Cormorants grounded?
Tail flaw plagues new military helicopters
Last Updated Mon, 17 Oct 2005 07:40:40 EDT
CBC News
Persistent technical problems with 15 brand-new Cormorant helicopters are forcing the Canadian military to reassign some of them, directing its pilots to use older aircraft instead.
Search and rescue teams at the Canadian Forces Base in Trenton, Ont., have stopped using the bright yellow Cormorants entirely because the tail rotor half-hub is wearing out and cracking. That's the part that holds the rear blades onto the aircraft.
"The danger is, if you get cracking, it spins at a high rate of RPM [revolutions per minute]. And it's used to pretty well control the aircraft," Capt. Tim Seibert told CBC News in an interview on the tarmac at CFB Trenton.
"When it flies and it's working properly, it's great," said Seibert. "But because of the half-hub problems, we're only flying it two hours at a time."
The military's entire fleet of 15 Cormorants is under severe flight restrictions because of the flawed tail rotor part.
Trenton using Griffons instead
The commander of Trenton's 424 Search and Rescue Squadron, Lt.-Col. Russ Konyk, went even farther, deciding that as of this week, his teams won't fly Cormorants any more until the tail rotor problem is sorted out.
Trenton's three new helicopters are being sent to Nova Scotia, where they'll back up the Cormorants stationed there.
Konyk is temporarily replacing them with older, less powerful Griffons.
The Griffons can carry less equipment and aren't as versatile, but base pilots will support them with Hercules aircraft if necessary.
"It's a big glitch. No question. It is a big glitch and it's causing us to take a temporary pause," Konyk said of the Cormorant problem.
"Am I confident we'll solve it? Yeah, I am."
He added: "When it is doing its job, it's doing its job well. I am very happy with that airplane. I just wish it were available all the time."
Military working with manufacturer
Military managers are working with the manufacturer, Augusta-Westland Industries, to fix the problem.
In April 2004, a tail rotor half-hub assembly problem became the focus of an investigation into the March 2004 crash of a British Royal Navy Merlin helicopter. The Cormorant and Merlin helicopters are both manufactured by Augusta-Westland Industries and share similar components, a Canadian military news release said at the time.
The Department of National Defence decided to limit the Cormorant to search and rescue operations until the British investigation was complete.