A surrogate helicopter
equipped with a new X2 Technology fly-by-wire system made its first
flight, a key milestone in Sikorsky Aircraft's development of its
X2 Technology demonstrator rotorcraft.
The Schweizer 333 helicopter performed flawlessly while
demonstrating basic capabilities of the X2 Technology fly-by-wire
system during a one half hour flight at Schweizer Aircraft's
facility. Sikorsky is building and plans to fly an X2 Technology
demonstrator in 2006.
"The X2 Technology demonstrator program continues to advance on
plan toward first flight before the end of 2006. The Schweizer 333
fly-by-wire flight today provides just one indication of the
excellent progress the team has made this year," said Carey Bond,
Vice President Corporate Strategy and Advanced Programs. In April,
Sikorsky announced plans to build and test a demonstrator for a new
class of coaxial X2 Technology helicopters that improve the
vertical flight capabilities of rotorcraft and whose high speed
configuration will cruise at 250 knots.
Schweizer is a Sikorsky subsidiary and was selected to build the
demonstrator because of its rapid prototyping capability. Sikorsky
established a fly-by-wire integration lab and is using a Schweizer
333 as the system's initial surrogate test vehicle.
The X2 Technology demonstrator will employ a fly-by-wire system
with advanced control laws that integrates the main rotor, aft
propulsor and engine to meet commands from the cockpit.
Hamilton Sundstrand (also part of UTC) is working closely with
Sikorsky on the X2 Technology demonstrator program by modifying and
providing the Data Concentrator Units. The Central Processing Units
are supplied by Honeywell.
X2 Technology refers to a suite of technologies Sikorsky
will apply to achieve new levels of speed and performance in
coaxial helicopters. Coaxial helicopters feature two
counter-rotating rotors on the same vertical axis.
X2 Technology aircraft will hover, land vertically, maneuver at
low speeds, and transition seamlessly from hover to forward flight
like a helicopter. In a high speed configuration, one or more
"pusher props" are part of an integrated auxiliary propulsion
system to enable high speeds with no need to physically reconfigure
the aircraft in flight.
In addition to Hamilton Sundstrand, major equipment providers
for the X2 Technology demonstrator are LHTEC for the engine, Eagle
Aviation for rotor blade manufacture, and Chelton Flight Systems
for the cockpit display.