Hot on the tail rotor of my previous post come yet more Eurocopter news from the Croatian Police 🙂 . Not two weeks after 9A-HBA – the service’s first EC-135 – had started active duty has a second example joined the fleet. Christened 9A-HBB, this machine is also an EC-135P-2+, and sports pretty much the same family tree as its predecessor: manufactured in 2008 for Spain’s Guardia Civil (and coded HU.26-14), but never taken up and instead placed in long-term storage until being sold to Croatia late this year. Like HBA, it was also delivered with flight hours in the low dozens – and like HBA it still needs to be fully kitted out before assuming its intended border patrol role.
Thankfully, on the day of its arrival we’d had another of those beautiful, oddball days in the middle of an otherwise dreary month, making for some excellent photographic opportunities… 🙂
Approaching RWY 10S(un). Even though they’d spent most of the day rumbling around and across Southern Europe on HBB’s delivery flight, the crew was still ready, willing and able to fly a few photo passes down the airfield…Cooling down after the delivery ceremony in the company of 9A-HBA. Originally flying under a Spanish flag and temporary reg – EC-030, still partially visible on the tail – HBB was “rebranded” into its Croatian identity within seconds of the rotors stopping.
While last year’s spectacular run of rotary visitors at Lučko – including two US Chinooks and Knighthawks, a German Super Puma and EC-155, and the second prototype of the Bell 429 GlobalRanger – had raised hopes for an equally eventful 2013, the cold reality had seen the arrival of only one real highlight. But the lack of quantity was made up for with quality, with the highlight in question finding its way even into the mainstream media (without actually having to crash 😀 ). The machine in question is 9A-HBA, the Croatian Police’s first all-new helicopter in over 20 years… 🙂
Approaching its new home for the first time after an all-day ferry flight from distant Spain, still wearing its Spanish test reg
Not really an exciting type per se – with droves upon droves plying the skies of Europe – the EC-135 has nevertheless signaled a small (but significant) shift in the local helicopter community. Having inherited all of its hardware from former Yugoslavia, the Police had ended up being a staunch operator of Bell machines since the early 90s, flying a handful of JetRanger IIs and IIIs – as well as single, and much loved, Twin Huey – till this day. The arrival of HBA – whose acquisiton was sponsored in part by the EU – has broken Bell’s two plus decade long dominance in force, becoming the first Western European helicopter ever to be operated by any Croatian government agency 🙂 (with all the perks and ramifications attached).
While its shiny & clean exterior would suggest a new-build frame, HBA was actually completed back in 2008 and originally intended for service with Spain’s Guardia Civil, where it was briefly known as HU.26-15. However, soon after completing its validation and acceptance flights, it was – for various complicated reasons – mothballed and placed into long term storage. As there was no foreseeable need for it in Spanish service (having stood unused for five years), it was put up for sale, eventually finding its way into Croatian skies :).
Showing the Minister of the Interior – wedged in the cabin – just what the Fenestron tail rotor can do as it swings quickly about for a demonstration flight. Note also the PA system visible under the nose
With just 20-odd hours on the clock – most of which were incurred on the ferry flight from Albacete – HBA will be primarily used in the border patrol role, where it will eventually be joined by two additional examples (one of which is already on the books). Given their twin engine nature and full IFR avionics, these three machines will also likely become a replacement for the aforementioned 212, which is slowly nearing the end of its useful life after several decades of hard graft… 🙂
Achtung, Skyhawk! 