First Airbus Helicopter H160 for Launch Customer All Nippon Helicopter has officially entered into service !

Airbus Helicopter H160 Entry into Service !

Fitted with twin Turbomeca Arrano 1A turboshaft engines, the First  Airbus Helicopter H160 (JA01NH) for the launch Customer All Nippon Helicopter has officially entered into service !

On this occasion , Bruno Even — CEO Airbus Helicopters said ,

おめでとうAll Nippon Helicopter for the entry into service of your #H160! Happy to see this innovative helicopter start #makingmissionspossible in Japan! Doesn’t it look great flying in the sky of Japan?

Intended to replace the AS365 and EC155 models in the Airbus's lineup , the first ever multi-role H160 helicopter with 68 patents was delivered from Airbus’ facility in Kobe in December 2021.

While delivering the Helicopter , Airbus had stated ,

Airbus has delivered the first ever H160 to Japanese operator All Nippon Helicopter (ANH), heralding a new chapter for this next generation twin-engine helicopter. With 68 patents, the innovative H160 is the world’s most technologically advanced helicopter.

The multi-role H160 was delivered from Airbus’ helicopter facility in Kobe, Japan, where flight training and specialised equipment installation for electronic news gathering will be performed before the helicopter’s entry into service next year.

H160 development !

On 13 June 2015 , the first H160 prototype performed the first flight from Marignane . By November 2015 , the flight envelope of the prototype had been progressively expanded , having attained a maximum altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) and a maximum speed of 175 knots.

The H160 (earlier name X4) was marketed as a "game changer" initially with many loaded features , contrasting significance of the innovations it would feature with Airbus' development of fly-by-wire controls.

Helicopter's early features alluded to include Blue Edge active tracking rotor blades, advanced pilot assistance functionality, and reduced vibration to "near-jet" levels of smoothness.

After 1500 hours of flight tests and demo flights with three prototypes , the H160 was type certified by the EASA on 1st July 2020 , before FAA certification and delivery to a US customer planned for the same year.

Japanese certification followed in May 2021 and in Brazil in September, and the first H160 was delivered on 10 December to All Nippon Helicopter for electronic news gathering, thats taking shape as of now as Helicopter enters into service.

For the electronic news gathering for the TV stations across Japan, ANH already deploys a helicopter fleet comprising six AS365s and five H135s. The discussed H160, that was once dubbed as "AW139 killer" by CEO Guillaume Faury, is replacing one of its AS365s.  

Additionally , All Nippon Helicopter (ANH) has signed with 'Airbus Helicopters' a five-year HCare Smart parts-by-the-hour contract for the customer’s first H160, under which ANH’s H160 is guaranteed the supply of spare parts and repaired parts at a fixed rate per flight hour.