Bristow Group Inc., a leading provider of helicopter services to the offshore energy industry, announced today that working with Aviation Design Management, it has been awarded an FAA Supplemental Type Certificate for the installation of a fully rule compliant 1090ES DO-260B ADS-B Out solution for the Sikorsky S-76C+ and S-76C++ helicopters as the required first element of the FAA NextGen Air Transportation System.

The Bristow U.S. LLC STC for the Sikorsky S-76C+ and S-76C++ helicopters is the first FAA certified fully rule-compliant 1090ES ADS-B Out solution available for helicopters.  The system allows Air Traffic Control in Houston to track aircraft operating in the Gulf of Mexico far beyond the range of ground-based radar. This dramatically increases the efficiency of flights with direct, point-to-point routing.  By contrast, aircraft not equipped for ADS-B Out in IFR conditions must manually report their position and direction of flight within a vast airspace grid, often resulting in complex routing, longer flights and increased crew workload.

Bristow installs the Trig Avionics TT22 Transponder and the FreeFlight Systems 1201 GPS/WAAS Sensor for the ADS-B Out solution in its fleet of Sikorsky S-76C+  and S-76C++  helicopters serving customers in the Gulf of Mexico to take full advantage of the existing ADS-B infrastructure. Overall, Bristow operates multiple types of helicopters from facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, servicing 3,400 production platforms and approximately 100 drilling rigs.

The Trig TT22 is a remote mount TSO-C166b Level 2A Transponder and the FreeFlight 1201 is a TSO-C145a 12 channel GPS/WAAS Sensor. This system is compliant to FAA Advisor Circular AC 20-165A and continuously reports course, speed and altitude data to air traffic controllers and other ADS-B equipped aircraft.

About Bristow Group, Inc.

Bristow Group Inc. is the leading provider of helicopter services to the worldwide offshore energy industry based on the number of aircraft operated and one of two helicopter service providers to the offshore energy industry with global operations. The Company has major transportation operations in the North Sea, Nigeria and the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and in most of the other major offshore oil and gas producing regions of the world, including Alaska, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Russia and Trinidad. For more information, please contact Danny Holder at (337) 365-6771 and/or visit the Company’s website at www.bristowgroup.com.