Eurocopter Dauphin
| SA 365 Dauphin 2 AS365 Dauphin |
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| A British Army Air Corps Dauphin 2 landing at Glasgow Airport, Scotland | |
| Role | transport/utility helicopter |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer |
Aérospatiale Eurocopter Airbus Helicopters |
| First flight | 24 January 1975 |
| Introduction | December 1978 |
| Status | In service |
| Primary users |
Pawan Hans Maryland State Police |
| Produced | 1975–present |
| Number built | 1,000+ |
| Unit cost |
<US$10M, €7.5M
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| Developed from | Aérospatiale SA 360 |
| Variants |
Eurocopter HH-65 Dolphin Eurocopter AS565 Panther Harbin Z-9 |
| Developed into | Eurocopter EC 155 |
 Official Dauphin AS365 History video
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Recording of Dauphin landing and taxiing
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Cockpit view of engine startup and takeoff
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The Airbus Helicopters AS365 Dauphin (Dolphin), formerly known as the Aérospatiale SA 365 Dauphin 2 and the Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin, is a medium-weight multipurpose twin-engine helicopter currently produced by Airbus Helicopters. It was originally developed and manufactured by French firm Aérospatiale, which was merged into the multinational Eurocopter company during the 1990s. Since entering production in 1975, the type has been in continuous production for more than 40 years. The intended successor to the Dauphin is the Airbus Helicopters H160, which is yet to enter operational service as of March 2015.
The Dauphin 2 shares many similarities with the Aérospatiale SA 360, a commercially unsuccessful single-engine helicopter; however the twin-engine Dauphin 2 did meet with customer demands and has been operated by a wide variety of civil and military operators. Since the type's introduction in the 1970s, several major variations and specialised versions of the Dauphin 2 have been developed and entered production, including the military-oriented Eurocopter Panther, the air-sea rescue HH/MH-65 Dolphin, the Chinese-manufactured Harbin Z-9 and the modernised Eurocopter EC155.
The SA 365/AS365 Dauphin 2 is a twin-engine development of the commercially unsuccessful single-engined Aérospatiale SA 360 Dauphin; only a year after the SA 360's entry into service, Aerospatiale had recognized that a platform powered by two engines rather than one was better suited to both civil and military operations, thus a redesign program was initiated. In January 1975, the first twin-engine Dauphin prototype performed its first flight; the prototype soon demonstrated an airspeed of 170 knots in level flight and set multiple speed records, among them the Paris-London trip at an average of 322 km/h. Deliveries of production models began later that decade.
The initial production variant entered service under the original designation of SA 365C; French certification of this model was received in July 1978. In 1982, the SA 356C Dauphin was succeeded by the more capable SA 365 N. Amongst several major design changes and improvements, the SA 365 N featured more powerful engines, greater use of composite materials, a better cabin arrangement, and retractable landing gear.
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Wikipedia