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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Future trends for the civil rotorcraft

subject

description

In response to public needs about the use of air transport to connect high congested or remote areas where airports are not present, rotorcraft (or seaplanes), represents the only available alternative. Today the helicopter industry focuses its tasks in the maximization of profit, building multirole aircrafts that can be adapted to all types of use: from the military to the civilian one, from HEMS and SAR to the Off Shore one. On the other hand the rotorcraft enterprises are small companies, often characterized by a limited budget and weak demand services. Often, analyzing rotorcraft civil transportation, companies are forced to perform on-demand services, as the operating costs of the aircraft require very high load factors and rates. Thus the performances of these machines determine very high operating costs and, consequently high tariffs, such as not to allow the accomplishment of scheduled services, except in special cases. So they require particular helicopter configurations which adapt fully to the necessities imposed by the particular tasks they perform. These needs are reflected in the requirement to highlight the performances that can make these aircraft specifically competitive for passenger transport. This paper aims to identify the parameters that affect the performance of the rotorcraft and influence its competitiveness in terms of operating costs, in order to trace the outline of future rotary-wing aircraft, pointing out what factors should be improved to enhance the development of services dedicated to passenger transport. This particular type of dedicated configuration could give impetus to the development of passenger services. These services today are extremely limited and characteristics as, for example, reduced operating costs, increased visibility, greater security, etc., may represent the mainstay for a greater appeal for this transport mode.