Press Release

Issued by Kopter, a Leonardo company.

February 26, 2016

The first flight of P2, the second prototype of Marenco Swisshelicopter SKYe SH09, was performed today at 17:24 (5:24pm) with Richard Trueman, chief test pilot, at the controls and Peter Wittwer as flight test engineer. The key event was witnessed and celebrated by the whole team on the Mollis airport facilities of Marenco Swisshelicopter in Switzerland.

It was a rewarding moment for the teams, under the lead of ceo Martin Stucki, that have made intensive efforts since the first flight of prototype one and the flight test phase which were performed in 2015.

Richard Trueman confirmed the high available power and the low vibrations levels, comparable impressions that were gathered by Dwayne Williams, first flight test pilot who flew prototype one during the past year.

Richard Trueman added: "this first flight of the second prototype of the SKYe SH09 was a total success, all the test objectives were easily achieved and the aircraft performed extremely well. The crisp handling qualities combined with the ergonomic and intuitive cockpit features made the SKYe SH09 a pleasure to operate. Marenco Swisshelicopter has set the new benchmark in the single engine helicopter market segment."

From the first analysis of the flight, a very positive aspect has been the confirmation of the low noise levels reached by the SH09, coming as a result of optimized designs, of the blades planform, the low tip speed, as well as the “Maestro” MArEnco's Shrouded Tail ROtor.

Prototype two confirms the SH09 is an exceptionally silent helicopter with comparable very low fuel consumption for its class and a contributor to safer and environment-friendly operations.

The first phase of test flights for P2 is now underway, with the initial trials covering hover flights at low speeds and low altitudes before moving on to hover flights outside the ground effect at moderate speeds. This will be followed by trials confirming systems behaviour and avionics accuracy, flying limited auto-rotations and initial performance and stability trials. Finally, testing will move on to handling, load survey and exploring the helicopter's full height velocity curves, to confirm the safe combinations of altitude and airspeed during auto-rotational landings.

With this successful achievement, Marenco Swisshelicopter confirms attaining the set milestones to reach the planning of deliveries.