Airbus Helicopters H120

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Airbus Helicopter H120 Colibri
Eurocopter EC 120B "Colibri"
Airbus Helicopter H120B "Colibri"
Type: Light multipurpose helicopter
Design country:

GermanyGermany Germany France
FranceFrance 

Manufacturer:

Airbus Helicopters

First flight:

June 9, 1995

Commissioning:

1998

Production time:

1997 to 2017

Number of pieces:

700 (as of October 2017)

The Airbus Helicopters H120 Colibri (formerly Eurocopter EC 120 ) is a five-seat, single-engine light helicopter from the Franco-German aircraft manufacturer Airbus Helicopters with turbine drive .

history

After detailed studies of the future helicopter market, the decision was made in 1992 to develop the Eurocopter EC 120 in order to be able to serve the market for the smallest helicopters, particularly in Asia.

A cooperation agreement was concluded between Eurocopter, which took over the technical management of the project, final assembly and all tests and approval procedures, the Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Company , which was supposed to deliver the fully equipped fuselage with the fuel system (project share: 24%), and the Singapore Technologies Aerospace , who were responsible for the doors, the tail rotor boom and the windshields (project share: 15%). The development work was started in 1993 by a development team of around 60, which included around 30 French engineers, around 10 engineers from Singapore and 20 from China . Two prototypes were made, which made their first flight in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

The model was presented to the public for the first time at the Heli-Expo in Anaheim in February 1997. About 20 sales have already been made at this fair. The first customer was the Danish airline Unifly . The French approval was granted on June 17, 1997, the FAA on January 22, 1998. The first series machine was delivered on February 2, 1998. At the same time, work was carried out on the improved type EC 120B. In November 1998, flight tests were carried out in Sweden with the first prototype of this variant. Problems with deliveries from China repeatedly led to production bottlenecks during series production. Nevertheless, the 200th EC 120 was delivered in 2002.

On March 1, 2006, EADS North America announced that the US Department of Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection would initially commission ten units of the EC 120; the scope of the contract covers the delivery of a total of 55 units.

The EC 120B has been introduced by the traffic police in Iraqi Kurdistan since 2011 . In a two-stage training process, the required pilots are trained first to become gyroplane pilots and then to become helicopter pilots.

In addition to civil use, the H120B can also be used for military tasks, for example for training or light support missions. With a weight of less than two tons, the EC 120 is the smallest and lightest helicopter from Eurocopter.

Guillaume Faury at the time (CEO Airbus Helicopters) announced to journalists from the AJPAE (French association of professional journalists for the aerospace sector) at the Marignane site that production of the H120 would be discontinued. The last copy was produced at the end of September 2017. The decision is related to Airbus' efforts to concentrate its range of single-engine helicopters on the H125 and H130 and to further develop these two machines in the future with a view to safety, performance and easy maintenance.

Technical data (H120B)

The 8-blade fenestron of the H120
Three-sided tear
Parameter Data
General crew 1–2 pilot (s)
Passengers 3-4
drive a Turboméca Arrius 2F turbine
Starting power 1 × 376 kW (511 PS)
Max. Continuous output 1 × 335 kW (444 PS)
Type Single-engine light helicopter
Manufacturer Airbus Helicopters
Factory price approx. 1,500,000 USD (as of 2010)
Dimensions Hull length 9.60 m
Length over spinning rotors 11.52 m
height 3.40 m
Rotor diameter 10.00 m
Rotor area 81.7 m²
Cabin length 2.30 m
Cabin width 1.35 m
Cabin height 1.25 m
Crowds Empty mass 965 kg
Payload Max. 750 kg
Max. Payload, suspended outside 700 kg
Max. fuel 325 kg (411 l) plus 63 kg (80 l) in the optional additional tank
Max. Takeoff mass 1715 kg
Max. Takeoff mass with external loads 1800 kg
Flight performance Top speed 279 km / h
Cruising speed 228 km / h
Economic cruising speed 191 km / h
Max. Rate of climb 6.73 m / s
Service ceiling 5365 m at max. Take-off weight and 6000 m at a take-off weight of 1350 kg
Hover altitude without ground effect 2530 m, 760 m at max. Take-off weight and 3350 m at a take-off weight of 1350 kg
Hover altitude with ground effect 3050 m
Max. Range 732 km
Duration of use 4.3 h

Comparable helicopter types

literature

Monothematic books on Eurocopter or the EC120 do not exist, but the type EC120 and the other Eurocopter models are described in detail in the standard work on helicopters by Marcus Aulfinger:

  • Marcus Aulfinger: The great helicopter type book - helicopters of the world. Motorbuch Verlag, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-613-01787-3 .

Web links

Commons : Airbus Helicopters H120 Colibri  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. H120. (No longer available online.) Airbus.com , archived from the original on October 8, 2017 ; accessed on October 11, 2017 (English).
  2. Kurdistan's traffic police to have helicopters - AKNews ( Memento from July 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  3. Iraq Defense & Security Summit 2012 ( Memento from July 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  4. Airbus Helicopters has ended H120 production - Aerobuzz.de . In: Aerobuzz.de . December 1, 2017 ( aerobuzz.de [accessed December 4, 2017]).