EUROCOPTER has re-enteredthe light single-engine heli-copter market with the all-

new five-place EC120B Colibri. Ajoint venture with China andSingapore, the EC120B is just nowcommencing first deliveries. WhenAmerican Eurocopter suggestedthat we take EC120B productions/n 1 up for a flight, Clay Lacy setoff to Grand Prairie TX to evaluatethe helicopter.

have been flying helicopterssince 1957 and while I onlyhave about 1500 hours in

rotary-wing aircraft, I’ve had theopportunity to fly a number of dif-ferent products, including the Bell47 and 206 JetRanger, Enstrom andSikorsky S-76. Over the years I’veadmired the technological innova-tion that Eurocopter has invested inits products and I was happy tohave this chance to fly their latestoffering, the EC120B.

After arriving at AmericanEurocopter’s Grand Prairie facilityearly in the morning, I sat downwith Senior VP of Customer ServiceCary Brown, Dir of MarketingSupport Del Livingston, Dir of

Marketing Communications BrendaReuland and Instructor/Demo PilotTom Handzlik. American Euro-copter President and CEO ChristianGras also came in to join us forawhile and to talk about some ofthe improvements that have beengoing on recently in the area ofproduct support. The technicalmanuals and materials I reviewedon the EC120B were excellent,Tom Handzlik went over some ofthe more unique features of theproduct and Brenda Reuland gaveme a short tour of the property thatincluded a very impressive newblade overhaul facility.

The EC120B is Eurocopter’snewest helicopter and it was devel-

86 PROFESSIONAL PILOT / August 1998

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Flightcheck pilot Clay Lacy warms up theEC120B with a tight circuit arounddowntown Dallas before heading for thepractice area.

FLIGHTCHECK

EC120B Colibri

Eurocopter redefines the entry-level marketwith its new single-engine helicopter.

By Clay LacyATP/CFII/Helo/Sea. GulfstreamII/III/IV, Learjet, Hawker, Boeing747 and 25 misc. type ratings.

I

Eurocopter redefines the entry-level marketwith its new single-engine helicopter.

oped as a joint venture betweenChina, Singapore and Eurocopter.This product gives the company anew entry-level helicopter and it isthe first five-place Eurocopter sincethe Gazelle was introduced nearly20 years ago.

While the EC120B is priced sig-nificantly below the A-Star,$795,000 (1998 dollars) comparedwith $1.105 million for the AS350-B2, it seems to offer a lot. TheEC120B departs from the A-Stardesign in that it has a Spheriflexrotor system, as opposed to theStarflex system on the A-Star, and ithas a ducted tailrotor Fenestronmuch like the AS135 and 365series.

To date, four EC120s have beendelivered—two in the US marketand two overseas—with firm salesof 110 copies. The next availabledelivery position isn’t until the year2000. Eurocopter plans to build 30EC120s this year, 60 next year and100 to 150 units a year thereafter.Considering the order backlog andthe attractive entry-level pricing, itlooks like this helicopter is on trackto become just as popular as the A-Star line.

VTOL heritage

Eurocopter is a French/Germancollaboration jointly owned byAirbus and Daimler-Benz with aproduct line that’s an amalgama-tion of Aerospatiale and MBB heli-copters. The current mix includesnine civil helicopters—the EC120B,AS350 (A-Star) series, AS355(TwinStar) series, BO105 andBK117 series along with the EC135

light twin, eight-passenger AS365and AS332 Super Puma heavytwin. This family of VTOL equip-ment covers the VTOL spectrum, interms of performance and missioncapabilities, and runs in price fromthe $795,000 EC120B to the $11.5million Super Puma. AmericanEurocopter is responsible for NorthAmerican sales and its employeebase of 250 looks after final assem-bly and customization of heli-copters for end users.

Eurocopter has always had a rep-utation of being a technologicalleader and it’s well deserved. Thecompany has been building com-posite main rotorblades since the1960s, which are on conditionwith no life limits and this, in itself,is a real leap forward. The mainblades on Bell JetRangers, forexample, have to be replaced every5000 hours at a cost of $60,000.Eurocopter has also been buildingcomposite rotorheads since the1960s, which have proven to bevery reliable and low in mainte-nance.

The EC120B certainly seems tocarry forward this tradition of tech-nological innovation with its com-posite three-bladed main rotors, anew generation Spheriflex rotor-head, an all-new vehicle andengine multifunctional display(VEMD) system and a newFenestron design which, Livingstonexplained, qualifies this as the qui-etest civil helicopter ever built.

Preflight

We did our preflight in thehangar before towing the EC120B

out to a starting position. Thewalkaround was easy and there areconvenient built-in steps to get upto the engine/transmission com-partment, which had excellentaccessibility to all components.

One of the nice features of thisaircraft is the huge baggage areapositioned right below the mechan-ical systems, which can accommo-date 970 lbs of cargo. Rear cargodoors allow you to take oversizedcargo and I thought this was a greatfeature. With the cargo doors open,you can stand up and look backinto the tail section to see the one-piece, heavy-duty, driveshaft to theFenestron. The cabin featurescrash-resistant seats and fuel sys-tems certified to new JAR 27 regsand there’s a sliding door on theleft-hand side.

The Eurocopter EC120B is pow-ered by a Turbomeca Arrius 2Fwith 504 shp and a max continu-ous power of 449 shp. Turbomecaengines have always had a goodreputation for high reliability andgood power and they always seemto put out the power they’re sup-posed to.

Flying endurance is four hourswith 109.9 gal of fuel, much ofwhich is held in a contoured tankfitted below the baggage area thatfeeds up to the engine. Forward ofthe belly fuel tank is a large, easilydetachable access panel thatallows you to get to all systemsunder the flightdeck easily.

The aircraft sits high on its skidsbut it was an easy step up into thecabin. I found the flightdeck to bevery comfortable and well laidout. You immediately notice theexcellent visibility of the EC120B,

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(L to R): American Eurocopter Dir Marketing Support Del Livingston, Clay Lacy, Senior VP ofCustomer Service, Marketing and Sales Cary Brown and Instructor/Demo Pilot Tom Handzlikdiscuss the performance characteristics of the EC120B at a preflight meeting.

Lacy looks on as Demo Pilot Tom Handzlikexplains the simplified component architec-ture of the EC120B Colibri.

both fore and aft, as there’s nostructure between the three for-ward-facing passenger seats andthe front seating.

One feature that particularlyimpressed me was the VEMD,which is positioned high on theinstrument panel with an easy-to-view active-matrix LCD screen thatdisplays your first limit numbers.You simply enter passenger andbaggage weights and the VEMDcalculates your first limits on take-off and displays max weight atwhich you can hover in and out ofground effect. As you fly it recalcu-lates weights, temperature and per-formance so that the pilot doesn’thave to constantly make computa-tions. It’s certainly a great feature in

terms of cutting down on pilotworkload.

Flying the EC120B

With Handzlik in the left seat andmyself in the right one, we preparedfor liftoff at a gross weight of 3300lbs, which included two pilots, onepassenger with almost full fuel.Although it’s necessary to manuallycontrol temperature on start, thiswas easy to accomplish. Once theengine was up to ground idle, Ibrought it to full power RPM, liftedoff and stabilized at a 5-ft hover.

We accelerated to 40 kts at 5-ftAGL and transitioned to a bestclimb-out speed of 65 kts, whichgave us an impressive 1600-fpm

climb. Handzlik explained thatwith full fuel and two passengers,the EC120B will climb to 10,000 ftin eight min, starting off at about a1500-fpm climb and stabilizing outat about 800 fpm.

It was a nice clear morning,although a little bumpy, and thefirst 20 min of our flight involved acircuit around downtown Dallasfor photos before we headed to thepractice area outside Grand Prairie.I found the EC120B to be a veryresponsive helicopter—it was easyto adapt to the control feel andwithin a few minutes I felt at homein this aircraft. Handzlik performedsome maneuverability demonstra-tions and I was impressed with theexcellent control authority duringquick-pedal 90° turns. The EC120Bhas plenty of rudder authority.

Once we were over the practicearea, we performed a couple ofsimulated autorotations with powerrecoveries followed by a climboutat max continuous power, whichgave us a 1500-fpm rate of climb at40 kts. Handzlik then shut off thehydraulic control boost and weflew around a little and did a nor-mal approach to a landing. Withthe hydraulic boost off, the controlsbecame heavy but the helicopterwas easy enough to control. Weturned the boost back on again,took off and made a couple moreautorotations.

The first autorotation was apower cutoff on base leg followedby a power cutoff on downwindand a 180° change of direction tolanding. The aircraft handled verywell in all situations. Autorotationsin the EC120B are very docile andit’s easy to manage the rotor andairspeed. You simply reduce air-

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Prior to liftoff, Handzlik and Lacy (above, L-R) go through the EC120B’s start-up checklist.Housed within a composite shroud, the EC120B’s Fenestron (right) features eight asymmetrical-ly-spaced blades designed to minimize the helicopter’s noise footprint.

With a typical payload of three passengers, the EC120B can achieve a range of approximately400 nm, which equates to about four hours of endurance.

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speed to VY (65 kts) anddo a shallow approach toa hover.

The main rotors have alot of energy in autorota-tion . Handzlik con-firmed this with ademonstration wherewe autorotated downand did some maneu-vering in ground effectwith the RPM well intothe yellow arc. You’vegot nice safety mar-gins if you’re trying toavoid ground obsta-cles on an autorota-tion landing in thishelicopter.

At Grand Prairie Ihad a

chance to give the Fenestron aworkout. With a 30-kt directcrosswind, rudder authority wasexcellent in every quadrant evenwith the tail into the wind.

Transitioning to the EC120Bwill be very easy for any pilotsince it’s designed to be a user-friendly aircraft. Pilots will findthe VEMD to be a big plus andthey’ll like the responsive con-trol feel as well as the excellentyaw and turning capabilities,even at very low RPMs.

MTOW of the EC120B is cur-rently 3700 lbs but this isexpected to increase to 3750 bythe end of the year. A usefulload of 1770 lbs is more thansufficient to carry full fuel, fullpassengers and plenty of cargo.VNE is 150 kts, fast

cruise is a published 125 ktsand range of the EC120B is 378nm.Maintenance

Eurocopter has made somereal advances in reducing costsand maintenance requirementson the EC120B and operatorswill benefit from this. The Arrius2F has a 3000-hour TBO, whichis expected to increase to 3500hours, with no mid-life inspec-tion requirement and this sayssomething about the provendesign of the engine. A 30-secengine cool down is anotherplus. While two minutes maynot seem like a lot of time,when you’re sitting in an air-craft waiting for anengine to

It didn’t take Lacy long to getcomfortable in the Eurocopter

EC120B. A quiet yet powerful heli-copter, the EC120B combines highperformance with good looks. The

integral parts of the Colibri’s lownoise footprint is its three-bladed

main rotor and Fenestron tailrotor.

PROFESSIONAL PILOT / August 1998 89

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cool down, it can feel like the longest two minutes in theworld.The EC120B is designed to be an easy to maintain aircraftwith just four types of inspections—100 hour, 500 hour, 1500hour and 12 year. All inspections up to the 100-hour level can beperformed by the pilot and the 100-hour inspection requires just afew minutes of a mechanic’s time. Scheduled maintenance is fore-cast to be just 15 minutes per flight hour. The airframe is warrant-ed for three years/1000 hours while the engine comes with three-year/2500-hour coverage.

Two pilot and one mechanic training slots are included witheach EC120B delivery. Pilot transition involves two days of ground

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Eurocopter EC120B Colibri

Price Basic equipped ($ US) $795,000

Powerplant (1) TurbomecaArrius 2F turbine

Takeoff 504 shpMax continuous 449 shp

Transmission ratingsTakeoff 402 shp

DimensionsRotordisk (ft) 37.8Length (nose to t/r disk) 31.5Height (tail fin) 11.2Cabin max length 7.5Width 4.4Height 4.1Volume (cu ft) 85.6Baggage-max volume 18.2Normal seating-crew/pax 1/4

Weights and loading MTOW (lbs) 3700Max sling load 1545Basic empty weight 2930Max fuel 714

PerformanceMax rate climb (fpm) 1540Service ceiling (ft) 20,000Hover ceiling IGE (SL,ISA) 16,900Hover ceiling OGE (SL,ISA) 15,700Fast cruise (KTAS) 128Best range cruise (KTAS) 109Fuel flow (lb/hr total) 192Range (nm) 416VNE (KIAS) 150

Figures supplied by Eurocopter.

Visibility for both pilot and passengers is excellent within the EC120B’s partition-less cabin (above). This new entry-level Eurocopter is well suited to police, utility,tourism, news-gathering and EMS applications. The EC120B’s Turbomeca Arrius2F turboshaft engine (left) develops 504 shp on takeoff and 449 shp of maximumcontinuous power.

New flightdeck display technology on the EC120B centers around a fully-duplex vehicleand engine multifunctional display (VEMD). First limit indications are clearly presented ontakeoff and during normal flight operation to greatly reduce pilot workload.

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school with three to five hours offlight time. Transitioning from an A-Star to the EC120B will be particu-larly easy as the differences arerather small between the two air-craft. Systems and features

The EC120B has many featuresthat I particularly liked. TheFenestron is not only a safetyenhancement but it consumes lessenergy than a traditional tailrotorand gives you better positive con-trol. While the Fenestron rotor looksunique from the outside, there’s nodifferent flying technique inside.

One nice feature was an integrat-ed engine oil tank. The hydraulicpack has its reservoir built right intoit as well. The transmission oil filteris a simple Champion spin-on filter,which is very simple to deal with,and accessibility to all componentsis well thought out and easy.

Perhaps the most unique featureabout this aircraft, especially consid-ering its size category, is the SextantAvionique VEMD. It not only dis-plays all of your flight informationbut it performs power checks, cyclecounts, logs hours and puts all thisinformation right in front of you. It’salmost like a HUD because youhave one instrument to look at andyou don’t have to worry aboutmuch else. Livingston explained thatVEMD systems are slated for theEC155 and may become standardon the Eurocopter fleet.

Stealthy helicopter

The EC120B is Eurocopter’s qui-etest helicopter yet—6.6 dB belowcurrent ICAO limits. While thethree-blade rotor system con-tributes to a very quiet footprint,much of the advance in the low-decibel realm has to do with thenew-generation Fenestron that fea-tures eight asymmetrically-spacedblades, along with stators, for low-noise emission.

This noise-reduction technologywill be a real plus when it comesto law enforcement, EMS, heli-copter commuter services and cor-porate applications in noise-sensi-tive areas. The only losers here willbe the criminals who police willnow be able to sneak up on a littlebetter than before.

Product support

In talking with Gras, I was im-pressed with the level of commit-ment that’s being made to productsupport. Gras explained that heintends to be the number-one heli-copter manufacturer in productsupport and customer service bythe year 2000.

The strategy is to make AmericanEurocopter support more user-friendly and to work on decreasingoperating costs. Eurocopter is acompany that has always put a lotof passion and innovation into

designing and building its productsand they now seem focused onbringing this same commitment tosupporting the product.

A recent $3.5 million capitalinvestment plan includes a newblade repair facility, hangar renova-tions and a new training center. Butthe real change, according to Gras,is a company-wide dedication tocustomer satisfaction, which hasalready shown some positiveimprovements this year.

A helicopter with potential

The EC120B gives Eurocopter anentry-level machine and it’s a goodone. It combines a unique blend ofmodern technology and simplifiedmaintenance and service, whichwill help build product loyaltyamong users that may later trade upto larger Eurocopter products.

While the primary anticipatedmarkets are corporate and policeapplications, there will be a lot ofpotential for this machine in utilityapplications, the movie/news indus-try and for EMS work. The EC120B,like it’s Fenestron-equipped EC135and EC155 cousins, is so quiet thatit opens up replacement possibili-ties for some of the noisier heli-copters being operated.

Pilots will enjoy flying theEC120B—it’s a machine the main-tenance department will be happywith and even the general publicwill appreciate the quiet nature ofthis newest Eurocopter offering.

Gras sounded a little like a goodSouthern Californian auto dealerwhen he said he’d like his potentialcustomers to go out, look at thecompeting products and then comeback to him for the best deal and

the best product.But he’s got apoint—if you’re inthe market for anew light single-engine helicopterand you’re lookingat a Bell 206, you

definitely have to consider this heli-copter.

Clay Lacy has more than 46,000 hoursof flying experience in various aircraft,

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American Eurocopter’s focus over the past sev-eral months has been on improving customerservice and support. Since August of last year,part fulfillment rates have improved from anaverage of 77% to more than 93%.

including DC-3s, B747-400s and near-ly every model of corporate aircraft.His Van Nuys-based facility, Clay LacyAviation, is home base for Lacy’s char-ter and managed fleets. His charteroperation includes five Gulfstreamsand eight Learjets and will sooninclude a Boeing 727 and a DC-3.

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