| Ecureuil AS-350 - Light Utility Helicopter Services India, Asia and Middle East |
•
Ecureuil AS-350 |
 |
Type
Light
utility Helicopter
General Information
Europe’s most unbeaten civil helicopter, the Ecureuil (= Squirrel)
is in far-reaching civil and military use worldwide undertaking a
mixture of wide ranging missions.
Aerospatiale’s development of the AS-350 Ecureuil in the early
1970’s culminated in the first flights of the Avco Lycoming
LTS-101 powered prototype on June 27, 1974 and the Turbomeca Ariel
powered prototype on February 14, 1975. These choppers were followed
by eight pre production examples, the first of which flew in late
1977.
Deliveries of the chopper began in April 1978. Initial models offered
were the Ariel powered AS-350B, which was marketed outside North America,
and the LTS-101 powered AS-350C sold in the U.S.A. The AS-350 was
soon replaced by the AS-350D, with a more dominant engine.
In 1992, Aerospatiale’s
helicopter division was integrated into Euro copter. The Ecureuil
is also built under license in Brazil as the HB-350 Esquilo and a
look a like is built in China as the changhe Z-11.
Capacity
Standard seating for six including two forward seats and a four at
the rear bench seats. |
| ©
Subha Aviation, 2005 |
mail@subhaaviation.com |
|
|