Airbus H160

Airbus Helicopters · France · first flew 2015 · helicopter

The Airbus H160 is a new-generation medium twin-turbine helicopter, the first civil type to feature a canted Fenestron tail rotor and Blue Edge main-rotor blades.

Recognition (WEFT)

W — Wings	High-mounted, rotary
E — Engines	2 × turboshaft, fuselage-mounted
F — Fuselage	13.96 m fuselage
T — Tail	Conventional

WEFT is AircraftIQ's four-point recognition method — how it works.

Spot it by:

Canted (tilted) Fenestron shrouded tail rotor
Blue Edge five-blade rotor with double-swept boomerang tips
Biplane twin-level horizontal stabiliser on the tail boom

The tilted shrouded Fenestron, the swept-tip five-blade rotor and the distinctive twin-level tailplane make it one of the most recognisable modern medium twins.

Specifications

The Airbus H160 has a length of 13.96 m (46 ft).
It has a wingspan of 13.4 m (44 ft).
Its maximum speed is 315 km/h (196 mph).
Typical crew: 1-2 pilots.

Figures are for the representative variant described above; marks differ. See how AircraftIQ sources figures.

History

Launched as the X4 project and unveiled in 2015, the H160 was clean-sheet designed around composite construction and noise reduction. It gained EASA certification in 2020 with first deliveries the following year.

Variants

The civil H160 is offered in offshore, EMS, public-service and private/VIP configurations, while the militarised H160M Guepard is being procured for the French armed forces.

Where you'll see it

Aimed squarely at the AW139 and S-76 market, it targets offshore oil-and-gas transport, EMS and corporate roles. It is positioned as a successor for the North Sea and SAR work historically flown from Aberdeen and similar bases.

Related aircraft

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