First serial Airbus H160 takes to the skies

The first serial Airbus H160 to roll off the new assembly line in Marignane, France, performed a flight demonstration Dec. 17, 2018, in front of the H160 team in a year-end celebration of the program’s achievements in 2018. The helicopter, which will be delivered to launch customer Babcock in 2020, had already performed its first flight on Dec.14, 2018.

The aircraft’s unique livery – the several hundred people working toward the platform’s certification at the end of next year – have all signed the helicopter as testimony to the program’s industrial maturity and its seamless entry into service.

The first serial aircraft will join three prototypes, which have already accumulated more than 1,000 flight hours, in the final steps of the flight test campaign to confirm that the modifications introduced through the serial configuration have no impact on the helicopter’s handling qualities.