The U.S. military recently saw the benefits of monitoring the health of its helicopters after testing a Goodrich Corp. system under combat conditions in Iraq.
Twenty Black Hawk helicopters of the 101st Airborne Division were outfitted in theater with Goodrich's Health and Usage Management System (HUMS) in the first field installation of the equipment, which monitors the condition of helicopter components and adjusts the balance of the aircraft rotor.
"Pilots raved over it; they were delighted with how smoothly the aircraft flew," said Jerry LaReau, vp for government programs. HUMS also detected several mechanical problems on the Black Hawks before failure occurred.
The U.S. military has been slow to embrace HUMS, doubting that its data is reliable enough to warrant pulling aircraft from active service for predictive maintenance. "But when it gets to the operators in the field, they really start to believe," LaReau told Show News.
Two Goodrich customer support reps led a team of 20 technicians in fitting HUMS to the Black Hawks in theater, working in temporary tents in temperatures of up to 129ºF. Each installation took less than a week, and involved fitting the shoebox-sized HUMS black box, adding some 24 vibration sensors throughout the airframe, and tapping into the helicopter's electronic control systems.
Goodrich hopes the trials, part of a two-year evaluation contract with the U.S. Army, will lead to HUMS becoming standard equipment on 300 new-build and up to 1,200 remanufactured UH-60M helicopters.
The Goodrich HUMS is also being evaluated by the U.S. Navy for its
SH-60 Seahawk helicopters, as well as for the MH-60R and S versions,
and as a retrofit for the CH-53E fleet. Goodrich is in Hall 4, Stand
F8 and Chalet A6-8.
