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Old 11th May 2005, 21:13
  #26 (permalink)  
Graviman
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Cambridgeshire, UK
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"Enstrom ... airframe is 30 years old ... 1000+ hours left on all major components ... flying in another 30 years."

Wow.

"... ex-NYA 107-IIs ... highest-time helicopter in the world."

Double wow.

"Does this mean that twin-rotors is the best?"

Must admit Dave, i'm hoping you're taking away the lesson that a good design is simple rugged and extremely reliable....

"...EMS AS365N1 ... doors very difficult to close in flight. "

As a structural engineer, this scared the hell outa me! I've been known to introduce "permanent set" into airframes myself, but i really don't like the idea of that sort of flexibility. Generally that means that fatigue cracks are ganging up, and that a serious failure is imminent...

Does make me wonder if some machines are operated beyond a safe service life, although i always find the idea of finite design life abhorent.

Mart
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