'S funny. Looks line an S92 but smaller and with bigger windows !

The Nr Fairy - The evacuation trial vid is a gem. "The corners man... hit the corners!!!!" I laughed off my seat.

Will this one be the new alternative to the 412?

Where can I find specs on it?

AB 139 specs
 

To: Sprocket

Try here: http://www.aerospace-technology.com/...139/specs.html

:ok:

Having said that, if anyone wants to give me the opportunity to compare the two . . .

Thanks Lu.

The AB 139 has the edge over the 412 in the basic specs, especially in speed and power.

How much advantage is there in a helicopter that size having five, instead of four blades in the M/Rotor? Safety in numbers? …. Anyone?

Nr, if you get the job, can I come for a ride too? ….. Huh? huh?

My hearty congratulations to the AB-139 team. This is a great achievement, and they should be rightfully proud.

I do note the uncanny similarity in flight hours to the S-92, 1575 vice 1600. There is a story to tell with that. With a typical structural or certification test hour running about US $30,000 to 40,000, the cost of flight test alone for certification is pushing $50 million!

I had the occasion to fly it when in Italy with some students from NTPS who were doing their final project.
15 minutes was just a great taste - acres of glass (best field of view I've seen since the Bell 47), easy access to the copilots seat (there was about 18" between the most forward part of the collective and the door post).
Smooth, quiet, comfortable - 163 KIAS at 100% torque at aft CG and maximum weight. 140 KIAS at 70% torque. Not much vibration. Great flight controls - typical Italian finesse in that the trim release button and the beeper trim didn't take tons of pressure to work.
Great displays - little different than normal with the vertical scale altitude and airspeed, but easy to use and see. AFCS off wasn't even a big deal.
Nice landing gear- lots of travel and yet firm.
Simple looking - no mechanical mixing of the flight controls despite a canted tail rotor (only very minor cross coupling in pedal turns - AFCS did a great job of maintaining datum attitudes).
Tail rotor has drag dampers on the blades - first one I've seen.
Baggage compartment is huge - unbelievably big.
And the cockpit is wider than a C-130 Hercules!
More details will have to wait for a longer flight (probably September, I'm told)

I heard rumours that it was tad heavy for decks certified for the 412/76 class of aircraft, and this may cause problems for its future as these are the aircraft its slotted to replace. Anybody heard more on this?

Lead lag dampers
 

To: Shawn Coyle

The Sikorsky H-37 had lead lag dampers on the tail rotor and I believe the CH-53 and larger Sikorsky helicopters have them as does the EH-101. But, not on the S-61 and its’ derivitives.

:ok:

However big the baggage compartment is, it ain't big enough. When you start carrying Schlumberger hands, the bags eat up the baggage space really quick. In a 412/S76 you're lucky to fit 9, using the rest of the seats for baggage in addition to the baggage compartment. It takes close to 25 cubic ft/man for baggage, sometimes more.

I don't know the max weight of either the AB139 or the S92, but most decks in the GOM are limited to 11,000lb or less. The big deepwater drilling rigs likely can handle them, as long as they have the range to get out >200NM with a load. You won't be able to stop & refuel on the way like you can with the current fleet.

Lu,

You are correct that the CH-37 had tail rotor dampers, but I believe it was the only Sikorsky model that made it to production with them installed. The entire tail rotor assembly looked like a goat-rope (but then my friends who worked on the CH-37 said the whole machine was that way)!

I have a photograph on my wall of the prototype CH-54A in an incomplete state (mock-up), with the CH-37 tail rotor installed. As far as I am aware, all production CH-53 and CH-54 had a rigid tail rotor installed. They certainly do in their current state, and share common components.

As far as the AB-139, they certainly got the baggage compartments right. They are huge and exactly what is required. The S-76 and Bell 212/412 have pitiful space available - totally inadequate for the mission.

I didn't realise that the EH-101 had tail rotor dampers, but then again it has been a while since I had the opportunity to see one up close. Anyone have any pictures?

These are interesting times, as an entire generation of new helicopters hit the marketplace, AB-139, EH-101, S92 and Super Puma Mk 2.

Hopefully the marketplace will be able to realise the potential of these aircraft and undergo a renaissance.

Egg on my face
 

To: Shawn Coyle

When the EH-101 was originally designed the tail rotor was very much like the S-56 and had dampers. Looking at a close-up of the EH-101 tail rotor it seems that the design has evolved and there are no dampers. I would assume that lead and lag is reacted by the blades and they bend in plane.

Agusta on occasion would adapt a design from their license partners or from other programs. On the first Agusta 101 the fuselage looked like a Super Frelon and the rotorhead was pure French.

Sorry for the confusion.

:confused:

Ab 139
 

There has been an AB139 tooling around at Gateway (KIWA) airport in Phoenix, AZ...Anyone know what they are up to with or taking part in it? Looked like they were doing HV testing.

My spies (Agusta Flight Test Engineers) tell me it's at Honeywell for AFCS development.
I am supposed to go fly it for Helicopter World sometime later in January for a full report. Can't wait, as my previous 15 minutes in the machine was an absolute gas.
Shawn

There is an AB139 at Deer Valley in the Honeywell hangar. It is there for testing on the EPIC FMS. I was fortunate enough to have the engineers take me for a tour and fire up the FMS as it was in for maintenance and a fix of the Air Conditioning.

Saw the AB139 SAR variant at Helitech 03, looked like a real peach. Does it fly as well as it looks?

Saw the AB139 SAR variant at Helitech 03, looked like a real peach........

AT

The SAR configured helicopter at Heliech 03 was a PUMA for JIGSAW project.

Agusta-Bell pulled the [real] 139 at the last moment and sent it to a show in Rome instead.

The only Helitech exhibits were mock-ups.

I want a tour! Ill have to start searching the honeywell plant out in the San Tans and maybe Ill see it out there as well. Doubt theyd leave it out in the open though.

Irish Aer Corps to order 6 Helicopters
 

Reported in this Sundays Independant.

http://www.unison.ie/irish_independe...issue_id=10847

THE Irish Air Corps is to get six new helicopters in a mix of two types - including two able to carry a section of nine soldiers.

Helicopter manufacturers are eagerly awaiting tenders, expected to be published this week by the Department of Defence which is seeking four light utility and two larger utility helicopters.

The move comes nearly five months after Minister Michael Smith said a new fleet of light utility helicopters would replace the small Alouette, Dauphin and Gazelle aircraft.

With the Air Corps' main responsibility for search and rescue now privatised, the force is looking at providing more support to the army, including air mobility for troops. As a result, the specification for the new aircraft was changed from only one type of helicopter announced by Mr Smith last December.

The defence forces have also seen how vital air mobility is in the context of modern peace keeping, like the volatile situation in Liberia.

Elements of the Irish army battalion there have been able to conduct long-range patrols hundreds of kilometres from base using giant Ukrainian Air Force Mi-26 helicopters to carry their armoured cars and jeeps; Mi-8s to carry troops and Mi-24 gunships to provide "top cover".

Manufacturers expected to be in contention for the order include Eurocopter with its Ec-135 and Ec-145 helicopters; Agusta with its 109 helicopter, and Sikorsky with its S-76 or Blackhawk.

The six new aircraft will replace 15 light helicopters, some of which were bought in 1963.

The new fleet is also expected to be used for surveillance, inshore rescue, medivac, air ambulance, island relief, hospital transfers and training.

Meanwhile, the Air Corps will take delivery, before June, of the last of the eight Pilatus PC-9m training aircraft which have been bought for €60m.

They can be armed with heavy machine guns and rockets and are expected to play a role enforcing an air exclusion zone over Dromoland Castle and Shannon Airport for the President George W Bush visit.
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I would think that any Vendors looking at this tender will be very weary after what happened the last time with Eurocopter and Sikorsky.