Story ID: 136Nov17
Helitech Expands Market Presence
By: Ian Sheppard
Caption: Having come from small beginnings at Redhill and Duxford Aerodromes, HeliTech has come of age alternating between London and Amsterdam.
Word Count: 826
This year’s three-day Helitech International show, held at London's Excel exhibition center from October 3 to 5, saw 200 exhibitors show their wares and served as the venue for a raft of industry announcements. The show also had a temporary heliport and indoor static area.

On the first day of the event, Safran launched the Aneto engine series for the super-medium and heavy helicopter market. The AW189K is the first application.

Leonardo signed a contract with Uni-Fly A/S of Denmark for two AgustaWestland AW169s. The aircraft will enter service in next year's first quarter supporting wind-farm operations for Dong Energy at Hornsea Project One in the North Sea. The order marks the first contract for the AW169 in Denmark as well as the first wind-farm duty for the type in the UK. It also announced the sale of two more AW139s to customers in the UK for corporate/VIP passenger transport, among them Starspeed (part of Luxaviation Helicopters). In the static display area, Leonardo showed an AW169 equipped for emergency medical services. Recently the Norwegian Police ordered the AW169 for law enforcement operations, with more aircraft slated to enter service next year. The Italian OEM also demonstrated an AW169 Virtual Interactive Procedural Trainer, the Skyflight mission planning app and Heliwise Hums analysis services.

Bell Helicopter said it had signed a purchase agreement with Air Zermatt for a Bell 429 to be used in search-and-rescue missions.

Airbus Helicopters officially handed over the first H145 for Midlands Air Ambulance, and in the static display it had a mockup of the H160, currently in development with three test aircraft based near Marseille. Airbus Helicopters also revealed at HeliTech that the Rig’N Fly (Rig Integrated GPS approaches with eNhanced Flyability and safetY) automatic oil platform approach mode for the H175 has received EASA certification. It had already been certified for the H225. “With 19 helicopters now in operation, the H175 continues to evolve to meet the demanding mission needs of the oil & gas industry,” said Marc Allongue, head of the H175 program.

Waypoint Leasing, the largest independent global helicopter leasing company, said its fleet has surpassed 150 aircraft in 30 countries with 32 customers. At the Helitech temporary helipad, the Airbus H225 that Waypoint leases to Global Helicopters Services was on display. Ed Washecka, Waypoint CEO, said this year "thus far has proved to be an active year for Waypoint as the helicopter market begins to recover from a multi-year downturn. Our team has executed eight new delivery placements with a further three in closing, two sale-leaseback transactions, and twenty remarketing placements…The growth of our business has been further bolstered by our success in the debt markets, with the recent closing of a large term loan facility over the summer."  Waypoint also has a new leasing product in China (in Tianjin and soon Hong Kong) and has placed two aircraft with customers in China thus far this year, notably a Waypoint new-delivery H135 to Shanghai Skyway General Aviation Company (Skyway). 

Airbus Helicopters showed advances in onboard image processing for VTOL systems. The aim of project Eagle (Eye for Autonomous Guidance and Landing Extension) is to develop an onboard image processing management system to allow automatic approaches and landing in challenging conditions, as well as paving the way for future sense-and-avoid applications on autonomous vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) systems. The system could find applications in urban environments, said Airbus, and could be embedded in a variety of existing and future Airbus VTOL aircraft. It relies on a gyro-stabilized optronics package with three high-resolution cameras and processing units, as well as onboard video analytics providing object detection and tracking, digital noise reduction and deep learning. Future versions of the Eagle system will integrate a laser, which combined with the high processing capability could open the door to other applications such as a new generation of searchlights, obstacle detection and 3D terrain reconstruction.

Airtelis said at the show that it has ordered three Airbus H215s for power line construction and maintenance missions, with financial support from Nova Capital. The first aircraft will be delivered this month, complementing Airtelis’s existing two H225s.

Coptersafety announced a partnership with Nordic Airbus Helicopters distributor Østnes to improve the operational safety of Airbus H125s (previously AS350s) in the Nordic countries, as well as appointing Østnes an authorized dealer for Coptersafety’s training services, which take place out of Coptersafety’s dedicated training center near Helsinki International Airport in Finland.

BBA Aviation Global Engine Services company H+S Aviation announced the recent approval of Motorflug as a Rolls-Royce 250 authorized service center under H+S Aviation’s current 250 Amroc agreement. It bolsters regional support, such as field services, to R-R 250 customers through Motorflug Baden-Baden’s OEM-approved capabilities.

Next year's Helitech will be held in Amsterdam, from October 16 to 18.

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