MESA, Arizona, March 6, 2011 – MD Helicopters, Inc. (MDHI), a leading manufacturer of commercial and military helicopters, along with  Garmin, will be demonstrating the G500H Avionics in Booths 1618 (MDHI) and 1632 (Garmin) at Heli-Expo being held March 5th – 8th in the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Florida.  MD Helicopters is featuring the G500H in the 2010 production MD 500E owned by Corporate Helicopters on the show floor.

Garmin’s G500H dual-screen electronic flight display provides an affordable flight solution that meets the needs of the most demanding helicopter missions. The 6.5-inch LCD screens, mounted side-by-side in a single bezel, places Primary Flight Display (PFD) and Multi-Function Display (MFD) capabilities frontand-center for easy scanning and interpretation. The PFD screen shows attitude, , airspeed, altitude, climb rate and course/heading information — while the MFD screen provides detailed moving-map graphics depicting the helicopter’s current position in relation to ground features, chart data, navaids and flight plan routings. To help monitor locations on unfamiliar airports, the G500H comes with preloaded georeferenced SafeTaxi® diagrams for over 900 U.S. airports; a feature also included in the trial version of Garmin FliteCharts®.

Corporate Helicopters, a division of Shier Aviation Corporation, graciously provided the use of their new MD 500E, on display here at HAI, to allow for the certification process.

The MD 500E has earned its reputation as a hands-down favorite, delivering the highest speed, payload and productivity in its class.  With a five-bladed main rotor and the choice of a 420-shp Rolls Royce 250-C20B or 450-shp Rolls Royce 250-C20R turbine engine, the MD 500E cruises easily at 135 kt (250 kph) over a range of 258 nm (478 km). For applications where noise is a concern, the MD 500E can be equipped with a four-bladed tail rotor for quiet performance.  Proven reliability of the de-rated turbine engine, fail-safe design and a worldwide network of factory-authorized service centers make it a favorite for a variety of applications.