Helicopters

The EASA has issued a further emergency AD on other Eurocopter models after an AS332 Super Puma started to roll toward the edge of an offshore helideck. The flight crew was not aware a hydraulic failure was also affecting wheel brake capability. The new AD, issued in June, is requiring a “rush revision” of the flight manual on the Dauphin series (SA365N, AS365N and EC155). The first AD called for a flight-manual revision on the SA330, AS332 and EC225 Super Pumas.

Helicopter Service Company (HSC), a subsidiary of Russian Helicopters, has signed an agreement with operator PANH Helicopters. PANH has its own technical support service for Mi-2s, Mi-8s, Mi-26s and Ka-32s in Russia, as well as maintenance stations in Afghanistan and Kazakhstan. It will share information with HSC about the utilization of its own helicopters and those of its technical support clients. In return, HSC is giving priority to PANH for spare parts, at a fixed price. Separately, HSC has opened a 24-hour call center for operators of Russian helicopters.

Bell Helicopter, which will be displaying the mockup of its 525 Relentless super-medium twin next week at the Farnborough International Airshow, announced key program suppliers for the new helicopter yesterday. They include GKN Aerospace and Triumph Group for airframe structure machining and composites; Kuka for major structural tooling; Goodrich for ice protection; Israel Aerospace Industries for passenger seating; and Mecaer for wheeled landing gear.

An unusually warm winter and mild spring have given rise to some of the worst forest fires in the nation’s history, from Florida to California. Not even northern climes have been immune. In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Duck Lake fire destroyed 23,000 acres and 140 structures and denuded six miles of Lake Superior shoreline in late May. The most active fire to date has been the Whitewater-Baldy fire in New Mexico, which had consumed nearly 300,000 acres by mid-June after raging for more than a month.