Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Light utility aircraft

Power Plant:

One 220 kw (295 hp) Lycoming GO-480-G1D6 six-cylinder horizontally-opposed air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Courier utility aircraft was built for the Helio Aircraft Corporation at the Pittsburg, Kansas, facility of Mid-States Manufacturing Corporation. The type proved quite successful in its intended role, being fitted with floats, skis, or land undercarriage. Some 100 examples were used by the United States Army in Vietnam for ambulance and communications work, and for the latter role they were equipped with loudspeakers to spread information from the air to the native population in remote areas.

Helio was formed in early 1947 for the purpose of developing and manufacturing a specialised STOL aircraft. A Piper Vagabond was used for some time to test a number of design features, becoming known as the Koppen-Bolinger Helioplane, and the true prototype of the Courier, known as the H-391B, was flown in 1953.

The Model 295 Courier and Model 395 Super Courier were fully cantilever, high-wing, monoplanes of all-metal construction. The cabin section of the fuselage was a metal-covered tubular structure, and the aft section was of semi-monocoque construction. Entrance to the seats (when fitted) was by a door on the left-side of the fuselage, and a second door on the right-side gave access to the middle and rear seats. A separate door gave access for freight. The wing was a single-spar structure equipped with full-span automatic Handley Page leading-edge slats. NACA high-lift slotted flaps were fitted along 75 per cent of the total wingspan. The ailerons were of the Frise-type built of duralumin frames with fabric covering. A non-retractable tailwheel undercarriage was installed.

Development led to a number of derivatives including the H-392 Strato Courier in 1957 for high altitude work, this model having the 254 kw (340 hp) supercharged Lycoming GSO-435 engine. In 1983 the Courier 700 and 800 models were introduced by the newly formed Helio Aircraft Company, the latter being a six-seat version of the earlier H-295 with a 298 kw (400 hp) Avco Lycoming IO-720-A1B eight-cylinder engine, the first flight of which was made on 24 March 1983. The Courier 700 was generally similar to the 800 but had the 261 kw (350 hp) Avco Lycoming TIO-540-J2B turbocharged and fuel-injected six-cylinder engine.

Other models in the range included the H-250 with a 186 kw (250 hp) Lycoming O-540 engine; the H-295 Super Courier with a 220 kw (295 hp) Lycoming GO-480 engine introduced in 1965; and the HT-295 was introduced in 1974 with a tricycle undercarriage. Some 500 examples of the Courier series were completed.

The first Couriers seen in this region in 1966 were imported for the Australian distributor at the time, Helicopter Utilities Pty Ltd. These became VH-UND (c/n 1210) and VH-UNF (c/n 1207). Later imports included VH-FRB (c/n 2540), which operated in Papua New Guinea as P2-FRB, but suffered an accident at Mt Hagen on 28 May 1976, became P2-BOX, and returned to Australia in November 1990 as VH-LIW.

VH-KTY (c/n 1430) operated for some years from Sydney Harbour as a floatplane until it was destroyed in an accident on the south coast of New South Wales when it crashed into the sea south of Moruya, NSW on 31 March 1997.

The type was offered to the Australian Army as a replacement for the Cessna 180 at one time but that service opted for the turbine-powered Pilatus PC-6 Turbo-Porter.

By 2001 the Type Certificate of the Courier was owned by Helio Aircraft Company Inc of Tennessee, which company was planning to put the aircraft back into production in response to demand from third-world countries and bush operators for utility and STOL aircraft. As an alternative to the Lycoming range of engines the company fitted a Russian-built 269 kw (360 hp) Vedeneyev M-14P radial engine, which was lighter, cheaper, and more powerful than the engines formerly installed, the prototype with the M-14P being registered N400HE.

In the event a number of modifications have been made to the series. N400HE was fitted with an Allison 250-B17C turboprop engine providing 313 kw (420 hp); N4406N was fitted with a Lycoming GSO-480-A2A6 engine driving a five-blade propeller; and N666X was fitted with a Walter M-601D-8 turbine engine providing 485 kw (650 hp).

In 2004 an H-250 Courier was imported to New Zealand, this being the variant with the extended fuselage, becoming ZK-TCE (c/n 2503 – ex ZS-ELJ).