Story ID: 
Helicopter Expert Questions New Quest Design
By: Thierry Dubois
Caption: Jean-Pierre Dubreuil, an expert with the French Air and Space Academy and a Eurocopter retiree, is questioning several features of the new Quest Helicopter
Word Count: 170
Jean-Pierre Dubreuil, an expert with the French Air and Space Academy and a Eurocopter retiree, is questioning several features of the new Quest Helicopters AVQ tandem-rotor helicopter program announced at the Dubai Air Show earlier this week.

In an interview with AIN, Dubreuil questioned whether passengers could withstand the acceleration forces of being ejected in the cabin capsule, a feature Quest is proposing for safety in the event of dire emergency. AVQ designer Volodymyr Udvenko contends that passengers will experience “4Gs for 0.5 seconds and then 2Gs for another 1.5 seconds.”

Also, Quest had announced that it is “talking to suppliers who already have certified helicopter fly-by-wire controls” but later clarified that Quest will in fact use a firm that has designed fly-by-wire controls for Antonov civil airplanes.

Finally, Quest says it expects that $50 million will be sufficient for development, including prototype construction and testing, thanks to low Ukrainian costs. Dubreuil maintains that a figure somewhere between $150 million and $200 million would be more realistic.