AeroBD | The AERO news Company…: The anticipated maiden flight for Prototype Two (P2) of the Marenco Swisshelicopter SKYe SH09 started at 17:24 on February 26th, 2016 in Mollis, Switzerland. This exciting moment was a deserved reward for the hard work and long hours that the involved teams put in, to materialize P2 in such a short time. The timing was more than convenient and the videos of P2 in the skies of Mollis were shown on screen a few days later right on our booth at the 2016 HAI Heli-Expo in Louisville, Kentucky,USA.

In the past weeks, the initial Flight-Test Phase of P2,comprising of six Flight-Test Programmes has been successfully completed. Occupying the P2 cockpit are Richard Trueman as Chief Test-Pilot, and Peter Wittwer as Chief Flight-Test Engineer.

The high available power and the low vibration levels of the SH09 were confirmed by Richard Trueman; comparable impressions that were gathered by our Wright Brother awarded Test-Pilot Dwayne Williams who flew P1 during the past year.

Following the Maiden flight, Richard Trueman expressed that

“this first flight of the second prototype of the SKYe SH09 was a total success, all the test objectives were easily achieved and the aircraft performed extremely well. The crisp handling qualities combined with the ergonomic and intuitive cockpit features made the SKYe SH09 a pleasure to operate. Marenco Swiss Helicopter has set the new benchmark in the single engine helicopter market segment.”

P2 now moves on to Phase 2, where we look forward to providing you with more updates and good news.