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Another Cracked 500 Blade,photo's


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then blame M.D. Angry Egg and every company who attempted to help them, for not being able to properly supply and service the product they sold.

Sure right now they're getting another shot of life, but pity those poor fools who buy aircraft under the "new" company disguise, how long will it be before they can't support the line anymore and the PMA guys start filling the void again?

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The Company I worked for installed recording Temp. and Torque gauges, the problems appeared to go away.
some sort of Tq, TOT recording device would be nice on the 500's but Ive only seen one that had it? That particular machine alwas seemed to be better for some reason? over 3000 hrs on 500's and no cracked blades

 

Gee, I wonder if there's any connection between the blades cracking and the guys pulling the #### out of the helicopters??????

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I have never had a problem with eyesight. The torque and tot on both the 500 and 206 leaves a little bit to be desired when operating at max on one or the other, or both.

 

In an allowable over temp for X number of seconds or over torque under the same conditions, you had better have a magnifying glass to tell exactly what the numbers are. Or as most people do, don't report it, it looked within limits to me.

 

The original DND flight training that I was involved with at Portage, a recommendation was made by yours truly to have TOT and Torque monitors put in the 206's, this was included in the contract for DND.

About a year into the contract, they came back to me and wanted an opinion on who should pay for the overhaul of a blown turbine. I said if anybody was checking the readings on the TOT and Torque gauges daily that it would not be hard to figure out.

 

They (DND) were trying to blame it on the contractor for poor maintenance.

 

DND had never enforced the requirement for the HUMS system.

 

I informed DND that they just bought a $75,000 o/h.

 

If you go to Portage now and including all the Griffons, you will see HUMS system.

 

My personal belief, they should be mandatory on all helicopters.

 

It keeps everybody honest.

 

Cheers, Don

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it's not just about honesty. I think we have enough professionals out there who are not dishonest about it. I've had many tell me how close they're running to the limits, and I know it's because they care and are expecting me to take that info and apply it in a proactive way. The few bad apples who want to be dishonest, remember, cycle fatigue, it kills the next guy, can you live with that?

If a pilot is not looking at the guages when he should be, the root problem could go all the way back to training, and thats a tough habit to break.

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PT: My comment was not to say that people were being dis-honest intentionally, but inadvertently, because of the size of the instruments, especially in a 500. The pilot can be trying to put a drill down in a particular spot and has people underneath, a person giving him directions out front, the a/c is pushing the limits as they are most of the time and he can push the limits without even knowing it.

 

No body is perfect and having flown in enough situations, you can't always cover your *** and it would be nice to have something (HUMS) to give you an attaboy or whatever the company thinks you deserve.

 

The bigger the helicopter, bigger the load. All helicopters are operated to there all up weight.

 

Cheers, Don

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Guest Angry Egg Driver

Most companies that operate 500's that I have worked for have external temp/torque gauges mounted on the door frame.They are very visible and you shouldn't have a problem flying by the numbers.The problem with 500's is that they have very liberal transient limits that so many pilots choose to use.15 seconds to 93 psi is crazy,when your max continuous is 87.2 psi.

I have witnessed 500's being stripped to the bone to move drills in the summer.All 4 doors off,the floors,seats and the battery out after start.Then to take off to go move a piece of the drill with 70-80 lbs of fuel on.And do this repetitively all day long.I have also watched guys pulling the scav-air bypass door to get a few extra degrees out of the engine.Is this what these machines were designed for.I don't think so.

 

So you can blame the manfacturer of these PMA blades,and I am in agreement that there may be a flaw in the design but a lot of the responsibility comes back to the drivers of these aircraft and what they are doing to them in the field.

 

:unsure:

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