Yes , without any doubt . Pretty everything that is manufactured and sold depends on volume to bring the price down . A solid state new tech autopilot could prove to be v reliable and be the biggest innovation in small helicopter safety there has ever been . After 30 yrs of chugging around at 100ft over the hills I now would like to go up and get safe where all you commercial boys are !
Is the genny issue all to do with the batt life ? If so wouldn't carrying a spare battery with a switch give you at least 1hr of flying ?? I am assuming 30 min from each battery which may be wrong ......

Question from a plank driver... bit confused after looking at the Cobham website.
Helisas can be engaged and the machine flown hands on cyclic, collective and pedals.
But if you're IFR with it on and hand flying - then get into an unusual attitude, or start to get the leans, you can simply release the controls and the machine will return to a level and stable attitude... correct?
As well as that, it has the same functions as a fixed wing autopilot - with various hold modes and course flown/approach settings?

Tarter, No, incorrect!

You're missing the point that unlike fixed wing aircraft, helicopters have no natural aerodynamic stability. SAS provides some stability but unless it is tied to gyros, it will not know which way is up.

Even then, the pilot will have to recover from a "UP" by himself.

The Agusta 109SP has a very nice 4-axis autopilot which is equipped with a "Wingslevel" button in the collective.
Press "Wingslevel" and the AP takes the ship in a wings level (obviously) and 6 degrees nose up attitude.

Without the SAS (stabilization) which is always active as AP has to be ON in Flight, the 109SP gets very nervous and shaky to fly.

As do the earlier 109 series aircraft (ask Noel Edmonds :E ).

why rare
 

Shy - "rare" because it is rare that the weather is bad enough that you CANNOT fly VMC and if it's a little bit worse then you CANNOT fly IFR either...

But it is nice to have the option, normally better to have more options than less

'Do' and 'need to' are different ...

and

Granted the A109 and a few others don't fly well without SAS (ref the Lynx ETPS IMC evaluations) - but some aircraft have excellent handling qualities eg the H500 is a breeze to fly very accurately IMC

If you are doing local flying or training, possibly.

But to operate legally in UK airspace as a reliable method of transportation, the aircraft needs to be fully certified for IFR and the pilot needs to be instrument rated.

rare
 

i get around a fair bit, 35 days non VMC? maybe 10 of which not IFR either?

so yes it helps get the reliability up on the wx 'front' - some of which u lose on the mechanical reliability front.

reliablilty
 

... and the success rate of ifr twins onshore hasn't been all that great either (2 355, 3 109, 2 76 plus others)

Single engine IR
 

All the IFR certified helicopters I encountered are twins.
I understand that EASA Commercial Air Transport regulations mandate a twin engine helicopter for IR flying.
But I think that private or corporate operators are not bound by those rules.
So are there any single engine IR helicopters?

Bell 206 Longranger

We had a fleet of B206 with glass screens and autopilot, teaching to Command Instrument Rating standard. Flew nicely too.

Can anyone point me to the right direction on where to find related EASA regulaltions regarding the above?

Look at the "Easy Access Rules for Air Operations"

Under Annex IV (Part-CAT), Subpart C, Aircraft Performance and Operating Limitations (Helicopters), Chapter 4: Performance Class 3

CAT.POL.H.400
(d) Operations shall not be conducted:

Considering all single engines are PC3 by definition, this prevents them from being used for commercial air transport operations under IFR.

Oh good lord - you lot have clearly not flown a Whirlwind 7 in IMC..........................Great skill needed or a complete lack of imagination - along with a complete lack of stabilisation, stick trim,auto throttle and so on. Please PM me with your plaudits.......................

@ApolloHeli, thanks you are a star

Vantage Aviation in the UK operate a Longranger G-OSAR for single engine Instrument Ratings. It is certified to provide SE IR training but not sure what permissions / limitations it actually has to operate

October 26, 2017

Helicopter Single Engine IR approved

I think a mixture of Single Engine Training followed by ME upgrade during Type Conversion is a very efficient way of training. Considering the cost of a ME Instrument Rating, its hardly surprising that so few aspiring pilots can afford to go forward with the training.