Five Individual Flights Totaled About 20 Minutes Flying time

Marenco Swisshelicopter on Thursday completed the first flight of its SKYe SH09. The prototype high performance light single-engine helicopter with chief test pilot Dwayne Williams at the controls flew in hover in five test flights that lasted approximately 20 minutes.

Martin Stucki, designer, founder and CEO, said the first flights confirmed the preliminary flying and handling characteristics of the aircraft. “This is a milestone in the development of our program and this success has followed the extensive component testing-phase and quantity of Ground tests performed in the last weeks and months,” he said.

The SKYe SH09 features a full composite airframe as well as all-composite main rotor and tail rotor blades; it is equipped with glass cockpit avionics systems and the powerful HTS-900-2 engine from Honeywell.

The SKYe SH09 is scheduled to enter in production within the next 12 to 16 months. Marenco Swisshelicopter holds more than 50 orders and agreements on the aircraft.

(Images provided by Marenco Swisshelicopter. Lower image Dwayne Williams (L) and Martin Stucki)

FMI: http://marenco-swisshelicopter.ch/