The FAA has certified an emergency life raft system for use with the Airbus H145 produced by mission equipment supplier Dart Aerospace.
The FAA Supplemental Type Certification (STC) for the Emergency Float System with Integrated Life rafts comes alongside its existing TCCA and EASA approvals.
The Emergency Float System was previously approved for the Airbus four-bladed H145 and EC145 models and can now be used with the five-bladed H145.
The floats feature a tri-bag float design for increased stability in water up to sea state 6. The design includes two externally-mounted life rafts that deliver a 45% weight reduction over other externally mounted life raft options, while saving cabin space.
David Shepherd, vice president of certification at DART Aerospace said, “We are eternally grateful to Airbus, FAA, TCCA, and EASA for their support as we pursued this STC during a particularly challenging time so that DART could provide this critical system to the five-bladed H145 operators.
“We also received great support from Airbus as we worked together to complete flight testing in Germany in the midst of a global pandemic.”
Canada-based DART Aerospace develops and supplies helicopter mission equipment to OEMs and operators around the world
