Leonardo is pleased to announce the company’s TH-119 Certification Team, led by Program Manager Enzo Galli, has won the Vertical Flight Society’s prestigious Harry T. Jensen Award.

The Harry T. Jensen Award recognizes outstanding contribution to the improvement of reliability, maintainability, safety or logistics support through improved design or technical achievement. Leonardo’s TH-119 Certification Team, in coordination with Genesys Aerosystems, engineered the first single-engine helicopter approved for instrument flight rules (IFR) in the US since the 1990s. IFR flight is discernibly safer than visual flight rules (VFR) flight in marginal weather; considering that a majority of helicopters in the US are single engine, it’s hoped that the TH-119 has ushered in a sea change in helicopter safety.

Further evidence of its commanding presence, the U.S. Navy in January chose the TH-119 as its next training helicopter in an open competition called Advanced Helicopter Training System (AHTS) TH-73. The Navy has ordered 32 helicopters with the total procurement expected to reach 130.

The Vertical Flight Society first announced the Leonardo TH-119 Certification Team’s victory on April 1 and will honor awardees at Forum 76 held October 6-8 in Virginia Beach, Virginia.