GKN Westland Helicopters and Agusta, partners in the development programme for the EH.101 Merlin series of anti-submarine warfare (ASW) helicopters, say they have reached another milestone.
Testing work has been completed to demonstrate the operating margins that will be available when the aircraft enters full service.
Both companies have expressed satisfaction with progress to date.
Military and civil variants of the craft will eventually be on the market. The British Royal Navy has already taken delivery of the first batch of four EH.101 Merlin HM Mk1s.
Westland says the first civil delivery is slated for later this year and that the first Royal Air Force EH.101 Merlin HC Mk3 is due to fly in the autumn.
The recent testing in Italy involved flying a production EH.101 civil utility aircraft at take-off weights up to 15,500kg - 900kg more than the present maximum.
Westland stresses that this reaching over-weight capability so early in the aircraft's service life is confirmation of its considerable growth potential.
Jerry Tracy, deputy chief test pilot with Westland who flew the test with Agusta's Bruno Belucci, says: "The EH.101 was designed for growth potential. This was one of a series of demonstrations of the operational overload in which the aircraft performed faultlessly.
"In the roles for which the EH.101 is currently being considered, the flight has demonstrated that there is a significant operational margin of safety."
Engaged
The civil passenger prototypes of the aircraft, PP9 and PP8, are engaged in the early stages of a 6,000-hour flying programme to demonstrate its performance under simulated operational conditions. Each helicopter is flying about 90 hours per month, covering a range of civil and military operational profiles.
The EH.101 is in full production in Italy and the UK, with close to 100 aircraft ordered by the British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, the Italian Navy, the Canadian armed forces and a so-far unnamed civil customer in Asia.
Source: Flight Daily News