Eurocopter AS350 B3 AStar

The AS350 B3 is a single-engine, light-duty helicopter employed by a number of law enforcement agencies in the United States, including the LAPD, Miami-Dade PD, Baltimore PD, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the DEA. In Europe, it is known as the AS 350 Ecureuil ("Squirrel"). It is also used as a corporate transport, seating 4-6 passengers depending upon cabin arrangement, and as an EMT helicopter, capable of carrying one or two stretcher patients plus 2 medical attendants. In a purely cargo role, the helicopter can transport one pilot and 76.28 cf of cargo, or 3,000 lbs. externally in a cargo sling.

An AS350 B3 was used to land on top of the summit of Mount Everest on May 14, 2005.

The AS350 B3 burns 37.7 gallons of jet fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel costs $429.

Subassemblies: Body +3, Top-and-tail rotor +0, two fixed Skids +0.

Powertrain: 628-kW Improved gas turbine; 628-kW Improved TTR drivetrain, 2,300-kWs advanced battery.

Fuel: 143 gallons jet fuel (Fire 13) in light self-sealing tank [Body] (fire +0).

Occupancy: 1 NCS, 4-6 R-NPS.

Cargo: 0 lbs. [Body].

Armor F RL B T U

All: 2/4 2/4 2/4 2/4 2/4

Equipment:

Body: Civilian Helicopter Package (autopilot, GPS, long-range radio (300 miles), navigation instruments, 1-mile searchlight, transponder), 7-man environmental control, duplicate controls.

Statistics:

Size: 36'x?'x10' Payload: 1.2 tons Lwt.: 2.5 tons

Volume: 325 cf Maint.: 18 hours Price: $3,400,000

HT: 12. HPs: 213 Body, 95 Rotors, 29 each Skid.

aSpeed: 178 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 18 aMR: 4.5 aSR: 2

Stall speed 0.

Design Notes:

Body is 325 cf; rotor is 6.5 cf; skids are 16.25 cf. Structure is light, expensive with fair streamlining. Armor is standard composite. Mechanical controls. Fuel tank is light, seal-sealing. An additional 125-gallon ferry tank is available as an option; provision was made for the tank's volume, but not weight. Real-world endurance is 4.1 hours. Empty weight is 2,603 lbs. Design loaded weight matched real-world loaded weight exactly; design empty weight was over by 8%. Design aSpeed was 198 mph. Asking price for a 2008 model was $3,400,000. Maintenance interval was calculated from the design cost of $135,623.

Variants:

The AS 350 was the prototype.

The AS 350 Firefighter is a specialized modification for that role.

The AS 350B, -B1 featured different engines.

The AS 350B2 was a higher gross weight version.

The AS 350BA and -BB have slight modifications to the engine and rotor. They are used by the British RAF as trainers under the designation Eurocopter Squirrel HT.1 and HT.2.

The AS 350C and -D are North American versions.

The AS 350L2 is a military version with a 546-kW engine.

The HB 350B Esquilo, as well as the -B1 and -L1, are licensed produced in Brazil as unarmed military aircraft.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS