This might seem like the worst U.S. wildfire season ever, and in some places it is. In Washington State, nearly 667,000 acres had burned through mid-September.

However, the number of acres involved and the number of structures destroyed make this year’s fire carnage actually a bit below average in the Continental U.S., according to statistics kept by the U.S. National Interagency Coordination Center, the national government organization tasked with coordinating federal wildfire response and tracking wildfire data. What made this year particularly difficult was the number of fires throughout the country that all ignited at one time–mid-August, stressing ground and air firefighting assets.

“Fire season happened all at once this summer,” Kari Boyd-Peak of the federal Bureau of Land Management told AIN. “We had shortages of everything. We brought in air resources from the military and used agreements with Canadians [who brought water bombers and helicopters], Australians and New Zealanders to help us out as well.” The imported help supplemented an already impressive showing by the U.S. federal government, which deployed 150 helicopters, 30 fixed-wing tankers and 32,000 people, most of them under contract to the U.S. Forest Service.

In mid-August infernos were blazing up and down the West Coast. Through mid-September, fires had claimed nearly 50 percent more land than the 10-year cumulative average of 6.048 million acres; to date some 8.83 million acres nationwide have burned, but 5.11 million of that total was in Alaska, where full-suppression firefighting is rarely employed. Destruction in the rest of the country is running about average in the aggregate. However, it is significant to note that of the 3.7 million acres destroyed in the Continental U.S., nearly 2.6 million were in California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Despite pockets of heavy structure damage in Washington and California, losses are still running below the 10-year rolling average of 2,800 lost annually: year-to-date through mid-September there were 2,569 structural losses. That number is down significantly from the 4,000 to 5,000 structures lost annually as recently as 2013, Boyd-Peak said. 

Structural destruction was down partly because aircraft were deployed to fight fires sooner, but adhering to that doctrine presented challenges in August, said a Columbia Helicopters spokesman. Columbia had six of its tandem-rotor Vertol and Chinook helicopters on U.S. fires almost all summer long. “It’s been as busy a July and August as I’ve seen in quite a while,” he said. “The Forest Service [USFS] and CalFire [the California department of forestry and fire protection] did a pretty good job of divvying up the time between the active fires [and keeping helicopters on call] close to the places they thought more fires could be growing. We had quite a few of our aircraft assigned to initial attack status for a while, knowing that the USFS and CalFire wanted to try and keep any new fires as small as possible. But it is really hard to find a balancing point in a fire season like this. You want to send all the assets you have to a big fire, but if you do that, small fires become big and bigger fires. They did a pretty good job trying to keep everything balanced. I think the strategy worked.”

Proposed Advisory Circular 120-96A, “Operations Control Centers (OCC) for Helicopter Air Ambulance Operations,” provides information pertinent to implementing and operating OCCs in accordance with new FAR 135.619, effective April 22, 2016.

The proposed AC is primarily applicable to Part 135 certificate holders operating 10 or more helicopter air ambulances, but can also serve as a reference for Part 135 air ambulance operators with fewer helicopters who wish to implement an OCC without a regulatory mandate to do so. It also addresses suggested OCC facilities, staffing of the OCC with operations control specialists, their duties and required training, duty-time limitations, recordkeeping and drug-and-alcohol testing requirements.

Comments on the proposed circular are due by October 8. Meanwhile, AC 120-96, dated May 5, 2008 and covering previous requirements for OCCs, is canceled.

Egypt awarded Russian arms vendor Rosoboronexport a contract for 50 Kamov Ka-52 Alligator combat helicopters, according to Russian media reports. Details of the transaction remained scarce, but it is thought that some of the Egyptian helicopters are maritime version Ka-52K Katran, which was unveiled earlier this year.

The Katran may equip the two Mistral class landing ships that were built by DCNS/STX France for Russia. France stopped delivery after joining the sanctions regime against Russia for its annexation of Crimea. Almost the same day the Ka-52 deal became public, Egypt was revealed as the buyer of the ships. Russian sources insisted that, although Egypt can base its Kamovs on the Mistrals, the Ka-52K is not a part of the Mistral deal.

Moscow and Paris signed the €1.2 billion Mistral deal in January 2011. Both ships have been built and tested at sea. The Vladivostok should have been delivered to Russia in November 2014, and the Sevastopol the following year. But on Sept. 3, 2014, French President François Hollande announced that due to Russia's “recent actions in Ukraine,” the two ships would not be delivered. Following negotiations, Paris and Moscow rendered the contract ineffective in August. Deputy defense minister Yuri Borisov confirmed Moscow’s readiness to clear Russian-made equipment on both ships to be sold to another buyer. The equipment includes a KRET suppression system for electronic warfare, according to the manufacturer.

Saudi Arabia, which needs the support of Egyptian troops in Yemen, is believed to have funded recent Egyptian weapons purchases. The Mistral class ships are designed to transport troops and armored vehicles, which makes them suitable for the Yemen campaign. The Russian navy wanted the Mistrals to carry Kamov combat rotorcraft for fire support. With a maximum displacement of 21,300 metric tons, the ships can carry up to 16 heavy or 35 light helicopters, and up to 900 troops.

Russia views Egypt as a potential buyer for MiG-35 multirole fighters. In Egyptian service, these would replace MiG-21 fighters of Russian and Chinese origin. Estimates on the quantity of fighters Egypt could buy vary from between 46 and 62, depending on sources. The Moscow-based Vedomosti newspaper reported that the deal would be worth $2 billion.

Syria, too, may receive 12 MiGs that it ordered in 2008. Shipments could place in 2016-2017, according to Russian media reports. Syria selected the MiG-29M/M2, which shares an airframe and systems with the newer, advanced MiG-35.

Mecaer Aviation Group's (MAG) luxury interior for the Bell 429 has received validation from Transport Canada Civil Aviation. MAG developed and branded the MAGnificent for the Bell 429 under an EASASTC in May. Since then, it has applied for various international validations. Customers can choose from four-, five- or six-seat layouts, with options for up to two center consoles, MAG’s proprietary I-FEEL (in-flight entertainment enhanced lounge) and passenger-controlled electrochromic windows. 

The interior includes MAG’s “SILENS” noise-canceling system, which reduces the cabin noise to a level where passengers can conduct normal conversation without headsets. Meanwhile, MAG’s I-FEEL technology provides passengers with moving maps and audio/video entertainment, along with internal Wi-Fi interface to personal smart devices.

“The MAGnificent continues to gain momentum around the world, and the validation with the TCCA marks a key milestone for the program,” said Armando Sassoli, co-general manager of Mecaer Aviation Group. The company anticipates two more certifications before year-end.

Boeing announced that India’s defense ministry has ordered 22 AH-64E Apache attack helicopters and 15 CH-47F Chinook heavy-lift helicopters. The package, worth $3.1 billion according to Indian and other media reports, includes both direct commercial and foreign military sales.

The ministry signed contracts with Boeing for the Chinooks and with Boeing and the U.S. government for the Apaches on September 28, just before Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and U.S. President Barack Obama met at the United Nations in New York, The Hindu reported. Plans call for Boeing to begin deliveries in 2018, other media reported. The latest-model Apaches and Chinooks will replace Russian-manufactured Mi-35 Hind and Mi-26 helicopters, respectively.

In December 2010, the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified the U.S. Congress of a possible foreign military sale of 50 General Electric T700-GE-701D engines, Hellfire and Stinger missiles, other equipment, training and logistical support for 22 Apaches, with the helicopters themselves offered by Boeing as a direct commercial sale. “This notification is being made in advance so that, in the event that the Boeing- U.S. Army proposal is selected, the United States might move as quickly as possible to implement the sale,” the DSCA stated. India approved industrial offset proposals to acquire the helicopters in August 2014.

“This is a milestone in Boeing’s expanding commitment to India,” said Pratyush Kumar, Boeing India president. “This acquisition enhances the Indian Air Force’s capabilities and offers us an opportunity to further accelerate ‘Make in India.’ Large sections of the Chinook fuselage are already manufactured in India and discussions are ongoing with our Indian partners to make Apache parts.”

India is the 14th nation to select the Apache and the 19th nation to select the Chinook, according to Boeing.

Getting patient information to a higher level of care might be just as important as getting the patient there quickly in an air ambulance. That’s one of the factors driving the success of Air Methods’ Omaha patient logistics call center services. The nation’s largest air medical provider established the center in 2002 with launch customer University of Kansas Medical Center at the institution’s request.

“We quickly realized that there is no way you can dispatch an aircraft and manage all the logistics of moving a patient from point A to point B,” said Kerin Zuger, Air Methods’ vice president of direct patient logistics. That’s when Air Methods came up with the idea of establishing a separate position in its call center to handle logistics. The results for the client were dramatic. Patient transfer volume went up by 300 percent in the first year and KU became the poster child for outsourcing logistical services to focus on patient quality, care and outcome.

Air Methods slowly expanded its roster of logistics clients until 2005, when it signed up Westchester (New York) Medical Center, another air medical customer. Zuger said the results there were immediate, boosting capacity significantly in the first year. “They became a poster child for us,” Zuger said. The service growth continued through 2009, adding more systems. Today Air Methods’ Patient Logistics represents more than 250 U.S. hospitals, but with singular and system-wide agreements. Along the way Air Methods has expanded services beyond its hospital client base to include regional psychiatric centers, scheduling services, occupational health hotlines and population health management.

Increased Patient Intake

Air Methods uses proprietary logistics software and a protocol-driven system. Last year the logistics center took in north of one million calls, including more than 6,000 transfer requests each week. The center currently employs 247 full-time workers and now occupies its own dedicated center, separate from Air Methods’ dispatch center. In 2013 it moved from 2,500 sq ft of space to 11,000 sq ft, which it filled in eight months. Last month (September) it expanded into 28,000 square feet.

The main value the center adds is driving more patients to its clients. “People confuse transport with transfer,” Zuger explained. “People know us as an air medical company, but only six percent of the transfer requests that come to us are [patients] who arrive by air; eighty-five percent come by ground and the rest by private vehicle. There is a protocol for transport, but we look at ourselves as an extension of the institution we represent. We contact whoever the vendors are that they have for transport to facilitate the transfer piece,” she said.

The way it works is that the hospital client publicizes the Air Methods number to call to its larger medical community. That is the one number to call to facilitate a patient transfer to that particular hospital. The Air Methods specialist/coordinator answers with the receiving hospital’s name and begins taking down all the relevant patient information and the software automatically begins to populate the necessary protocols and prompts any additional needed information input. Air Methods has a list of all medical professionals and their schedules at the receiving hospital and handles all the contact with those professionals to alert them to the incoming patient and his particulars. Air Methods stays on the line with the sending and receiving medical professionals.

“We are a resource for these doctors and make sure they don’t need to make or receive seven or eight different phone calls [for each patient]. We confirm acceptance, mode of patient transportation, medications and estimate times of arrival. Then we get the sending hospital case manager on the phone, send the necessary documents, request the bed, request anything else like [cardiac] catheterization lab activation, stroke team activation, coordinate the transportation, nurses. Throughout the entire process everything is recorded, documented and time-stamped. We can recognize any delays right away and expedite the process in moving that patient,” Zuger said.

Zuger said most hospitals have no idea how many patients they are losing to other institutions in the transfer process until they begin using Air Methods’ logistics. “KU’s [medical center] marketing department pays for our services. It’s their top initiative for adding [patient] volume to their institution. The easier you can make it to get a patient moved from Pont A to Point B, the more often that physician is going to call back.”

The service does more than just add to a client hospital’s bottom line. A recent Rutgers University study found that “improving the quality of patient hand-offs between facilities has the potential to improve patient important outcomes and provide higher value care.”

Negotiations were at an advanced stage as of October 1 between France, helicopter consortium NHIndustries and Egypt for the sale of a significant number of NH90 medium helicopters. The order would be a follow-on to recent sales of French armament to the Arab country, especially corvettes, frigates and landing ships—all compatible with the NH90.

Egypt has not issued any formal request for proposals for the multi-role helicopter. Nevertheless, an industry source confirmed to AIN that the ongoing discussions “are not for just a couple of helicopters.” A spokesman for the French ministry of defense said he had no information on the potential helicopter deal.

Saudi Arabia is believed to be funding Egypt’s latest weapons purchases, something France’s Le Monde newspaper has reported in detail. One industry source said the use of Saudi resources is “obvious.”

The customer may choose between the tactical transport (TTH) and naval (NFH) versions of the NH90, or a mix of the two, a source suggested. The NFH can operate from Gowind-class corvettes or FREMM frigates, and both variants can be based on a Mistral-class landing ship, which manufacturer DCNS describes as an amphibious assault ship with an integrated command post. The NFH would provide anti-surface and anti-submarine protection of landing ships.

The Sikorsky Seahawk represents a potential competitor for the Egyptian requirement, but Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia thought it was unlikely that Egypt would opt for U.S. equipment. “Given the post-Arab Spring politics of the region, I'd expect Egypt to go with a European supplier,” he said. “Since France has been commercially quite aggressive here, Egypt will likely go with NFH90s, or, if they want something less expensive and less capable, (Airbus Helicopters) H225Ms.”

Russian candidates like the Kamov Ka-27/29 and the Mi-17 are seen as relatively old technology or not fit for operations aboard ships. Egypt recently ordered Ka-52 attack helicopters, also believed to be intended for use on landing ships. In addition to protecting the Suez Canal, a strategic asset for Egypt, the newly purchased helicopters may help the country support Saudi Arabia’s military campaign in Yemen.

Late last month, the French Navy took delivery of its 15th NH90 naval variant, the first to be delivered in final radar configuration. The helicopter is euipped with “an advanced sonar for improved submarine detection and classification.” A digital map generator is intended to ease mission preparation and execution.

Turbomeca is preparing for the first flight of the 1,100- to 1,300-shp Arrano 1A on the Airbus Helicopters H160 medium twin and the certification of the Bell 505 Jet Ranger X's Arrius 2R (504 shp).

Two Arrano turboshafts were delivered in April to Airbus Helicopters for use on the H160's dynamic helicopter zero, an integration testbed built at the airframer's Marignane, France headquarters. The first two flightworthy engines are expected to be delivered by the end of this week, Turbomeca executive vice president of programs Cyrille Poetsch told AIN.

The first Turbomeca Arrano-powered H160 is slated to fly by year-end. Meanwhile, the first prototype, which has been flying with slightly less powerful Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210Es during the initial part of the flight tests, will be retrofitted with Arranos next year. Ten Arrano engines will be delivered to Airbus Helicopters for testing purposes.

Turbomeca will use another 10 engines for certification, including one that is being put thorugh its paces in an altitude-simulation facility in Saclay, near Paris. So far, testing allows Turbomeca to confirm the specific fuel consumption (sfc) will be 15-percent lower than that of a comparable, previous-generation Arriel. In maintenance, Poetsch said the Arrano’s manual will require 10- to 15-times fewer tasks.

Meanwhile, certification of the Arrius 2R is expected in December. Poetsch expressed confidence in this timeline, as the final paperwork phase is under way and the technology is well mastered. The core engine is the same as that of the Arrius 2F and the Fadec is derived from the Arriel 2D's; only the gearbox was newly designed for the Arrius 2R. “It will take just 30 months between contract signing and certification,” Poetsch emphasized.

Two Jet Ranger X prototypes are flying with the -2R turboshaft engines. Bell has scheduled the entry into service for the first half of next year, with a swift production ramp-up. Turbomeca is thus planning on 15 turboshaft deliveries this year, about 50 in 2016 and gradually increasing to 200 in 2018. The airframer and the engine maker are working on an integrated service network with combined by-the-hour offerings, Poetsch noted.

AC352 Being Prepped for Flight

In China, the first prototype of the Turbomeca Ardiden 3C-powered Avicopter AC352 was unveiled last month and is being prepped for first flight. The AC352 is the counterpart of the Pratt & Whitney Canada-powered H175, in the joint Airbus Helicopters-Avicopter program.

Turbomeca has delivered two “flightworthy-intent” Ardiden 3Cs, though the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has to approve them before they are officially considered flightworthy. The nod is hoped for in November. “It is the first time the CAAC is going to directly certify a Western engine,” Poetsch noted.

The 1,800-shp Ardiden 3C is known as the WZ-16 in the country, as it will be produced on a 50-50 basis by Turbomeca and Avic Engine Dongan. The French company is in charge of the hot section and its Chinese counterpart is responsible for the cold section. Avicopter's target to fly the AC352 prototype by year-end is deemed “ambitious, but attainable,” said Poetsch.

The Tech 3000 demonstrator program, devised to prepare a next-generation 2,000- to 3,000-shp turboshaft for heavy helicopters, will see the first full engine running next year. Partial tests have begun on the compressor, combustor and turbines separately. “We want a 3,200-shp engine to be as compact as the 2,500-shp RTM 322,” Poetsch said. He also predicted a small improvement—a few percent—in sfc.

Turbomeca lost out to Pratt & Whitney Canada when Airbus Helicopters issued a tender for a “single-engine operations” (SEO) architecture on the Bluecopter twin-engine demonstrator. Nevertheless, it is studying a “sleep mode” for a turboshaft. On a twin, the idea is to have one engine running close it its highest power available while the other one is “sleeping.” The resulting fuel burn would be 20- to 25-percent better than that obtained with two engines running at mid-power in cruise, according to Poetsch. However, he would not clarify whether the “sleep mode” means idle, shutdown or somewhere between the two.

Turbomeca has run a 2,500-shp-class engine on a testbed since June, demonstrating a “sleeping” engine can be “rapidly reactivated using an innovative electric system.”

After years of scoring last for helicopter product support in AIN’s annual survey, Airbus Helicopters jumped into second place just behind perennial winner Bell Helicopter. How did the world’s largest producer of civil helicopters advance so quickly and decisively after decades of falling short?

According to company executives, it all began with the annual video the company showed to all of its employees worldwide last year. “That video had about eight different customers from all over the world, including a few from the U.S.,” said an Airbus Helicopters spokesman. “In so many words, all of the customers were saying, ‘Get me the parts. Keep me flying.’ This was the first time that message was delivered to our employees in that way.”

“We got clear, precise direction from CEO Guillaume Faury,” said Anthony Baker, Airbus Helicopters vice president for customer support. Faury took over as CEO in January 2014. “Guillaume went out and talked with our customers. He listened to them,” Baker said.

Indeed, just months after rejoining Airbus Helicopters, Faury told an audience at the 2014 Heli-Expo convention that it was time for the company to develop “new priorities” and moved quickly to expand parts inventories worldwide by more than $100 million. Among the beneficiaries were the inventories at the company’s Grand Prairie, Texas campus and Dallas Fort Worth Airport distribution center, which were plumped to more than $110 million. “We looked at our fastest moving parts and we almost doubled those inventories,” Baker said. Last month Airbus Helicopters converted the Fort Worth warehouse and logistics center to seven-days-a-week operation from a Monday-to-Friday shop. “Our customers wanted to be able to access parts on weekends,” Baker explained.

The moves have already produced positive metrics, according to the company: On-time parts delivery has jumped 10 percentage points in the last 18 months, to 94 percent; the 24-hour AOG response rate was 96 percent in June, up from 90 percent a year ago; critical parts on back order have been slashed by 77 percent in the last year; and the commercial helicopter fleet availability rate is now better than 90 percent.  

Tackling ‘Customer Irritants’

However, the company concedes it still has more to do. Company-wide, Airbus Helicopters is instituting new process training for its employees. The training teaches employees how to analyze problems systematically and attack them at the root cause with corrective processes, as opposed to constantly being in a reactive “putting out the fires” mode. The training teaches employees how to be more customer-focused and solution-oriented. Faury and his top executives took the training first before introducing it to the rest of the company.

Airbus Helicopters is also honing predictive tools such as the data analytics that plug directly into customer enterprise resource planning systems to foresee customer needs and unscheduled maintenance events, and the reasons for them. The company is also hiring more customer support managers (CSMs) who work with select customers to analyze the causes of unscheduled maintenance, recommend solutions and use the data to shape the design of future products. CSMs also help customers balance and make the most of their parts inventories.

In Grand Prairie, Airbus Helicopters is developing onboard health usage and monitoring systems capability for its light singles and light to medium twins. “This will help customers do predictive maintenance,” Baker said, adding that the system is scheduled to be rolled out next summer for the first model. The prototype device weighs just seven pounds, Airbus Helicopters spokesman Bob Cox said, and is now undergoing dynamic testing. At present the data is offloaded from the helicopter on the ground via a wireless app on a smart device and also transmitted to Airbus Helicopters for analysis.

The company is reviewing all of its scheduled maintenance requirements, beginning with the H130. “We are trying to spread out the scheduled maintenance tasks so that the customer is not doing a heavy inspection at the same time it is doing a 12-year inspection. We hope to have the revised plan done by the end of this year,” Baker said.

Implementing customer suggestions more quickly is another goal for the company. It recently formed customer focus groups and has conducted meetings with them in an effort to measure customer sentiment and receive data from them. The company planned to hold the first customer focus group meeting in the U.S. last month at its plant in Columbus, Miss., attended by senior company executives. From those meetings, Airbus Helicopters will devise a list of what Baker calls the “top five customer irritants” and commit to solve them through the company’s product support office. Top company executives, including Faury, review the list monthly.

Airbus Helicopters is also revamping its hourly maintenance plans to make them more attractive to customers, Baker said. The traditional “buy-in” for owners of used helicopters will be eliminated, and the company plans to roll out an aggressive marketing campaign for these plans in the coming months. Baker said Airbus Helicopters is also moving to strengthen its relationship with its authorized service centers and helping them improve quality where indicated and to raise U.S.-manufactured content on its aircraft where practical.

 “We’re taking all of the changes customers have asked for seriously,” Baker said. “We still have a lot to do. The challenges are still there.”

Airbus Helicopters had a healthy first half despite a challenging situation in the otherwise lucrative oil-and-gas segment, the company said on the eve of the Helitech show in London that opened today.

Due to enduring low oil prices, “it is a down cycle,” CEO Guillaume Faury said. He alluded to the numerous exploration and even production projects that oil companies have frozen. Sales of the heavy H225 Super Puma, a workhorse for the offshore industry, is thus under pressure.

But Faury also sees the situation as an opportunity for “helicopters that can make a lot of things.” This is the reason why orders for the H175“super medium” twin are beating the company's objective, according to Faury. He had set a target of 20 orders for 2015 and Airbus had received bookings for 28 as of late September.

H175 deliveries, however, have been slow. Only three were delivered in 2014—two to NHV and one, quietly, to Russia's UTair—and none so far in 2015. NHV will take another six H175s by December, but other operators are waiting until next year. Airbus was planning to deliver 18 H175s this year.

The 152 overall deliveries in the first half is much lower than the 200 helicopters shipped in the first six months of 2014. Nevertheless, the company managed to increase its revenues by 5.3 percent. Overall orders declined in units, from 148 to 135 helicopters, but increased in value.

An important indicator for Faury is the book-to-bill ratio. It was close to one in the first half and Faury said he is confident the ratio will be greater than one, as targeted, over the year. Contributing are orders from China, where the opening of the low-altitude airspace is spurring sales, as seen last month. Faury appeared not too worried about the H225 platform, which will “transition from a very active oil market to a very active military market with the H225M.”

Airbus Helicopters' gamut is shrinking a bit at its lower end, as production of the 5,730-pound AS355NP Ecureuil/TwinStar light twin will be terminated after delivery of the ongoing contracts and available aircraft. The decision was driven by “portfolio rationalization with refocus on core products.” Faury asserted the 6,570-pound H135 is the best light twin in the portfolio.

In the middle of the product range, development of the H160 is “moving forward as expected and even faster in some forms,” Faury said. The flight envelope has already been “widely opened,” reaching 170 knots and 10,000 feet. A second prototype will fly by year-end. The engineering team is reaping the benefits of the dynamic helicopter zero and system helicopter zero integration test beds, Faury emphasized.

The X6, which is eventually to replace the H225, is still in a concept phase that involves a customer advisory team. The X6 is to enter into service in the next decade with a 19-seat capacity and will feature fly-by-wire controls. The first artist rendering was unveiled at the Paris Air Show in June.

Hazier is the future of the X9 light twin concept. AIN understands the 4.5-metric-ton/14,700-pound helicopter project was the basis of a joint Airbus Helicopters-Kawasaki Heavy Industries offer for Japan's UHX Army tender. The country chose Bell Helicopter but Faury is insisting he is not giving up, hoping to convince the government to reconsider. Airbus has strong ties with Kawasaki, a partner in the BK117/EC145/H145 program.

In customer support, Faury pledged the percentage of on-time spare parts deliveries is growing. It is now exceeding 93 percent, including AOG and rush orders, and will meet the 95 percent objective by year-end. In AIN’s latest aircraft product support survey, Airbus Helicopters’ rating improved by 1.9 points, to 7.5, year-over-year.

Meanwhile, the company’s Hcare service offer is going digital, as a mission preparation application is set to be available on the Apple App Store.

There has been growing criticism in recent years that the U.S. air medical system has too many aircraft, a factor that drives excessive use of patient air transport when ground transportation would be more cost effective and, in some cases, even more time effective.

Now the CEO of the nation’s largest air medical provider is weighing in on the topic. On a recent conference call with stock analysts, Air Methods CEO Aaron Todd appears to agree with his industry’s critics–up to a point.

 “I don’t mean to be glib, but a lack of efficiency in the healthcare system of the United States is hardly new,” Todd said, noting that this apparent inefficiency actually guarantees patients better access to aircraft. “The U.S. air medical fleet has doubled in the last 10-plus years, and we estimate that 82 million more Americans now have access to critical emergency air medical transport services, which allow them to access a high level of care–level I, level II trauma centers–within the golden one hour.”

He continued, “A helicopter that used to fly two patient flights per day in this country is now averaging only one flight per day, and there’s no question that this has dramatically increased the cost per patient transported. But on the other hand, 82 million more Americans now have access to high-end healthcare for critically ill and injured circumstances within that critical golden hour who couldn’t before the fleet expanded.”

Todd attributes this apparent over-saturation to market forces: “It is an ongoing struggle between access and affordability. Air Methods never adds bases where we are uninvited. In some cases we are adding bases a little reluctantly, but we know that if we don’t respond to that community’s desire for closer services, our competition will. Fewer…Americans now have access to commercial insurance because of the lower labor participation rate, so fewer and fewer patients are paying higher and higher charges to facilitate this expanded access. We’re just responding to market demands.”

 “Do we need 900 air medical helicopters to serve this country? I’d say probably not; maybe 500 or 600 could do well, but it’s an open market.”

U.S. courts have ruled that air ambulances are governed by the federal Airline Deregulation Act and therefore can be added in any amount to any market, even if it does not make economic sense. Ground ambulances can be added to markets only if individual communities or healthcare providers demonstrate a “certificate of need” to their state health departments. While air ambulance companies have sought to cut costs in recent years by consolidating operations and switching to single-engine helicopters and single-engine turboprop airplanes wherever possible, these measures have not offset the elevated average fixed costs generated by lower flight frequencies per air medical aircraft as heightened competition has driven expansion of the fleet.

This changed business model has dragged down margins and stock values at most air medical providers. Air Methods has seen the value of its stock cut almost in half in the last 18 months and at least one large institutional shareholder, Voce Capital, which owns 4.9 percent of Air Methods, is agitating for the company to be sold. This may in turn explain why Air Methods has amassed a $400 million credit line, to possibly buy out a competitor and thereby shrink the market.

The downturn in the offshore oil-and-gas market remains a prominent concern for the helicopter industry, the leaders of which are puzzling over the evolution of demand in the segment. “I am not sure I can put a number on the decline. Minus 30 percent might be a good number,” Mike Platt, CEO of Lease Corp. International said today at Helitech International 2015 in London.

Helicopters that were flying for exploration have been redeployed to oil-and-gas production platforms. History confirms that the production rate of helicopters built for offshore operators closely follows oil price and all operators now have excess aircraft, acording to Platt. “We are in a cycle where our customers require lower costs; they are squeezing us to a difficult point and we have to ensure this does not erode our margins,” said David Balevic, CHC Helicopter's senior vice president of engineering and operations.

But LCI's Platt expressed hope for the longer term, as 43 percent of rotorcraft in oil-and-gas operations are more than 25 years old and thus due for replacement. In the short term, however, LCI's analysts are wondering about what to order for the next couple of years. “Oil price is unpredictable,” AgustaWestland senior vice president for business strategy Roberto Garavaglia said. Nevertheless, Bell Helicopter senior vice president of customer support and services Glenn Isbell noted that low oil prices are bad for oil-and-gas, “but help everybody else.”

Richmond, British Columbia–based Vector Aerospace signed a three-year contract with the Anaheim Police Department to provide MRO support for the agency's Airbus Helicopter AS350B2 components. Vector provides support for Airbus AS350, AS355, EC130, EC135, BK117, EC145, Bo105, EC 225/H225 and AS332-series helicopters. With approvals for AS350/355 and EC130 airframe, engines, dynamic components and avionics, Vector is able to offer tip-to-tail MRO support on these models.

Vector Aerospace provides aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul services through facilities in Canada, the U.S., the UK, France, Australia, South Africa, Kenya and Singapore. The MRO holds approvals from numerous turbine engine, airframe and avionics OEMs, including General Electric, Honeywell, Pratt & Whitney Canada, Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca. In addition to Airbus Helicopters, Vector Aerospace provides support for a wide range of airframes, including Bell, Boeing and Sikorsky.

Waypoint Leasing today announced orders and commitments for up to 38 new rotorcraft at the Helitech show in London. In a deal agreed with Airbus Helicopters, the Ireland-based company signed to buy up to 20 H135 singles over the next three years, making it the first lessor to offer the type in its portfolio. Firming up commitments made in earlier contracts, Waypoint also agreed to acquire 18 AgustaWestland helicopters: a mix of AW189 super medium twins, AW169 light intermediate models and the AW139 intermediate.

According to Waypoint CEO Ed Washecka, the H135s will supplement the larger H145 models that it acquired from Airbus to build up its fleet of emergency medical service (EMS) aircraft. The H135s can also be used in roles such as law enforcement and rescue, and offshore work.

Waypoint was also the first lessor to the H145. It ordered 25 of the type in February 2014 as part of a wider deal that also included 12 of the larger H225 twins.

The new AgustaWestland aircraft, which are to be delivered between 2016 and 2019, are intended for a mix of EMS, search-and-rescue, and oil-and-gas support operations. They build on a major order placed with the Italian manufacturer in March 2013. Waypoint already owns 31 AgustaWestland helicopters and 25 Airbus aircraft, also including the H225.

Commenting on Waypoint’s efforts to diversify the types of operation that its lease fleet supports, Washecka acknowledged softening demand in the oil-and-gas support sector. “It’s always been a cyclical industry and right now it’s certainly a tough market, but the world still consumes a lot [of oil and gas] and leasing helicopters is a good option for companies because it provides good flexibility,” he told AIN.

Airbus Helicopters on Wednesday at Helitech unveiled further improvements to the H135 light twin—an avionics upgrade with the Helionix suite, the addition of a four-axis autopilot and extra cabin space—and announced Norwegian EMS operator Norsk Luftambulanse placed an order for three.

The Airbus-developed Helionix suite will reduce pilot workload, Axel Humpert, head of the H135 program, told AIN. It will be same as the H145 suite. Under the “blue line” concept, the crew will know whether it is on the safe side in case an engine fails thanks to a very straightforward graphic, Humpert explained. Other variants of Helionix can be found on the H175 and the in-development H160.

The new autopilot will help EMS pilots concentrate on their environment, thanks to a “hover hold” function. Finally, an electronics bay has been moved up and forward, thus freeing a few cubic feet in the aft cabin. Humpert explained the additional space will help medical personnel move around a patient on his stretcher.

Certification is planned for late 2016. Deliveries to Norsk Luftambulanse are to begin in 2017.

AgustaWestland is planning to fly its next-generation civil tiltrotor (NGCTR) in 2021, two years later than previously anticipated. The 20-passenger rotorcraft, which is much larger than the in-development nine-seat AW609 tiltrotor, is in the conceptual design phase. “Preliminary design will start in 2016,” senior vice president of helicopters and services marketing James Wang told AIN. Manufacturing of components is expected to begin in 2017, he added.

The NGCTR’s cruise speed would be close to 300 knots. The research portion is funded under Europe’s Clean Sky 2 joint technology initiative, meaning the Clean Sky joint undertaking will choose AgustaWestland’s initial partners, Wang said.

Meanwhile, certification of the AW609 is slated for December 2017 and the production rate is targeted at 20 to 30 aircraft per year, according to Wang. AgustaWestland believes that a pressurized tiltrotor fills the gap between helicopters and turboprops in terms of speed and altitude, the latter allowing flight above the weather. An AW609 prototype recently covered 627 nm in two hours 18 minutes, he said.

Helicopter manufacturers showcased their competing concepts for a future Army rotorcraft at the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, D.C., this week—one a tiltrotor and the other a compound helicopter. Both aim to meet the Army’s demanding specifications for its future medium-class rotorcraft to replace the UH-60 Black Hawk, including 230-knot cruising speed and the ability to hover in “hot and high” conditions.

Bell Helicopter featured a mock-up of the V-280 Valor tiltrotor, which is contending for the Army’s joint multi-role technology demonstration (JMR-TD) phase 1 effort to develop and fly a medium-class demonstrator by 2017. Sikorsky Aircraft brought the second of two flight-test prototypes of its S-97 Raider, which it describes as a technology demonstrator for the larger SB-1 Defiant rotorcraft that Sikorsky and Boeing are developing for the JMR-TD phase 1 requirement. The industry-funded Raider is a compound helicopter with coaxial, counter-rotating main rotors and a pusher propeller; so too will be the Defiant.

The Army’s Aviation Technology Directorate chose the Bell and Sikorsky-Boeing teams to build JMRTD demonstrators in August 2014, eliminating two other industry contenders. Lockheed Martin serves as a major partner on the Bell team, and with its planned $9 billion acquisition of Sikorsky, announced in July, Lockheed Martin now spans both teams. Speaking at the AUSA conference, Bell CEO John Garrison said Lockheed Martin’s ownership of Sikorsky shouldn’t complicate his company’s JMR-TD development, although it has caused their contractual relationship to change.

When the acquisition was announced, “the team at Lockheed called me and they said, ‘Listen this is the world that we operate in. We can put in firewalls,’” Garrison said. “We actually had a contractual change where they committed to a lot of the things that they were in fact doing as part of the program. Lockheed has been a great teammate. They’ve done everything we have asked—plus. We believe they are going to continue to do that.”

Mark Miller, Sikorsky vice president of research and engineering, had a similar response when asked if Lockheed Martin’s involvement as mission-system provider on the V-280 Valor affects the SB-1 Defiant program. There is “zero complication from that arrangement,” he said.

Otherwise, Bell and Sikorsky see their JMR-TD prospects differently. Garrison said the V-280 Valor will benefit from more than 300,000 flight hours of experience the Marine Corps and Air Force have accumulated with the V-22 tiltrotor. The V-280 design differs, however, in that its proprotor engines will remain fixed in the horizontal plane instead of rotating. Last month, Spirit AeroSystems delivered the composite fuselage for the future Valor, which is now being assembled at Bell’s facility in Amarillo, Texas.

“This isn’t version one,” Garrison said. “The fact that the tiltrotor technology has got 300,000-plus hours, and the simple physics of being able to have a wing, provide significant advantages [for] speed, payload and range. We think the physics are in our favor for a tiltrotor design. We’ve got proven technology that we’re taking to the next level, and we think that’s going to be the winning combination.”

Sikorsky experimental test pilot Bill Fell was bullish about a compound helicopter design, which for Sikorsky traces to its record-setting X2 technology demonstrator. “The hallmark of X2 technology is that these aircraft go fast,” Fell said during a walkaround of the S-97 Raider. “This is 220-to-230-knot machine depending on what configuration you have in terms of drag, whether you have weapons on the side or you don’t. But beyond that, it does things that traditional helicopters do well also. Ten thousand feet [altitude], 95 degrees, hover out-of-ground-effect capability at mission gross weight is what we’ve designed for.”

Miller said the 11,500-pound Raider serves as a technology demonstrator for the Defiant, which will be a 30,000-pound-class aircraft. “It’s a tech demonstrator for our offering in the JMR medium [competition], a 30,000-pound-plus vehicle,” he explained. “A lot of what’s coming out of here from a technology perspective, the demonstration in flight, systems integration…are going into risk reducing that program.”

The Raider might also be advanced for the Army’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) light rotorcraft requirement, Miller suggested. “This is clearly targeted at an armed scout configuration, and it can [also] be an FVL light,” he said.

The U.S. Army has procured “an initial quantity” of laser-guided rockets for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, marking the service’s first planned deployment of the weapon, according to manufacturer BAE Systems. The Army is expected to immediately equip AH-64 Apache attack helicopters with the Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (APKWS), the company said.

The APKWS is a mid-body, semi-active laser guidance section that converts a standard 2.75-inch rocket into a precision-guided munition. It is available at a fraction of the cost and weight of existing laser-guided weapons, BAE claims. Designed initially to meet Army requirements, the system transferred to Navy oversight in 2008.  

The Marine Corps, which uses the rocket on AH-1 Super Cobra and UH-1Y Huey helicopters, has deployed the system in combat since 2012. Last year, the Navy said it would fit MH-60 Seahawk helicopters with a new digital rocket launcher that supports the APKWS.

The Army has previously acquired APKWS units for testing purposes, but the acquisition announced on October 13 during the Association of the U.S. Army conference is the service’s first acquisition for operational use, BAE said. The Army will draw from the current Navy inventory for the initial quantity, while also working with BAE and the Navy “to secure additional rockets to meet ongoing demands,” the company added.

“With a long track record of success with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, we are confident that the U.S. Army will greatly benefit from this highly accurate, low-collateral-damage system,” said David Harrold, BAE Systems director of precision guidance solutions. “Providing these weapons to our soldiers by leveraging a current program of record should be used as an example for other services and allied countries looking for this precision strike capability.”

BAE has manufactured 5,000 units of the APKWS, which is in its third year of full-rate production. The rocket has been qualified or demonstrated on a dozen rotary- and fixed-wing platforms, including the unmanned MQ-8B Fire Scout.

Your next helicopter ride is just a smartphone app away. And when Manhattan traffic is snared in gridlock, what could be more convenient?

During the Pope’s recent visit to New York City–and ensuing ground traffic nightmare–helicopter service Blade was offering rides via its smartphone app from the East to the West side via the southern tip of Manhattan for $95 a seat. Bye bye, gridlock. Of course that’s not the service’s métier. It emerged two years ago as a comparatively painless way to escape Gotham to the pleasures of the Hamptons and since then more than 45,000 have downloaded the company’s smartphone app, which lets you book whole helicopters, crowd-source them or hitch a ride on a flight someone else has originated.

Blade itself is not a Part 135 operator; it partners with Liberty Helicopters for that piece of the business. Blade merely packages the service, from the smartphone app to the decidedly retro lounges at Manhattan’s West 30th Street, East 34th Street and 23rd Street heliports. Its Bounce service can deliver you to any of the area’s airports in six to 12 minutes with 20 minutes’ notice for $895 for the whole helicopter. During the summer last year, Blade booked 800 trips to the Hamptons. That attracted the attention of some heavy-hitting investors, among them Google chairman Eric Schmidt; Discover Communications CEO David Zaslav; IAC’s Barry Diller; Alex von Furstenberg, Raine Ventures; and iHeart Media chairman Bob Pittman. Together they have helped to raise almost $6 million. The company now has a valuation of $25 million.

Blade was founded by former Warner Music COO Rob Wiesenthal, who had the idea to do for helicopters what Uber did for the taxi business. It didn’t take long for the idea to catch on.

It has since expanded to Blade Aqua, a seaplane service that runs from Manhattan to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard in season.

Bell Helicopter CEO John Garrison resigned last night after six years at the helm of the Fort Worth, Texas-based Textron subsidiary. Garrison is leaving to take the reins at Terex Corp., a $7.3 billion global manufacturer of heavy equipment based in Westport, Conn., effective November 2.

He is being replaced at Bell by Mitch Snyder, a senior executive with deep company experience who recently served as Bell's executive vice president for military business. Before joining Bell, Snyder worked in a variety of senior leadership positions at Lockheed Martin in engineering, business and manufacturing.

Garrison led Bell through an overall rejuvenation of the helicopter manufacturer’s culture and a period of dynamic and dramatic transformation that included fixing the troubled 429 light twin and getting it to market; revising and updating legacy models such as the 407 and the 412; and launching new products such as the 525 super medium twin—the largest commercial helicopter Bell has ever built—and new 505 light single, as well as the V-280 next-generation military tiltrotor. He also led an aggressive charge to find new markets for the Bell/Boeing V-22 tiltrotor and oversaw the modernization of Bell’s Fort Worth campus.