The Army is looking for a replacement for the Black Hawk helicopter, and test pilots like what they see
Sikorsky-Boeing officials said the new aircraft design will be capable of flying at speeds of more than 200 knots, or 230 miles per hour, and maneuvering like a fine-tuned sports car.
Test pilots on Defiant said they love the rear pusher-prop, which is designed to provide revolutionary thrust, but are also comforted that it can take direct hits in combat without causing catastrophic failure to the aircraft.
"It's all self-contained back here; you can take significant combat damage back here, and if you lose the prop, you are still a 150-knot machine," Ed Henderscheid, former US Army
AH-64 Apache pilot and Boeing's lead test pilot for Defiant, told defense reporters recently.
Unlike a conventional tail rotor, the rear pusher prop is completely electric, he said.
"Not having hydraulics in the tail boom as a helicopter pilot is a huge deal," Henderscheid said. "I have had hydraulics failures where they were caused by a break in the hydraulic line ... and it's scary when you have to go to keep your tail rotor where you want it. Not having to worry about a leak ... or some mechanical failure — that's a really, really comforting thought."
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