Modern-Aviation

It’s the late ‘70s, and Westland is having success with its Lynx maritime attack helicopter. The next obvious move was to build on that by making a civilian version for the offshore and VIP market. Obvious, that is, if you’re not familiar with the Lynx, which is an ergonomic and audible nightmare, with average endurance, and a maintenance hours per-flying-hour problem.

The Westland 30-100 used the same rotors, engines and transmission as the Lynx but mated it with a boxier fuselage which could apparently seat 22. Which would have been a claustrophobic experience if sitting in the back of a 9-passenger configured Lynx is anything to go by.

The Westland 30 was also a heavy aircraft of almost 6000kg, a figure the Lynx wouldn’t get close to until the Mk 8 in the mid-90s. This didn’t do anything for the performance, the early Gem engines not being up to the task. Consequently, the WG30 was poor in range, power, and operating costs. On the plus side, it meant it rarely flew with more than about 10 people in the back, which must have made it quite roomy.

After two fatal crashes in 1988 and 1989 the fleet was grounded. Meanwhile, operators in the USA seemed no more enamoured of them with issues around the auto-stabilisation system, the maintenance levels required, and the lacklustre of customer support, issues that wouldn’t have surprised any Lynx operator.