Thierry Dubois is a freelance writer specializing in helicopters, business aviation and aerospace technology. He earned a degree in fluid dynamics from an engineering school in Toulouse, France in the mid-1990s. At an unexpected crossroads, he found his first job in journalism. In 1997, he started working for French aerospace weekly Air &amp; Cosmos in Paris. This lasted until 2000, when he moved south to Lyons. He then became a freelancer, working for various aerospace publications and has been part of the AIN team since late 2000. In addition to writing about business aviation, Thierry shares responsibility for the rotorcraft section. He also is a regular on-site writer for AIN’s daily editions at international airshows such as the Paris, Farnborough, Dubai and Singapore shows, as well as at EBACE in Geneva.
In 2007, he won the Honeywell award for “Best systems or technology submission” at the Aerospace journalist of the year awards. In 2013, he won an Aerospace Media Award for the "Best Safety, Training &amp; Simulation Submission."
In other activities, Thierry moderates international conferences on aviation technology topics. Thierry is married and has three children, who seem to begin enjoying the mountains–as their parents do.

Writer

Thierry Dubois

A German photographer spotted a <a href="http://www.helionline.net/915-310677-861047/photogallery/15/157/41688///Alexander+Lutz.html">modified EC135</a> at Airbus Helicopters’ development facility in Donauwörth, Germany. Most striking is the light twin’s new horizontal empennage, moved to the top of the vertical fin.


The bottom of the vertical empennage also has a different design and the tailboom now appears to have a circular cross-section. In addition, the helicopter sports five main rotor blades–instead of four on the stock EC135–with swept tips. The landing skids also have been redesigned.


Asked whether the helicopter is the prototype of a new EC135 variant, Airbus Helicopters answered that it is “testing environmentally friendly technologies on a demonstrator aircraft.” While the EC135 is being used as a testbed, Airbus said the technologies should be seen as “transversal,” meaning not specifically intended for any one particular helicopter model.


Meanwhile, the manufacturer is gearing up for the first delivery of the latest EC135 version, the EC135 T3/P3, which was <a href="https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/hai-convention-news/2014-02-25/deliveries-airbus-helicopters-ec135-t3/p3-delayed">previously delayed</a> to the fourth quarter. Announced at Heli-Expo 2013, the new model offers several improvements over the current EC135 T2i/P2i, yielding a 66-pound mtow increase and improved hot/high performance.

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In this article

EC135/H135

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