Papillon Is Launch Customer for Strake;
Improves Hover and Safety for JetRanger

Papillon's Grand Canyon Helicopters has become the launch customer for a new helicopter tailboom strake developed by NASA and the U.S. Army, and marketed by Boundary Layer Research of Everett, WA.

The new advanced Papillon order is for 22 tailboom strake kits, enough to modify its entire fleet of Bell 206B JetRangers and 206L LongRangers. A Papillon 206L with the strake installed is available for inspection at Static Display position 48 on the convention center floor.

"Our passenger facility heliport is at an elevation of about 6,500 feet," said Papillon chairman Elling Halvorson. "The strake modification should not only improve our aircraft hover performance but, more importantly, it will expand the safety margins associated with yaw control."

Global Helicopter Technology of Arlington, TX, is a new "strategic engineering partner" of BLR and has begun a flight test program with the 206B and 206L in pursuit of FAA certification of the strake, expected in early spring.

BLR also has a "strategic engineering partnership" with Keystone Helicopters of West Chester, PA (Booth 219), which is performing flight tests leading to strake certification for the Sikorsky S-76.

"The BLR tailboom strake kit dramatically improves hover stability, making precision hovering and hover-hold tasks easier than ever," said Dave George, BLR rotorcraft manager. "Any pilot who has run out of pedal will tell you it's not a nice feeling."
BLR has delivered its first tailboom strake kit to the U.S. Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, AL, for evaluation as part of an enhanced anti-torque system for single-engine helicopters.

The device works by redirecting winds created by the main rotor, causing them to assist the tail rotor in resisting torque.

"For us, the helicopter tailboom strake product is just another application of boundary layer airflow manipulation, much like the vortex generator kits we developed for fixed-wing aircraft," said BLR president Bob Desroche. "We are excited about this initial entry into the rotorcraft market and what it will do for operators in terms of increasing operational flexibility and safety."

Additional benefits of the strake include an increase in service ceiling, reduced horsepower required by the tail rotor, reduction in tailboom fatigue, and reduced wear on critical components in the anti-torque system.

The kit is expected to sell for about $7,000. It can be installed in less than 16 manhours.

By Jim Street