It was a busy year last year for StandardAero’s helicopter business and one that continues into this year with a few developments that should not only expand its reach in turboshaft engines but also increase safety in certain single-engine helicopters.
In the third quarter, StandardAero hopes to have an STC in hand for a four-axis autopilot on the Airbus AS350 and H125 light singles that is expected to decrease rotorcraft wear and tear and pilot workload, as well as increase safety by helping pilots avoid situations such as controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). Under development with Thales, the compact system is designed to provide stability augmentation, attitude retention, and flight director modes, including altitude and heading hold.
“With this autopilot, it’s like having shock absorbers in the air; It absolutely smooths the aircraft out,” StandardAero v-p of helicopters product development Elvis Moniz told AIN. Based on pilot feedback, he added, “it instills such a level of confidence when you’re flying the machine that’s just unparalleled.”
More importantly, Moniz explained, the primary aim of the autopilot is to reduce the risk of accidents when flying into IMC. “Especially when a pilot is flying in mountainous regions…and they get themselves into some kind of fog patch, cloud condition, wind gusts—this autopilot has got the ability, if you get disoriented, that you press a button and it will take you somewhere safe so the pilot can actually get his bearings and fly himself into a safe situation,” he said.
The flight-test campaign of the autopilot that began in November at StandardAero’s Langley, British Columbia, Canada facility has been successful, Moniz said. While the STC will initially be available for the AS350 and H125, he explained that StandardAero will look to add other helicopter platforms. “Anything that can really help pilots navigate safely interests us right now,” Moniz said.
Acquistions and Consolidations
Brian Hughes, v-p of sales and marketing for StandardAero’s helicopter programs, told AIN the company expects to add further engine MRO authorizations as a result of the company’s pending acquisition of Signature Aviation’s engine repair and overhaul (ERO) business announced in February, specifically Dallas Airmotive and H&S Aviation. Those two Signature units in particular and the work they perform on turboshaft engines should further expand StandardAero’s already broad capability, he said.
But because the deal is currently under regulatory review, Hughes said he was limited on what he could say about the two companies and what exactly they would bring to StandardAero’s helicopter engine business, other than “a couple of licenses that we don’t have on the rotorcraft side.”
The Signature ERO acquisition follows StandardAero’s completion of a two-year restructuring plan achieved last July. Through that process, it integrated operations in Langley, British Columbia, and Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada, with its Winnipeg, Manitoba helicopter center for excellence (COE). The consolidation brought helicopter airframe and engine MRO services into a single location in Winnipeg through its Summerside facility.
Included in the consolidation was the relocation of Rolls-Royce M250 and RR300 engine lines, which joined Winnipeg MRO lines for the Pratt & Whitney PT6T and Safran Arriel 1 and 2 engines. While Hughes said StandardAero has an established helicopter engines business, its work in other rotorcraft systems that it acquired through the 2017 acquisition of Vector Aerospace may be less familiar. And it’s in those areas that the company is working to convey that message. “Today, people know us as an engine shop but we’re trying to get the word out that we’re a very prominent player in [helicopter] airframe structural repairs and avionics,” he said.