Not long after we realised the Y2K bug was a scam and during a time when the French were particularly unreasonable with their Calendar Life and Overhaul costs of the Arriel 1 engines; a couple of clever Canadians decided to take on the AS350 and solve many of the problems that made operating one difficult.

This wasn’t a new concept since the AS350 had been designed and marketed during the 1970s for the USA with a Honeywell LTS101 engine; a marketing plan to dilute the ‘all’ European design and help make America great again.

It was branded the ‘Astar’ which quickly became the Falling Star when early issues with the LTS101 manifested bad press in the 1980s. Eurocopter took a knee for an 8 count and came back hard in the late ’80s and ’90s with the Turbomeca Arriel 1 engine series which massively increased performance but exposed the support issues from Turbomeca. Frustration exploded and Honeywell sorted itself out to support STC’s promoting the reversion back to the LTS101-600 and -700 engines. The Soloy Corporation launched the SD1 and SD2 AS350 conversions installing the LTS101-600 to the AS350B/BA (SD1) and the LTS101-700 into the AS350B2 (AS350-SD2) Coupled with a 2400 hour TBO and 1800 hour TBI, vastly improved reliability, class-leading fuel burn and significantly cheaper repairs both models were well received but nothing else changed in the performance numbers. The Max All Up Weight (MAUW) remained at the donor AS350BA limitations but everyone rejoiced because the Astar was back and ready to set the world on fire…. if you could get your electrics to work consistently and your engineer had one of those new fandangle Blackberry’s attached to his person.

By Heli Expo 2002, Helilynk FX2 STC kits for the AS350 and AS355 were the next big thing. Electrical drama was one of the failures the Canadians helped solve all the while adding performance and reliability to legacy AS350BA’s.

By rewiring the airframe to shift the fuse box away from the moisture-laden cockpit, binning the OEM ‘push’ button equipment console [which was a convenient but tragic place to position your coffee cup] installing the AS355 Tail Rotor and the AS350B2 strake, they increased any AS350BA airframe to the same gross weights as the AS350B2 (minus 300 lbs external on the FX1 model). They also invested in flight testing and revisited the Performance Section of the Flight Manual where the LTS101-700 was shown to outperform the Arriel 1D1 at altitude. Last year I flew an FX2 in British Columbia moving a drill at 6000 – 6500ft AMSL. It was my first time operating the FX2 and I couldn’t tell the difference in performance. I do know that with no excess fuel and a little headwind, it readily lifted the 1300lbs engine and 1500 lb mudding tank on the hook as expected. Other pilots in PNG report that sometimes at altitude the NR management isn’t as tidy as the Arriel 1D1 system but that isn’t surprising because the accessories on the Arriel engines keep that NR glued at 390 RRPM. In any event, I didn’t notice an issue and found starting and managing the engine no challenge.

The AS350FX2 offers a sensible point of difference to the AS350 line-up. It was made with the intent to solve problems and I’ve never heard an operator regret the decision to invest in one.

Give Dan Egan or myself a call and get some real-world advice and experience around this aircraft to help make your purchasing decision.

Stephen Boyce | Aircraft Sales

stephen.boyce@oal.nz | +64 21 540 460

Dan Egan | Aircraft Sales

dan.egan@oal.nz | +61 408 697 778