
Babcock Australasia, the aerospace and defence company, is celebrating its first year of Airbus H175 helicopter operations in Timor Leste after clocking up nearly 1400 flights providing offshore aviation services for their oil and gas customer.
The company, which operates two H175s on personnel transport, search and rescue, and medevac duties in the Timor Sea reports a 98% aircraft availability rate for the 12 months following entry into service in January last year.
Airbus worked with Babcock to train 27 pilots and engineers on the H175 prior to delivery and Babcock has since employed 19 Timorese support staff at the Dili base, including four local engineers who are training at Airbus Helicopters’ Marignane, France headquarters.
During 2018 Babcock’s Timor operation recorded 1,274 flight hours in 1,365 sectors and the company received highly positive feedback from passengers praising the H175’s comfort levels. The aircraft are operated in support of ConocoPhillips offshore operations in the region.
The H175 provides a smooth ride with lower cabin noise, large windows for increased visibility and enhanced emergency egress, comfortable seating, and cabin climate controls.
Already in service in the North Sea, Western Africa and Gulf of Mexico as well as Timor Leste, the H175 was specifically designed to be exceptionally safe and competitive in the oil and gas, and search and rescue sectors, with extremely powerful engines, up to 270 nautical miles radius of operation and the latest technology in avionics and automation.
Andrew Cridland, Managing Director Aviation Offshore for Babcock Australasia, said: “As the aviation company who introduced the H175 aircraft to the Southern Hemisphere, we are extremely pleased with the H175’s performance in this first year of operation. Our exceptional reliability statistics are a testament to the excellent work performed by our highly skilled engineers and the commitment by Airbus to deliver the necessary parts in a timely manner to Timor-Leste. The aircraft have been well received by our customer and the passengers we transport. As a super medium aircraft, the H175 has good economics and is clearly setting new standards in the offshore business.”
ConocPhillips Manager, Global Aviation Safety Assurance, James Adams said: “We have been very pleased with the performance, economics and reliability of the H175. The success of our Timor operation has been a combined effort of Babcock Offshore Services and the excellent collaboration from the Airbus Oil & Gas support team.”
A total of 33 H175s are in service worldwide, having recorded 43,000 flight hours.
Related Posts
- HAI names Flight Instructor of the Year
- HSC-25 Squadron Conducts Change of Command Ceremony
- Leonardo and Falcon Aviation Services start building Dubai AW609 terminal
- Air Methods targets new Wisconsin base at Hartford
- PLDT’s aviation unit announces rebranding
- Sikorsky awarded $53M contract for four UH-60Ms
- New USHST Report Lays Down a Path for Automatic Flight Control Systems in Light Helicopters
- Bell V-280 Valor short-listed for Collier Trophy
- FRASCA Expands Capacity for Level D FFS Contract
- NY National Guard Honors Fallen Aircrew
- HAI names winner of 2021 Salute to Excellence award for Communications
- Police Aviation News – March 2021 Edition
- Bell awarded $16M contract for engineering AH-Z and UH-1
- EHang Supports Chinese National Transportation Network Plan
- Le Havre marine pilots lose AS365N3 cruise altitude to just 60 feet
- Israel selects CH-53K from Sikorsky over CH-F47 from Boeing
- UK man jailed for shining torch into police helicopter cockpit
- Dropsafe launches Helideck Perimeter Safety Net
- EHang explores coastal Urban Air Mobility with first over-water EH216 flights
- Archer commits Urban Air Mobility Network In Los Angeles by 2024