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Aviation History
1993
1993 - 1965.PDF
GENERAL AVIATION Sikorsky to offer S-76 HUMS BY KIERAN DALY Sikorsky Aircraft is shortly to begin assessing con tractor bids to produce a health and usage moni toring system (HUMS) for new-production and in-service S-76 helicopters. The manufac turer wants to offer a HUMS at delivery because it is finding it increasingly dif ficult to assist operators with the operation of systems pur- I chased from and developed by third-party contractors. The two known contenders for the S-76 are the all-UK Bristow Helicopters/GEC Mar coni Defence SystemsAVestland Helicopters/MJA Dynamics team, and the US/UK Teledyne Controls/Stewart Hughes team. Sikorsky's request for pro posals was prompted largely by North Sea offshore operators' Sikorsky action on an S-76 HUMS answers KLM's prayer requirements, particularly the difficulties faced by KLM ERA Helicopters (UK) when it set up an operation in Norwich, UK. It was the first helicopter operator to take advantage of the liberalisation of the Euro pean Single Market (Flight In ternational, 21-27 July). It found itself being in structed by the UK Civil Avia tion Author ity to install a flight-data re corder in its two S-76Bs and was under pres sure from the oil compa nies to install a HUMS. The Sikorsky sys tem will be retrofittable to all S-76s, whether pow ered by the Pratt ' & Whitney Canada PT6 or Tur- bomeca Arriel engines. Sikorsky commercial-market ing representative Christine Tracy says: "The oil industry in the UK has pretty much man- Sweden helps ARV Super 2 to live again AUK-Swedish joint venture is to re-launch production of the ARV Super 2, the UK trainer produced in the 1980s, but continually threatened by project costs. Aviation (Scotland), estab lished in 1990 to take over development, has found a part ner in Uvan Invest, a subsidiary of Swedish engineering com- ARV Super 2s: Swedish assembly pany Uddeholm Tooling. ASL Sweden has been estab lished as a new joint venture, under which Scottish-built kits will be assembled at Hagfors, about 95km (60m) from Kalstad in southern Sweden, says ASL Sweden sales manager Clive Ljunggren. European cer tification is expected in January 1994 and a production rate of 100 aircraft a year is consid ered possible after 12 months. The continuing cost of re search and development over took the original ARV com pany, which ceased production on the Isle of Wight after building 30 Super 2s. A market study convinced its new Scot tish owners that the design should be developed to meet the new Very Light Aircraft (VLA) certification regulations. The aircraft has been re named the Opus and is to have the Austrian 60kW (80hp) Bombardier Rotax 912A four- stroke engine in place of the original three-cylinder Hew- land powerplant. A price of $60,000 is expected to be set for a basic aircraft. Apart from the new engine, other planned modifications in clude a new cowling, 50% greater fuel capacity, engine- control improvements, an en gine-driven vacuum pump and small changes to meet VLA rules — such as the introduc tion of cabin heating, to pre vent screen misting. Navigation lights are to be provided for night and visual- flight-rules flying, under US Federal Aviation Regulations Part 23 requirements, which also cover the engine (not en compassed by VLA rules) and aerobatic operations. ASL Sweden says that the aircraft will be marketed for recreation and flying training through a worldwide distribu tion network. Performance de tails for the Opus include a 90kt (170km/h) economical cruise speed and a 750ft/min (4m/s) maxium-weight climb rate Q Sikorsky's aims • Identify and record oper ating exceedances • Track operational usage • Monitor the health of gear boxes, engines and tail- rotor drives • Automate rotor track and balance and power-assur ance functions Options will include capabili ties for the integration of data acquisition for: • The flight-data recorder; • Inductive debris monitor • Electrostatic engine mon itoring system. dated that aircraft used to fly back and forth to the rigs have to have a HUMS. We had, up to about a year ago, been not far into the HUMS area. . "After other systems were developed, the operators came and asked us how we were going to support them. We made a re-assessment and came up with our approach, which was to support the current systems — but then more and more systems came on line and we have had to spread our resources pretty thin. We de cided the real way to do it was to take the leadership position and develop a production HUMS for the aircraft." Meanwhile, Sikorsky will aid operators by performing "fo cused tear-downs" of compo nents identified by a HUMS as suspect, to provide data for tailo ring algorithms and thresholds. It plans to select a contractor by the end of 1993 and to complete its production instal lation design by the second quarter of 1994. Aircraft deliv ered after that date will have full provision for the Sikorsky HUMS installation when it is certificated in mid-1995. • NEWS IN BRIEF RUSSIAN SCHWEIZER Schweizer Aircraft has deliv ered a Model 300C heli copter to its Moscow distributor, Novecopter. It is claimed to be the first US- made rotorcraft to be mar keted in Russia by a local company. Russian officials have warned of a massive shortfall in light helicopters in the country. 24 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 11 - 1/August. 1993 >
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