Arriel 1d1 Fcu's

[Superwrench]

Just wondering if anyone else has been having troubles with 1D1 FCU's. Last summer we went through 3 and we are only running 2 in our fleet. All three started hunting. This year we went through 3 again. This time they were all leaking, and 2 of them were within 100hr out of O/H. We are running one 1B and we have not had any problems with it. And another question, how long has it been taking for you guys to get an FCU O/H'd. last one took 8 months. Starting to see why the LTs mods are getting more popular and maybe the way to go.

[Bellcrank]

Superwrench:

We have a 1D1 make it to about 380 hrs. TSN (low rotor rpm, unable to adjust up, FCU problem)

1B FCU 26 hrs. TSO caused rotor overspeed then quit and put machine into bush, nobody hurt but machine was a write off.

If you need more detail PM or email me.

[helidude]

This may sound stupid but the first thing I would check is to make sure your short shaft is balanced. Remember that you're supposed to check it 100 hrs after every installation. We have seen a few that had crept from under .2 ips to .5 ips whithin 100 hrs after being balanced. Maybe your problem is from vibration. It's not likely but worth a shot anyways.

Second, do you have the after market airframe fuel filter (same filter that is installed on Jetrangers) installed on your aircraft? If not, it's well worth the money. The Astar fleet at Canadian was plagued with FCU problems in the early 90's and once we installed the additional airframe fuel filters, the problems dissapeared.

Otherwise, time to give Honeywell a call!!!!

[Superwrench]

Yes we do have the airframe fuel filter on all of our machines. As for the short shaft, we do balance them 100hr after install. Thanks for your idea, they could be possible causes. I have heard that some engines have a naturel harmonics that can cause some FCUs to hunt. We swapped FCU's with another servicable machine, and it made a difference. It still hunted but barely. (it was still sent out for repairs). The one that bothers mean is that a FCU straight from turbomeca leaking fuel out of splitlines.

[snark]

Hey super, Have you tried talking nice to them in low tones and in a soothing manor? I heard the french like wine and fine dining. Try mabey a nice merlot or shiraz and gently caressing them at bed time while making sure to woo them with your charm. Cheers-

[Superwrench]

Hey super, Have you tried talking nice to them in low tones and in a soothing manor? I heard the french like wine and fine dining. Try mabey a nice merlot or shiraz and gently caressing them at bed time while making sure to woo them with your charm. Cheers-

 

 

Can't say that i have tried that snark, besides if i could speak french that well i wouldn't use it on a FCU. It must have worked for you, you never had too many FCU problems. Thanks for your advice, I will recomment that to turbomeca to put in the M.M.

[Stab Bar]

I have an idea.........having spent some time working on those french pieces of "****" ....................go out and get a real helicopter like say a............407 :up:

[skullcap]

You've probably done this, but if lots of wet weather or big hot/cold shift try the P2 airchamber cleaning, helps greatly especially if strange starting problems.

 

 

 

sc

[Fenestron]

forget the P2....just go buy a 407

 

that way, you can chock it up to a learning experience and realise that hey....P2....what a great idea and so much easier and all around a better decision.

 

There's a reason there are two classes of helicopters....much like the same reason you can buy telephones with big numbers, or small numbers. You have to make things easier for the physically impaired you know. The Helicopter saga is much the same... Got a brain...work on A-stars....got downs syndrome.....well....I don't have to say it, you just know where I'm going with that. :punk:

[helipinch]

When doing your FCU characteristics check make sure you use a Fluke meter. Remember the o/h tolerance on the NR gauge is about 4 rpm.

I have found several cases of the bracket on which the ball joint is attached on the Mo1 being bent forward resulting in a lower anticipator angle and low NR. temperature compensator adjustments were made to correct this resulting in failed characteristics checks! Putting the bracket back to 90 degrees, nomalising the Temp compensator and re rigging the anticipator cable saved us a 20,000 repair bill from Turbomeca!!!

My best advice is to do your FCU characteristics checks and temp compensator adjustments as often as possible, if for no other reason, you understand it, get used to it, and get good at it!

 

Good luck!!!

Pinch