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The Hélicoptères Guimbal Cabri G2 is a two-seat piston engine helicopter
in the small rotorcraft category. The airframe and tail boom of the
helicopter are all-composite; the main landing gear is composed of two
tubular bows, and two skids. The Cabri G2 is powered by a single
Lycoming O-360 J2A engine; the main rotor is a fully articulated, high
inertia three blades rotor system, and the helicopter has an seven
blades fenestron tail rotor. The Cabri G2 is primarily the result of a
personal adventure: it was completely designed and developed by Bruno
Guimbal, then a young engineer at Aérospatiale Hélicoptères. Since the
first draft while he was still at l’École Supérieure des Techniques
Aérospatiales (High School of Aerospace Technology), the various stages
of this project were achieved gradually. Bruno Guimbal gradually found
the support of his company (then Eurocopter-France-ECF) and G2 prototype
s/n 01 made its first flight as F-WIPA at Marseille-Marignane on 11
April 1992. This G2 protototype and demonstrator was powered by a single
Lycoming O-320 E2A engine and was tested for four years, first in
ECF-Marignane, then by Bruno Guimbal personally, after the teething
problems had been resolved. On 18 April 1994, restricted DGAC
certification was being issued for the G2 and the registration of the G2
s/n 01 changed to F-PILA on 4 July 1994. The airframe totalizing nearly
150 flight hours with 18 pilots, and since 22 May 1996, the Cabri G2 has
held the world record distance for a helicopter under 500 kg with a
distance of 481,32 km. In 1998, the Cabri G2 s/n 01 was withdrawn from
use, but this was not the end of the airframe as in 1999, the dynamic
set (rotor and tailboom) were used for the Eurocopter/Guimbal Orka 1200
maquette. In view of the excellent performance of the machine and the
potential market, the company Hélicoptères Guimbal SA was created in
October 2000, to continue studies to define a serial device and
industrialize the production of the Cabri G2. The pre-production model
s/n 1001, the first Cabri G2 out of the workshop of Hélicoptères Guimbal
at Aérodrome d'Aix-en-Provence, therefore incorporates advances made on
the prototype F-PILA in a view of industrialization. Guimbal Cabri G2
s/n 1001 F-WYHG, flew first at Aix-en-Provenceon 31 March 2005. Already
on 18 August 2005, the F-WYGH had established three official world
records in its class: Height attained without a payload 6,658 mtrs;
Duration of a climb to 3,000 mtrs - 6 min 42 sec.; Duration of a climb
to 6,000 mtrs - 22 min 6 sec. Hélicoptères Guimbal received the first
orders for the Cabri G2 in June 2006 and EASA certificate was applied
for on 21 December 2006. On 14 December 2007, the Hélicoptères Guimbal
Cabri G2 received EASA type certification No. EASA.R.145. On 22
September 2008, the first production Guimbal Cabri G2 (s/n 1003) was
delivered as F-GXRU to iXair in Paris, France. On 30 January 2015, the
Hélicoptères Guimbal Cabri G2 received the FAA type certificate. In addition
to its use within the general aviation sector and as a training rotorcraft,
the Cabri G2 has also been used as the basis for unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Today, over
300 Guimbal Cabri helicopters are built and delivered to customers all over the world.
The
ICAO Aircraft Type Designator for the Hélicoptères Guimbal Cabri G2 is G2CA |
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The 2016-built Guimbal Cabri G2 s/n 1146 was tested in France with the Hélicoptères Guimbal test-registration F-WZEF.
On 16 June 2016, the Guimbal Cabri G2 was registered PH-HCF with HeliCentre, Lelystad, as operator. On 26 July 2016,
Guimbal Cabri G2 PH-HCF was delivered all white at Lelystad.
On 27 January 2017, Guimbal Cabri G2 PH-HCF was seen
in the the HeliCentre colors at Lelystad Airport (EHLE/LEY). |
Luchtvaart déjà vu
