page_title: Eurocopter EC135
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Eurocopter EC135 / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: Eurocopter EC-135 at Les Arcs during rescue operation
context_page_description: The Eurocopter EC135 is a twin-engine civil light utility helicopter produced by Airbus Helicopters. It is capable of flight under instrument flight rules and is outfitted with a digital automatic flight control system. First flying on 15 February 1994, it entered service in 1996 and 1,300 have been delivered up to January 2018 to 300 operators in 60 countries, accumulating over 4.5 million flight hours. It is mainly used for helicopter emergency medical services, corporate transport, law enforcement, offshore wind support, and military flight training. Half of them are in Europe and a quarter in North America. The Eurocopter EC635 is a military variant.
context_section_description: Deliveries started on 1 August 1996, when two helicopters (0005 and 0006) were handed over to Deutsche Rettungsflugwacht. The 100th EC135 was handed over to the Bavarian police force in June 1999; by which point the worldwide fleet had accumulated approximately 30,000 flight hours. In September 2003, the 300th EC135 was handed over to UK-based McAlpine Helicopters; at this point, the EC135 was the best selling new light twin-engine helicopter in the UK market.
  In 2011, Eurocopter announced that the 1,000th EC135 to be produced had been delivered to German operator ADAC, roughly 15 years following the start of production. In 2012, Flying Magazine recognised the EC135 as being "the industry's best selling twin-engine helicopter". The world fleet leader in flight hours for the type is G-NESV (s/n 0067), operated by Cleveland Police Air Operations Unit based at Durham Tees Valley Airport, UK. Originally delivered to the North East Air Support Unit in April 1999, it was the first EC135 worldwide to attain a total of 10,000 flying hours.
  In 2009, the EC135 was the first aircraft selected for offshore wind support in the UK after the Civil Aviation Authority approved helicopter operations to the Greater Gabbard offshore wind farm. The EC135 has also been used in Denmark to support the Horns Rev offshore wind farm, by 2013, over 10,000 successful personnel transfers have taken place using the type. In Mexico, Apoyo Logístico Aéreo has operated a fleet of EC135s for servicing the extensive oil and gas offshore platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
  In 2013, it was reported that the EC135 was currently providing roughly 25% of the world's total emergency medic services flights, and that over 500 EC135s have been delivered to in an aeromedical configuration. By late 2013, during which a brief grounding of the type was instigated due to safety concerns of fuel gauges, it was noted that the EC135 made up half of the UK's operational air ambulance fleet. In October 2014, the first EC135 air ambulance to be delivered in the Chinese market took place.
  The German Army operates a total of 14 EC135s as basic trainers at the School of Army Aviation in Bückeburg, these have had an average operational availability in excess of 95 per cent; in 2014, the German Army noted that there was potential for vibration-induced rotor cracking during autorotation training, shortening the life of the main rotor. In October 2014, the Australian Department of Defence announced that the EC135 would be procured as the primary training platform for both the Australian Army and Royal Australian Navy. A total of 13 EC135 trainers have been procured by the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force, they have been designed as the TH-135.
  In December 2014, the first production EC135 T3 formally entered service with Aiut Alpin Dolomites, a mountain rescue operator based in Italy. In June 2015, Airbus Helicopters delivered the first retrofitted H135 from the earlier EC135 standard; changes include an enlarged main rotor, relocated engine air intakes, elevated engine performance, and the horizontal stabiliser's endplates removed and its span increased.
  In October 2015, Waypoint Leasing and Airbus Helicopters signed an agreement for the acquisition of up to 20 EC135 for public leasing purposes.
caption: EC135 T1 of French operator SAF Hélicoptères during a rescue operation
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