Rotorcraft
Airbus Corporate Helicopters Looks to the Future
As ACH reports a successful 2021 for sales, the company and its parent are driving new technologies to make helicopters cleaner and quieter.

Airbus Corporate Helicopters (ACH, Booth Z43, Static AD_5) has outlined some of the work it and its parent company are conducting in the fields of sustainability and environmental considerations for the future. Many of these new technologies have been, or are being, tested on the Airbus Helicopters flying laboratory, an H130 configured for trials of systems such as modified controls applicable to urban air mobility vehicles, image detection for obstacle recognition and low-altitude navigation, advanced health and usage monitoring systems, and rotor strike warning. The Flight Lab is also testing hybrid power functions with a 100-kW electric motor connected to the main gearbox, and noise-reducing technologies.