ANDREW HEALEY / LONDON
A decade after its relaunch in Power guise, the A109 has shed its early performance limitations to become one of the world's most adaptable fast helicopters
It used to be known as the Flying Ferrari and was about as practical. Now it is one of the world's most versatile helicopters. How did AgustaWestland's Italian company manage such a change of fortunes for its A109?
When Gary Savage was sales manager for Alan Mann Helicopters, Agusta UK agent throughout the 1980s, he tapped a small but enthusiastic market for the A109A. "It was the pocket rocket of helicopters. Passengers loved it even if, with limited legroom in the rear cabin, they had to interlink knees like a zip-fastener." With a 140kt (260km/h) cruise speed, it was claimed at the time to be the fastest civil helicopter in the world. "Then Agusta added enormous amounts of weight to it and the performance suffered. As I recall, there were also niggling problems with water ingress - to get round them we had to effectively 'marinise' the avionics."
Since these limitations became apparent, variants of the A109 have gone on to fulfil one of the most diverse role portfolios in the world - and a good proportion of their missions take place in the unforgiving marine environment. They transfer ship pilots off the South African coast, fly to oil platforms off China and intercept drug smugglers in the Caribbean. They fight forest fires in Malaysia and support police and ambulance services in 10 countries. Soon they will carry out light transport duties forthe South African National Defence Forces (SANDF) and fly on anti-submarine duties from Swedish navy stealth frigates. In its Elite guise, the A109 still sells as a pocket rocket; AgustaWestland has had to double production to satisfy demand. Fifteen Elites have been delivered since the VIP variant was launched at the 2001 Paris air show.
The first sign of the A109's potential came in 1992, when Swiss rescue operator Rega took delivery of the first of 16 Turbomeca Arrius 1K1-powered utility A109K2s, to form the mainstay of its air ambulance fleet. It was the type's first substantial utility order from outside Italy. Since then, Rega's fixed-undercarriage helicopters have undertaken 52,000 missions - most of them in the harsh Alpine environment - with only two accidents. Technical pilot Peter Haessig says he and his colleagues "have always been happy to fly the K2 and we have never had a significant technical problem".
Rega is near completion of a five-aircraft order for Eurocopter EC145s, to replace K2s that operate at lower altitudes. It is about to start an evaluation process for the rest of the fleet, and is waiting to see what Agusta will come up with. "The only reason we are looking at newer types", says Haessig, "is because the K2's maintenance costs are climbing".
Merging variants
The turning point came in 1993, when two variants - A109K2 and A109C - were united to produce the A109 Power. Among other design convergences, the retractable undercarriage from the existing line was moved outboard onto extensions. It still retracted into those sponsons and extra fuel capacity went into the saved internal space. A fully articulated, forward-inclined four-blade main rotor was added and new digitally-controlled engines - either Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206Cs or Turbomeca's Arrius 2K1s - delivered the power increases.
Director of civil sales Leonardo Monti explains the conditions that led to the "re-invention" of Agusta's then sole homegrown product. "Between its launch in 1971 and the early 1990s, we developed numerous variants to fit market sectors such as passenger transport, emergency medical services, aerial work, civil protection and military missions. In certain cases, these variants consisted simply of installing suitable equipment while with others, as with the A109K2, we had to consider profound modifications to optimise it for a particular operating requirement," he says.
The number of variants became a source of concern, as it led to limited commonality. This caused problems in the organisation of production, long lead times for customisation and, in a market that had become extremely competitive, unacceptable costs levels, Monti says.
"We needed a new strategy to increase our presence in the civil market. This could only be obtained by widening the market accessible to Agusta and by developing products that were suitable for more than one requirement. We decided to rationalise, in parallel, the production of variants in order to contain costs and reduce time for final preparation," says Monti.
He adds: "The not-insignificant importance to Agusta's image of the A109 was recognised. We were determined to demonstrate our independent capacity to design a complete helicopter in a world market where production was [embracing the principle of] international collaborative programmes."
At the same time, new European aviation regulations (JAR-Ops) were being developed. These would require fundamental changes in helicopters destined to operate in urban areas, and greater engine power to guarantee safety in an emergency. Given this situation, an examination of available resources highlighted that the aerodynamic conception and architecture of the A109, although 20 years old, were still substantially valid, says Monti .
The relaunch is an Italian success story, with almost 300 Powers sold in 10 years.
Norwegian air rescue service Lufttransport operates three A109s, both as air ambulances and to fly sea pilots out to tankers entering Bergen - Norway's largest oil and gas port. The firm has been appointed Agusta service centre for Norway. Chief pilot Geir-Arne Sorensen says nearly 3,000h have been accumulated on the airframes, the first of which was delivered in July 2001.
Problems overcome
"It is a very capable helicopter, although we could always use a little more cabin space. We did have a problem with water finding its way into our avionics, but we managed to fix that ourselves," says Sorensen.
The Malaysian fire department (Bomba) has taken delivery of two Powers to add to a pair of Mil Mi-17s. They are the first to be equipped with a flexible interior - evolved from those within the Power and A119 Koala - that permits rapid change of cabin layout from utility to SAR/EMS or even VIP.
The single-pilot IFR aircraft each have a rescue winch, cargo hook, loudspeaker, tactical radio and forward-looking infrared (FLIR). They can be equipped with emergency floatation and survival and fast-roping kits. The helicopters will be used for fire prevention, surveillance and control missions for the fire department, and search and rescue operations.
One of the major surprises of recent years, at least within the by-now crowded light twin helicopter marketplace, came in July 2000 when the SANDF ordered 30 A109s to satisfy their air force's light utility helicopter (LUH) requirement. Operations in such hot, high and dusty conditions had not, until then, been seen as one of the helicopter's strong points. However, the offset deal, which allows for the bulk of the order to be built at Denel Aviation in Kempton Park, was clearly a deciding factor.
The aircraft's Arrius 2K2 engines will also be built in-country - indeed the French manufacturer has bought Denel's airmotive division - as will the rotor system (from the slow-selling A119 Koala) and an uprated undercarriage. Denel also holds a licence to build and market Agusta's entire civil range - LUHs, A109 Powers and A119 - to specified countries in South-East Asia, the Middle East and South America, as well as in Africa.
Taking risks
Brig Gen Phillip Willcock, director of the SANDF acquisition, says: "Due to timescales placed on the project during the negotiating phase, Agusta had no option but to run the risk of launching production before development was complete." First flight took place in September 2001. The basic autopilot was later installed and hot-and-high and limited load survey flight trials carried out in Pretoria, South Africa at 5,000ft (1,525m) above sea level and temperatures averaging above 30¡C (86¡F), between February and April 2003. "To date, four LUHs have been completed, of which two, plus the Agusta development helicopter, and two Swedish LUHs (which will have a similar configuration) will be used for development flight testing," adds Willcock.
He says plans call for the first helicopter to be delivered early next year and used for technical training. The next aircraft, possibly the instrumented LUH, will be used to clear the secure communications suite and to ensure safety of flight for the electronic warfare suite (a missile approach warning system with flares). "On completion of those phases, the release to operational test and evaluation [ROTE] will take place, mainly at our flight test and development centre near Bredarsdorp," says Willcock.
Technicians trained by Agusta in Bloemfontein (the parent base for 87 Helicopter Flying School) will support the LUH during ROTE, while gaining experience on the system. The pilots will be trained by Agusta in Bloemfontein, possibly starting in April. On completion of the pilot training and ROTE, operational testing and evaluation will begin, with the first unit implementation (most likely 87 Helicopter Flying School) towards the end of next year or early 2005. Computer-based and cockpit-procedural training systems should be ready by mid-2004.
Another shock to the marketplace (and not least to MD Helicopters, which thought its MD 900 Enforcer had a deal in the bag) came in 2001 when the US Coast Guard (USCG) decided to lease eight A109 Powers to help counter the exploding trade in drug trafficking using "go-fast" speedboats between northern South America/the Caribbean and Florida. After early delivery problems, the MH-68 Mako, as the coastguard designated the helicopter, proved itself to be an able enforcer in its own right.
Steve Moss, AgustaWestland USA president, says they "took a basic commercial off-the-shelf product and turned it into a sophisticated armed machine that could operate from the back of medium and large cutters, as well as US Navy ships. As such they can operate far from their home base at the USCG facility at Jacksonville, Florida." The eight helicopters are deployed aboard cutters patrolling both the east and west coasts."
So far, Moss says, they have seized $2 billion worth of drugs. "The fleet maintains 94-95% availability and, such has been its success in the role, a second Hitron [helicopter tactical squadron] unit of eight helicopters may be established to patrol the west coast," he adds.
Cdr Rich Jackson, who works in the USCG's Office of Defence Operations in Washington DC, confirms the aircraft's reliability record. "The Mako has done well for us. The coastguard dual-tracked the airborne use of force (AUF) concept with bringing a new aircraft on line. It was never intended to be a mainstay, rather a bridge between current capability and the wide-ranging Deepwater programme."
After the 11 September terrorist attacks, the MH-68 was the first platform to be used to develop the AUF concept for homeland security. Now, it will be a critical piece of the force mix, as new assets are brought online and legacy assets upgraded, Jackson adds.
"The coastguard had a competition for the contract from proof of concept to establishing a squadron. Price was critical - remember this was pre-11 September and we were not expecting to see any additional budget support. The whole concept was to lease an off-the-shelf aircraft, modify it and fill the gap in the fleet, while developing the armed capability of the other aircraft. It was an excellent way of closing a capability gap, meeting a mission requirement and developing a new tactical role for the USCG. Now that has grown into the new demands of homeland security," says Jackson.
Speed was not the critical selection criterion - controllability and high power margins were. The ability to operate single- engined at "combat" or gross weight in an emergency was critical.
Jackson adds: "After a year or so in service, the aircraft has performed excellently. At sea it has coped with salt and humidity and, when we use it on the ranges, it plays well in the dirt. It came with a progressive approach to maintenance, helping us to develop both effective corrosion control and protective actions." The keys to this have been the Agusta technicians, he says. "They have continually worked at better ways of cleaning, prepping, treating and repairing the helicopters. Their experience base is excellent and they learn the aircraft pretty well before deploying - one to each vessel. The aircrew have learned to work the flight schedule to maximise availability.
Evolution
"The Agusta engineer is the only one who works on the aircraft," Jackson says. "It is a great system for us because we save on a crew member, which can be a big deal on a cutter. The 95% up rate is phenomenal and has changed the whole thought-process of how we do business."
Hitron tactics have evolved from a two-ship to a single ship format, and the squadron has developed ways to make the most of the aircraft, Jackson adds. Establishing night missions using night vision goggles (NVG), FLIR and radar was accomplished with an "excellent" NVG cockpit/cabin compatible lighting system. "Although small - especially for the homeland security mission role - the aircraft is working well," says Jackson.
Weapons control
An M240 machine gun is mounted on the Mako's port side, opposite the pilot's position. In the Hitron role, the mission commander sits on the left-hand seat. One aviation gunner is responsible for the M240 and the .5 in rifle, used for shooting out the speedboats's engines.
"To maintain tactical control and security in the counter-drug role, the M240 is kept at the ready for defensive fire. For homeland security missions, two aviation gunners are carried, with multiple weapon and tactical options at the ready. The hoist is installed on the starboard side but, for a tactical mission, is normally removed," says Jackson.
Back in its original VIP/corporate role, the helicopter's 1980s market share was lost in the 1990s to new competitors such as the Eurocopter EC135 and MD Explorer. So when designing the Power, as well as increasing space, comfort and hot-and-high performance, Agusta guaranteed its capacity to take-off fully loaded from platforms, after the sudden loss of one engine (Category A). Agusta now claims to have captured as much as 80% of the VIP/corporate market in the light twin category.
Agusta's "go-fast" helicopter is something of a chameleon. However, it is not considered the answer to every mission. Back in the corporate aviation market, incumbent UK distributor Sloane Helicopters has sold its fourth Elite to a UK-based businessman. "From a flying point of view", he says, "it's an absolutely fantastic machine." However, 20 years after Alan Mann Helicopters first marketed the A109C, the company still gets problems with water ingress and has gone so far as to build it a hangar to keep off the rain. Despite its successful operation in so many environments, the Flying Ferrari is most at home, it appears, in the Mediterranean sunshine.
Source: Flight International
