Verpelét is a small town with 3,700 inhabitants in the Tarna valley, 17 kilometres southwest of Eger. In 1997, Steel Riders Kft. started its operations there with three people in a 200-m2 hall, where we were welcomed by its owner and managing director, Gábor Farkas.

The metal-cutting company initially produced custom workpieces using traditional machines. But continuous development and improvements, such as the introduction of NC technology, made it possible to produce medium and large series. The complex logistics service further improved the company’s market position. Looking back to the almost 30 years since the foundation of the company, the most difficult period was the second half of the 2000s, when the crisis affected many industries, including metalworking. With the decline in orders, Steel Riders Kft. also generated significant excess capacity, but thanks to forward-looking and courageous decisions, they did not embark on a course of downsizing or capacity reduction. Gábor Farkas then saw the time had come to realise his childhood dream and set about building his own design helicopter.

The manufacturing technology for light helicopter production was available, and the engineering and manufacturing capacity freed up by the market environment was reallocated to the light helicopter project. Many people helped with the design, production and later the flight testing, including engineer Gábor Juhász and pilot Tamás Rács. The first HungaroCopter HC-01, a single-seat, still coverless HungaroCopter, received its flight permit in 2012 and further developments were continuously underway parallelly with its tests. The second sub-version, HC-02/1, with a maximum take-off weight of 475 kilogrammes, but still single-seater, included the ERS (electrically powered rescue system), which was already standard on the two-seater HC-02/2 prepared for serial production, and which can be used for about one minute. The electric engine can drive the blades at maximum speed in less than one second in an emergency. This battery-powered innovation, with a power of 32 kW, which significantly increases safety, can help immediately if the rotor fails to spin up after the petrol engine has stopped, but can also be used in the final phase of the auto rotation or even during take-off in hot weather. In addition to the use of ERS, HungaroCopter is also a pioneer in the light helicopter market thanks to the Rotax 915IS installed in the two-seater HC-02/2 version, completed in 2021. The 141 hp, four-cylinder, turbocharged engine is the first to be used by the Hungarian company in a helicopter. The two-seater version, completed in 2021, has a maximum take-off weight of 600 kg and a maximum speed of 209 km/h. The helicopter has a chrome-molybdenum frame structure, the passenger cabin, tail boom, main rotor and tail rotor blades are made of carbon, and the main rotor shaft is made of titanium. The HC-02/2 is easy to drive and has good manoeuvrability, and no longer features conventional instruments. The centrepiece of the instrument panel is the Kanardia Nesis III, a 7-inch touchscreen display that shows flight data, engine parameters and navigation. Thanks to the various display modes, the display settings can be continuously changed to ensure that the display always shows the most appropriate setting for the flight situation. The backup instruments on the left of the screen are also digital and provide the most important flight data, as well as engine and rotorcraft parameters.

The second HC-02/2 received its preliminary certification from the DULV (Deutscher Ultraleichtflugverband, German Ultralight Flight Association) on 21 February 2025, making it another major milestone in the company’s history and another important step towards the final German DULV type certificate. At the Aero 2025, which will take place from 9 to 12 April 2025, the pre-licensed light helicopter (registration no. D-MHCE, factory number 002), will be exhibited.