Story ID: 134CompositeHelicoptersAINAug16EditedByAY_NM
Innova Speeds Composite Helicopters Development
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Announced as a kit project, the C630 will now be a certified model.
Word Count: 353
U.S.-based Innova Aerospace is looking to fly a fully conforming prototype of the Composite Helicopters C630 five-place light single powered by a production Rolls-Royce RR300 turboshaft later this year. The helicopter will be one of two used in a parallel certification program with the New Zealand CAA and the U.S. FAA with the target of achieving full certification in the first quarter of 2018, according to Greg Fedele, Innova’s executive vice president of corporate development.

Fedele reports substantial recent progress with the program, citing the completion of all production molds, the initiation of parts manufacture and the production gearbox in “final review.” He said privately held Innova has adequately capitalized the program to see it through certification and initial production in New Zealand. Currently, a team of 30 is working on the program, among them a small number of contractors and some U.S.-based personnel. Fedele said Innova has yet to set a price for the helicopter and is not taking orders yet.

Innova acquired the intellectual property rights to the New Zealand-based program last year. Preliminary specifications for the carbon-fiber rotorcraft include a cruise speed of 125 knots, a range of 450 nm (no reserve) and 1,350 pounds of payload. Composite Helicopters debuted its initial design, the KC518, at AirVenture Oshkosh in 2011 with plans to market it initially as a kit before pursuing certified production. Two prototype aircraft crashed in 2013 and 2014. In 2015 those initial development plans changed, with the company announcing that it intended to eschew kit production in favor of three different certified models: the KC630 with a Rolls-Royce 300 in an executive five-seat configuration, the KC650 powered by a Honeywell LTS101 in a utility six-seat configuration and an intermediate KC640 model with a Rolls-Royce 250-C20B.

Last year the company anticipated certification for the KC630 in late 2017, followed by the KC650 and KC640 in 2018. Innova has renamed the KC630 simply the C630 and it is the only design the company is currently pursuing. Composite Helicopters claims its rotorcraft is the first fabricated with a full monocoque fuselage fabricated entirely from rigid composite materials.