Sikorsky Claims Helicopter Speed Record
Test Pilot Reaches 258 MPH In X2 Prototype To Set Unofficial Mark
A Sikorsky Aircraft test pilot broke the speed record for a rotorcraft Monday by flying the company’s X2 prototype helicopter at 225 knots, the company said Monday.
In an hourlong early morning flight, Sikorsky chief test pilot Kevin Bredenbeck briefly reached 225 knots, or 258 mph, at a Sikorsky facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., the company said.
Sikorsky qualified the record as “unofficial” because no representative of the National Aeronautic Association was on hand to make an independent verification. The NAA is the official keeper of aviation records.
The previous record for a helicopter was 216 knots, or 249 mph, set by a version of the Westland Lynx in the mid-1980s, according to Sikorsky and Art Greenfield, NAA’s record keeper.
That record — an official one certified by the NAA’s counterpart in Great Britain — was set on Aug. 11, 1986.
The X2 is a 5,000-pound prototype aircraft with one pilot, one engine, two counter-rotating main rotors and a “pusher” propeller at the rear. It has no tail rotor.
“The X2 Technology demonstrator’s latest flight is continuing to push the speed envelope, successfully flying approximately 50 knots per hour faster than a traditional helicopter,” Jim Kagdis, Sikorsky’s program manager for advanced programs, said in a statement. “Vibration levels and aircraft performance have continued to meet or exceed our expectations, so we are pleased to report that all systems are ‘go’ in our mission to achieve a 250-knot cruise speed later this year.”
Sikorsky has been aiming toward a speed of 250 knots (about 287 mph) and could make that attempt as soon as its next test flight, according to company spokeswoman Marianne Heffernan. She did not give a specific date for that flight.
Bredenbeck, the X2 test pilot, had reached 180 knots in May. In his flight Monday, which took off at 6:30 a.m., he flew at 225 knots for about a minute, Heffernan said.
Sikorsky, a division of United Technologies Corp., does not yet produce any helicopters based on its X2 technology and has not sold any yet. Company officials say a military use is most likely at first.
Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with Teal Group in Virginia, said it could take a while for the military to ask for an ultrafast helicopter based on X2 technology, noting that “it takes a very long time for the military to adopt new rotorcraft technologies.”
“Nevertheless,” he said, “you’re advertising a capability that has relevance for one or more missions. And that’s worthwhile.”
