The European Aviation Safety Agency has awarded the Eurocopter EC225 helicopter an airworthiness certificate for unrestricted operations in icing conditions. The helicopter's five main rotor blades are de-iced cyclically by mats heated by metal resistors, enabling them to be folded manually. The anti-icing system for the four tail rotor blades operates continuously and incorporates four anti-icing carbon resistors.

The master box of the ice protection system energises the heating mats in both sets of blades. The development and certification phases were completed in three flight test campaigns, lasting around 100 flight hours.

Programme director of the Super Puma/EC225 Bernard Fujarski commented: "This certification will substantially expand the helicopter's operating envelope by paving the way to an all-weather capability."