The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) at Boscombe Down in England has added an AgustaWestland A109 Power helicopter to its training fleet. Representatives with the helomaker state the addition of the A109 will help ETPS to meet the growing demand for places on its rotary wing courses.

The aircraft (similar to type shown above) arrived at Boscombe Down in time for the start of the 2007 rotary wing training course and, during the 12-month course, engineering modifications will be carried out to instrument the aircraft. This will increase its training capability, and make it available for use in syllabus exercises, which currently use the school's instrumented Lynx and Sea-King helicopters.

"The additional flexibility this aircraft brings to the air fleet means that more students can benefit from ETPS training," said ETPS Business Group Manager Steve Westwood. "In addition to the extra capacity the A109 Power helicopter brings, the rotary wing students will gain experience of flying a 'state-of-the-art' helicopter with modern systems and avionics. "

The AgustaWestland A109 Power is a lightweight, twin engine, multipurpose helicopter with eight seats in its standard corporate/VIP layout. For its role with ETPS, the interior configuration will be modified to provide a utility cabin with a flight engineer station in the main cabin.

In addition to the AgustaWestland A109 Power helicopter, the ETPS rotary wing training fleet comprises two Sea King, two Lynx and three Gazelle helicopters.

FMI: www.agustawestland.com, www.qinetiq.com/home_etps.html