Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS), part of Qinetiq, has taken delivery of the first of four Airbus Helicopters H125 aircraft. All four ETPS H125s will be delivered following customisation by Airbus Helicopters' UK design team, which will equip the aircraft with a three-axis autopilot, dedicated communications equipment and a traffic awareness system.
A flight test instrumentation suite will also be installed which, in a similar fashion to Formula 1 motor racing telemetry, transmits data to the ETPS base at Boscombe Down in real-time, allowing students in practical and class-based environments to test and evaluate aircraft design and performance.