FYI, I did my best at a transcript of the X3 video:
0:00, Lutz Bertling, President & CEO of Eurocopter: “For Eurocopter, as the leading helicopter manufacturer in the world, innovation has always been a priority. This is why we have doubled since 2007, our self-funded research and development budgets. And why we have taken the commitment for the first flight of a technology demonstrator, a new version, or a brand new helicopter, every year from now on.”
0:28, Bertling: “Now in economically more difficult times, it’s from our point of view even more important, to invest in your future, and new solutions for you and new solutions for our company and our future as well. And it’s not without reason that I’m standing here in front of an EC155 – a helicopter that you know very well. But based on this, we have developed a new concept, a concept which we call ‘X-cube’ – a concept for more speed, more range at affordable cost.”
1:08, Jean-Michel Billig, Research & Development: “Yes, we believe there is a market for high-speed helicopters for oil and gas [exploration], between shuttle between small cities, for search and rescue missions for the military. But we believe that the high speed cannot be achieved at any cost. So we have been investigating, the high speed solution offering all the functionalities of a helicopter, the hover capability, offering a high speed solution at reduced life cycle costs for the customer.”
1:40, Phillipe Roesch, Innovation: “X3 is a proof-of-concept demonstrator of the H3 concept. H3 stands for High-speed, long range, hybrid helicopter. It’s an advanced VTOL concept, blending the hover capability of the helicopter with the high speed cruise efficiency of the turboprop at an affordable cost. This project was launched in January 2008 to validate the H3 technical concept, aircraft control and trim strategies, anti-torque and yaw control, propulsion, rotor speed governor, and power management system.”
2:31, Billig: “Describing the parameters to design our X3, we’re aiming at preserving the versatility of the helicopter, in hover, in autororation, and also the versatility of the missions of the helicopter.”
2:50, Roesch: “Good performance in hover requires low rotor disc loading, typically a helicopter rotor. The rotor rpm then is reduced at high speed to avoid drag divergence at the tip of the advancing blade. A small wing then partially unloads the rotor at high speed to avoid the retreating blade stall. Auxiliary propulsion is also necessary to avoid degradation of rotor lift-to-drag ratio at high advance ratios. Wing mounted propellers provide the propulsive force in forward flight and the anti-torque in hover.”
3:50: “In order to minimize the X3 development effort – cost and schedule – we have reused a number of components from several Eurocopter helicopters. For example, the airframe has been taken from the Dauphin 365 N3; the main rotor, from the EC 155; the main module of the gearbox – the main gearbox – comes from the EC175. It was adapted with lateral power outputs towards the propeller gearboxes in a specific development. The engines come from the NH90, big engines, probably oversized for this type of aircraft. The trim actuators are coming from several aircraft, I think the EC145, and the serial actuators is a standard piece of equipment on most Eurocopter helicopters.”
5:45, Bertling: “You will actually miss our nice Fenestron on the helicopter which you will see in flight in a few seconds. The X3 technology demonstrator which successfully made its first flight is a totally new concept, which will provide you, our customers, with a cost efficient, best-value-for-money solution for all your missions, in particular, if speed is of essence.”
6:49, Daniel Semioli, Flight Test Engineer: “It’s really something, I should say, amazing. It’s a special day. First of all, because I’m so happy to fly for the first time in this aircraft with Hervé. We flew already in 2000 together on the 725 for the first flight. I should say it was something classical, but today is something exception.”
7:10 Hervé Jammayrac, Flight Test Pilot: “This flight, yes, was very different from a helicopter flight in that it’s a totally new concept, which was easy to fly in hover, and so no big difference with a helicopter. It’s a great achievement for Eurocopter, for all the team that has worked on this project.”
7:28, Daniel Semioli: “And I’m sure that we’re opening a new page of the helicopter story.”
7:35, Lutz: “This new concept, X3 is the best evidence that the innovation part of Shape [Project] – our innovation strategy – becomes reality. We are preparing the future of Eurocopter. And this success is due to strong dedication of teams, hard working teams, with high genius, developing new solutions. We at Eurocopter, we all, we can be proud of our products and our services. But even more, we can be proud of the teams working for Eurocopter. It’s their success, their achievement.”
