Heli-Expo 2011: Eurocopter Takes Wraps Off Its EC145T2
With dry ice, bright lights, loud music, CEO Lutz Bertling in the cockpit and four glamorous passengers in helmets and flight suits, Eurocopter rolled out

With dry ice, bright lights, loud music, CEO Lutz Bertling in the cockpit and four glamorous passengers in helmets and flight suits, Eurocopter rolled out its newest helicopter here at Heli-Expo shortly after the convention opened yesterday morning. The EC145T2 introduces a fenestron, new engines, a new main gearbox and what Bertling described as “25 percent more mission performance” than its predecessor. Four operators have already signed up for 17 copies of the new helicopter.

The EC145T2 takes a platform well proven by the 2.8 million hours logged by the BK117/EC145 and replaces the original Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 turboshafts with dual-Fadec Arriel 2Es for a boost in power that is especially apparent with one engine inoperative. The new helicopter also gets a new digital avionics suite and four-axis autopilot.