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Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin

Multi-role helicopter family by Aérospatiale

  • 14 min read
  • 8 chapters

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The Dauphin 2 shares many similarities with the Aérospatiale SA 360, a commercially unsuccessful single-engine helicopter; however the twin-engine Dauphin 2 did meet with customer demand and has been operated by a wide variety of civil and military operators. Since the type's introduction in the 1970s, several major variations and specialised versions of the Dauphin 2 have been developed and entered production, including the military-oriented Eurocopter Panther, the air-sea rescue HH/MH-65 Dolphin, the Chinese-manufactured Harbin Z-9, and the Eurocopter EC155.

Development

The SA 365/AS365 Dauphin 2 is a twin-engine development of the commercially unsuccessful single-engined Aérospatiale SA 360 Dauphin; only a year after the SA 360's entry into service, Aerospatiale had recognized that a platform powered by two engines rather than one was better suited to both civil and military operations, thus a redesign program was initiated. On 24 January 1975, the first twin-engine Dauphin prototype performed its first flight; the prototype soon demonstrated an airspeed of 170 knots in level flight and set multiple speed records, among them the Paris-London trip at an average of 321 km/h.

The initial production variant entered service under the original designation of SA 365C; French certification of this model was received in July 1978, with US FAA and British CAA certification following later that year. Deliveries to customers began in December 1978. In 1982, the SA 356C Dauphin was succeeded by the more capable SA 365 N. Amongst several major design changes and improvements, the SA 365 N featured more powerful engines, greater use of composite materials, a better cabin arrangement, and retractable landing gear.

Further improvements were made with the introduction of the SA 365 N1, which had a substantially redesigned Fenestron anti-torque device, and with the SA 365 N2, which was equipped with more powerful Turbomeca Arriel 1C2 turboshaft engines. In January 1990, the overall type was formally redesignated as the AS365. The AS365 Dauphin is one of Eurocopter's more successful helicopter designs; and has been widely used as a corporate transport, airborne law enforcement platform, emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter, electronic news gathering platform, and search and rescue helicopter.

The base Dauphin has been further developed into several purpose-built variants. During the 1980s, the SA 365 N was used as the basis for a militarised version of the Dauphin, initially designed as AS 365 K, which was used to perform utility, troop-transport, and maritime operations, widely known as the Eurocopter Panther. A variant of the Dauphin was specifically developed for and operated principally by the United States Coast Guard under the designation HH/MH-65 Dolphin. The SA 365 M model of the Dauphin has also been manufactured under licence in China as the Z-9 by the Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation; the Z-9 was subsequently developed into the armed Z-9W and Z-19 attack helicopter.

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