Gama Engineering's appointment today as the first European distributor of Cobham's HeliSAS Autopilot and Stability Augmentation System offers helicopter operators the benefit of a significant improvement in flight safety and reduced pilot work-load.
HeliSAS is FAA fully certified with EASA validation in progess and replaces old analogue systems with a significantly lighter autopilot that increases helicopter stability. It's light weight, low cost and is easy to install.
HeliSAS provides precise control during all modes of flight, regardless of wind conditions or any shifts in weight. It is designed to be engaged at all times-- "on" before takeoff and "off" after landing. If the helicopter is inadvertently flown to an extreme attitude, simply releasing the cyclic while HeliSAS is engaged, automatically returns the helicopter to a near-level attitude in hands-off flight. This is possible due to the HeliSAS attitude-command/attitude-hold SAS + full autopilot configuration.
HeliSAS is immediately available for retrofit in Bell 206B, 206L, and 407 fleets as well as operators of Europcopter AS.350 series. More helicopter types are being certified on an ongoing basis.
17th April 2012 : First EASA Approval now issued for the Bell 407.
Additional information is available from www.helisas.com
