Eurocopter is working on a compound helicopter with a single main rotor, a fixed wing with two propellers in puller configuration and no tail rotor, probably in response to Sikorsky’s X2 and Bell/Agusta Aerospace’s BA609 Tiltrotor, which are attempts to create a faster rotorcraft. The Marignane, France-based helicopter manufacturer in May last year filed a patent application at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Eurocopter has yet to confirm if this concept is the “new aircraft predevelopment” that CEO Lutz Bertling has mentioned a few times since January.
The patent is for “a rotorcraft [able to] perform cruising flights at high speed and also to enable long distances to be traveled.” The document uses as an example a rotorcraft for 16 passengers flown at 220 knots. Range would be 400 nm and cruise altitude 5,000 feet. The aircraft would weigh about eight metric tons (17,600 pounds). For the sake of comparison, an AS 332L1 Super Puma weighs 8.6 metric tons, can carry 19 passengers at 141 knots and has a maximum range of 529 nm.
More In Rotorcraft
