Aerospace Diary

Paris Air Show  »  2013 by  Neelam Mathews and David Donald Here at the Paris Air Show, Swiss company Ruag has this upgraded Super Puma helicopter on display. Improvements include TH06 avionics. (Photo: Mark Wagner) June 18, 2013, 2:30 PM Making its Paris debut in the static display is a Swiss air force Eurocopter AS 332 Super Puma that has undergone the TH 06 ISR upgrade by Ruag Aviation (Chalet A118, Static R). The Swiss company has designed and installed a major avionics overhaul that allows the Super Puma fleet to continue to provide service for many years to come. Switzerland originally purchased 15 AS332M 1 Super Pumas, which are designated TH 89 in Swiss air force service. The air arm later went back to Eurocopter for 11 AS532UL / TH 98 Cougars. In 2006 the air force initiated a program to bring...

ABACE CONVENTION NEWS » 2013 by  NEELAM MATHEWS April 15, 2013, 8:45 PM India’s yet-to-take off helicopter emergency medical services program (HEMS) received a boost earlier this year with a firm contract for seven Eurocopter EC135s by Bangalore-based Aviators Ltd. signed in the presence of visiting French president François Hollande. Deliveries are to start by the end of 2013 and operations are to be launched by the first quarter of 2014, Arun Sharma, managing director of Aviators, told AIN. The company, which is holding “discussions with financial institutions and potential partners,” will make an announcement soon, he added. Unlike current operators that convert their helicopters to EMS on an as-needed basis, Sharma said, “Aviators’ HEMS [aircraft] will not be used for executive charter operations. It will be manned by qualified paramedics, part of the crew.” Equipped with a Fenestron shrouded tail-rotor and bearingless main rotor, the EC135’s large unobstructed cabin,...