In most helicopters, turning upside down is somewhat alarming, since it’s the sort of thing that usually precedes a crash. In the new Airbus Helicopters H160, though, it's a nonevent. Just a smooth upward pitch, followed by a nose-over onto the helicopter’s back. No shuddering vibrations, no crushing g-forces, no brick-like plummet. We simply turned over, leveled off, and then recovered.

Much of that smoothness comes from the skills of the pilot at the controls: Airbus experimental test pilot Olivier Gensse. But the nonchalance with which he flipped us over also stems from the inherent stability of the H160, a machine designed to save pilots from an array of life-threatening predicaments.

This helicopter is so smooth that Gensse didn’t even need the autopilot system, designed to help pilots (those who haven’t spent seven years helping develop and test this aircraft) recover from bad situations. In those cases—say, becoming disoriented during a storm, or avoiding another aircraft or a power line with a sudden, jerking movement—a quick double-tap of a button on the yoke will return the helicopter to a stable, controlled position, where pilots can regain their bearings. Called the “automatic recovery mode," it has existed in more basic forms in other Airbus helicopters, but this is the most advanced and capable yet.

“When you have margin, or the capability of maneuvering out of trouble, that makes you comfortable because you’re able to use the aircraft to its fullest," says Airbus test pilot Olivier Gensse. Airbus

Airbus made the H160, which will enter service next year, for everything from executive travel and oil-rig landings to emergency services. It can seat 12 passengers, fly up to 530 miles on a full tank, and hit a top speed of 177 mph. It burns 15 percent less fuel than aircraft equipped with previous-generation engines, and will cost in the double-digit millions. That’s competitive with other helicopters in its medium-duty class, but the European aviation giant hopes pilots and passengers will appreciate the innovative design.

The pitch-over demonstration, executed over the fields of western New Jersey during a demonstration flight for prospective buyers, was intended not to show how pilots might fly the H160, but to demonstrate the “margins” they have when things go sideways in the air. “I’m all about margins,” Gensse says. “When you have margin, or the capability of maneuvering out of trouble, that makes you comfortable because you’re able to use the aircraft to its fullest.”

Gensse also demonstrated the H160’s composure in the case of excessive inputs in an emergency, via another mildly terrifying move. He quickly increased the throttle and then just as quickly decreased it, with a violent jerking of the throttle for the dual 1,300-horsepower Safran Arrano turboshaft engines. This put us into a brief but controlled free fall, as the aircraft interpreted the pilot’s inputs and executed a rapid but still controlled and smooth response—whereas another helicopter could easily lose control during such erratic inputs.