Systems Expected to Roll Out by Year's End

Genesys Aerosystems will begin providing its Genesys Helicopter Autopilot in the Enstrom 480B this year, following installation and certification.

The roadmap for the Genesys 3-axis VFR autopilot believes that certification will be completed soon, with the unit available for factory fit or aftermarket retrofit by the end of 2024. Interested 480B customers can have the autopilot installed by Enstrom itself, or by any approved Genesys dealer. The autopilot system is a lightweight and affordable addition to the 480B, offering all the functionality of a standard 3-axis system like heading, nav, approach, VSI, indicated speed, and altitude hold. Genesys even includes its Stability Augmentation System, allowing the aircraft to be automatically brought back to a neutral attitude if the pilot is incapacitated, spatially disoriented, or blinded by visual phenomena. The Stability System builds up its safety bonafides with both over- and under-speed envelope protection, keeping the aircraft in the meaty, well-trodden part of the flight envelope while activated.

"We pride ourselves in being customer focused, so we are excited to work with Enstrom to offer the industry standard for helicopter autopilots to its customer base. This will provide significant improvements in aircraft safety, operational improvements, and mission effectiveness" said Jamie Luster, Genesys Director of Sales and Marketing.

Enstrom's Chief Commercial Officer Dennis Martin was suitably amazed by the system, too. “I was able to test fly the prototype installation recently. We were highly impressed. It flew the helicopter very well and has advanced functionality. The 480B is already very stable, but the stability augmentation system takes it to a whole new level. What really stood out was the safety advantages it provides with features like auto-recovery and the ability to shoot fully coupled approaches. It’s a game changer!” 

FMI: www.enstromhelicopter.com