Airbus Helicopters H175

Updated: October 2026 – A large, smooth helicopter with wheels instead of skids, five rotor blades and a long row of windows drones toward the coast: if you are out and about in northern Germany, the Netherlands or Belgium, that could have been an Airbus Helicopters H175. The “super-medium” helicopter of the seven-ton class is built for flights far out to sea and brings crews to drilling rigs and wind farms. In Hong Kong it flies rescue missions, and in China it exists as a twin of its own. Here you will learn how the H175 came about, how to recognize it and where you are most likely to get it in front of your lens.

What is the Airbus H175?

The H175 is a twin-engine multi-role helicopter of the seven-ton class. Airbus Helicopters positions it between the smaller H160 and the heavy H225. It was developed mainly for one market: transporting workers to offshore platforms. Long flight distances over open water, many passengers and high safety margins were therefore the requirements.

Two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67E turboshafts with about 1,776 shp each power it. Airbus cites a cruise speed of over 287 km/h, a range of 1,160 kilometers with standard tanks and an endurance of more than six hours. The maximum takeoff weight is about 7.8 tons, and the five-blade main rotor measures 14.8 meters in diameter.

Depending on the layout the cabin seats up to 18 passengers, up to four per row in the offshore layout. The cabin floor is flat, and Airbus puts the volume at 12 cubic meters plus about 2.3 cubic meters of baggage space. For emergency ditching the H175 has inflatable floats, which according to Airbus are certified up to sea state 6.

The cockpit houses the Helionix avionics, which Airbus also uses in the H145, H160 and other types. This includes a four-axis autopilot that strongly assists approaches to platforms and hovering on SAR missions. You can find more about the manufacturer itself on the page about Airbus Helicopters.

Development with AVIC: a European-Chinese chapter

The H175 is one of the few Western helicopters that was developed together with a Chinese partner from the start. On December 5, 2005, Eurocopter signed the development contract with the Harbin Aircraft Industry Group, which then belonged to AVIC II.

The tasks were clearly divided:

Area	Airbus Helicopters (Eurocopter)	Harbin (AVIC)
Role	technical leadership, systems integration	partner and manufacturer of large assemblies
Assemblies	main gearbox, tail rotor, doors, glazing	airframe, main rotor, intermediate and tail gearbox
Systems	avionics, autopilot, hydraulics, electrics	fuel system, flight controls, landing gear
Engines of its own version	PT6C-67E (Pratt & Whitney Canada)	Ardiden 3C / WZ-16 (Safran with AVIC Engine)
Designation	EC175, H175 since 2015	originally Z-15, now AC352

The EC175 was publicly presented in February 2008 at Heli-Expo in Houston. The official first flight followed on December 17, 2009 in Marignane near Marseille, the large French plant of Airbus Helicopters near Marseille Airport. Time passed before certification: among other things, certification of the new avionics delayed the program by about two years. In January 2014 EASA granted type certification.

The Chinese variant, the AC352, went its own way. It flies with Ardiden 3C turbines, which Safran (then Turbomeca) developed together with AVIC Engine and which are designated WZ-16 in China. Its first flight took place on December 20, 2016. In 2014 Airbus Helicopters and Avicopter had agreed to split production into two separate final assembly lines.

Entry into service and name change

The launch customer was NHV (Noordzee Helikopters Vlaanderen) from Belgium, which put the first aircraft into service over the North Sea in December 2014 and ordered 16 in total. One of the early aircraft first flew as PH-NHV in the Netherlands and was stationed in Den Helder, a hub for offshore flights to oil and gas platforms. In 2020 it moved to the UK and was registered there as G-NHVV.

In the course of the renaming of Eurocopter to Airbus Helicopters, the EC175 became the H175 in 2015. Airbus also advertises climb records: according to the manufacturer, an H175 reached 6,000 meters in 6 minutes and 54 seconds.

Not all major orders were also delivered. The offshore operator Bristow had ordered 22 H175s but canceled the order in early 2020 as part of its restructuring. In 2019 cracks were also found on two aircraft in the tail boom and vertical stabilizer; Airbus limited the maximum speed until the cause was clarified. The offshore market in particular depends heavily on oil and gas prices, which has dampened sales of the type for years. New momentum recently came from the lessor SKYCO, among others, which ordered six H175s in July 2025.

The three features that are enough to identify it

Large offshore helicopters often look alike from a distance: long, heavy, with wheels and many windows. For the H175, three observations help you.

As always, the final certainty comes from the registration. Offshore helicopters in the North Sea often carry Dutch (PH-), British (G-), Belgian (OO-) or Norwegian (LN-) registrations. How the system works is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations; for British registrations in particular, the guide British G registrations helps.

H175, H225, S-92 or AW189?

In the offshore world the H175 competes mainly with the Leonardo AW189, the Sikorsky S-92 and its own stablemate, the H225. For identification it is worth looking at the tail and fuselage shape. The finder helps you narrow it down.

If you want to get deeper into identifying rotorcraft, the guide How to identify helicopter types gives an overview of the most important features – from the tail rotor and blade count to the landing gear shape.

Where you will find the H175

The H175 is not a helicopter for the observation deck of a major airport. It works where the offshore industry and coastal rescue are at home.

North Sea offshore: Most European H175s fly on behalf of the oil, gas and wind energy industry. NHV, as the launch operator, was active with the type in Den Helder and in the UK, among other places. The bases are typically at smaller coastal airfields or at dedicated helicopter terminals of larger airports.

Search and rescue in Hong Kong: The Government Flying Service (GFS) is the launch customer of the SAR version, announced in 2015, and today operates seven H175s. The helicopters are based at Hong Kong Airport and fly rescue missions over the South China Sea, even in typhoons. If you are traveling to Hong Kong anyway, a look at the guide Plane spotting in Hong Kong is worthwhile.

Other operators: The H175 also flies for government agencies and corporate customers, partly with a VIP cabin. The Spanish air force has ordered H175s in VIP configuration, and Airbus markets its own military version with the H175M.

Place	Chance of a hit	Why
Offshore bases on the North Sea coast	high	Main market of the type, regular crew flights
Hong Kong Airport (GFS)	high	seven SAR H175s in service
Airbus plant Marignane	medium	Final assembly, testing and delivery flights
German inland commercial airports	low	ferry and maintenance flights rather rare

Offshore helicopters usually transmit ADS-B data and are therefore easy to find on flight tracker services. How to search specifically for rescue, police and offshore flights is explained in the article Finding helicopters on a flight tracker.

Photo tips specifically for the H175

With helicopters, the shutter speed decides the picture. If a very short exposure freezes the rotor, the H175 looks as if it is hanging motionless in the air. Five blades forgive a bit more than four, because the rotor disc looks “full” sooner.

The technique is the same as for propeller aircraft; details are in the guide Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed. You will find general tips about rotorcraft in the article Helicopter spotting. How to plan light and position in advance is shown in the article Planning around the sun position. With the sun position planner and the weather and wind data in Planetrack you see before the trip which direction light and approach come from.

H175M and government variants

Besides the offshore and SAR versions, Airbus offers the H175 as a VIP helicopter and as the military H175M. According to Airbus, the VIP cabin holds six to twelve passengers. Airbus offered the H175M to the British Air Force, among others, for its New Medium Helicopter program. Spain has ordered H175s in VIP configuration for its air force.

Military and government aircraft often carry their own identifiers instead of civil registrations and fly less predictably. What to keep in mind when photographing near military facilities is in the article Photographing military airfields: rules.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Another candidate in the medium segment is the Leonardo AW139. It is somewhat smaller and lighter, also has five main rotor blades and wheeled landing gear, but looks shorter and stockier. If in doubt, a size comparison with people or vehicles nearby helps.

Conclusion

The H175 is a specialist: built for long flights over open water, with lots of room in the cabin and high safety margins. Its history as a joint project with AVIC makes it a special chapter in helicopter development, and its Chinese twin, the AC352, still creates potential for mix-ups. For spotters in Central Europe it is a rather rare but all the nicer encounter – most likely on the North Sea coast. Five main rotor blades, the small open tail rotor and the wheeled landing gear give you the type, the registration the confirmation.