Will Be On Display At Sun 'n Fun In April

Vertical Aviation Technologies located at Orlando-Sanford International Airport Florida has announced that efforts are well underway to certify the new four place S-52L helicopter in Primary Category. The process which has currently taken two years includes a Type Certificate and a Production Certificate.

“For 32 years we’ve been selling the Hummingbird helicopter in kit form with a perfect safety record” says Brad Clark, President. “With certification in Primary Category we can still sell kits but also provide a completed helicopter at a substantially reduced price.”

The official FAA language for Primary Aircraft Category is defined this way:

A primary category aircraft is of simple design and is intended exclusively for pleasure and personal use, flight instruction, and rental. A primary category rotorcraft may be powered by a single, naturally aspirated engine and a 6 pound per square foot main rotor disc loading limitation. A primary category rotorcraft may have a maximum certificated weight of no more than 2700 pounds, and a maximum seating capacity of four.

The new model S-52L helicopter meets these requirements. In addition, the certification basis chosen and accepted by the FAA is FAR 27, with later parts of FAR 27 requiring occupant protection, ie. cabin protection, fuel crash worthiness and additional seating safety requirements.

This certification basis combined with the perfect safety record of the Hummingbird helicopter will make safety the top selling point especially for the training market.

Safety features include FAR 27 occupant safety requirements addressing fuel crash worthiness and post crash fires, seat and surrounding structure protection, energy absorbing wheeled landing gear, automatic collective pitch reduction in the event of powerplant/rotor drive failure and no control restrictions with the smooth three blade articulated rotor.

Other selling features include roomy four place tandem seating, amazing controllability and handling qualities, automatic rotor/clutch engagement and worldwide customer support.

The S-52L has been redesigned ground up in order to meet the latest requirements. The basic design parameters for the S-52L such as airframes, rotor system, transmission and powerplant remain the same, however tail surfaces, fuel system, electrical, instrumentation, interior, and flight controls have been redesigned. The powerplant is the six cylinder 300 h.p. IO-540 derated to 245 h.p. manufactured and supported by Continental Motors, Titan engine division.

The S-52L will be on display at Sun n Fun 2019, April 2-7.

(Image provided with Vertical Aviation Technologies news release)

FMI: www.vertical-aviation.com