Preventing the Post-Crash Fire
By Lyn Burks
Robertson Fuel Systems and StandardAero develop crash-resistant fuel tank retrofit
In the world of rotorcraft emergencies, not all situations are equal. There’s a huge difference between a generator failure, engine fire or anti-torque system failure.
I think if you were to poll pilots, just the mention of certain crises will make the hair stand up on the back of every pilot’s neck, and they pray that it never will happen to them. For me, there are two such crises: a tail-rotor gearbox failure, and any situation that would cause me to hit the ground hard enough to rupture a fuel tank and spark a post-crash fire.
What could be worse than wrestling a helicopter to a hard landing following an emergency, only to have the fuel tank(s) rupture and catch on fire?
That’s exactly what occurred in a fiery high-profile case in July 2015, when an air ambulance pilot was killed in a crash of a Flight for Life AS350 helicopter in Frisco, Colorado, following the loss of hydraulic pressure on takeoff. The crash seriously injured one flight nurse and left the other with life-threatening burns.
Fortunately for us pilots, passengers, and crews, more modern helicopter fuel systems are being designed to have crash-resistant features built into them, and there’s little doubt they can drastically reduce the chance of a post-crash fire. However, many legacy aircraft are still operating without this crucial protection.
COMPLICATED BACKGROUND
Although the military established crashworthy military
specification
helicopter standards nearly a half-century ago, its civilian counterparts have lagged behind. It was not until 1994 that the FAA established 14 CFR 27/29.952 to require Crash-Resistant Fuel Systems (CRFS) for all newly certified civil helicopters.
But don’t be confused by the terminology. There’s a big difference between the date of certification of the Type Certificate (TC) and the date of manufacture. Take the AS350 from the Frisco accident, which was manufactured in 2013, as an example. The popular Eurocopter AS350 airframe, also known as the Airbus H125 since the
company changed names in 2014, was TC’d in 1977. Thousands of aircraft with several variants were developed and manufactured under that TC including the EC130 B4, AS350 B3, B2, BA, B1, B and D models. Some were manufactured before the 1994 regulatory change, but many were also manufactured after 1994, and the way the regulation was written, those made after 1994 did not require CRFS installation.
All Airbus aircraft typed after 1994 have CRFS. For example, CRFS has been standard on the H130 (EC130 T2) since the aircraft’s entry into service in 2012. The company currently offers its own
retrofit kit for the H125 (AS350 B3e) and is in the development phase for kits for the AS350 B3 and EC130 B4. Any Airbus H125 or H130 family helicopter in service today that does not have a CRFS can be equipped with one through either an Airbus or StandardAero/Robertson retrofit solution, based on the model.
Additionally, Airbus’ ongoing testing includes CRFS for the H125, AS350 B3, and EC130 that will certify the CRFS to the more stringent FAR 27/29.952 requirements to include testing with the underbelly cargo swing configuration.
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