5-Mar-2013 Source: HeliHub.com
Eurocopter has been keeping us up to date with development of their new EC145 variant with a fenestron tail rotor, and a prototype has been under development for over two and a half years – the first flight was back in July 2010. A total of three prototypes have been built, the first one a conversion of an older EC145 airframe and two new-builds
The current (tail-rotor, not fenestron) EC145 are built with serial numbers in the range starting 9001, and deliveries are approaching a very respectible 600, with about half going to the US Army. The new T2 model has a new MSN number series starting 20001 and it is no surprise that Eurocopter are keeping the first few customer deliveries in Europe to monitor them closesly and to iron out any glitches quickly, and it is not until the fifth customer delivery – airframe 20007 – that one is delivered outside Europe.
Some customers have been announced, others have not. This summary shows the three development aircraft and the first five aircraft to be delivered.
PT-1 D-HADJ Eurocopter prototype
20001 D-HADX Eurocopter development
20002 D-HADW Eurocopter – present at Heli-Expo 2013, Las Vegas this week
20003 INAER, Italy
20004 DRF, Germany
20005 Scandinavian Medicopter, Sweden
20006 Aerosud, Italy
20007 American Eurocopter, USA
Jeremy Parkin – HeliHub.com