Eurocopter Integrates TCAS II into EC225 Autopilot

Eurocopter has coupled the Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System II (TCAS II) into the autopilot of the EC225 helicopter, it has been revealed.


The company has been working to integrate the system into an autopilot for several years, and now plans to make the installation standard on all EC225s in oil and gas configuration.

While TCAS I provides visual and audible alerts of potential conflicts, TCAS II goes one step further and gives pilots information on the the manouveres required to avoid collision. With the TCAS II linked directly to the autopilot, the aircraft automatically performs the avoidance manouvere without the need for any reaction by the pilot.


In an April newsletter, Eurocopter said that this will result, 'in a significant safety improvement'


With TCAS II, EC225’s autopilot automatically climbs or descends to ensure safe separation from other aircraft before returning to its initial position.

As well as the EC225, the company plans integrate the capability into the EC175 as well. Eurocopter uses Rockwell Collins' TCAS II system, which received European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification for use on the EC225 in December 2011.


TCAS II has been fitted to helicopters since 2008 when Bristow broke ground by fitting TCAS II to a Super Puma. It has since retrofitted the system to the S-92 and the S-76 but Eurocopter is believed to represent the first time TCAS II has been fully integrated into a helicopter autopilot.