Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

Marenco Swisshelicopter (Booth 3006) announced several new letters of intent for its&nbsp;SKYe&nbsp;SH09 single-engine model here at Heli-Expo.&nbsp;These recent LOIs boost customer commitments to 84 helicopters.

 


The latest orders include an LOI for 10 units from&nbsp;Helisul&nbsp;Taxi&nbsp;Aereo&nbsp;of Brazil, one from Horizon Helicopters of Canada and a second LOI from Rotor World of Florida.&nbsp;Helisul&nbsp;operates a fleet of 40 helicopters with fixed bases in the cities of Curitiba,&nbsp;Foz&nbsp;do Iguacu, Florianopolis, and Rio de Janeiro, providing services including aeromedical transport, charter, sightseeing, external load, aerial photography, aerial inspection and fire-fighting.

 


Horizon Helicopters specializes in environmentally sensitive work, vertical reference and mountain operations and the unique flight conditions of the North. Rotor World plans to position the aircraft for operations in Costa Rica. The company specializes in the sales of new and pre-owned helicopters and jets.

 


The&nbsp;<a href="http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/business-aviation/2016-02-26/marenco-swisshelicopter-flies-second-skye-prototype">second flight-test&nbsp;SKYe&nbsp;SH09 prototype</a>, dubbed P2, made its maiden flight February 26 from the company’s headquarters at&nbsp;Mollis&nbsp;Airport in Switzerland.

 


P2, which is now the main test vehicle, has been fitted with a new rotor head and blades intended to reduce vibration and complexity on the rotor head, while enhancing&nbsp;“tolerance to future upgrades.”&nbsp;The initial flight verified the lower vibration and noise levels, Marenco said.

 


The first phase of test flights for P2 is now under way, with the initial trials covering hover flights at low altitudes before moving on to hover flights outside ground effect. This will be followed by trials confirming systems behavior and avionics accuracy, flying limited autorotations and initial performance and stability trials. After that, testing will move on to handling, load survey and exploring the helicopter’s full height velocity curves, to confirm the safe combinations of altitude and airspeed during&nbsp;autorotating&nbsp;landings.

 


Meanwhile, the company is building P3, the first conforming prototype, and expects to set up its production line for the&nbsp;SKYe&nbsp;later this year. EASA certification of the all-composite helicopter, initially planned for the second half of this year, has slipped to next year, with FAA validation to follow in 2018.

 


The&nbsp;SKYe&nbsp;SH09 has a maximum takeoff weight of 5,842 pounds with seating for up to seven passengers, a maximum speed of 140 knots, a maximum range of 430 nm, and an augmented sling load capability of 3,300 pounds.

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