S-64

[Helilog56]

Erickson have been (in past), quite guarded about aircraft developement (sales). The only aircraft that have been bought, are by the Italian and Korean governments. So as you can see third party sales have been limited.

 

To get any substantial information about a new aircraft, you would have to start with purchase/sales agreement (contract) with a sizeable down payment.

 

The price tag on a new Crane is not set......but seems to vary, between 25 to 35 million U.S. depending on configuration and if it is an E or F model.

 

Erickson has new ownership and management redirecting the company into new venues, such as, manufacturing and sales. Information may be more available with time.

 

My suggestion would be to contact the head office for any information.

 

Their website is www.ericksonaircrane.com

[helitwin]

I was hoping that someone would have had some information on the S-64 that was on display at Heli-Expo, turns out that it was a rebuild. I did some reading on the CH-54 A/B and the S-64 and the only information i could find was one short mention about building one new one. No serial number, registration or end user information. Would anyone have any information about any new machines that have been built. If anyone has information on the three engine prototype that would be nice too (this is not a new concept). Thanks. L3.

What is the idea behind the 3 engine model?

Is it better on fuel?

[Mark_]

25-35 million...holy smokes.

 

Mark

[MMike]

Well you'd hope their fuel burn could not get any worse....According to the placard in front of the machine at heli-expo, the fuel consumption makes the baby jesus cry.......

[helicopterjim]

The talk I heard and read about at HAI was new engines, glass cockpit and rubber blades (main and tail) but no mention of three engines. That I presume would be bringing some CH53E technology (the S64E has CH53A rotor but the 53E has three engines and 7 blades and huge gross weight increase - who knows). The new model of Crane is expected to have a 5000 lb or more increase in lifting capacity.

 

Thats all I know.

 

Cheers

Jim

[Helilog56]

Well in theory, the aircraft already has three engines.....the 75 hp Solar turbine is used to power up electrics and hydraulics for starting the aircraft. They may be thinking of upgrading the app !

[helitwin]

sooo... does the 3 engine s 64 mean two mains and one apu? what would the new gross weight be?

[Helilog56]

Thanks "Jim" for the info on the CH-53E. Just a little something i came across: The USMC have spec-ed or maybe by this time taken delivery of their new model. The CH-53K will maintain virtually the same footprint as the CH-53E, but will nearly double the payload to 27,000 pounds over 110 nautical miles under "hot high" ambient conditions. The CH-53K's maximum gross weight will increase to 84,700 pounds versus 73,000 pounds for the CH-53E.

 

There seems to be a lot of different information out there about the total numbers of 64s built but for the interest of my curiosity these will do:

_____________________________________________________________________

 

S-60 1 Sikorsky piston-powered demonstrator.

S-64 3 Three protos, one for West Germany.

S-64E ~10 Commercial variant.

YCH-54A 1 US Army evaluation machine.

CH-54A 54 US Army production machines.

CH-54B 37 More powerful US Army variant.

 

subtotal 106 Including S-60 demonstrator.

 

H56, it may be that i mistook the app as the "third" engine. Just a quick question about the app. Is it kept running after start up to run systems in case of an emergency or is it shut down?

 

Thanks for your interest. L3.

 

The APU is strictly used for startup, shutdown and ground maintenance. Once both engines are up at 100%, the APU is then shutdown prior to liftoff. It is only used for ground operations....in fact the heat generated from the #2 engine is usually sufficient to shut it down if it happened to be left running after takeoff (overtemp sensor).

 

Of course being the ultimate professionals we are , that never happens!!!???