Aérospatiale Dauphin

Infobox Aircraft
name= SA 360 Dauphin


caption=
type= utility helicopter
manufacturer= Aérospatiale
designer=
first flight= 2 June 1972
introduced= 1976
retired=
status=
primary user=
more users=
produced= 1976-77
number built=2 prototypes + 34 production examples
unit cost=
developed from =
variants with their own articles= Eurocopter Dauphin

The Aérospatiale SA 360 Dauphin was a single-engine French utility helicopter developed as a replacement for Aérospatiale's Alouette III in the early 1970s and to fill a gap in the company's product line in the six to ten-seat helicopter category. In fact, the new helicopter offered little advantage over its predecessor and production was cancelled after only a few dozen of them had been built. However, a twin-engine derivative, the Dauphin 2 went on to become a great success and is still in production in 2007, after some 30 years. Perhaps confusingly, after the merger of Aérospatiale's helicopter division into Eurocopter in 1992, the Dauphin 2 designation was dropped, and Eurocopter-built Dauphin 2s are simply referred to as "Dauphin". The retronym "Dauphin 1" is sometimes applied to the original Dauphin.

Development

The Dauphin design was originally derived from the Alouette III it was intended to succeed, and in fact used the rotor blades from that aircraft [cite book |last= Simpson |first= R. W. |title=Airlife's Helicopters and Rotorcraft |year=1998 |publisher=Airlife Publishing |location=Ramsbury |pages=16 ] . Power was provided by a 730 kW (980 hp) Turboméca Astazou XVI turboshaft, in place of later Alouette IIIs' Astazou XIV. The aircraft featured a fully-enclosed cabin with seating for up to nine passengers, a four-bladed main rotor and a thirteen-bladed fenestron in the tail. It was fitted with fixed, tailwheel undercarriage with spatted mainwheels. The first of two prototypes (registration "F-WSQL") made its first of 180 test flights in this configuration on 2 June 1972 [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] .

Following this initial evaluation, a number of modifications were incorporated into the design. These included increasing engine power by use of an Astazou XVIIIA of 780 kW (1,050 hp), and replacement of the original rotor blades with plastic blades. Aérospatiale engineers hoped to reduce vibration and ground resonance [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] . Thus modified, test flights resumed in May 1973, in time to present the new aircraft at that year's Paris Air Show. In the meantime, a second prototype (registration "F-WSQX") joined the test programme, flying first on 29 January [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] . At the show, the first prototype broke three world airspeed records for helicopters in the 1,750 kg - 3,000 kg class (FAI class E-1d). Piloted by Roland Coffignot and carrying a dummy payload to represent eight passengers, it broke the 100 km closed-circuit (299 km/h, 186 mph), 3 km straight-course (312 km/h, 195 mph), and 15 km straight-course (303 km/h, 189 mph) records [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] .

Series production of the definitive SA 360C version began in 1974 [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] , with the first completed aircraft flying in April 1975 [cite web | title =airliners.net | url = http://www.airliners.net/info/stats.main?id=11 | accessdate = 2007-04-28] . French civil certification was obtained in December that year [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] and deliveries to customers commenced in January 1976 [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] . In the meantime, Aérospatiale had flown the prototype Dauphin 2 nearly a year earlier, on 24 January 1975 [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] , which would ultimately prove the death-knell for the Dauphin. A helicopter of this size powered by only a single engine was perceived in the marketplace as something of an anomaly and rather under-powered, meaning that by the end of 1976, Aérospatiale was left with 15 airframes - almost half those produced to date - with no buyers [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] . Accordingly, production was terminated the following year [cite web | last = Lenton | first = Lenny | title = Copter Crazy | url = http://members.tripod.com/coptercrazy/production/aero/360/3601.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-28 ] .

A single airframe (Construction Number 1012, registration "F-WZAK") [cite web | last = Lenton | first = Lenny | title = Copter Crazy | url = http://members.tripod.com/coptercrazy/production/aero/360/3601.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-28 ] . was modified by Aérospatiale from standard SA 360C configuration to develop a version optimised for hot-and-high conditions, designated SA 360H. The main differences were the use of a 1,040 kW (1,400 hp) Astazou XXB engine and the Starflex rotorhead that had been developed for the Ecureuil [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] . Deciding that the main customers for this more powerful aircraft were likely to be military ones, the aircraft was further modified and re-designated SA 360HCL ("Helicoptere de Combat Leger" - "Light Combat Helicopter") [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] . It was fitted with a SFIM APX M397 roof-mounted, gyro-stabilised sight, and a nose-mounted sensor package incorporating a SFIM Vénus night-vision system and TRT Hector thermal-vision system [cite web | title =airwar.ru| url = http://www.airwar.ru/enc/uh/sa360.html | accessdate = 2007-04-28] . Armament consisted of eight launcher tubes for Euromissile HOT missiles, with options to carry most of the armament packages used by the Gazelle [cite book |last= Apostolo |first= Giorgio |title=The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters |year=1984 |publisher=Bonanza |location=New York |pages= ] . So equipped, it could carry thirteen combat-ready troops into battle, or be used in the area neutralisation or anti-tank role [cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |pages=36 ] . This aircraft was taken on by the "Armée de Terre" for evaluation, but no production order ensued [cite book |title=World Aircraft Information Files |publisher=Bright Star Publishing |location=London |pages=File 889 Sheet 25] .

Variants

* SA 360 - two prototypes
* SA 360C - standard production version, 34 built
** SA 360A - navalised version for Aeronavale, 1 converted from SA 360C [cite book |last= Simpson |first= R. W. |title=Airlife's Helicopters and Rotorcraft |year=1998 |publisher=Airlife Publishing |location=Ramsbury |pages=25 ] .
** SA 361H - "hot and high" version, 1 converted from SA 360C
*** SA 361HCL - militarised version, 1 converted from SA 361H

Operators

Main operators: [cite web | last = Laporte | first = Lionel | title = Eurocopter Spotter Page | url = http://perso.numericable.fr/lionellap/lionel.laporte/dauphin/sa360.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-28 ]

* [http://www.newyorkhelicopter.com/index.html| New York Helicopters] - SA360C 6 aircraft (all retired); 1 acquired by CELAG in France

* [http://www.heliairmonaco.com/page-history-langue-uk.html|Heli Air Monaco] - 5 aircraft

* Nishi Nihon Air Service (or Nishi Nihon Kuyu) - 3 aircraft

Notable accidents

One Dauphin (Construction number 1028, Registration "RP-C220") was destroyed in an accident while filming "" [cite web | last = Lenton | first = Lenny | title = Copter Crazy | url = http://members.tripod.com/coptercrazy/production/aero/360/3601.htm | accessdate = 2007-04-28 ] . Four members of the film crew were killed, in addition to the pilot.

pecifications (SA 360C Dauphin)

aircraft specifications

ref= airwar.ru [cite web | title =airwar.ru| url = http://www.airwar.ru/enc/uh/sa360.html | accessdate = 2007-04-28]
plane or copter?=copter
jet or prop?=prop

crew=1 or 2 pilots
capacity=8-9 passengers
length main= 13.4 m
length alt=43 ft 11 in
span main= 11.5 m
span alt= 37 ft 9 in
height main= 3.4 m
height alt= 11 ft 2 in
area main= 103.9 m²
area alt= 1,118 ft²
empty weight main=1,550 kg
empty weight alt=3,420 lb
loaded weight main= 3,050 kg
loaded weight alt= 6,720 lb
max takeoff weight main= kg
max takeoff weight alt= lb

engine (prop)= Turboméca Astazou XVIIIA turboshaft
number of props=1
power main= 780 kW
power alt= 1,050 hp

max speed main= 315 km/h
max speed alt= 196 mph, 170 knots
combat radius main= mi
combat radius alt= nm, km
ferry range main= 650 km
ferry range alt= 405 miles, 220 nm
ceiling main= 2,250 m
ceiling alt=7,380 ft
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=

armament=

ee also

aircontent

related=
* Eurocopter Dauphin
* HH-65 Dolphin
* Eurocopter Panther
* Harbin Z-9

similar aircraft=
* AgustaWestland AW119

sequence=
SA 320 -
SA 330 -
SA 340 -
SA 350 - SA 360

lists=
* List of helicopters

see also=

References

External links

* [http://celag.free.fr/museum/sa360/us_sa360_0.htm NYH]