The Fastest Helicopter on Earth

The X2 prototype made its first test hop on 27 August 2008, in Elmira, N.Y. Several more low-speed flight tests also went off without a hitch. To venture to higher speeds, Sikorsky sent the test team to its flight center in West Palm Beach, Fla., which became the X2's new home. We're now on a course to push the X2, in stages, to its maximum speed. Most recently, we set our sights on 463 km/h.

On the day of that flight, in August of this year, the test team got started at the crack of dawn. To ensure that the pilots would be flying in smooth air, the crew had to be on site by 5:00 a.m., before the sun had a chance to heat the air enough for the wind to pick up. The crew rolled the aircraft out onto the runway, where a dozen safety officers in bright orange jumpsuits and noise-canceling headsets were on patrol. Two chase vehicles were there to observe the test flight—another helicopter and a fixed-wing turboprop. The latter would be needed to keep up with the X2 as it accelerated to higher speeds. The test team was on high alert as it orchestrated flight activities to keep the three vehicles a safe distance apart.

With everyone's nerves on edge, the X2 started up its engine at 6:30 a.m., and the helicopter took off. Within a few minutes the X2 had reached a speed of 350 km/h. A dozen people watched from the ground as the airspeed crept up, first to 400, then 410, and finally topping out at 435 km/h—not quite the goal we'd set, but good enough for this round. Cheers and applause broke out on the ground. The pilot slowed the X2, turned it around, and flew back to land on the runway.

Everyone involved was jubilant, but most of all relieved—especially the pilot. To train pilots to fly this brand-new vehicle, Sikorsky built a simulator that lets them preview the controls and the aircraft's responses. The real X2 has only about 14 flight hours on it, but its engineers and pilots have spent hundreds of hours flying the simulator. In part, that's because it provides valuable feedback to the designers, who devoted its first few sessions to tuning the feel of the control stick, modifying the displays on the instrument panel, and checking the X2's performance at low speeds. One of the simulator's key roles now is in evaluating higher flight speeds and maneuvers that are more aggressive than those the actual X2 has accomplished.

We'll continue to pursue higher speeds. Assuming all goes well, Sikorsky engineers are planning to adopt some of the technologies used on the X2 for the new helicopters they have on the drawing board. So expect some dramatic shifts in the way helicopters are designed.

The development of those technologies has been unusual in the helicopter industry, especially given the company's decision to pursue a once-abandoned idea with its own funding. For engineers like us, it's a thrill to see new ground broken in an industry that's usually considered mature. And it's certainly rewarding to see how new technology can benefit a four-decade-old idea for solving the helicopter's fundamental shortcoming: a need for speed.