14 DAY TRIAL // After hearing that 3D printing technology has started being used to make airplanes and cars, helicopters aren't a surprise. MD Helicopters, an American aerospace company that produces helicopters primarily for military/civil aviation use, has adopted the practice.
Unlike cars and pretty much everything else in the world, helicopters don't sell in very great numbers per year.
MD Helicopters used to sell around 7 of them per year, until CEO Lynn Tilton managed to raise the number to 52 in 2008.
The thing about helicopters, any aircraft really, is that they are built to last, which means that there is never a rapidly growing market for them.
Demand for them tends to swing from high to low because of that. Right now, it might be going for “high” since a generation of new, efficient and lightweight models is coming.
MD Helicopters, as decided by Lynn Tilton, has begun to include additive manufacturing (one type of 3D printing) into its operations.
Bell Helicopter and Augusta Westland, two of its main competitors, have already done that, so MH Helicopters can't really afford to do any less.
The first helicopter will be a scout capable of using the a light, single-engine NOTAR structure, as 3D printing can produce a hollow structure that will retain the overall solidity and toughness of existing frames, but for a much lower weight. A release may take place next year (2015).