The Aérospatiale SA 330 Puma is a four-bladed, twin-engined medium transport/utility helicopter. The Puma was originally built by Sud Aviation of France, and continued to be made by Aérospatiale. It was also license-built in Romania as the IAR 330; two unlicensed derivatives, the Denel Rooivalk and Atlas Oryx, were made in South Africa. The Puma was a commercial success and was quickly developed into more advanced models such as the AS332 Super Puma and AS532 Cougar, manufactured by Eurocopter since the early 1990s. These descendants of the Puma remain in production in the 21st century.
General characteristics
Crew: 3
Capacity: 16 passengers
Length: 18.15 m (59 ft 6½ in)
Rotor diameter: 15.00 m (49 ft 2½ in)
Height: 5.14 m (16 ft 10½ in)
Disc area: 177.0 m² (1,905 ft²)
Empty weight: 3,536 kg (7,795 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 7,000 kg (15,430 lb)
Powerplant: 2× Turbomeca Turmo IVC turboshafts, 1,175 kW (1,575 hp) each
Performance
Never exceed speed: 273 km/h (147 knots, 169 mph)
Maximum speed: 257 km/h (138 knots, 159 mph)
Cruise speed: 248 km/h (134 knots, 154 mph) econ cruise
Range: 580 km (313 nm, 360 mi)
Service ceiling: 4,800 m (15,750 ft)
Rate of climb: 7.1 m/s (1,400 ft/min)
Armament
Guns:
Coaxial 7.62 mm (0.30 in) machine guns
Side-firing 20 mm (0.787 in) cannon
