"L" as "Made in Italy"

(To Andrea Troncone)
16/01/17

Those who listen to Luciano Ligabue will find a clear inspiration in the title of this article from the last album.

This piece is the report of a visit to the Vergiate della Helicopters Division di Leonardo took place the day after a historic Monza concert by the Emilian rocker, but it is certainly not the typo of a bottle of Lambrusco: here we are talking about serious things! Maybe in a way that does not conform to any journalistic "cliché", but certainly in a serious way (... a bit like the meaning behind the songs of the "Liga" ...).

For many, even abroad, the texts of an Italian singer-songwriter or a table wine (which among themselves can only be "philosophically" in terms of genuineness and content) represent one of our flagship products: they do not say that we are only "pizza and mandolin" ?!

But there is also a certain type of "local" product that is highly appreciated (abroad rather than in Italy) that does not cook in a wood oven or that is not sung in racetracks: it is the one conceived with ingenuity, made with precision and finished with care, that everywhere in the world is identified with the name of "Made in Italy".

If we want to make a last reference to the (pleasant) musical torment of the moment, if on the one hand it is undeniably true that Italy is a train that has never been once on time, on the other side, the Italy that comes down from that train and gets on a helicopter, has always arrived before everyone.

  • Leonardo (da Vinci) designed the "aerial screw";

  • Enrico Forlanini, showed that Leonardo (the one there) had seen us right and with a model of helicopter showed the world that it was possible to really lift something heavier than air from the ground;

  • Corradino d'Ascanio made the first real helicopter;

  • Count Agusta understood the extraordinary possibilities of using this aircraft and became one of the world's leading producers.

For some time there has been another Leonardo in Italy, quite important and known, and which has one inside Helicopters Division that carries on this tradition of excellence.

This other type of "Made in Italy" represents a certain Italian spirit, and reminds us that we Italians can achieve remarkable goals, even when in the Monza racetrack there are no Emilian products that attract hundreds of thousands of fans or fans.

Entering the single-span shed that for years has been the longest one in Europe (and perhaps it is still), you are faced with an orderly, clean and essential assembly line. Each stage of the production cycle is completed at each workstation, and a future AW139 such as a CH47, AW109 or AW189 can be processed at the same location.

In Vergiate, both civil and military helicopters are produced (the latter in the transport versions only), while those for aerotactic or specialized missions such as "Lynx" and AW101 "are produced in other sites on the basis of rationalization of production .

Here, under this roof, dated 1937, many SIAI Marchetti airplanes were born, (SM-79, SM-82, FN 333, SF-260 and SM 1019 just to name a small representation) that made the history of aviation , or maintenance has been done to others, such as Fairchild C119. But for the last several years "only" helicopters have been produced. A complete production, from the design of the single platforms to the integration and development of avionics components (and we speak of autopilot, HUMS (Health Usage & Monitoring System) for the diagnostics of the machine systems and the aerotactic system, which are not exactly a joke!).

To be honest, it must be said that the origin of the site as SIAI Marchetti remains only the memory, but only that of those who knew him, because even the only trace of that glorious past, that is the header of the square on which flies the tricolor, to the founder of the SIAI Ing. Alessandro Marchetti is semi-covered by a large bronze sculpture, certainly of great artistic value, but which does not allow to intuit references to those who have made the past, grabbing a place in history.

It must be said, however, that the colors of the SIAI flag disappeared long before Leonardo's birth: the SIAI was absorbed first by AGUSTA, which became AGUSTA-WESTLAND to then flow into FINMECCANICA.

Each new industrial group that has alternated in the ownership of this production site has always replaced the social colors and more still relegated the memories of its past to some museum, as if it were no longer of current interest there. Unforgivable, but this is the only "sore" of my visit, and even this is unfortunately a typical "Made in Italy" specialty.

The time at our disposal does not allow historical digressions nor to see too much beyond the assembly line and the flight line, but after all these form the backbone of the entire plant and we need to focus on the many and important details of current events and content, here present.

In particular, there are three things that affect:

  1. the ability to customize the product oriented to the specific requests of a very demanding clientele,

  2. the modularity of production,

  3. the ability to design and construct in its own right what is by far the most complex component: transmission.

These three peculiarities are not independent of each other. If on the one hand the ability to customize in response to customer requests requires enormous effort (each kit must be designed, built, tested and approved in compliance with the strictest certification standards and each specific market) on the other hand the design Modular allows you to take advantage of over 1000 customization kits already approved, for example on the AW139, to create an offer unthinkable for many other "competitors".

Many ... so to speak, because there are only four real competitors. This factor, together with the excellent after-sales assistance and services included in the purchase, means that 50% of the world market of the civil helicopter for "executive" or "corporate" use (respectively "personal" or "corporate" use "As we once said when in Italy we spoke in Italian), as regards multi-engine machines, it is produced here.

But the concept of modularity goes well beyond the "simple" personalization of the single helicopter: when it is extended to the entire production cycle, it allows the genesis of product families. Anyone who has furnished IKEA home will have understood the concept very well, even if in this case the technological contents of the product are irrefutably more advanced.

In the aeronautical field, it was the Airbus with its A3XX family started by AXXUMX to consecrate the modular design of a product family, but its helicopters division constituted with the acquisition of Eurocopter it is a step backwards from Leonardo: the French will certainly have to renew the range of their products, but it takes years before the renewal is completed, and this means being already heavily late.

La Helicopters Division di Leonardo (formerly Agusta-Westland) has in fact already started the important challenge for years to be the first helicopter manufacturer to introduce modular platforms common to several products. This resulted in the AW Family consisting of three parallel working lines (AW-139, AW-169, AW-189) covering a very broad spectrum of dimensions (from 4,6 tons of the AW169 to over 8,6 tons of 'AW189), missions and configurations, but they share the same philosophies and multiple common components or customization kits and the same approach to maintenance and training.

For the producer, the advantage is that given by a faster and more precise production, but also the end customers benefit, thanks to a greater number of variants and customizations and reduction of the operating costs, and so on. Last but not least, it is also an advantage for those who have to do and receive training (regardless of whether they are maintenance workers or drivers) thanks to the "family feeling" inherent in the DNA of everyone belonging to the same family.

To the description of these advantages it is good to associate some numbers, to better understand their entity.

For the manufacturer: weights from 40 to 120kg for helicopters, a single hydraulic system with modular architecture, the possibility of extending to other helicopters the points of excellence of one of them (for example, having placed all the mechanics above the housing cell, under a sliding fairing that facilitates accessibility for maintenance), cost reduction for components and suppliers due to the doubling of components and shared systems (up to 20% of components, up to 30% of equipment for maintenance) .

For the customer: greater operational availability of its helicopter fleet (+ 10%), the interchangeability of spare parts stored in its warehouse and the lower training costs of its maintenance personnel (-25% of training in the transition from AW -139 to AW-189) and pilots (-33% of flight hours required for transit from AW-139 to AW-189).

I mentioned the AW139. Many of us, in the summer, have seen him participate in the air demonstrations in the Combat-SAR demonstrations of the Air Force in which, in addition to allowing us to learn more about the activities of the 15 ° Stormo also at the service of the Civil Protection were presented at best its agility, speed, maneuverability and versatility. Features that have made it possible to replace much more expensive and cumbersome helicopters such as the HH-3F without losing effectiveness and in some cases even increasing it. A helicopter that could over time repeat the success of the A-109, still highly sought after for its excellent "all-round" features.

Mentioning the tasks of Civil Protection, I find out in the case of the AW169 model that the development of solutions required by the civil market, especially for advanced multi-role rapid intervention tasks, leads to "pourable" solutions in the military one. So far I have always heard the opposite, but an example shows me this revelation: a civil version without APU (Auxiliary Power Unitan additional whirlwind that produces electric current and air-conditioning when the motors are switched off) has imposed the construction of a particular type of transmission that frees the engine from the rotor and allows only the current generator to be turned and the passenger compartment to be conditioned. If on the one hand this may seem just a hack for some impatient billionaire, imagine the advantage of being able to air-condition the interior and feed the sanitary equipment to accommodate a barellato to be taken in a place where the geographical context requires to have the rotor stopped the safety of rescuers ... And imagine, after, the advantage of being able to use such a device for a military operation in the area where maximum noise suppression is required: with this same device, just bring the engine to the minimum but the rotor remains "in pairs "Thanks to the reduction gearbox that compensates for the loss of engine power resulting from engine reduction. GENIAL but extremely difficult to achieve and certify!

The transmission (and not only this one just described) has in fact always been a technical challenge, the main concern of every helicopter manufacturer. This component must already under normal conditions reduce by several tens of thousands of times the input revolutions from the engine (s) in a very small space. Special materials are needed to contain the weights as much as possible without losing strength. This requires studies and development of special casting techniques and equally advanced equipment for subsequent processing.

Many of us will have seen that tremendous film about the tragic accident of the Norwegian "Super Puma" in which 13 people lost their lives (including the pilot Michele Vimercati, born a few kilometers from Vergiate, and of whom I have a particularly strong personal memory ). Without wanting to enter into the merits of that incident that probably will still be under investigation, I just say that unfortunately that movie tragically explains the concept I am trying to pass tragically much better than a thousand words.

The use of a helicopter can be particularly burdensome for the transmission and the more the design and construction are far from perfection, the more fundamental the lubrication system becomes. Well, with the AW 189 they managed to get the certification to run the transmission without lubrication for 50 '. This means that if a helicopter, for example an ambulance helicopter, should have a breakdown while flying over a city, no one's life is endangered because the inhabited center would be flown over safely for everyone. Similarly, if a military helicopter were hit while returning from an operation, it could fly to a protected area before being able to make an emergency landing ... The AW139 then demonstrated a lubricant-free operating capacity of 60 minutes !!!

A certification of this type is really a remarkable goal, and right at the bottom of the shed a huge sign visible from virtually every workstation says "AW-189 Certified!" For the collective sharing of a fair reason for pride, child of commitment of all and of stimulation for future goals of equal excellence.

At the sight of that sign, in my mind the memory of something similar that was hanging at the end of the Lamborghini assembly line reappears as long as it has remained Italian (indeed, Emilian ...): a sign of almost identical moral meaning said: "The last tester is the customer: make sure that he remains satisfied". We Italians (women and men "Made in Italy") these little things are good for the heart and make us feel part of a real team!

Actually there would also be another, and even more direct, comparison between Leonardo and Lamborghini.

Moreover, as I can see from one of the last issues of "Rivista Aeronautica", this national automotive glory is making great strides of twinning with the world of flight.

But what I refer to has nothing to do with velocity performance, nor with the initial "L" in their name. I refer to something far more direct, but this time it would lead us to opposite conclusions.

Ferruccio Lamborghini, in fact, wanted to produce helicopters. He built 5 prototypes, very innovative compared to contemporary Bells, precisely in terms of transmission. They had the engine in front of the muzzle to give maximum passenger space and comfort to the passenger compartment. But despite this and the fact that these prototypes were manufactured in a period of full industrial and technological explosion, Lamborghini had to surrender right in front of the certification process.

What remains of his helicopters is today in the museum that his son has dedicated to him, while in Vergiate there is a continuous aviation of helicopters of all kinds, in pre-delivery testing or experimentation ...

(photo: Leonardo / Aeronautica Militare / Web)