EC135 P2 CAT A Performance
 

Just interested to know what kind of CAT A Performance the EC135 P2 has. Anybody out there who can give me the maximum permissible weight for the following:

- CAT A Helipad Takeoff/Landing
- OAT +20 C
- Pressure Alt. 1000 feet

What is a typical Equipped Empty Weight (EEW) for a 135 in HEMS configuration?

Thanks in advance:cool:

My graph says you can achieve it at 2835kg

I would guess at about 2000kg equipped weight

:ok:

Isn't the EC135 Max. approved gross weight appr. 2850 kg???? Are you sure it will have CAT A approved Helipad performance at these conditions close to max. approved gross weight??:confused:

Vertolot

to be correct and to avoid misunderstandings, the two CAT A procedures are named "Clear Heliport" and "Elevated Heliport".
On "Elevated Heliports" in 1000ft the weight is 2835 up to 28°C.


If you talk about a typical configuration, used in the big EC 135 fleets in Germany, Austria, ... the EET is 1820-1880 kg. The weight of the EMS equipment (hardware) is nearly all the same. The differencies in weight between the producers are small. Therefore the EEW of your EC 135 depends more from the a/c weight. Buy air condition, floats, hoist, hooks, .... use old steel oxygen bottles instead of carbon or LOX... and the EEW is more than 2200kg.

The more than 50 EMS EC 135 in Germany and Austria are mostly only VFR day/night single pilot equipped without any other a/c optionals.

Tecpilot,

Thanks for your reply. I just have seen on some other Eurocopter FM's that they use the the worlds Clear Heliports and Helipads for CAT A operations, but the Elevated Heliport is probably the same as Helipad.

Thanks,

Only a question of the right charts in the FM EC 135. :)

The Cat A on BK 117 terms are "Clear Heliport" and "Elevated or Restricted Helipads". The BO 105 "Special Takeoff and Landing Operations" terms are the same like BK 117 plus a "Short Field" section.

Enhanced EC 135 EASA certified
 

To stay ahead of the competition, Eurocopter has certified an increased take-off weight of 2,910 kg (from formerly 2,835 kg). LBA/EASA certification was granted on February 21, 2006. Deliveries will start as of late September 2006. For customers operating the new variant, which is designated EC 135 T2i or P2i respectively, the benefits are evident: More payload, more performance, more range.

The increase of take-off weight is complemented by a reduction of empty weight to 1,455 kg, giving the EC135 now an exceptional empty weight ratio of 50 percent. Useful load is thereby increased by 80 kg which equals one passenger more, or more fuel allowing for 100 km more range, or 30 minutes more endurance. The weight of the EC 135’s IFR equipment was reduced by 10 kg. Therefore, the useful load for IFR-equipped aircraft is up by even 90 kg. Hot & High performance has also been improved, up to an additional 180 kg hover weight and up to an additional 2,000 ft. hover altitude. Retrofits will be available to customers presently operating the EC 135 T2 or P2.

ECD is continuously working on innovation and optimisation to keep the EC 135 family at the top of its class. The efforts during 2005 concentrated on the complete range of offshore equipment including corrosion protection (with a view to the aircraft’s growing success in the offshore market), increase of CAT A gross weight by 30 kg to 75 kg (depending on outside temperature), qualification of new FADEC software and many other features.

For those interested in a retrofit, this won't be available until an SB is written and approved which could be by year end.

EC135- PW or Turbomeca
 

If you had the choice of engines, which would you choose and why? The choice is the Turbomeca ARRIUS 2B2 or Pratt and Whitney 206B2 engines.

They are pretty close on TO power and the Pratt has more MCP, but there is much more to it than grunt.

Any experiences please?

P&W got the nod.
 

We looked closely at the EC 135. We came to the conclusion that in Asia the P&W was the way to go. I don’t think that a Turbomeca powered machine has been sold in this region yet. Even Eurocopter recommended P&W to us!

Quite a few operators actually choose depending on which service center is closest by or they have best experience with.

One advantage of the Turbomecas is, that You dont have to clean your tailboom so often, it seems they burn the fuel better than the Pratts

Thank you for your inputs. We note in Hong Kong that Turbomeca were quick off the mark with the marketing and had guys in town within weeks of the order. PW perhaps do not need the sale, it is such a small part of their operation.

I have seen on another thread ref the choice in the Squirrel, the Turbomeca units were criticised as being very expensive when they go wrong - especially to replace, whereas the Alison/RR units were much cheaper.

Anyone have any comparisons or stories about maintenance of the PW versus the Turbomeca?

Or any other facts, rumour or scuttlebut gratefully received.

They both do an admirable job, I'm sure. A couple of minor issues but nothing that stands out.
Consequently, by far the biggest decision maker has then got to be:

CUSTOMER CARE:hmm:

Logistics / turnround times/ etc far more important....

Turbomeca need clean de-ionised water for their engine washes and P&W just need tapwater, that is why one of the UK Police ASU's is opting for P&W on their new 135. So I am told.

Thanks for these. Brilliant, that would stangely make a big difference here as in a marine environment we shall need to wash daily. I'll chase it up.

The ADAC Luftrettung GmbH in Germany has a mixed fleet of EC-135T1s and EC-135P2s. Maybe they or possibly Air Lloyd Luftfahrt Technik GmbH, who do most of the maintenance work for the ADAC helicopters, could help you out in ascertaining the pros and cons of the two different engine types.

The TM requirement for daily rinsing specified a minimum standard for the water to be used. There are some places in the UK where the supplied tap water would have met that specification but it needed to be guaranteed, day in, day out. Using de-ionised, demineralized or distilled simply guarantees the quality. As several UK operators have discovered over the last few months, there's a lot more to water than you think!!

PM me if you need more.

Big Bucks Bernie,

Do you know how many 135T1 and 135P2 ADAC have in there fleet, are they all used for HEMS?

Vertolot

@vertolot
all ADAC Helicopters ( EC 135, EC 145, BK 117 and BO 105 ) are used for HEMS. The EC 135 fleet : 3 T1, 15 P2 and 6 P1.