Heli-Expo ShowNews - February 24-26, 2008 - (Page 5)

MD’s Lynn Tilton Sees a VLJ Company in Her Future Lynn Tilton, president of MD Helicopters and a $6 billion portfolio of some 70 other companies, wants to buy not just a Very Light Jet but a Very Light Jet company. Tilton, who specializes in buying companies that need fixing, told a forum at Heli-Expo that a VLJ company would nicely complement MD Helicopters. Her surprising anLynn Tilton. nouncement that she is, indeed, exploring this opportunity, as well as a composites company in Italy, leads one to wonder how many VLJ companies are for sale. Two that spring immediately to mind are Adam Aircraft, which declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation) just a few days ago, and ATG, which has closed its doors while it seeks funding to continue with its Javelin program. Tilton declared that she is obsessed with composites and new materials that will simplify manufacturing. Her first objective is to remake the MD500 helicopter this year, replacing 1,600 riveted parts in the airframe with just 48 made of composites. “We will give it new composite blades and a new, more powerful Rolls-Royce engine,” she said. “We can turn this helicopter into a rocket ship.” —John Morris Eurocopter Sees More Government Sales Its winning of the U.S. Army’s LUH competition with the UH-72A Lakota (EC145) “will open the door to other U.S. military agencies” as they see the aircraft perform in service, American Eurocopter president and CEO Marc Paganini predicted at HeliExpo. The company now has 300 helicopters serving in U.S. homeland security roles, including 97 HH-65 Dolphins with the US Coast Guard, he said. American Eurocopter has delivered the first 20 of up to 322 UH-72A Lakotas and will transition its 314,000 sq ft center for the helicopter in Columbus, Mississippi from assembly to production this summer. Acrohelipro Adopts Vector Nameplate Vector Aerospace is realigning all its helicopter and fixed wing MRO activities under the Vector banner as it moves to streamline customers’ access to its services. The first to change is Acrohelipro, which adopted the new name during Heli-Expo of Vector Aerospace-Helicopter Services. Other companies to adopt the Vector brand this year will be Atlantic Turbines International, Sigma Aerospace and the soon-to-be-acquired Defence Aviation Repair Agency (DARA). Soloy Gets 100th LTS101 for AS350 STC Honeywell has delivered the 100th LTS101 engine to Soloy Aviation Solutions, as part of Soloy’s re-engining program for the Eurocopter AS350. Several kits have been delivered into the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Australia, and Soloy is now opening new markets in Brazil, Europe and Asia. Soloy’s retrofit replaces the Turbomeca engine; various levels of conversion are available, some involving new drive train components and an LTS101 up to 732 shp. Honeywell’s LTS101 engine family has accrued more than nine million hours of in-flight operation. FlightSafety to Host Safety Forum FlightSafety International will host its fourth annual Helicopter Safety Forum on May 8-9 in Dallas/Forth Worth, Texas. The agenda includes presentations on a wide variety of safety issues and challenges, including risk assessment and management, inadvertent IMC procedures and night operations, controlled flight into terrain, and new technologies designed to enhance safety. The keynote speaker will be NTSB board member Steve Chealander. Thales Says TopDeck is System of the Future The Thales TopDeck avionics suite in Sikorsky’s new S-76D is the most sophisticated to fly in a commercial helicopter, according to Phil Naybour, vp for helicopter solutions at Thales. Although in service in fixed wing aircraft, this is its first helicopter application; it is also the first time a U.S. manufacturer has selected a non-U.S. company to provide its avionics suite, he added. The winning factor, Naybour noted, was the level of integration in the modular system, yet its open architecture makes it eminently customizable and able to incorporate a wide variety of sensors. “The advanced nature of the man-machine interface” was another factor. The use of a trackball for cursor control (it was developed for the A380 airliner) is believed to be another helicopter first, one that helps reduce pilot workload, Naybour said. Future enhancements, such as synthetic vision, will be available through software upgrades.. 5 www.aviationweek.com/shownews February 26, 2008 http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Heli-Expo ShowNews - February 24-26, 2008

Helicopter Speed Record Heli Express Renews Orders Flow at Heli-Expo MD’s Tilton Wants VLJ Flying in Style P&WC’s new by-the-hour Eurocopter Dominates Booming Outlook

Heli-Expo ShowNews - February 24-26, 2008

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