Shaky said:
Span moment Arm migtaion is your biggest problem - not trailing edge anomolies. This has been proven with data through the US Army and now an increasing number of other operators using this technology.
I suggest you read
www.rwas.com.au for greater detail. I think it may enlighten.....
Field span moment adjustment is not new, we were doing this back in the late 80's in the GOM on 412's using two digital scales from procedures supplied by Bell long before Avion started their program . Its definately a worthwile endeavor
but to be honest with you applying paint and changing moment arm has only been a small part of the blade flying quallity issue on the 412. The Chinook, Apache nor the Blackhawk blades, can not easily be compared to a 412 as the airfoil, twist and blade makeup are quite different. Having tracked a significate amount of the 412 fleet and supported a host of others; the inability to dynamic balance the 412 is on the whole a smaller effect than what was done in the late 80's and early 90's by personnel trying to make the blades look pretty. Back then the 412 blade had a habit of peeling paint after flying through a rain storm and large areas of paint would peel. Operators thought it necessary to feather and repaint the blades so that they looked presentable. Not knowing at the time that they would not only affect the span moment but also the flying quality of the blade. There are shims put on by Bell along the trailing edge of the blade to effect the flying of the blade. If that thickness is reduced the blade will fly significately different. Caveat Emptor!
I am in total agreement that if you paint or work on the blade that the span moment be brought back into limit. However, it is not the end all answer to blade problems. Not knowing how to properly refinsh the blade will cause a lot of additional grief.