Leonardo Helicopters has recently added a second airframe to the development effort for their AW109 Trekker model. In simple terms this is a skid variant of the successful AW109 model

The aircraft was bought in from Italian operator Esperia Aviation Services, and then converted to Trekker standard and repainted in a red version of the scheme of the first development aircraft. The aircraft concerned is I-ESPE an AW109S Power with serial 22088.  As can be seen from the image, the aircraft has already joined the flying program.

EASA (European Aviation Safety Agency) certification is expected by year end.  The model was first announced at Heli-Expo 2014 and customers include two air ambulance versions for Italian operator Elitaliana, five for Life Flight Network, and two for Tokyo Metropolitan Police.  The IDU-680 Electronic Flight Instrument System (EFIS) from Genesys Aerosystems has been selected as standard factory-installed equipment on the AW109 Trekker

The photo here is strictly © 2016 Marco Bianchi and used here with his express permission

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