RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On March 29, the European manufacturer Airbus presented in Colombia the H145 five-blade helicopter, for civil and military use, with a demonstration flight that departed from Bogota’s El Dorado international airport.
This multi-purpose aircraft is part of the company’s range of twin-engine four-ton class helicopters and has flexibility specially adapted to high-altitude and high-temperature operating conditions, such as those in Colombia, Airbus said.
“We have come to Colombia precisely because we believe it is perfectly suited to this country’s geography,” Airbus Helicopters’ vice president in charge of Latin America, Alberto Robles, told Efe.
He explained that in Colombia, a country with three mountain ranges where helicopters have to fly, for example, from the Pacific coast to the interior, “in many circumstances with the mountain range covered with clouds, this helicopter does it perfectly”.
It can “cross above 15,000 feet in no visibility conditions,” he added.
One of the innovations of the H145 is that it is equipped with a five-bladed main rotor, which increases the helicopter’s payload by 150 kilos.
The H145 also has interchangeable optional equipment, such as emergency floats, rescue crane, searchlight, and cargo hook, making it a multi-purpose helicopter for emergency medical services, offshore operations, security missions, and passenger transport.
The presentation in Colombia includes, in addition to Bogota, demonstrations in Cartagena and the towns of Madrid (Cundinamarca), Melgar (Tolima), and Rionegro (Antioquia), where some of the country’s air squadrons are located.
“We have brought it to tour around the country to show it to government operators and potential commercial operators,” said Robles.
He added that “one of the advantages that the H145 offers is that it can do multiple types of missions on a single platform.”
He also highlighted that the H145 could be used in the civilian sector, on offshore platforms, to make electrical installations in remote locations for passenger and cargo transport.
“In the Armed Forces, it serves for all types of missions, from rescue and salvage, medical evacuations, ambulances, command and control, troop transport, and even in light attack missions,” he added.
Airbus noted that the H145 is the only twin-engine helicopter to have landed on Aconcagua in the Andes Mountains, demonstrating its great power reserve at high altitudes.
The H145 family has more than 1,500 helicopters in service worldwide and has accumulated more than six million flight hours. Seven of the new five-blade models operate in Latin America.
With information from EFE