Originally Posted by
Rigga
“the 135 is new but the 145 is old school, its still certified as a BK117 and requires BK maintenance [BCARS]. Where a (good new) 135 can still be expected to sail through a maintenance in 5 days (if you have PBH intact) the 145 (and several of its competitors) is going to take 2 weeks or more even when new. That messes with the sums when there are few spare airframes around.”
Speaking as an engineer - saying that the 145 is old school is like saying the B737MAX is old because it still has 737 attached to it. The newish EC145/H145 was a different beast to the original BK117A and is certainly much better developed than the 135’s latest revision. Another guffaw is the reference to BCARs? ALL maintenance is done iaw the current OEM manuals and current regulations and even when the 355’s were in service the only maintenance reference to BCARS was ah approved reference number - everything else was OEM & EASA/CAA Part 145 which (still) exceeds the BCAR requirements.
Secondly, the thought that a couple of engineers can be magic’d in a few months is a final guffaw. There is a greater shortage of engineers than flight crew -and they all now know their worth. In the last four years in a well known helicopter maintenance base I have seen just two new CAA licences issued for helicopter engineers…at B1 level - not B2….
I too am giving up the helicopter world for a late retirement.
Rigga, I love your posts and usually agree with them 100%........but as someone who works on the 135/145 everyday I much prefer the 135 from an engineering point of view. The 105 part numbers on the BK117s still make me chuckle.....at least the old left over Bolkow bits aren't being thrown away
........