RotorBreeze b e l l h e l i c o p t e r. c o m Q3 • 2008 Huey II The Legend Lives On The Bell Huey II By David Sale, BellAero are even more dramatic, such as the main transmission – 1,100 hours to 6,000 hours – and the main rotor mast, which has a life expanded from 1,500 hours to 15,000 hours. In all, the Huey II has 35 percent lower direct operating costs (DOC) than the UH-1H. “That’s a benefit to the customers,” Shiminski said. “It turns their old H-1 Huey into a renewed and even more productive aircraft.” The Huey II has proven popular among international customers, including Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Peru, Dominican Republic, Argentina, Philippine Air Force, Iraqi Air Force and the Columbian Air Force, National Police and Army. Rio de Janeiro Civil Police will take delivery of a Huey II this year. In fact, Brazil enacted a law for the public use category before the department could purchase the helicopter. Rio Civil Police visited with New York State Police and Colombian National Police in 2007 to get a first-hand look at the helicopter’s operational capabilities and maintenance issues. They came away convinced that the Huey II would meet their requirements. However, the “public use” category did not exist in Brazil. The government agreed to establish a new category of operation in Brazil, which was necessary before the Huey II could operate in any Brazilian police force. The State of Rio de Janeiro argued that the Huey II had such unique qualities for its cost that no other product could compete on the same level. This led to a fast-track procurement that allowed the Rio state government to take advantage of available funds at year-end 2007 to carry out the acquisition. Delivery is expected in August. “This can open up an avenue for even more sales in the future,” Shiminski said. “The Huey II is a workhorse that is affordable for most international customers, which is why it’s becoming so popular.” There’s a domestic market as well. Kern County in California has one on order for delivery in Summer 2008, and New York State Police has two. In keeping with Bell’s unparalleled customer support, customers have training available, including pilot transition and maintenance. U.S. Helicopter offers special mission configurations, including VIP, medical evacuation, fire fighting, training and command and control. Accessories include a cargo hook, rescue hoist, night vision capabilities, bambi bucket for firefighting, water tank, armor decking and a broad range of avionics. “We’re continuing to invest in developing enhancements to the Huey II,” Shiminski said. “The sky is the limit for this product and we are ready to capture those opportunities throughout the World.” Bell Helicopter made its mark with the Huey, and the old workhorse has found a second life in its reincarnation as the Huey II. “It’s taking a UH-1H and remanufacturing it into a UH-1H II, what we refer to as a Huey II,” said Kyle Shiminski, Huey II program director. “It takes an old Huey, which there are many out there in the field – and increases its performance while upgrading the aircraft with commercial rotors. We’re basically putting a commercial 212 rotor system on the Huey.” It’s hardly a new program - Bell has delivered more than 200 kits in the last decade or so. More than 150 Huey IIs have flown more than 195,000 hours around the world. The helicopter has started receiving more attention lately as an option for foreign and domestic customers. The Huey II is a certified public use aircraft rather than a commercial helicopter, which means it can’t be used to haul passengers for hire. However, it finds plenty of use in other ways, including law enforcement, drug interdiction, foreign military and emergency services. “The opportunities right now are pretty strong,” Shiminski said. “It’s one of the few products we have right now that we can deliver within 12 months.” The production and delivery of a Huey II takes nine to 12 months. Customers have various options for upgrading, but Bell typically handles the operation. The conversion kit involves more than 9,000 parts, including a more efficient 212 main rotor system; a new antitorque system tractor tail rotor; 212 drivetrain; a new, baggageless tailboom; more engine power; a higher rated transmission; and a Kaflex drive shaft. The process starts with a UH-1H – usually the customer’s aircraft, but Bell can supply one if necessary. McTurbine takes the Honeywell engine and upgrades it to what is essentially an AH-1S Cobra engine that provides 28 percent more takeoff power for nearly identical fuel consumption. U.S. Helicopter performs the integration at its Ozark, Ala., facility. The floor and wiring is removed and the frame torn down to its bare bones. In addition to repairing any damage, the program upgrades the airframe to handle the increased capacity. There’s a good-sized bump in performance with the upgrade, including hover capability, a top speed of 130 knots, max gross weight of 11,200 pounds externally and increased payload. A Huey II also represents a significant maintenance cost savings thanks to a significant increase in time between overhaul (TBO) for major components. Some double, such as the engine, which goes from 2,400 hours to 5,000 hours before an overhaul. Some increases 24 Fixed vs. Variable Costs By Warren Moseley, Business Development Manager In last quarter’s article “DMC‘s vs. DOC’s” I touched on a portion of Direct Operating Cost (DOC) referred to as fixed costs. Two of the components that make up DOC and Direct Maintenance Cost (DMC) are fixed and variable costs. While DMC is comprised mainly of variable costs, it is important to know and understand what is contained in each of these categories. If your operation anticipates flying 30% more or 30% fewer flight hours next year, how will this affect overall costs? We all should understand that an increase in flight hours would not constitute an equal increase in total operational costs. One of the ways to estimate the cost effects on flight hour variations is to understand fixed vs. variable costs associated with your particular helicopter operation. A quick way to show how fixed vs. variable costs would affect overall costs it to provide a simple example. If the aircraft operations had a total variable cost per flight hour of $1,150 and an overall operational fixed cost per year of $200,000, the following could be derived from two different flight hour variables. If the aircraft variable costs totaled $1,150 per flight hour and fixed cost was $200,000 for flight operations per year, the following calculation for 300 Flt/ Hrs/Year and 600 Flt/Hrs/Year could be presented: 300 Flt/Hrs X $1,150 + $200,000 = $545,000 for one year divided by 300 Flt/Hrs = $1,816.67 per hour average 600 Flt/Hrs X $1,150 + $200,000 = $890,000 for one year divided by 600 Flt/Hrs = $1,483.33 per hour average As you can see, the additional flight hours significantly lowered the overall cost per flight hour. Depending on the amount of fixed cost applied to your aircraft operations this number can vary by significant margins. Now let’s attempt to define fixed costs. Fixed costs are generally associated with expenditures that do not vary with the number of flight hours flown per year or per month. A good example of fixed costs could be represented by rental charges for aircraft facilities. This cost (in most cases) remains constant whether the aircraft flies or not, so it remains fixed to the overall aircraft operations. While most costs associated with DMC are variable, there are a few calendar based and retirement life items that are time dependant and therefore would be considered fixed. A calendar based inspection would represent a fixed cost due to the fact the aircraft is accumulating (reducing the time till due) calendar time and the cost for accomplishing the task is applied to the aircraft even though it is not flying or generating revenue. By the same measure, there are some operators who may see a cost associated with labor as a fixed cost where other operators may see it as a variable. For an operator who has a full time salaried pilot or mechanic, the cost for salaries and benefits represent a constant expenditure. In contrast to this, some operators may elect to hire out the labor required to perform piloting or maintenance and may incur this cost as a variable as it is charged only as the aircraft is flown. As for variable costs, these are usually associated with expenditures that change as flight hours increase or decrease. Consumption items provide a good example of this type of cost. In most cases fuel would be considered a variable cost. The more the aircraft is flown, the more fuel is consumed and therefore has to be purchased. Most variable costs remain constant on a per flight hour basis within a reasonable range. As you can see there would be many examples of where a cost may be a variable for one operator and a fixed cost for another. To accurately determine overall operational costs, an operator needs to have traceability of expenditures down to the individual aircraft. Variable cost per aircraft may be much easier to determine than fixed costs across a fleet of aircraft. Do you apply the same burden for the rental of facilities against your Model 206B3 as you do your Model 412EP? The more accurately you can assign these fixed costs to a particular aircraft the better understanding you will have in determining the actual costs of aircraft operations. RotorBreeze is a quarterly publication of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., a subsidiary of Textron Inc., P.O. Box 482, Fort Worth, TX 76101. Telephone: (817) 280-2679 E-mail: [email protected] This newsletter is distributed free of charge to persons associated with the helicopter industry. EDITORIAL STAFF Ross Johnson, Publisher Leslie Ferry, Editor ADVISORY COMMITTEE Bryan Warren, Manager, Advertising Michael Dewey, Product Support Engineering Mark Medinger, Customer Support Representative Pat Crippen, Bell Training Academy Mark Kocurek, Business Development © 2008 Bell ® Helicopter Textron Inc., all rights reserved. 3 Bell Training Academy Certifies 206 Jet Ranger Flight Training Device By Scott Westbrook, Sr. Simulation Training Specialist, Bell Helicopter Customer Training Academy On December 19th, 2007, Bell Helicopter Training Academy (BTA) began evaluation of the 206B3 Flight Training Device (FTD) with the National Simulator Program (NSP) division of the FAA. The evaluation effort was coordinated with the assistance of Frasca International. The Bell 206B3 JetRanger FTD was found to be satisfactory, and was issued the Statement of Qualification by the NSP on December 20th, 2007. On June 12th, 2008, the FTD was evaluated for the 6 month follow up and the Statement of Qualification was reissued and extended for a period of twelve months. Qualification of the 206B3 FTD had been quite the challenge in the past. The BTA has tried many times in the past to certify the device. The challenges arose due to aircraft flight test data. The data requirements for simulation differ significantly from those required for certification of an aircraft. With the assistance of Frasca, the data was obtained from the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada in January of 2007. Once the data was obtained, Frasca sorted and populated a flight model for loading into the FTD onsite. The FTD required significant computer upgrades for the certification process. Previous computers were dated back to 1999 and were incapable of fulfilling the requirements. After upgrades to the device were completed, tuning was done to the FTD to match up the flight test data, as well as extensive subjective tuning by Bell Helicopter Pilots and Instructors. Subjective tuning was required as some data was found to deviate from Bell Helicopter published maintenance standards. Deviation in data such as “Autorotational RPM” was found to be outside of those standards. Subjective tuning placed the RPM at 100% in the 60 knot established attitude. Deviations from the data are acceptable to the NSP as long as the reasons for such deviations are found necessary by the manufacturer of the helicopter being simulated. As the manufacturer, this gave Bell Helicopter an advantage during the qualification process. Having many subject matter experts on hand and available almost at notice streamlined the process significantly. Qualification was done by two representatives of the NSP, one engineer and the other a pilot. Extensive review of the data was performed, as well as review of our deviations by the engineer and representatives of Frasca International. Meanwhile, our Chief Instructor Pilot, flew the FTD with the NSP pilot, performing miscellaneous maneuvers in differing weather conditions, along with an actual flight in the 206B3 helicopter. Having the aircraft on the ramp for our use assisted the qualification process significantly; flight time provides excellent comparison between this FTD and the actual aircraft. Qualification provides our customer endorsable flight training time in the FTD. Before qualification, our customer was allowed 7.5 hours towards instrument training. With the certification under our Part 141 Training School Certificate, the customer is now allowed a maximum of 20 hrs for the same training towards an Instrument Rating. The value to the customer has increased significantly. The BTA looks forward to certifying the 407 and 412 within the next two years, and our 429 FTD currently under construction, is slated for certification within four months of arrival to the BTA. For a listing of courses offered by the Bell Training Academy, or to register for training, please go to www.bellhelicopter.com/en/training/. ATTENTION: FIRST RESPONDERS The Bell Helicopter Training Academy (BTA) has developed a 1st Responder Helicopter Safety training program that is targeted for the first responder community involved in helicopter operations. This ground safety helicopter course is DVD/CDbased. The cost for the DVD/CD set is $50.00. For more information regarding this program, please contact: Joe Schmaltz, [email protected] 817.280.8433. 4 Canadian Supply Center GRAND OPENING General Manager of the Canadian Supply Center. “We have 38,000 square feet of space in this building and our new location is ideal for improving our logistical capabilities. The layout of the new facility, combined with the incorporation of Textron Six Sigma tools into our processes, has greatly improved our efficiency, and reduced the amount of floor space within which we function.” “Our location next door to all the major freight carriers opens up some interesting potentials. Our ability to get shipments directly across the ramp at a much later time than the conventional pickup deadlines is one of them. The ability to access international logistics from this location is absolutely limitless.” stated Bartole. Bell Helicopter Canada opened its new 38,000 square foot Canadian Supply Center on July 5th at the Calgary International Airport’s YYC Global Logistics Park. The Grand Opening was held in conjunction with the Calgary Stampede and the annual Supply Center BBQ. The BBQ has been held for the last 24 years as a way to thank Bell’s Canadian customers for their business and support of the Bell product. “There are approximately 1,500 Bell helicopters operating in Canada.” This new location will continue to be the primary Canadian distribution facility for the company as well as an important addition to the Airport’s growing trade community. “The new facility is 53% larger than our old facility.” said Colin Bartole, Bell employees at the Grand Opening of the new Canadian Supply Center. Need help with a technical question? Here’s how to contact Product Support Engineering: Model 47, 206 Phone: FAX: E-Mail: Model 204, 205, 212 or 412 Phone: FAX: E-Mail: 450.437.2862 or 800.363.8023 450.433.0272 [email protected] Model 214 or Surplus Military Model 407 Phone: FAX: E-Mail: Phone: FAX: E-Mail: 450.971.6407 or 800.243.6407 450.433.0272 [email protected] Model 222/230, 427 or 430 Phone: FAX: E-Mail: 450.437.6201 or 800.363.8028 450.433.0272 [email protected] 450.437.2077 or 800.463.3036 450.433.0272 [email protected] 5 817.280.2481 (Model 214) 817.280.8779 (Model OH-58A/C) 817.280.4074 (Model UH-1 series military surplus) 817.280.4074 (Huey II) 817.280.2635 [email protected] General Composites: An Overview Part 2 — By Michael Dewey, Senior Project Engineer - Military Technical Support Light The following is Part 2 of an article covering generic composite materials, application, inspection techniques, repairs and procedures. (Part 1 ran in the Q2 2008 issue of RotorBreeze. You can access this article at www.bellhelicopter.com/en/ support/. Click on “Market Data” and “RotorBreeze 2008 Q2.”) Composite Inspection Techniques Visual Inspection Ultrasonic Inspection Visual type inspections are the quick and inexpensive method of detecting various types of surface flaws, cracks, and internal flaws that may produce defects before they progress to failure. The quality of the visual inspection depends on the abilities and experience of the technician. Some defects may need additional investigation. This is where a 10x magnifying glass and a bright light will aid in this type inspection. Internal damage may be detected with an ultrasonic tester. This method is accomplished by beaming a high frequency wave through the part and viewing the response pattern on an oscilloscope. When examined, the variations of a given response pattern would determine the amount of delamination, flaws or other conditions being detected. Ultrasonic inspection is effective in detecting internal flaws in a variety of materials. Disadvantages of this type of inspection are that the flaws detected need to be perpendicular to the ultrasonic beam and NDI qualification of personnel and equipment is costly and time consuming. 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER 0.160 INCH Tap Test When damage is detected visually on a composite panel the coin tap method may be used to determine the extent of the damage area. This method is also used to inspect honeycomb structures for serviceability. This method of inspection is carried out by tapping on structure and listening for a change in pitch from a sharp solid sound, which would indicate a good bond. A dull thud of a sound would indicate bond separation. Changes in the thickness of the structure, reinforcements, inserts, or previous repairs will give false readings. The majority of the time when there is visual damage to a composite part there will be some delamination. Delay/Line Part Surface Interface Response Back Surface Response From Composite Laminate 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0.160 INCH CRT DISPLAY A. Composite Laminate/No Defects TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER 0.060 INCH 0.160 INCH 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Response From 0.060 Depth 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0.060 INCH CRT DISPLAY Delamination At 0.060 Inch B. Composite Laminate/Delamination at 0.060 inch TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER 0.160 INCH Multi-Level Delamination At 0.020, 0.040, And 0.060 Inch 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Response From 0.020 Inch Depth Response From 0.040 Inch Depth Response From 0.080 Inch Depth 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CRT DISPLAY C. Composite Laminate/Multi-Level Delamination 6 Inspection Techniques Pulse-Echo Ultrasonics TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER 0.060 INCH 0.160 INCH Delamination at 0.060 inch 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Response From 0.060 Inch Depth 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Delaminations masked by delamination at 0.060 inch D. Composite Laminate/Masked Delaminations 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 Patch Adhesive 20 10 Laminate 0 TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER Patch/ Patch Adhesive Surface Response Response Laminate Black Surface Response This method uses a single transducer to send and receive sound energy. The sound energy is reflected back to the transducer by the initial surface of the part, by backside surface of the part, by interfaces between different materials (such as composite and adhesive interfaces) and by locations of internal defects. It can be used to determine defect area, and defect depth. Test results are displayed using A-scan presentation on the cathode ray tube (CRT) of the ultrasonic flaw detector. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CRT DISPLAY E. Repair Patch to Laminate Bond/No Defects TRANSMITTER TRANSDUCER 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 Patch Adhesive 20 10 Laminate 0 TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER Patch to laminate bondline void or disbone 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Patch/ Patch Adhesive Surface Response Response Absence Of Laminate Back Surface Response 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CRT DISPLAY F. Repair Patch to Laminate Bond/ Bondline Void or Disbond RECEIVER TRANSDUCER Part Surface Response Opposite Side Surface Response Through-Transmission Ultrasonics This method uses two transducers, one to transmit sound and one to receive. Sound energy is sent from one side of a part through the part to the second transducer on the opposite side. A defect found in the part will reduce the intensity of the sound energy. The reduction of the sound level intensity is used to detect the presence of defects. Through-transmission ultrasonics is usually more sensitive for flaw detection in bonded assemblies. But it cannot determine defect depth or type. This method requires access to both sides of the part and alignment of the two transducers during inspection to ensure the receiving transducer picks up the sound energy sent by the transmitting transducer. Test results are displayed using a scan presentation. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CRT DISPLAY Skin to Core Unbond A. Composite Laminate Honeycomb Sandwich Assembly with No Defects delamination TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER Skin To Core Bond Adhesive 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Composite Skin Back Sirface Response Adhesive/ Air Interface Response 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Adhesive/Air Interface CRT DISPLAY Search Unit Alignment Fixture Used To Maintain Transducer Alignment 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Absence Of Opposite Side Surface Response 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 CRT DISPLAY CTR RESPONSE FOR BOTH SKINTO CORE DISBOND AND SKIN DELAMINATION Through-Transmission Ultrasonics is Unable To Determine Depth of Defect or DefecT TYPE Composite Laminate Honeycomb Sandwich Assembly/Skin to Core Disbond and Skin Delamination Transducer Misalignment can cause an erroneous defect indication B. Transducer Alignment G. Composite Laminate Honeycomb Sandwich Assembly/No Defects TRANSMITTER/RECEIVER TRANSDUCER 100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Visual verses Ultrasonic damage indication Visual Indication Of Damage Over Skin Area Where Adhesive Is Disbonded From Back Surface Of Skin, Amplitude May Increase & Adhesive/ Air Interface Response Will Be Absent A. Layout of NDI Grid Ultrasonic Indication Of Damage 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Skin To Core Disbond CRT DISPLAY H. Composite Laminate Honeycomb Sandwich Assembly/Skin to Core Disbond B. Damage Extent from Ultrasonic Inspection 7 SkyBOOKS is the Bell-Textron enterprise that specializes in flight operations automation, maintenance management compliance, and aircraft value protection. SkyBOOKS will ensure your crew and aircraft remain mission ready and compliant at all times. SkyBOOKS is an internet served product supported by product analysts, a quality department and an aviation management development team, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The analysts create a master template for each individual aircraft directly from maintenance manuals or AAIP, FAA Airworthiness Directives, manufacturer’s SB/ASB or communiqués, and Instruction for Continued Airworthiness (ICAS) from field modifications or STC installations. Whenever a revision occurs or a new directive is released, the SkyBOOKS team updates the aircraft master immediately notifying the operator of the implication of the notice. SkyBOOKS recognizes that not all aircraft operators require the same level of monitoring capability and therefore offer a variety of different product and service levels: • SkyBOOKS Full Service – Flight Operations, Maintenance Tracking, Document Vault, and Analyst Support. • SkyBOOKS Lite – Maintenance Tracking, Document Vault, and Analyst Support. • Document Vault – Document archiving and Analyst Support. The SkyBOOKS program is comprised of a series of color-coded dashboards that logically and clearly display all detailed aircraft technical data, fleet overviews, and flight and pilot currency tracking information. This data is displayed to assist our users with crew and maintenance analysis, management planning, and scheduling. All SkyBOOKS account data is restricted via password protected internet access. Access to particular information is further easily limited by the assignment of specific SkyBOOKS’ user roles. SkyBOOKS has been designed to interface seamlessly with CTAFOS, thereby enabling users of both 8 systems to add individual operational and maintenance updates to either application and, in so doing, automatically updating both. This automatic population across systems saves user time, eliminates the frequency of errors, and further ensures continual aircraft compliance. Current SkyBOOKS’ mixed fleet products range from piston and turbine helicopters to Gulfstream III aircraft and include the entire Bell product line. Subscribers are evenly distributed between individual and fleet operators and FAR part 91 & 135 operators. The increasing regulatory scrutiny of operational control, crew/ maintenance compliance, and document production, there is an increase in demand by fleet and FAR 135 operators. Fleet operators who have recently joined the SkyBOOKS family include Gulf Coast Aviation, Houston, TX, operating an 8 aircraft fleet of King Air to Gulfstream G450’s; RVR Air Charter, Ft. Worth, TX, operating 12 aircraft ranging from Citation Jets to Falcon 50’s; and Helicopter Express, Atlanta, GA, operating 19 mixed rotary wing helicopter (15 Bell and 4 Eurocopter products). Every one of our clients selected SkyBOOKS for reasons specific to their own business needs, but they all view SkyBOOKS as an intuitive compliance and asset protection tool capable of providing value well beyond it subscription expense. Gulf Coast Aviation President, Steve Holmes explains that he has a fiduciary obligation to extend protection, far beyond that afforded by fireproof safes, to the $150M in client-assets he manages, and that SkyBOOKS now provides that protection by furnishing additional and automated safeguards that enable the verification of real-time compliance. Lt. Robert Morgan of the Jacksonville, Florida Sheriff’s Office selected SkyBOOKS to support his operation’s fleet of 3 Bell Jet rangers and a fixed wing aircraft. His primary concern was maintaining mission compliance for both flight crews and aircraft during a period of increasing budget cuts. Lt. Morgan found that the Sheriff’s Office could outsource many of its air fleet’s quality administrative functions to SkyBOOKS more efficiently and at a lower cost basis than maintaining a dedicated internal staff member. RVR Air Charter President, Ron Whitehead said, “we need a single compliance and maintenance tracking program that can address the entire fleet of aircraft we operate and that will provide us fleet visibility to maintenance compliance on a large fleet of very complex aircraft. The FAA has a keen interest in ensuring we are using a single intuitive system supporting our entire fleet. SkyBOOKS’ dashboard reporting will make that task easier.” Scott Runyan, President of Helicopter Express, believes that “SkyBOOKS will provide visibility to our widely geographically dispersed fleet and provide us real time condition insight, allowing us better planning and management of our fleet. SkyBOOKS will help mitigate risk for remotely operated aircraft, and the warranty tracking capability will allow cost recovery that previously did not exist.” SkyBOOKS customers indicate that they find the system to be very intuitive and the analyst support personal, accommodating, and very responsive. For example, customers can simply send a copy of the Return to Service documents via fax or email to their aircraft analyst, who will immediately update the system maintenance event schedule and load all supporting documents into the on-line vault. Trained users may perform most of the updates to their account personally, relying on their SkyBOOKS’ analyst to provide quality control and confirm the accuracy and actions initiated by system updates. Beginning this fall, new Bell helicopters will be delivered with all historic information, modification center STC, and ICAS data already loaded into SkyBOOKS. All new models 407, 412, and 429 will include a SkyBOOKS subscription funded by Bell for the primary warranty period. Additionally, legacy incentives will be offered with new machines entering legacy fleets. Visit www.skybooks.com or contact [email protected] for an introductory overview of the SkyBOOKS’ technology, or, if you prefer, call SkyBOOKS at (866) 929-8700 or your Bell Ship Sales representative to arrange an individual demonstration today. Aircraft List Screen (Fleet View) Aircraft and Crew Status View Maintenance Due List Upcoming M&O Conferences DATE LOCATION October 16-17 CITY/STATE Edwards & Associates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kingsport, Tennessee October 20-21 Carnegie Hotel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Johnson City, Tennessee November 10-11 Hilton Lac-Leamy. . . . . Gatineau-Ottawa, Quebec, Canada For more information or to register, please contact: Bierck Saxton at (817) 280-4863 or [email protected] 9 Bell Helicopter – Going Green By James Tripp, Business Development Manager As we enter the era of global warming, we hear all the buzz words such as “going green”, “carbon foot print”, “greenhouse gas”, “environmentally friendly”, etc. We realize that we have an environmental responsibility as a company to conserve natural resources for future generations. We at Bell Helicopter have welcomed this challenge and have taken the initiative in several different ways to meet these current expectations. In fact, many of our “green initiatives” have been in place for many years. However, as we move forward, we would like to inform you on what Bell Helicopter has been doing in regards green manufacturing. The following is a snap shot of our current accomplishments and future initiatives. • Changed all office and factory lighting except anything over 40 ft. high. • Old T-12 lights have been replaced with new T-8 lights – Which uses half the electricity Total Savings: Our Energy Conservation Converts to: • 3,348 Acres of trees planted • 1,637 Cars removed • 1,050,583 Gallons of gasoline saved Environmental Awards and Achievements: Water Conservation/Waste Reduction: • Selected as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) & North Texas Clean Air Coalition (NTCAC), Best Workplace for Commuters. • Five Star Clean Company – City of Grand Prairie, Texas • Recognized by City of Arlington for outstanding achievements in Pretreatment Excellence. • Recognized by City of Grand Prairie for Bell’s Pollution Prevention project (Treated wastewater reuse/recycle) • Chemical inventory control (AVChem) • Member of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality • Installed a new $200,000 industrial wastewater recycling system • Minimizing hazardous waste, recycling wastewater, and separating water from cutting oils • Treated wastewater is reused in the manufacturing process. • Reduced chemical usage • Recycled almost 3 million gallons of industrial wastewater per year Types of Recycled Waste: • • • • • • Old System KWh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21,183,306 New System KWh Saved. . . . . . . . . . 10,108,859 Future Enterprise Strategy: 214 cartons of ink cartridges 42,940 lbs of cardboard 19,264 gallons of used oil 144,330 lbs of aluminum oxide 1,178 wood pallets 2,909,023 lbs of scrap metal Textron is developing the following metrics to track in 2009: • Energy Use • Greenhouse Gas Emissions (Direct & Indirect) • Water Use • Waste Disposal (Solid, Hazardous Waste) • Recycling Energy Conservation: Stay tuned for any new updates or new programs. We are committed to making a contribution in protecting this fragile environment. There is a lot more work to be done, not only as individuals but as organizations across the world. • Lights have been replaced with new energy efficient lights. • All HDI Lights have been replaced with fluorescents. • All outside lighting has been changed from 250 W bulbs to 2-57 W compact fluorescent lights. Bell Recognition for Lifelong Accomplishments in Helicopter Industry Bell Helicopter Customer Support Representative Pat McMahon (center) recently presented plaques to George Milan (left) and Jim Lewis (right) of Alpine Helicopters in Kelowna, BC in a ceremony recognizing their many years of service to the helicopter industry. George Milan retired as the Director of Maintenance after 43 years of service with Alpine Helicopters. Over the years Milan has worked in some of the most remote areas of Canada. Jim Lewis retired with over 19,000 hours with both civil and military operators. Lewis and McMahon worked together 39 years ago in the arctic. Congratulations George Milan and Jim Lewis on your accomplishments! We appreciate your dedication and loyalty to Bell Helicopter! 10 Human Factors Maintenance Error Management By Danny Saucier, Customer Support Area Manager When it comes to errors and accidents, we look at human factors to understand why they occur. Research by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration into aviation accidents has found that 70% involve human error. Many companies are designing their own Error Management programs to understand why errors occur and develop a plan to prevent reoccurrence. Good data management of error reporting; along with thorough investigative practices, causative factor data analysis, and error reporting are the basics for an error management process. Training is essential for effective management of human error. With company objectives in mind, training programs should to be implemented that will help in developing knowledge and skills among essential personnel and procedures that are compatible with human capabilities and limitations. Human factors training should include the understanding of human performance, teamwork and type of errors. The quality control process should be planned and frequent. A number of error investigation processes are incident driven; implicating that some sort of defined operational or maintenance incident must occur to start an investigation. The quality control process should include an investigation that will go beyond finding out who made the error and finding out why the error was made. Identify contributing factors that cause the error. Keep in mind, the data has to be trusted. Once a structured system is in place for error reporting and investigating, it will start producing data for analyzing. You may choose to analyze manually or electronically. Systems are available on the market for tracking aviation safety information. Some companies have developed their own with great success. As the data is analyzed, identify the contributing factors and implement preventive measures immediately to prevent reoccurrence. An example of an intervention based on one event would be a revision to a particular process, work order procedures, or an inspection program. Bottom line . . . human error is manageable. For more information on Safety and Human Factors, please go to to subscribe to Heliprops/Human AD newsletter. This newsletter, published by the Bell Training Academy, stresses professionalism, safety and good aeronautical decision making to help reduce human error related accidents. The Bell ROC is a Rollin’ By Stan Messinger The Bell Helicopter Textron Repair and Overhaul Center (ROC) is the home to over 100 Bell Helicopter employees who are dedicated to supporting the War Fighter - 82,000 square feet of men, women and machines whose only goal is to keep aircraft flying. The facility has been operational for three years and continues to grow by adding the capabilities necessary for the new platforms such as the ARH and the H-1 upgrade that will be fielded in the next few years, as well as the V-22, Cobra, and Kiowa Warrior. The ROC has the capability to repair everything that Bell builds for the U.S. Armed Forces, specializing in rotor blades, transmissions, rotor hubs and airframe components. With the number of Bell aircraft being used in the global war on terror, one can only imagine what passes through our doors, and it grows every day. We continuously see lots of sand and battle damage. The ROC services a broad range of products that require a broad range of skills. This is essential not only to our external customers, but also to our own production lines. By establishing a dedicated repair facility with all the necessary tools, equipment and manpower, we can perform repairs on our customers’ products much faster than our production facilities. It is inefficient and a strain to stop a production line to tear down and rebuild a repairable item, therefore this facility allows the production lines to focus on what they do best, build production parts. The ROC also manages the administration of vendor repairs performed by our suppliers on the items that they build for us and our customers. Due to the mix of our business one might ask, “What types of capabilities are required?” The short answer is everything that production has. To duplicate everything would be very expensive, so we have had to find a balance that would satisfy our customers’ needs and not unduly burden our production facilities. Today we have the capability to bond, machine, assemble, paint, media blast, balance blades and provide non-destructive testing. We continue to improve with each year as we continue to invest capital in this ever-growing segment of our business. With growth comes challenges, and we certainly have our share. While we continue to add resources and grow at a reasonable pace, sharing resources and materials with production will always be a challenge. We have to deal with long lead times and the insatiable hunger of our own growing production lines. Growth is good for Bell Helicopter, but it needs to be managed and that is what the ROC and our production facilities are doing. We all have the same goal, satisfying our customers and aiding their success. 11 Upcoming Tradeshows Bell Helicopter will be participating in the following tradeshows. Please plan to come by and see us. AUSA Washington D.C. . . . . . . . . October 6-8, 2008 NBAA Orlando, FL. . . . . . . . . . . . October 6-8, 2008 AMTC Minneapolis, MN. . . . . . October 20-22, 2008 Airlift Tanker Anaheim, CA. . . . . . . . . .November 6-9, 2008 IACP San Diego, CA. . . . . . . .November 8-12, 2008 RotorBreeze Subscriptions If you have had a change of address or wish to have your name added or deleted from the RotorBreeze distribution list, please notify the editor, Leslie Ferry, at: Bell Helicopter Customer Support & Services ATTN: LESLIE FERRY P.O. Box 482 Fort Worth, TX 76101 FAX: (817) 278-0053 or email: [email protected] P.O. Box 482 • Fort Worth, Texas 76101 bellhelicopter.com Est. 1951 PRIORITY MAIL U.S. POSTAGE PAID FT WORTH, TX PERMIT NO. 1859
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