Leonardo's Advanced Training Helicopter offerings

Leonardo  01 March 2019

The AW Family of training helicopters, including single engine TH-119 full spectrum trainer and twin engine robust AW109 Trekker, is designed to meet the most challenging needs for helicopter training.

The TH-119 can be used in all phases of helicopter training and all achieved with a single aircraft configuration. So whether the student is learning to hover, fly on NVGs, fly on instruments, or lift an external load, the TH-119 can be used for all training activities without having to manage a fleet of different helicopters. 

Furthermore the TH-119 airframe and engine are suitable to meet customer operational requirements in all kinds of applications, also providing the touchdown autorotation capability up to max gross weight. 

 

The TH-119 can be used in all phases of helicopter training and all achieved with a single aircraft configuration

 

The TH-119 offers reduced single engine operating costs thanks to a simplified maintenance program which schedules extended inspection intervals; moreover the TH-119 is designed with a limited number of components which are subject to overhaul and retirement life. 

With final certification in the first months of 2019, the TH-119 will be the only single-engine helicopter to achieve FAA IFR certification and enter the helicopter market in decades. 

Recently, we successfully completed dozens of flight test hours on the TH-119 IFR training helicopter, which was flown by one of our pilots at the Philadelphia plant, where all variants of AW119s are built. The performance was excellent and the flight included also an assessment of general handling and avionics systems.

The AW109 Trekker

 

A unique feature of both the TH-119 and Trekker is the centrally located observer seat, which offers an unobstructed view of the cockpit providing additional learning and training opportunities for student pilots, thanks to the possibility to slide fore/aft, and 180 degrees side to side.

The AW109 Trekker - the newest light, twin-engine, multi-purpose helicopter in the 3 tonne-class, equipped with skid landing gear - represents an ideal pilot training platform where twin-engine is required. Both the TH-119 and AW109 Trekker excel at preparing pilots to progress to larger and more sophisticated helicopters.

Thanks to its exceptional handling features and a modern glass cockpit the Trekker is suitable for both ab-initio and advanced training activities. Moreover it offers unmatched speed, high power margins, long range and endurance, excellent visibility and low direct operating costs.

Sharing identical cockpit avionics between the TH-119 and AW109 Trekker the crew’s workload is reduced while safety is maximized. This happens in single and dual pilot operations, thanks to the GENESYS IDU-680 Electronic Flight Instrument System glass-cockpit, which integrates Autopilot, Flight Management System (FMS), Synthetic Vision System (SVS) and Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (HTAWS) functions.

The AW109 Trekker’s latest generation cockpit