The latest variant Airbus Helicopters H145 light twin turbine helicopter is finding favor with air ambulance, search and rescue, and police operators in Europe, particularly where high/hot considerations factor into mission planning.
Announced in 2019 and EASA-certified in 2020, the five-blade H145D3 features the new bearingless main rotor design that provides a smoother ride, requires less maintenance, and increases useful load by 330 pounds compared to the four-bladed H145D2. The European certification covers single-pilot IFR operations, single-engine category A/VTOL, and night vision capability. The H145 is the only rotorcraft of its class to take off and land at 20,000 feet.
The D3’s twin Safran Arriel 2E engines now incorporate fadec and Airbus’s digital Helionix avionics suite and a four-axis autopilot. An integrated Astronautics wireless airborne communications system provides Wi-Fi to the cockpit, imports navigation and mission databases from tablets, establishes automatic connections via Wi-Fi or cell, automatically exports data from previous flights, generates flight reports, and launches automatic downloads. For air ambulance operators, onboard Wi-Fi also allows patient records to be updated inflight, allowing medical crew to send patient data ahead to their destination hospital and doctors and nurses to start evaluating the patient before arrival. Of the more than 1,600 H145 family helicopters in service, more than 500 serve air ambulance and rescue missions worldwide. In total, the fleet has logged more than seven million flight hours. Across all models, Airbus has provided 54 percent of the world’s 2,700 air ambulance helicopters now in service.
An upgrade kit allows existing D2 operators to upgrade to the D3 configuration, and several already have elected to do so. The upgrade kit from the four- to five-blade model includes new composite main rotor blades; a transmission kit consisting of rotor mast, swashplate, scissors, control rods with associated assembly, oil cooler, and rotor brake; an additional electrical hydraulic pump; Helionix software; a new forward cross-tube; and modification/tuning of the horizontal stabilizer.
The popularity of the H145 in the air ambulance role comes at a time of predicted explosive growth for the ambulance industry as a whole, according to a recent study from consultancy Research and Markets. The firm estimates that the global ambulance and air ambulance markets will post an annual growth rate of 8.9 percent, increasing from a 2021 value of $40.6 billion to $94.2 billion by 2031. The firm said the growth will result from the dramatic increases in the use of automobiles and subsequent crashes, as well as an overall explosion in the world’s geriatric population, from 524 million in 2010 to two billion by 2050.
From 2020-2022, Airbus delivered 247 H145s (including military variants) according to data from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association. Leading European air ambulance customers include German air ambulance provider ADAC Luftrettung, which, along with ordering new H145s, plans to upgrade its current fleet of 14 four-blade legacy H145s to the five-blade variant. ADAC Luftrettung operates more than 50 Airbus helicopters from its 37 bases throughout Germany. In June 2021, an ADAC H145 was the first HEMS helicopter to fly with sustainable aviation fuel.
Separately, Switzerland-based air rescue service Rega in 2021 completed 14,330 helicopter missions that included the transportation of 471 Covid patients. That number increased to 16,256 helicopter transports in 2022. Last year the service ordered nine H145D3s; the H145s will replace seven legacy four-blade versions of the H145 that Rega operates. Rega’s new H145s will come equipped with Garmin’s touchscreen GTN 750Xi GPS navigator, meant to enhance mission capabilities and safety of operations, Airbus said. The GTN 750Xi has a higher-resolution display than the previous model and provides full flight planning and flight management functions, including acting as a multifunction display.
The H145 also serves with several air ambulance charities, including the Norwegian Air Ambulance Foundation, which became the first operator in the world to take delivery of a five-blade H145 in 2020. It flies 14 Airbus H135 and H145 twin-turbine aircraft from 13 HEMS bases across the country. Meanwhile, UK-based air ambulance charity Yorkshire Air Ambulance was the first to receive the new H145D3 in the UK. It ordered the D3s to replace a pair of legacy H145s. Another UK-based air ambulance charity, East Anglian Air Ambulance, began upgrading its legacy H145 fleet with the D3 kit upgrade.
The H145 also is finding a niche with offshore wind farm work. Germany-based HTM-Helicopters became the first operator to use the new five-blade H145D3 in the offshore wind market in 2020 and subsequently converted its D2 models to the D3 configuration. These are equipped with a hoist, floatation equipment, and a cargo hook.