The AW189 was introduced at the Paris Airshow in 2011. It is the civilian version of the military’s AW149. It is a large transport helicopter developed mainly for the offshore oil industry, search and rescue operations and passenger transport. The AW189 competes with the Airbus H175.
The main gearbox has a 50-minute run-dry capacity. In other words, it has the ability to still operate if loss of lubrication occurs. This is a very important safety feature for off-shore operations, such as search and rescue and transport between shore and oil rigs. This is 20 minutes better than the 30-minute EASA requirement.
It is powered by two GE CT7-2E1 engines with 2,000 shp. It utilizes the same modular glass cockpit with four-axis autopilot as the AW139 and AW169.
The first flight was in December 2011. It was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2015.
