Sikorsky celebrates 10th anniversary of first S-92 delivery
PHI Sikorsky S-92
US-based helicopter manufacturer Sikorsky is celebrating 10 years since it delivered the first S-92 helicopter to PHI, Inc., a helicopter operator based in Lafayette, Louisiana.
Carey Bond, president of Sikorsky Commercial Systems & Services, said: “On behalf of Sikorsky, I would like to congratulate and thank all of our customers, suppliers and employees upon reaching this milestone. We are incredibly proud of this aircraft’s accomplishments, especially in safety and reliability, and look forward to continued success of the platform.”
Since the first delivery, more than 200 S-92 helicopters have been delivered to customers around the world. The fleet has reached more than 750,000 flight hours, with nearly 90 per cent of those hours providing offshore oil and gas worker transportation.
The Sikorsky S-92 helicopter also performs search and rescue missions, heads of state missions, and a variety of transportation missions for utility and airline passengers.
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Al Gonsoulin, CEO and chairman of the board for PHI, Inc., said: “From the moment we first heard about the S-92, we were excited about the aircraft. Over the past decade, our S-92 helicopters have been reliable, cost effective, technologically advanced, and most importantly, safe.”
In November 2013, PHI, Inc. also became the first customer to complete an operational flight of the new ‘Rig Approach’ system. Rig Approach is a first of its kind functionality on the S-92 helicopter that provides helicopter operators with an automated approach to offshore rig and platform landings.
In May, Sikorsky was selected to build the next generation of Marine One helicopters for use by the US Marine Corps in supporting the Office of the President of the US.
“We’re continuing to build upon this aircraft’s success and look forward to the enhancements we have planned in the future,” added Bond.
The Sikorsky S-92 programme is still being developed with planned future enhancements, one is to increase the maximum allowable take-off gross weight and this will increase the payload capacity of the aircraft from 26,500 lb to 27,700 lb.
