Ecuadorian Air Force incorporates first AW119 Koala

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The Ecuadorian Air Force incorporates first AW119 Koala of a total of 4 that will be destined mainly for search and rescue missions.

Continuing with the plan empowerment of the Armed Forces and that was reported in this medium a few months ago, the Air Force began incorporating helicopters into its fleet as a new project, which has no relation to the arrival of 6 additional helicopters that will arrive later and that we will inform in due course.

Mission

The 4 The helicopters that the FAE will incorporate will be mainly used as SAR equipment – Search and Rescue for its acronym in English, the AgustaWestland helicopters will be used for search and rescue missions throughout the Ecuadorian territory, initially focused on missions on the northern border with Colombia.

The first AW119

The incorporation of the first team occurred after the need to equip the Ecuadorian Air Force with multi-mission helicopters and strengthen its protection and care service for the country.

Faced with the failed project of the Dhruv helicopters, it was necessary and imperative to re-equip the FAE with helicopters capable of operating throughout the territory and on endless missions, thus the Government authorized the incorporation plan and a budget was assigned for it, starting studies.

Several teams and manufacturers were analyzed, but the reliability and worldwide renown of a European company defined the way forward for the incorporation of these aircraft.

The first team arrived in the country from Panama with registration HP-1677IA, where it belonged from 4 april 2009 to the company Inversiones Aéreas de Panama SA, where he operated alone 600 hours as a private service.

This helicopter was manufactured at Agusta Aerospace Corporation in Philadelphia., United States in November 2008 and it was operated in Panama completely new from the factory, so it gets to fly to Ecuador with very few flight hours and in excellent operating and technical conditions.

AgustaWestland – Leonardo

Specialized in the construction of helicopters, is formed as a multinational company in the year 2000 as English-Italian collaboration, when Agusta and Westland came together.

For the year 2016, merges the aeronautical division of the Italian company Leonardo, creating the specific division Leonardo Helicopters.

AW119 MKII Koala of Ke

The AW119 is the most spacious and powerful single-engine light helicopter for a wide range of both civil and military missions., in the specific case of the Air Force, have incorporated the Ke improved version Offering a higher maximum takeoff weight, RPM increase, with a new design of the propellers and lower fuel consumption.

Large, unobstructed cabin and separate baggage compartment allow for quick reconfiguration for a variety of missions as VIP transport, security services, training, load, medical and other services.

High power margins provide the performance capability to deliver excellent flight qualities, high controllability and maneuverability, combined with the robust and inherent “fail-safe” design and redundancy of core systems, the confidence of the operators is assured.

Its cabin equipped with semi-EFIS and GPS system, allows pilots to operate the equipment with the best technology for navigation and safety.

Characteristics

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