Originally Posted by
etudiant
That is pretty disappointing. Is there a broader trend, that the more recent helicopters are less durable?
I keep thinking that SpaceX appears to have transformed launch economics by focusing on robustness rather than peak performance.
Is a similar shift in philosophy potentially possible in the helicopter market?
Traditionally, components like Gearboxes seemed to be over engineered, then lifed conservatively.
For safety: Obviously.
Then with fleet information gleaned over time from inspections and testing of “time EX” gearboxes (for example), TBO’s could often (usually) be extended.
For reduced operating costs: Obviously.
Anecdotally, increased competition and greed now mean pushing everything to it’s limit*. For the brochure. Then, when a few fail, reducing the TBO is the easy, and potentially profitable way out, for the manufacturer.
EC225’s had a MTOW of 11200Kg*. What did the Puma start out at 8350Kg? (Or less? - I never flew a non “Super” Puma.)