Aérospatiale Alouette III

what is it?

The Aérospatiale Alouette III (French pronunciation: [alwɛt], Lark; company designations SA 316 and SA 319) is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by French aircraft company Sud Aviation. Introduced in the early 1960s, more than 2,000 units were built during its production run that extended for six decades. The Alouette III was developed as an enlarged derivative of the earlier successful Alouette II. It shared many design elements with its predecessor while offering an extra pair of seats and other refinements.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 turboshaft engine · 11 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 210 km/htop speed
• range 540 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 5passengers
• size 2,200 kgmax take-off weight
• built 2,000made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 67 years ago, in 1959.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.6× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Rotor of 11 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.

turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.

spec sheet

first flight

1959-02-28

introduced

1960

retired

2004

status

still flying

number built

2,000

role

light utility helicopter

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Saab Group, Aérospatiale, Sud-Aviation

engines

1× Turbomeca Artouste IIIB

crew

2

passengers

5

length

10 m

rotor diameter

11 m

height

3 m

max take-off weight

2,200 kg

top speed

210 km/h

cruise speed

185 km/h

range

540 km

ceiling

3,200 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.