Members of the European helicopter community were out in force today as Helitech opened its doors for the three-day exhibition, which is taking place at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. An Apache crew from the nearby Wattisham Airfield – home to 16 Air Assault Brigade – made a surprise visit to the event much to the delight of watching visitors.
Exhibitors were quick off the starting blocks with a range of announcements. L3-WESCAM revealed that Spanish operator Sky Helicopters has just bought its MX-10 camera, complete with a large format three field-of-view thermal imager, daylight zoom TV and 10-80p high definition colour camera. The camera has been installed on an AS350 Ecureuil and is expected to be used in forest fire detection and surveillance missions.
Other exhibitor news included Sloane Helicopters announcing the arrival of the first AgustaWestland GrandNew helicopter in the UK. This light twin helicopter is the latest variant of the AgustaWestland A109 series and has a number of new features that reduce pilot workload and increase safety, especially during Single Pilot IFR operations.
Helitech Exhibition Manager, Brandon Ward, said: “It’s been a great start to the show and the appearance of the Apache definitely added to the buzz and atmosphere. Initial visitor numbers are looking strong which is great news to mark our 25th year of supporting the industry.”
For more information visit www.helitechevents.com
For any further information please contact:
Carol Seath at CMS Strategic
Tel: +44 (0)20 8748 9797
Email info@cmsstrategic.com