Why AW139?
The superbly designed AW139 interior is open/unobstructed from the cockpit to the tail. From the digital cockpit to a largest in class highly reconfigurable spacious main cabin, to the open accessible rear cabin area, the AW139 is extremely flexible. It can meet the USAF’s exacting urban continuity of government personnel transport mission in Washington DC, demanding ICBM missile field security and varied survival school support missions.

The many advantages of the AW139 come standard, making it possible to better execute mission requirements without sacrificing performance or security.

Main passenger cabin size (30% more than the UK-1N)

The AW139 offers the largest main/passenger cabin in its class with the ability to seat up to 15 passengers. A level floor and large sliding doors on each side provide easy access.

  • Cabin length: 8 ft 10 in
  • Cabin width: 6 ft 11 in
  • Cabin height: 4 ft 8 in

Cost

Cost-effectiveness is designed into the AW139. The acquisition cost is half that of similarly-sized military combat helicopters. The cost of operations is lowered with modern condition-based maintenance, a robust Health and Usage Management System (HUMS), and reduced fuel usage. Cost per flying hour is substantially less than the USAF UH-1N. The life cycle costs for the AW-139 are also much lower. The aircraft is designed to fly with High MTBOs on major components and boasts 40,000 hour, no-depot-required, airframe. Additionally, manpower costs are low — the basic helicopter is rated at a very low 1.34 to 1 maintenance man hour per flying hour — meaning not many maintainers are required greatly reducing manpower costs. The AW139 is the most cost-effective aircraft for the job.

Reduced Pilot Workload

The AW139 is designed to meet multi-mission demands. The state-of-the-art advanced avionics Honeywell Primus Epic® system with 4-axis digital autopilot and auto hover reduces pilot workload, enhances situational awareness, and increases safety in all flight regimes especially when coupled with a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC).

Enhanced Safety Features

The AW139 is designed to meet the rigorous JAR / FAR 29 standards, which meet and/or exceed military design standards in many areas such as hazard avoidance, bad weather operations and noise reduction. Constructed with energy-absorbing landing gear, fuselage and seats, the AW139 protects its occupants in the event of hard landing. The high main and tail-rotor ground clearance provides significant safety margin for crew, maintenance personnel and, most critically, the passengers while on the ground, day or night.

Payload Capacity

In response to customer requirements the AW139 has a new Increased Gross Weight (IGW) kit which increases the maximum gross take-off weight of the aircraft to 15,400 lb (7,000 kg). Combined with an optimized airframe and new, enhanced role equipment, this option delivers more than 660 lb (300 kg) of additional useful load. Customer need will continue to drive additional performance increases.

Cabin Flexibility

The easily configurable cabin design is large, easily accessible, open and can be configured in a variety of layouts. The cockpit, main/passenger cabin and rear cabin area are open to each other.

Speed, Range & Versatility

The AW139 delivers best-in-class performance with a cruise speed of 165 knots / 182 MPH, a range in excess of 500 nautical miles and maximum endurance of over 5 hours coupled with superior hover performance.

Superior performance has been proven for operations worldwide, even in extreme hot-and-high environments or harsh maritime conditions. 

Noise and Nuisance Reduction

The AW139 was designed to exceed today’s FAA standards for noise and environment. Combat helicopters have not been required to comply with these modern requirements despite their importance to the domestic population that are over flown daily.

Global Customer Support Network

The AW139 benefits from an extensive global network of customer service representatives, technicians and engineers, complemented by repair, overhaul and spares facilities around the world. Level-D full flight simulators are already in service worldwide to maximize pilot training and support safe operations. Our Philadelphia plant has a 24-Hour Customer Support Fleet Operations Center that covers the Americas.