260mph: Airbus Racer shatters speed records in its seventh flight

In a landmark achievement for helicopters, Airbus Racer has reached its fast cruise speed target of 249 mph (220 knots).

Developed in the European Research Clean Sky 2 project frame, the Racer exceeded its level speed objective of 249 mph by reaching 260 mph (227 knots) in its initial configuration, Airbus said in a press release on July 23.

The Racer achieved this feat on June 21, less than two months after its first flight.

“In just seven flights and about nine hours of flight testing, almost all of the flight envelope has been opened,” Airbus said.

Next phase to focus on single-engine ops

Bruno Even, CEO of Airbus Helicopters, said this achievement in such a short time is a testimony to the hard work of 40 partners in 13 European countries to bring this innovation to flight.

“On top of its performance, the aircraft’s aerodynamic behavior and stability are promising. We are all looking forward to the next phase of flight testing, especially the eco-mode which will enable us to shut down one engine in forward flight, thus reducing fuel consumption, and lowering the CO2 emissions,” Even added.

The flight test crew consisted of Hervé Jammayrac, Chief Flight Test Pilot, Dominique Fournier, Flight Test Engineer, and Christophe Skorlic, Test Flight Engineer.

The next phase of flight testing will focus on single-engine operations and finalize the flight envelope.

Hybrid helicopter-plane concept

Optimized for a cruise speed of more than 249 mph, the Racer demonstrator aims to achieve the best trade-off between speed, cost-efficiency, and mission performance.

The Racer also targets a fuel consumption reduction of around 20% compared to current-generation helicopters in the same maximum take-off weight category thanks to aerodynamic optimization and an innovative eco-mode propulsion system.

Developed with Safran Helicopter Engines, the hybrid-electrical eco-mode system allows one of the two Aneto-1X engines to be paused while on cruise flight, thus reducing CO2 emissions.

The Racer also aims to demonstrate how its particular architecture can contribute to lowering its operational acoustic footprint.

Better aerodynamics

The Racer combines unique aircraft designs to achieve high performance and efficiency.

These include special fuselage aerodynamics , contributing to higher speed and fuel efficiency. ​​

Furthermore, it features a helicopter rotor that generates vertical lift, allowing the Racer to take off and land like a helicopter.

Lastly, a fixed-wing aircraft helps generate a total lift of 40% during forward flight. This future generation of aircraft has the potential to be more comfortable than a traditional helicopter.

This 200 million euro ($217 million) Racer has the potential to take off smoothly like a helicopter, without a long runway, and fly at high speeds like an airplane.

On April 25, the Racer took off for its maiden 30-minute flight.

The development of this aircraft’s prototype version was first announced in 2017.

The Racer builds upon the innovations and learnings from Airbus’s X3 demonstrator, ushering in a new era of high-speed helicopter technology for the company.

The X3 was a hybrid test demonstrator aircraft that was presented in 2010.