Airbus Helicopters has won the support contract to maintain, overhaul and ensure the availability of the German Army Aviation School’s fleet of EC135 training helicopters, it was announced on Monday 15 December .This extends the existing contract, signed in 2005, by a further seven years.

The German Army Aviation School in Bückeburg trains some 70 future Bundeswehr pilots yearly using a total of 14 EC135 aircraft, which log about 6,000 flight hours a year. Over the course of twelve months, student pilots learn how to fly a helicopter under visual flight rules and also qualify in IFR and sensor flight in low-altitude night flight.

“At the core of the Airbus Helicopters full service contract is ensuring that on virtually every working day, eleven EC135 aircraft are available on the airfield for training purposes. This puts the fleet’s operational availability at over 95 percent,” says Ralf Barnscheidt, Head of the Military Support Center in Germany.

Source: Airbus Helicopters