SAR And Special Missions


For search and rescue operations and special missions, the Airbus H145 is the platform of choice. Given that the service area for the air unit is 7,560 square miles (larger than New Jersey), the unit needed a helicopter that was not only fast and could cover a lot of ground, but also a solid platform for a variety of missions like hoisting, sling loading, and inserting tactical teams into hostile environments. “In short, the Airbus H145 checked all the boxes that we needed to check for a rescue helicopter and a tactical team deployment helicopter operating in high, hot, and heavy conditions,” Morris says.


In addition to twin-engine performance and the Fenestron tail rotor, which enhances safety in tight operating environments, the H145 is equipped with a Goodrich hoist and the lauded Helionix cockpit.


Helionix, which has surpassed the fleetwide benchmark of 500,000 hours, is the avionics solution Airbus Helicopters designed in-house to provide greater operational safety and mission flexibility in an intuitive, pilot-friendly cockpit environment. It offers an innovative cockpit layout with two-to-four multifunction screens designed to improve pilot situational awareness. Alongside the avionics suite are the GPS navigation/ communication system and traffic advisory notification, plus a mission system incorporating a digital map, terrain avoidance capabilities, and synthetic vision cockpit technology.


Further contributing to a reduction of the pilot’s workload and enhanced safety is the Helionix four-axis autopilot. Helionix also lowers helicopter maintenance costs by monitoring more than 1,000 parameters in real time,


allowing operators to


monitor system trends and anticipate unscheduled maintenance operations. “The Helionix system with the four- axis autopilot and ground track hover control is unmatched in the industry,” Morris says.


54 May/June 2022


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