Heli-Expo 2009 - BLR Aerospace Delivers 100th UH-1 FastFin System
One-hundred venerable UH-1 & Huey II helicopters continue to fly important and productive missions around the world-with help from the BLR Aerospace FastFin tail rotor enhancement and stability system.
Introduced in 1959, 16,000 of the multipurpose utility helicopters were built and many continue to operate today. The famously hard-working helicopters have one shortcoming - tail-rotor authority - and that's one reason Huey pilots have enthusiastically embraced FastFin.
The FastFin tail rotor enhancement and stability system improves productivity and safety while reducing workload for helicopter operators.
The patented FastFin System modifies the tailboom with two parallel stall strips (Dual Tailboom Strakes) and a re-shaped vertical fin, optimizing airflow around the tailboom for dramatically improved handling.
"We noticed a very, very big improvement immediately with the FastFin modification," said Dave Adams, a firefighting pilot who flies UH-1s for Washington State's Department of Natural Resources. "You can hold it in a hover at high altitude with high temperatures and have no tail rotor authority problems whatsoever. This is one of the best modifications for the money that you can get."
His colleague, pilot Richard Woodbury, added, "I would not care to fly an H model again unless it had FastFin."
"With a few simple changes, helicopter operators once limited to less than fully productive payloads can lift more. They achieve greater in-flight stability and can operate at higher density altitudes with greater payloads," said Dave Marone, vice president of Sales and Marketing for BLR Aerospace. "We're proud to support the UH-1 operating community and look forward to doing so for many years to come."
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