Well leave it to customs and the weather, no S-92 to be seen this week. We did get a briefing on the CH148 that we're getting. I was quite impressed, here's a few things I thought were quite interesting.
The H92 is built for survivability. One of the leading causes of crashes is pilot error including controlled flight into terrain or CFIT. The H92 has taken cockpit design to the next level, they've lowered the instrument panel to give better forward visibility, it's all electronic fight instruments, there's chin windows so you can see below you (quite common but the Sea King didn't have them), and it's fly by wire! To add on to this, the placement of the fuel cells is a new idea. They're in the sponsons on the side of the aircraft and they're designed to break off in a crash thus separating the fuel from the cabin and helping to prevent post crash fires. Since they moved the fuel cells to the sponsons, that left a large open area in the belly that they've incorporated crumple zones to absorb some of the force on impact. Couple that with the crash seats and it's the safest aircraft in the world as stated by the FAA when they were certifying it.
It's also pretty well protected against small arms fire, the rotor head, blades and fuel cells can handle 7.62mm small arms fire with no ill effects.
It looks like it's going to carry 2 torps and not have a ramp. The cargo door was widened to 52" to facilitate hoisting. It'll fold up small enough to fit in the existing hangar doors on the Halifax class ships though a modification will be required to the haul down system, both to accommodate the nose wheel vice the tail wheel of the Sea King and also it's going to be a lower profile bear trap, only about 6 inches high. Part of the contract is that Sikorsky will be responsible for getting those changes done. The contract also states that the training facilities for the aircrew and techs must be in place and operational 6 months prior to the first aircraft arriving so there's going to be a lot of stuff going on in Shearwater in the near future. The training facilities are going to be in a class of their own, 2 full motion simulators plus about a dozen work stations for the GIBs (guys in back) to practice their stuff. There's also going to be quite extensive training facilities for the techs as well as a hoist trainer built in the 3 story, 70,000 sq ft new complex.
Exciting times are ahead, I'm looking forward to it. ;D
Cheers