Fans of stereotypes will likely accept that the French are good at some things: seduction, the non-verbal expression of disdain, and the manufacture of both fine wine and stinky cheeses are all among the less-offensive Gallic archetypes. But think of France and you’re probably not thinking about the design and manufacture of helicopters.
Yet it turns out that the French make more whirlybirds than almost anybody else, with Airbus Helicopters—formally Eurocopter—making around a third of the world’s rotorcraft. And the new Airbus H160, as seen here, was designed with the assistance of automaker Peugeot’s Design Lab.
The H160 is certainly set to be a serious piece of kit when it goes fully operational in a couple of years time. It’s based around a fully composite airframe, has rotor blades with a boomerang end profile to reduce noise and improve stability, and is the first commercial helicopter to have electrically operated landing gear. It will be a mid-sized workhorse used from everything from offshore drilling platform resupply and police interceptor duty to ferrying time-crunched playboys between pool parties.
It’s a fine-looking helicopter to our non-expert eyes. Despite the involvement of Peugeot, we’re struggling to see a resemblance to any of the brand’s current road cars—although the nose cone’s profile does have something reminiscent of a French waiter’s sneer to it. In the official release, Airbus says “we used the initial styling developed by Peugeot Design Lab to define a strong personality for the rotorcraft—a mirror reflection of the innovations, performance and emotion unique to the H160.”
We’ll leave you to decide whether emotion is something you expect a helicopter to deliver.
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