Vertical Aviation Technologies, Inc. (VAT), located at Orlando-Sanford International Airport, Florida, announced the recent purchase of type certificate 1H2 from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation. Type certificate 1H2 is the FAA design approval for the S-52 series helicopters originally developed and certified by Sikorsky and will be used to reenter the commercial market with the new S-52L.
“This is a step forward with the history of the S-52,” says Brad Clark, president, VAT. “For 33 years we’ve been selling the S-52 Hummingbird helicopter as an experimental kit. The program has been highly successful however the light helicopter commercial market needs more competition and we believe we can be a market leader. We have a proven product with no development risks.”
The new S-52L has been redesigned in order to meet some of the latest FAA regulatory requirements. The basic design for the S-52L, such as rotor system and transmission system, remain the same, however tail surfaces, fuel system, electrical, instrumentation, cowling, interior, main/tail rotor blades, fuselage and flight controls have been redesigned. The powerplant is the new six cylinder 300 horsepower fuel injected IO-540 derated to 245 h.p. manufactured and supported by Continental Motors, Titan Engine division.
Safety features include FAR 27 occupant safety requirements addressing fuel crashworthiness 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 a very roomy four place tandem seating, handling qualities and performance.
