Airbus Helicopters has announced a warranty extension for the H145’s Arriel 2E engines from two years/1,000 hours to three years/2000 hours. This extension is valid for H145s delivered from January 2018.

The company has also rolled out Helionix Step 3 on the H145, an enhanced version of Airbus’ Helionix avionics suite designed to enhance situational awareness, improve availability, accelerate helicopter connectivity and reduce maintenance costs.

Compared with Helionix Step 2, Helionix Step 3 improves the situational awareness of pilots and flight crews, thanks to the new Synthetic Vision System which identifies obstacles. In addition, aeronautical objects like runways and helipads, and landscape elements such as urban areas, roads and railways, can be spotted more easily by the crew, supporting safer operations.

Helionix also tracks the flight time, measuring the exact flight time between take-off and landing. Thanks to the exact tracking of the flight time, operators can fly up to 20% longer in the same maintenance interval in comparison to traditional flight tracking via the pilot’s logbook. This leads to a reduction of direct maintenance costs of up to 6%.

The upgrade will also facilitate helicopter connectivity, allowing operators to broadcast their usage data while the helicopter is airborne via an optional communication server.

Helionix Step 3 is also available on the H175 and will soon be available on the H135.