IN FIVE YEARS, HELICOPTER MAINTENANCE WON’T BE THE SAME


By Joanna Dodder Nellans B


y inventing technological advances that allow health, usage and monitoring systems (HUMS) to expand to the smallest of rotorcraft, GPMS is democratizing a powerful tool that not long ago was reserved only for heavy helicopters.


GPMS launched its compact, speedy, and lightweight next-gen Foresight MX in 2018, and it’s already proving its worth many times over.


GPMS co-founders Eric Bechhoefer and Jack Taylor met at Goodrich (now Collins Aerospace), where they worked on first- generation HUMS that weren’t feasible for 95% of aircraft because they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, weighed more than 100 pounds, and required signal processing experts to interpret data. A former naval aviator, Bechhoefer decided he was going to re-engineer the product to put it within reach of all helicopter sizes.


“We dropped it from more than 100 pounds to less than seven pounds,” Bechhoefer said – even after including flight data monitoring (FDM) capabilities. “It’s a little bit like the farmer at the dawn of the mechanization age, and we’ve built the first great tractor.”


While a minority of helicopters now feature onboard HUMS and FDM, within five years they will be the majority, predicted Andrew Swayze, GPMS head of marketing and strategy.


Foresight utilizes its own specially designed smart sensors as well as the aircraft’s parameter data (analog or digital) to monitor fleet health and display it on one dashboard. This enables GPMS to democratize system monitoring in another way as well, because now everyone on the team can use Foresight at any location with any device that has browser-compatible software and access to the cloud.


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GPMS CEO and Chief Engineer, Dr. Eric Bechhoefer, founded GPMS to modernize the HUMS category and make it ubiquitous.


Foresight’s unique combination of HUMS and FDM data, light weight, and predictive capabilities are what really make it stand out, Swayze said. Proprietary algorithms provide remaining useful life (RUL) calculations so mechanics have plenty of lead time to order and replace parts during regularly scheduled maintenance.


“I look at this as a maintainer’s tool,” Bechhoefer said, citing the huge reduction in troubleshooting. “All the steps have been removed so that he can take action based on the data that’s displayed and not spend days and weeks validating the signal.”


“Foresight can pinpoint a problem before any human ever could,” said Josh Kethan, GPMS customer success manager and former career helicopter mechanic. He cited a soft gear tooth as an example. “Foresight is essentially listening to the dynamic force. There are defects that can happen with a gear tooth that you can’t see even if you have it in your hand, even with a microscope.”


The reduction in down time translates into more revenue, of course. Foresight is proven to deliver two times the return on investment after the first year. For example, Foresight produces a 5% to 6% reduction in operational costs just by eliminating the need for RTB adjustment flights, Bechhoefer said. And when you can service the engine before it’s generating metal, you significantly reduce overhaul costs.


“Operators spend less time doing maintenance and more time generating revenue,” Bechhoefer said. “That’s really the key. We’re finding things proactively and replacing them before they get out of hand.” In fact, Foresight has uncovered significant issues on 70% of the aircraft where it’s installed, Bechhoefer said.


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