Flight Test of the BLUECOPTER Demonstrator: Innovative and Eco-Efficient Helicopter Design

Antoine van Gent, M. Schulz, Marius Bebesel, Alessandro D’Alascio, Sascha Schneider,
Sebastian Guenther, Florian Vogel, Christian Wehle, Dieter Schimke
Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH, Germany

Abstract

The Bluecopter Demonstrator was designed to prove the feasibility of innovative and eco-efficient technology. This experimental research aircraft presents a completely new helicopter design, where everything that is relevant in terms of efficiency and noise was modified.

One of the significant contributors to the increased efficiency and the low acoustic emission is the new design of the main rotor system. A further attribute of the Bluecopter is the special power management with an enhanced progressive three dimensional rotor speed law and the single engine operation concept (SEO).

The innovative and advanced Fenestron system presents another feature of latest technology. The aerodynamical and flight mechanical characteristics of the tail section were modified to improve the eco-efficiency and reduce the noise emission. Finally, an effective reduction of the aircraft’s parasite drag was aimed for, by aerodynamically tailoring the aircraft fuselage, aft-body and undercarriage as well as implementing a full fairing of the rotor hub and the non-rotating parts of the rotor head fairing.

The sum of all applied research technologies resulted in a noise reduction of up to 10dB and a decrease in fuel consumption of more than 12% with a potential of up to 40%. The whole project had to meet very narrow budgetary constraints. This was achieved by utilizing as many existing serial parts as possible and by applying a very strict and specially tailored flight test program. The flight test phases were characterized by an evolutionary approach, allowing on the one hand safe flight execution while enabling an extremely high effectiveness and efficiency at the same time.