Sikorsky Announces Continuing Upgrades for the S-92(R) Helicopter

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. has announced the continuation of upgrades for the S-92 helicopter, which has already received more than 60 enhancements since entering service in 2004. These upgrades, combined with the aircraft's rugged and flaw-tolerant design, have enabled the S-92 helicopter to become a leader in the highly demanding offshore oil, Head of State, and search and rescue segments. Sikorsky, a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp., announced the latest upgrade efforts at the Heli-Expo show in Houston.

"The S-92 helicopter fleet has grown to 105 aircraft operating throughout the world, with the fleet recently surpassing the 200,000 flight-hour milestone. Customers have shown strong allegiance to this helicopter as we continue to keep it fully modernized with the latest technologies," said Carey Bond, President of the company's Sikorsky Global Helicopters business. "Our practice has been to continually improve all our products, and the S-92 helicopter is no exception."

S-92 aircraft upgrades to date have included:
  --  Reliability improvements to the rotor deicing system that have
      resulted in exceptional availability of aircraft equipped with the
      system this season.
  --  Enhanced active vibration control system for greater customer comfort.
  --  A cockpit noise reduction kit for greater pilot comfort.
  --  A new two-piece oil filter bowl assembly that reduces wear and tear

      and is easier to maintain.
  --  Next generation metal-chip detectors that require less maintenance and
      cleaning.
  --  Improved Air Stair Door with increased weight-carrying capacity .

 Newly available capability enhancements include:
  --  Search and Rescue Automatic Flight Control System that allows the
      aircraft to fly a pre-programmed coupled approach and reduces pilot
      workload in the search and rescue environment.
  --  Load-sensing cargo hook that automatically updates aircraft weight and

      balance readings.
  --  Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) capability for Gulf
      of Mexico region operators (co-developed with PHI) that improves
      safety and on-time performance.

Starting this October, Sikorsky plans to introduce a strengthened main transmission housing that has been developed for the H-92(TM) helicopter, a militarized variant of the commercial S-92 helicopter. The new housing is currently in the certification process and is designed to reduce unscheduled maintenance by eliminating such possibilities as the foot-mount cracks recently experienced by some operators. The new housing will have a much longer life than the current housing and will be manufactured by Sikorsky for retrofit on existing aircraft and installation on all new S-92 and H-92 helicopters.

"As we continue to develop the higher gross weight H-92 helicopter variant, we will identify additional opportunities to migrate new technologies to the S-92 helicopter platform," Bond added. 'When a customer buys a Sikorsky helicopter, he or she does so with the knowledge that we are committed to keeping it current while reducing operating costs and maintaining high availability rates."