QinetiQ : ETPS H125 handed over to QinetiQ

Airbus Helicopters' UK Managing Director Colin James formally handed over an H125 to QinetiQ's Managing Director Air & Space Dr Nic Anderson for the Ministry of Defence's Empire Test Pilot School (ETPS).

Airbus Helicopters' UK Managing Director Colin James formally handed over an H125 to QinetiQ's Managing Director Air & Space Dr Nic Anderson for the Ministry of Defence's Empire Test Pilot School (ETPS). This marks the first of four new H125s which, under the modernisation of the world-renowned test pilot flight school, will become ETPS' new generation, single-engine helicopter fleet.

All four ETPS H125 will be delivered following complex customisation by Airbus Helicopters' UK design team, which equips the aircraft with, among other things, a 3-axis autopilot, dedicated communications equipment and Traffic Awareness Systems. In addition, the aircraft will be equipped with a Flight Test Instrumentation suite which, similar to Formula 1 telemetry data, transmits data to the ETPS base at MOD Boscombe Down in real time allowing students, both in practical and class-based environments, to test and evaluate aircraft design and performance.