SAR Automatic Flight Control, ADS-B Among The Improvements

Sikorsky announced a new series of upgrades for the S-92 helicopter at Heli-Expo in Houston Monday. The enhancements include a SAR Automatic Flight Control System, which allows the aircraft to fly a pre-programmed coupled approach and reduces pilot workload in the search and rescue environment, Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) capability for Gulf of Mexico region operators (co-developed with PHI) that improves safety and on-time performance, and a load-sensing cargo hook that automatically updates aircraft weight and balance readings.

S 92 File Photo

"The S-92 helicopter fleet has grown to 105 aircraft operating throughout the world, with the fleet recently surpassing the 200,000 flight-hour milestone. Customers have shown strong allegiance to this helicopter as we continue to keep it fully modernized with the latest technologies," said Carey Bond, President of the company's Sikorsky Global Helicopters business.  "Our practice has been to continually improve all our products, and the S-92 helicopter is no exception."

Starting this October, Sikorsky says it plans to introduce a strengthened main transmission housing that has been developed for the H-92 helicopter, a militarized variant of the commercial S-92 helicopter. The new housing is currently in the certification process and is designed to reduce unscheduled maintenance by eliminating such possibilities as the foot-mount cracks recently experienced by some operators. The new housing will have a much longer life than the current housing and will be manufactured by Sikorsky for retrofit on existing aircraft and installation on all new S-92 and H-92 helicopters.

H 92 File Photo

"As we continue to develop the higher gross weight H-92 helicopter variant, we will identify additional opportunities to migrate new technologies to the S-92 helicopter platform," Bond added.  'When a customer buys a Sikorsky helicopter, he or she does so with the knowledge  that we are committed to keeping it current while reducing operating costs and maintaining high availability rates."

FMI: www.sikorsky.com