The Art of Arriving in Style

Airbus Helicopters has delivered the world's first ACH160 to a Brazilian customer bound to make a big splash among his monied chums. The $14-million-ish helicopter is a premium iteration of Airbus’s H160, and the latest addition to the company’s line of corporate helicopters.

Airbus Helicopters managing director Jean-Luc Alfonsi states: “We are very proud that the world's first ACH160 has been delivered here in Brazil, and look forward to seeing its distinctive and elegant silhouette flying through the skies of São Paulo. Helibras [Airbus Helicopters’ Brazilian customer center] is the leader in the Brazilian turbine helicopter executive aviation segment and we are confident the ACH160 will set new standards for customers and operators wanting to make a distinctive choice in terms of safety, comfort and performance.”

First revealed in 2011 under the designation X-4—an allusion to the aircraft’s Eurocopter X-3 progenitor—the H160 is a medium utility helicopter, the unique construction, noteworthy performance, excellent safety, and posh comfort of which speak to the 68 new patents integral to its design.

The H/ACH160 is the first rotorcraft to feature Airbus Helicopters’ proprietary Blue Edge five-bladed main rotor, the architecture of which incorporates a poly-angular geometry that reduces blade-vortex interaction (BVI)—a dissipative phenomenon of three-dimensional nature, which occurs when a rotor-blade passes within close proximity of the tip vortices of the blade preceding it. The Blue Edge main rotor decreases the H/ACH160’s noise signature by up to four decibels, and increases the machine’s effective payload by one-hundred-kilograms (220-pounds) over that of the competing, Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin.

Further H/ACH160 aerodynamic innovations include a biplane tailplane stabilizer that enhances low-speed stability, and a quieter, canted fenestron—an enclosed helicopter tail rotor that operates like a ducted fan. Together, the tailplane stabilizer and fenestron produce an additional eighty-kilograms of lift. The H/ACH160 is the first civilian helicopter to utilize such a system.

The H/ACH160 is powered by two 1,300-shaft-horsepower Safran Arrano turboshaft engines, which drive a five-hour run-dry gearbox. Up front, H/ACH160 pilots ply their trade via Airbus’s Helionix avionics suite, which features a total of four 6 × 8 inch (15 × 20 centimeter) multifunctional displays, dual CMA-9000 Flight Management Systems, and CMA’s 5024 GPS landing system sensor.

The upmarket ACH160 encompasses 20% greater volume per passenger, 35% larger windows, and 15% lower fuel-burn than its nearest competitor. Customers may choose between the ACH160 family’s Line, Line with Lounge package, and Exclusive trim levels.

FMI: www.airbuscorporatehelicopters.com