Aerospatiale AS332 Super Puma

The Aerospatiale AS332 Super Puma, later sold as the Eurocopter AS332 and now the Airbus Helicopters H215, is a four-bladed, twin-engined, medium utility helicopter developed in France during the 1970s from the earlier SA 330 Puma. Aerospatiale redesigned the fuselage for greater damage tolerance and crashworthiness, used composite materials more widely in the rotor, streamlined the nose and fitted a pair of more powerful Turbomeca Makila turboshaft engines, which gave it a higher cruise speed, more range and lower fuel consumption than its predecessor. It was planned from the start in a short and a stretched fuselage length. The first full prototype flew on 13 September 1978 and the first civil example was delivered in 1981, after which it became the company principal utility helicopter. It has served armies and air forces, carried crews and passengers to offshore oil rigs and fought fires, and its military version is known as the AS532 Cougar.