AIRBUS H125

We have said it before the French make the best helicopters. In the light helicopter series the original AS350 Écureuil (or Squirrel) has been a huge success and it was natural that the giant Airbus would continue to develop it only now called the H125 after the takeover of Aerospatiale, (which gave it the AS prefix).

- Guy Leitch with Jannie Matthysen and George Tonking

THE AS350 ECUREUIL has accumulated almost 36 million flight hours worldwide. The last of the AS350 series was launched in 2011 as the AS350 B3e, which was renamed the Airbus H125, equipped with the Arriel 2D engine featuring dual-channel full authority digital engine control (FADEC), optional dual hydraulics and a 2,370 kg (5,225 lb) Maximum Take Off Weight (2,250kg with single hydraulics).

Development

BY the early 1970s Bell Helicopter's Bell 206 JetRanger was the best-selling light commercial helicopter. This was a situation that did not sit comfortably with Aerospatiale (then known as Sud Aviation), who until then had been relatively successful in producing the Allouette and Lama range of light helicopters, mainly for military use.

The Bell 206's success prompted Aerospatiale to waste no time flying the prototype of their interpretation of the light civilian helicopter in 1974. The result was the Eurocopter AS350 which still today looks to the casual observer identical to their first production helicopters. It is a design that seemed just right, and as the passage of time proved, still meets with customer approval 40 years later.

Despite its relatively unchanged appearance, the AS350 series has been constantly evolving from the first Lycoming-powered craft initially aimed at the American market. The French were however not impressed by the American engine and therefore produced the aircraft with a Turbomeca (now Safran helicopter engines) Arriel engine for distribution outside the US.

The type has since seen a number of model and engine changes culminating in the current top-of-the-range AS350 B3e equipped with a Safran Arriel 2D engine with full FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control). This is the helicopter that is now called the Airbus H125 and is the subject of our test flight.

First impressions