Royal Air Force (RAF) flight crews completed testing of their new MK6 tandem rotor helicopter with the help of the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division (NAWCAD) here Aug. 10.
NAWCAD employees provided assistance to the RAF under a commercial service agreement with Boeing. NAS Patuxent River offers many unique testing areas such as sloped landing pads, maneuvering courses and heavy lift stations. Flying in these testing areas ensured the helicopter’s new digital automatic flight control system (AFCS) could operate successfully in a wide range of environments and scenarios, from operations in a desert theater to supply drops in the Arctic.
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Looking at the picture, and knowing where the Chinook Indian tribes live, I suspect the Mk6 will become known as Bigfoot…
Finally! Weren’t they meant to be delivered through 2012 and 2013? When will they be in service if this is just initially testing!
@ Challenger
The first one was delivered a couple of months ago. If this is the same aircraft. I would assume they have probably been giving it a proper shake down before its handed over.
@Simon257
It may well be that the initial aircraft are going through as you say a good shakedown and will be handed over soon, either later this year or early next.
4-5 years from order to delivery isn’t at all bad for this level of procurement, it’s only a shame that they will achieve full operating capability just after they are really needed.
Although even in a post Herrick/Army 2020 world I still think a 60 Chinook fleet is advantageous in that it will obviously provide greater heavy lift in any future operation but also spread the day to day stresses of service across a larger fleet.
@ Challenger
Just found this, it’s a month old. Two are undergoing flight testing, another ground testing.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/riat-new-uk-chinooks-on-track-says-boeing-388514/