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The Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) AS355 Twin Squirrel is a light utility helicopter, a twin version of the AS350, developed and originally manufactured by Aérospatiale in France. Aérospatiale had identified a need for a civil-oriented rotorcraft, and the economic and cost effective design used a rolled sheet structure with a Starflex main rotor. The tailbone and central fuselage is of light metal and thermoformed plastics are used within the cabin.
The maiden flight of the first prototype took place on 28 September, 1979 and it entered service shortly afterwards.
The initial production version was the AS355 E, with single hydraulics and powered by two Allison 250-C20F turboshaft engines. The improved AS355F came with dual hydraulics, new rotor blades of wider chord and increased maximum weight of 2,300 kg. It was superseded by the AS355 F1 in January 1984 and the AS355F2, certified on 10 December, 1985. Both had increased maximum weights.
Deliveries of the AS355N version, powered by two FADEC-controlled Turbomeca (later Safran) Arrius 1A engines, began in early 1992. It had been certified in France in 1989, and in the UK and US in 1992. Then in 2007 came the AS355NP, with a new AS350B3-based main gearbox that increased MTOW to 2,800 kg.
Overseas production of the type saw Brazil-based manufacturer Helibras licence-assemble the AS355 from kits shipped from Eurocopter’s main production line in Marignane, France.
Production was discontinued during 2016 and the final delivery took place during the second quarter of 2017.
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| World fleet | Charter fleet | Typical pax | Cabin volume | Cruise | Range | Years | |
| Aerospatiale AS355E | ● | ● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● | |
| Aerospatiale AS355F | ●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Aerospatiale AS355F1 | ●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| Aerospatiale AS355F2 | ●●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● | |
| Aerospatiale AS355N | ●●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● | |
| Aerospatiale AS355NP | ●● | ●● | ● | ●●●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●● | ●●●●●●●●●● |
| March 5, 2019 | Shuttle service enables putters and punters to get to green |
| April 9, 2015 | DSA overhauls AS355N to lend it fresh appeal |
| June 9, 2014 | ME & MY AIRCRAFT–Twin helicopters: Twins can be costly, yet their capability in EMEA rarely disappoints |
| June 9, 2014 | GB Helicopters experiences the benefits of UK-wide rebranding |
| May 7, 2014 | EBACE 2014: Meet the buyers – weighing up factory-new safeguards against the pre-owned economics |
| April 3, 2014 | Sturdy Squirrels and versatile EC135s strengthen DGT's fleet |
| November 13, 2012 | Oryx adds helicopter transfers to fit customer needs |
| June 11, 2012 | Me & my aircraft: Lower maintenance and greater payload are top of twin helicopter operators' wish lists |
| June 8, 2011 | UTair secures training approval for growing Eurocopter roster |
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