such as addressing rotor vibration. David Poe, who heads a crew maintaining
a Bell 407GX at Hill Air Corp. in Dallas, Texas, agrees. “RTB traditionally requires that operators attach specialized equipment, take dedicated flights to manually acquire readings, make adjustments, then refly the aircraft to validate the solution, often multiple times,” he explains. “Foresight is designed to change this paradigm. Te system is ‘always on’ and takes RTB acqui- sitions automatically, so that a predictive solution is there every time the aircraft lands.” In late 2019, Poe received a high-vibration
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36 ROTOR 2020 Q3
alert via Foresight’s email notification feature, which indicated that the helicopter’s main rotors were showing a vibration velocity of 0.4 inches per second (IPS) in vertical forward flight, an orange-level measurement that dis- played as “Attention Needed” on the Foresight dashboard. Poe implemented the recommended solution, and the average vibration velocity for hover went from 0.35 IPS to 0.06 IPS, and for 120 knots, from 0.4 to 0.03 IPS. Te advantages of modern connectivity
make HUMS a driver for improved efficiency in maintenance, explains Reuben Mann, head of marketing for SKYTRAC Systems, an aviation data hardware and software provider head- quartered in Kelowna, British Columbia. His company is collaborating with helicopter OEM Leonardo and CHC Helicopter of Irvine, Texas, to certify SKYTRAC’s Real-Time HUMS (RTH) System as a retrofit install on the medium-twin AW139 helicopter—with line-fit coming soon. Work is also in progress to certify RTH on the Leonardo AW169 and AW189. “Innovative product features for our HUMS
solution include real-time in-flight exceedance notifications of HUMS parameters that monitor critical helicopter components, including the drivetrain, engines, and gearboxes. Tese can then be transmitted directly to the ground when exceedance limits are reached,” says Mann. “Tis gives maintenance crews an alert at the detection of anomalies in vibration patterns before the aircraft lands. When fre- quency vibrations are detected that deviate from the rest of the fleet, maintenance crews can look into the severity of the alert, order replacement parts, or swap out the damaged component at the earliest possible date.”
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