems –
Gear dropping magically by itself.
Engine starting to spool up when hyd electrical pump turned on ???
Parking brake sticking.
And more recently an un-commanded shutdown of an engine followed by a EEC failure.
So lots of problems, but lots of good things going for it as well (power, speed, comfort, avionics). I know Agusta are capable of building a decent helicopter but this one still needs a lot of work. However, this is new technology (at least in the helicopter world) and this is an A model. I think the B model will be fantastic and its certainly a step in the right direction.
Hope this helps.
Last edited by platinumpure; 22nd Oct 2006 at 03:30.
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Last edited by AB139engineer; 23rd Oct 2006 at 00:03.
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AW139 Engineering Perspective
AW139Engineer.
Noted your thoughts from the pilots perspective. What is your view from the Engineers eyes. Eg reliablity, ease of maintenance and Agusta technical and spares support etc
Noted your thoughts from the pilots perspective. What is your view from the Engineers eyes. Eg reliablity, ease of maintenance and Agusta technical and spares support etc
Wow Platinumpure, it sounds like you got a dog!!!! 
We have problems with the M/R scissor bushes wearing out every 200 hours, and cracking on the exhaust tips (although the repair seems to be holding up OK), but other than that the machine just keeps on trucking.
One machine is doing 80-100 hours/month, the other is not online yet, probably won't have enough crews until early next year.
Keep an eye on the upper left hand tailboom mount, on the fuselage side. We have one machine with a crack there, and know of at least one other machine out there with cracking in the same place. Not a major, it is only the support structure cracking, not the primary structure. Repair scheme is pretty simple.
We don't have the aircon. It isn't worth the weight and hassle. No AHRS probs, no GPS probs, no undercarriage or engine probs, and definitely no fuel system probs (we have aux tanks fitted, waste of time!!).
Either you got a dog, or we got lucky!!!
Parts are a problem, although our main problem is trying to get the company to order what we say we need. For instance..... scissor bushes wear out frequently, and we hold none in stock. But, we hold 2 DME aerials in stock, coz they always break!!!
We also have one of every avionic box on the machine, but no pitch links, main rotor blades, or tail rotor blades.
Agree that Agusta need to sort out the spares. It is almost as if they didn't think it would be this popular, and haven't made enough parts!!
Not sure what our fuel burn figures are sorry. We usually max out our weight with 10 or 11 pax, and cruise speed is 150-155 knots. It seems to get better the faster you go
We have problems with the M/R scissor bushes wearing out every 200 hours, and cracking on the exhaust tips (although the repair seems to be holding up OK), but other than that the machine just keeps on trucking.
One machine is doing 80-100 hours/month, the other is not online yet, probably won't have enough crews until early next year.
Keep an eye on the upper left hand tailboom mount, on the fuselage side. We have one machine with a crack there, and know of at least one other machine out there with cracking in the same place. Not a major, it is only the support structure cracking, not the primary structure. Repair scheme is pretty simple.
We don't have the aircon. It isn't worth the weight and hassle. No AHRS probs, no GPS probs, no undercarriage or engine probs, and definitely no fuel system probs (we have aux tanks fitted, waste of time!!).
Either you got a dog, or we got lucky!!!
Parts are a problem, although our main problem is trying to get the company to order what we say we need. For instance..... scissor bushes wear out frequently, and we hold none in stock. But, we hold 2 DME aerials in stock, coz they always break!!!
We also have one of every avionic box on the machine, but no pitch links, main rotor blades, or tail rotor blades.
Agree that Agusta need to sort out the spares. It is almost as if they didn't think it would be this popular, and haven't made enough parts!!
Not sure what our fuel burn figures are sorry. We usually max out our weight with 10 or 11 pax, and cruise speed is 150-155 knots. It seems to get better the faster you go
Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: texas
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Stories very reminisent about A models of all aircraft. Had an American Airlines pilot once tell me that when they first got delivery of the new MD11's they called them SCUDS - once they launched, you never new where they were going to land.
Bristow backed away from the AB139 partly due to concerns about support. Back in the late 90's, they had a meeting with Augusta and had lots of questions - things like warranties, cost of parts, retirement times, etc. - all those things you would like to know before shelling out $100 mill. The meeting was apparently in March, and by July they had not received any answers. One Bristow exec. put it this way: "if that's the kind of support you get when they're trying to sell it to you, what kind of support are you going to get after they've sold it to you."
Makes me wonder why Bell bailed out.
Bristow backed away from the AB139 partly due to concerns about support. Back in the late 90's, they had a meeting with Augusta and had lots of questions - things like warranties, cost of parts, retirement times, etc. - all those things you would like to know before shelling out $100 mill. The meeting was apparently in March, and by July they had not received any answers. One Bristow exec. put it this way: "if that's the kind of support you get when they're trying to sell it to you, what kind of support are you going to get after they've sold it to you."
Makes me wonder why Bell bailed out.
Join Date: Oct 2005
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I think you may have got lucky or maybe we got a lot of dogs. As most of the problems we have had have been common on all of our aircraft. In fact we are currently returning one to the factory due to the amount of problems that we have had.