AgustaWestland AW109

AW109
Two civilian AW109 helicopters at Rand Airport Air Show 2011
Role	SAR/utility helicopter
Manufacturer	Agusta AgustaWestland
First flight	4 August 1971 (1971-08-04)
Introduction	1976
Status	Active service In production
Primary users	Italian Army Belgium Air Force REGA (Swiss Air Rescue) Royal New Zealand Air Force
Produced	1971-present
Unit cost	US$ 6.3 million
Variants	AgustaWestland AW119

The AgustaWestland AW109 is a light-weight, twin-engine, eight-seat multi-purpose helicopter built by the Anglo-Italian manufacturer AgustaWestland. First flown as the Agusta A109 in 1971, the craft has been used in light transport, medevac, search-and-rescue, and military roles.

Design and development

In the late 1960s, Agusta designed the A109 as a single-engine commercial helicopter. It was soon realised that a twin-engine design was needed and it was re-designed in 1969 with two Allison 250-C14 turboshaft engines. A projected military version (the A109B) was not developed and the company concentrated on the eight-seat A109C version.^[1] The first of three prototypes made its maiden flight on 4 August 1971.^[2] A protracted development then followed and the first production aircraft was not completed until April 1975. Delivery of production machines started in early 1976. The aircraft soon became a success and began to be used for roles other than as a light transport including as an air ambulance and search-and-rescue. In 1975, Agusta returned again to the possibility of a military version and trials were carried out between 1976 and 1977 with five A109As fitted with Hughes Aircraft TOW missiles. Two military versions were then developed, one for light attack or close support and another for naval operations.

Fuselages of AW109 are made by PZL-Świdnik. In June 2006 the 500th fuselage was delivered by this manufacturer, marking 10 years of co-operation between the two companies.^[3]

The sale of the Agusta A109 to the Belgian armed forces in 1988 gave rise to a bribery scandal when it was alleged the company had given the Belgian Socialist Party over 50 million Belgian francs to secure the sale. This scandal led to the resignation and conviction of NATO Secretary General Willy Claes.

The Agusta A109 was renamed the AW109 following the July 2000 merger of Finmeccanica S.p.A. and GKN plc's respective helicopter subsidiaries Agusta and Westland Helicopters to form AgustaWestland.

In August 2008, Scott Kasprowicz and Steve Sheik broke the round-the-world speed record using a factory-standard AgustaWestland Grand, with a time of 11 days, 7 hours and 2 minutes. The A109S Grand is also the fastest helicopter from New York to Los Angeles.^[4][5]

In July 2013, the South African Air Force reported that 18 AW109s had effectively been grounded due to lack of money to keep them flying. They were occasionally activated but did not fly. The SAAF cited a slash in helicopter funds as the reason, with only 71 flight hours allocated to an operational fleet of about 20 AW109s. The helicopters may be reduced to flying VIPs rather than being operationally capable. South Africa is considering selling a number of AW109s, and may cease helicopter operations.^[6]

Variants

A109A

The first production model, powered by two Allison Model 250-C20 turboshaft engines. It made its first flight on 4 August 1971. Initially, the A109 was marketed under the name of "Hirundo" (Latin for the swallow), but this was dropped within a few years.

A109A EOA

Military version for the Italian Army.

A109A Mk.II

Upgraded civilian version of the A109A.

A109A Mk.II MAX

Aeromedical evacuation version based on A109A Mk.II with extra wide cabin and access doors hinged top and bottom, rather than to one side.

A109B

Unbuilt military version.

A109C

Eight-seat civil version, powered by two Allison Model 250-C20R-1 turboshaft engines.

A109C MAX

Aeromedical evacuation version based on A109C with extra-wide cabin and access doors hinged top and bottom, rather than to one side

A109D

One prototype only

A109E Power

Upgraded civilian version, initially powered by two Turbomeca Arrius 2K1 engines. Later the manufacturer introduced an option for two Pratt & Whitney PW206C engines to be used – both versions remain known as the A109E. Marketed as the AW109E and Power.

A109E Power Elite

stretched cabin version of A109E Power. This has a glass cockpit with two complete sets of pilot instruments and navigation systems, including a three-axis autopilot, an auto-coupled Instrument Landing System and GPS. There is also a Moving Map Display, weather radar and a Traffic Alerting System.^[7]

A109LUH

Military LUH "Light Utility Helicopter" variant based on the A109E Power. Operators include South African Air Force, Swedish Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, Nigerian Air Force, as well as Algeria and Malaysia.

MH-68A

Eight A109E Power aircraft were used by the United States Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron Jacksonville (HITRON Jacksonville) as short-range armed interdiction helicopters from 2000 until 2008, when they were replaced with MH-65C Dolphins.^[8] Agusta designated these armed interdiction aircraft as "Mako" until the U.S. Coast Guard officially named it the MH-68A Stingray in 2003. The HITRON configuration included a rescue hoist, emergency floats, FLIR, Spectrolab NightSun search light, a 7.62 mm M240D machine gun and a Barrett M107 semi-automatic .50 caliber sniper rifle with laser sight.^[9]

A109K

Military version.

A109K2

High-altitude and high-temperature operations with fixed wheels rather than the retractable wheels of most A109 variants. Typically used by police, search and rescue, and air ambulance operators.

A109M

Military version.

A109KM

Military version for high altitude and high temperature operations.

A109KN

Naval version.

A109CM

Standard military version.

A109GdiF

Version for Guardia di Finanza, the Italian Finance Guard.

A109BA

Version created for the Belgian Army. Based on the A109C with fixed landing gear.

A109S Grand

Marketed as the AW109 Grand, has a lengthened cabin-upgraded civilian version with two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW207 engines and lengthened main rotor blades with different tip design from the Power version.

AW109SP 

AW109 Grand New

single IFR, TAWS and EVS, especially for EMS.

AW109 Trekker

A variant of the GrandNew with fixed landing skids unveiled in 2014 initially for production in the United States factory.^[10]

Operators

The AW109 is flown by a range of operators including private companies, military services, emergency services and air charter companies.

Military and government operators

 Algeria

• Gendarmerie Nationale^[11]

 Albania

• Albanian Air Force^[12]

 Argentina

• Argentine Army^[13]

 Bangladesh

• Bangladesh Navy^[12]

 Belgium

• Belgian Air Component^[12]

 Bulgaria

• Bulgarian Border Police^[14]

 Chile

• Carabineros de Chile^[15]

 Greece

• Hellenic Air Force^[16]

 Italy

• Carabinieri^[17][18]
• Guardia di Finanza^[19]
• Italian Army^[12]
• Vigili del Fuoco^[20]
• Italian State Police^[21]

 Latvia

• State Border Guard^[22]

 Malaysia

• Malaysian Army^[12]

 New Zealand

• Royal New Zealand Air Force^[12]

 Nigeria

• Nigerian Air Force^[12]
• Nigerian Navy^[12]

 Peru

• Peruvian Army^[23]

 Philippines

• Philippine Navy^[24]
• Philippine Air Force (8 on order)^[25]

 Slovenia

• Slovenian Ministry of Defence^[26]
• Slovenian Police^[27]

 South Africa

• South African Air Force^[12]

 Sweden

• Swedish Armed Forces^[12]

 Uganda

• Uganda National Police (1 on order)^[28]

 United Kingdom

• Royal Air Force^[12]

Former military operators

 Australia

• Royal Australian Navy^[29]

 Italy

• Italian Air Force operated 3 aircraft from 1986^[30]

 Paraguay

• Paraguayan Air Force^[31]

 Slovenia

• Slovenian Air Force^[32]

 United Kingdom

• Army Air Corps^[33]

 United States

• United States Coast Guard^[34]

 Venezuela

• Venezuelan Army^[35][36]

Accidents

• In 1997, Malaysian businessman Yahaya Ahmad, his wife Rohana Othman and Pilot Major (R) Azlizan Abdul Manas were killed in a crash following a mid-air explosion near Kuala Lipis, Pahang.
• In April 2009 (2009-April) – South African Air Force AW109 crashed into Woodstock Dam in the Drakensberg, due to pilot error, killing all three on board.^[37]
• On 17 August 2011 (2011-08-17) – Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau AW109E police helicopter crashed into Miyun reservoir in Miyun County, Beijing of China. Three crewmen were killed and one crewman got severely hurt.^[38]
• On 16 January 2013 (2013-01-16) – Vauxhall helicopter crash, an AgustaWestland AW109 on charter to Rotormotion clipped a construction crane attached to the St George Wharf Tower in Vauxhall, London, before crashing to the ground and bursting into flames, killing the pilot and a person on the ground. The helicopter was completely destroyed and the crane was also seriously damaged.^[39]
• On 15 December 2012, a Nigerian Navy AgustaWestland helicopter crashed in Bayelsa State while conveying VIPs to Port Harcourt from Okoroba Village in Bayelsa state, the crash claimed the lives of six people, including Kaduna state Governor Patrick Yakowa.^[40] The investigation stated the cause could have either been human error, material failure or a combination of both. Turbomeca were closely examining the engine.^[41]
• On 30 March 2013, a South African Air Force AW109 crashed while on an anti-poaching patrol in the Kruger National Park in South Africa. All five SANDF members aboard were killed.^[42]
• On 17 July 2014, a Tri-State Careflight AgustaWestland AW109E helicopter (N507CF) crashed in New Mexico with 1 pilot and two crew members on board. There were no survivors. The cause of this crash is pending an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.^[43]

Specifications (AW109 Power with PW206C)

Data from www.agustawestland.com^[44][45]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1 or 2
• Capacity: 6 or 7 passengers
• Length: 11.448 m (37 ft 7 in) fuselage
• Width: 2.88 m (9 ft 5 in)
• Height: 3.50 m (11 ft 6 in)
• Empty weight: 1,590 kg (3,505 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 2,850 kg (6,283 lb)
• Powerplant: 2 × Pratt & Whitney Canada PW206C Turboshaft engine, 418 kW (561 hp) each
• Main rotor diameter: 11.00 m (36 ft 1 in)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 311 km/h (193 mph; 168 kn)
• Cruise speed: 285 km/h; 177 mph (154 kn)
• Never exceed speed: 311 km/h; 193 mph (168 kn)
• Ferry range: 932 km (579 mi; 503 nmi)
• Rate of climb: 9.8 m/s (1,930 ft/min)

See also

Related development

• Agusta A129 Mangusta
• AgustaWestland AW119

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Bell 222/230
• Bell 430
• Eurocopter Dauphin
• Eurocopter EC 135
• Sikorsky S-76

Related lists

• List of helicopters

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Agusta A109.

• AgustaWestland AW109 Power page
• AgustaWestland GrandNew page
• A109S presentation on BlueSkyRotor

Agusta/AgustaWestland Agusta A.101 AB.102 A.103 A.104 A.105 A.106 A109 A.115 A.120 A.123 A129 AZ8-L CP-110 EH101 AgustaWestland Apache AW101/VH-71/CH-149 AW109 AW119 AW139 AW149 AW159 AW169 AW189 AW609 T129 Project Zero Meridionali/Agusta EMA 124 Aeroengines GA.40 GA.70 GA.140 A.270 TA.230 Other Giovanni Agusta MV Agusta PZL-Świdnik Westland Helicopters Caproni

United States helicopter designations, Army/Air Force and Tri-Service systems Numerical sequence used by USAAC/USAAF/USAF 1941–present; US Army 1948–1956 and 1962–present; US Navy 1962–present Main sequence (1941–1962) Prefix R-, 1941–1948 R-1 R-2 R-3 R-4 R-5 R-6 R-7 R-8 R-9 R-10 R-11 R-12 R-13 R-14 R-15 R-16 Prefix H-, 1948–1962 H-5 H-6 H-9 H-10 H-11 H-12 H-13/J H-15 H-16 H-17 H-18 H-19 H-20 H-21 H-22 H-23 H-24 H-25 H-26 H-27 H-28 H-29 H-30 H-31 H-32 H-33 H-34 H-35 H-361 H-37 H-381 H-39 H-40 H-41 H-42 H-43 H-441 H-451 Main joint sequence (1962–present) 1962 redesignations OH-13/UH-13J UH-19 CH-21 OH-23 UH-25 CH-34 CH-37 HH-43 New designations CH-46/HH-46/UH-46 CH-47 UH-48 XH-49 QH-50 XH-51 HH-52 CH-53/HH-53/MH-53/CH-53E/CH-53K CH-54 TH-55 AH-56 TH-57 OH-58 XH-59 UH-60/SH-60/HH-60/HH-60J YUH-61 XCH-62 YAH-63 AH-64 HH-65 RAH-66 TH-67 MH-68 H-691 ARH-70 VH-71 UH-72 1962 redesignations reusing old numbers UH-1/N/Y AH-1/J/T/W/Z SH-2/SH-2G SH-3/CH-3/HH-3 OH-4 OH-5 OH-6/MH-6/AH-6 1 Not assigned

Italian Armed Forces aircraft designation system 1–100 Q-1 G-2 H-3D/H-3F G-4 AV-8 Q-9 Q-10 A-11 Q-11 Q-12 F-16 G-17 G-21 C-27 F-35 C-42/P-42 H-47 C-50 P-72 H-90 101-200 H-101 G-103 H-109 H-129 C-130 H-139 U-166 C-180 A-200 201-400 H-205 H-206 U-208 H-212 C-222 C-228 T-260 C-319 T-339 T-346 401-2000 H-412 H-500 KC-707 KC-767 C-900 P-1150 F-2000

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