Kopter Restarts SH09 Helicopter Flight-test Program | Aviation International News

Kopter Restarts SH09 Helicopter Flight-test Program

The Kopter prototype was retrofitted with new rotor components, Garmin G3000H avionics.

Kopter resumed test flights with the P3 prototype version of its SH09 light helicopter in January 2021. (Photo: Kopter)

By Mark Huber • Contributor

March 17, 2021

Kopter has restarted the flight test program for its new SH09 helicopter. Having struggled with technical issues and multi-year delays since its first flight in 2014, the Leonardo group company resumed flying in January. Its sole flying SH09 turbine single P3 prototype has been refitted with a new main rotor head design, a new main gearbox with an extended mast, new flight controls configuration, and Garmin G3000H avionics. Kopter plans to add minor aerodynamic improvements to the cowling before test aircraft PS (pre-series) 4 joins the program in the third quarter of this year, followed by the PS5 prototype “some months later.”

However, the program has a long way to go before certification and the Swiss-based company, acquired by Leonardo last year, still has a variety of commercial and distribution issues to work through as well as the industrialization of components. The retrofitted P3 aircraft flew 25 hours between mid-January and early March, with the test pilots reporting handling much improved.

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