Originally Posted by
NickLappos
The 92 is a fine machine, and will probably be a classic. The Norsk fleet is now averaging 2,000 hours per S-92 per year. I don't know any old, proven machine that has shown within 3/4 of that flight rate!
2000 Hrs per year is going some! I know first hand how hard it is to capture every fault expected in the service life of a vehicle. Assuming the design process is not a million miles away from this:
Concept-->Prototype-->Development-->Prod_development-->Production
A realistic aim is to capture >90% of this type of issue at each phase after concept, this still leaves perhaps 1 part in 1000 that will require modification during production. I have not seen the BOM for this heli, but there will have been more than 1000 new parts on a project like S-92.
Mart