Flotation devices have been used on helicopters for some time but this story from Defense Update caught my eye. The system is being displayed at Aero India by Aero Sekur and consists of a series of dual use flotation and shock attenuation bags.
NASA carried out a series of helicopter crashes to investigate survival technologies some years ago including what they called a deployable energy absorber that consisted of a hinged honeycomb matrix that deployed on command.
Bell Helicopter also registered a patent on a similar system in 2006
Helicopter airframes are engineered to be very strong under impact conditions and a variety of other systems like crash resistant seating are added to improve survivability, these all add weight. Aero Sekur claim that incorporating a system like this would allow manufacturers to reduce weight significantly.
The first integrated system should be available next year and commenting at Farnborough last year Giacomo Giovangrossi, Aero Sekur’s space business unit director, said;
“The shock attenuation aspects of the system were originally developed as part of the ESA ExoMars programme and designed to bring payloads including Mars probes safely to rest, The system ensures that orientation is maintained on uneven or sloping surfaces. The airbag also features our non-pyrotechnic inflation system, significantly enhancing maintainability, reliability and operating costs.”
Interesting stuff
just put the AW101 pdf on red faces thread, and it has a picture of this system being tested on the sar version
Ref: “The shock attenuation aspects of the system were originally developed as part of the ESA ExoMars programme and designed to bring payloads including Mars probes safely to rest”
Well, I worked on the Beagle 2 Mars lander as part of the ESA Mars Express mission, and we all know how good the Beagle’s airbags were…. just saying……
1) No, we don’t really know how good or otherwise Beagle 2′s airbags were as we don’t really know what happened to it.
2) Was it Aero Sekur who designed the Beagle airbags?
Mr.fred – they qoute ESA technology, so I was not poking fun at Aero Sekur.
Yes, we do know what happened to Beagle 2 – it crashed, as in it did not soft land. I take your point though, we don’t know the exact failure mode.
However I shall refrain from any further attempts at humor !
Aero Sekur bought Irwin a while ago I think. Irwin are the parachute people so maybe they did!
What about emergency airbags to keep a warship afloat after a missile/bomb strike?
Very interesting, any system that reduces impact forces can only be a good thing. One system that should be fitted is a cockpit airbag system, which includes an airbag to prevent the pilot from head-butting the top of the cyclic column. By rights all modern helicopters should have these built into the design, and should be introduced on the legacy types. Coupled with crashworthy seating it should mean the difference between walking away from a crash or being carried on a stretcher.
http://www.baesystems.com/BAEProd/groups/public/documents/bae_publication/bae_pdf_mps_oc_cabs.pdf
Of course using this system to reduce tha complexity of crash-worthy seating would mean a higher deating density for the same crash protection *Cough*Wildcat*cough*.
Just saying.
Dave, good point, well made. One of the question marks (IMHO) hanging over airbags is when the chopper’s hit by enemy fire. If one or more of the bags burst then the aircraft is going to roll and could do more damage than good.
Given the size of the Lynx’s cabin, any seating arrangement could be considered high density!