Story ID: 
Savback Campaigning Two-seat Zefhir Copter in UK
By: Mark Huber
Caption: Savback Helicopters will display the turbine-powered, two-seat Curti Zefhir at Wycombe Air Park during this year's Private Flyer luxury brand show.
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Sweden’s Savback Helicopters is bringing the Italian-built, two-seat, turbine-powered Zefhir helicopter to the Private Flyer luxury brand show at UK’s Wycombe Air Park May 13 to 14. Savback is an established helicopter dealer with offices in the UK and has sold more than 900 helicopters worldwide since 1990.    

Zefhir was developed by Curti Aerospace to meet EASA CS-27 standards. It features a carbon-fiber airframe, glass cockpit, emergency ballistic parachute above the main rotor, composite rotor blades, and a 141 continuous shp turboshaft engine with fadec. The project was granted regional and European funding when launched in collaboration with PBS Velká Bíteš in 2013 and the helicopter first flew in 2017.

“The level of luxury and safety seen in this class of helicopter is a step above every other product for the private owner/pilot in the market to date,” said Stephen Mitchell, Savback’s head of sales for the UK and Ireland. 

Zefhir has a hover ceiling of 13,100 feet, an mtow of 1,322 pounds, and a maximum range of 344 nm with a 10-minute reserve when equipped with the larger of two fuel tank options.