PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Main Gear Boxes and The Grand Lottery
View Single Post
Old 14th Apr 2009, 20:36
  #59 (permalink)  
Geoffersincornwall
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Cornwall
Age: 75
Posts: 1,307
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Yes we can...

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the designers at EC and Sikorsky and maybe elsewhere are rising to the challenge of creating a gearbox design that will deliver the kind of failure modes that do not result in catastrophic failure. Multiple load paths, controls protected (probably electrically actuated), and a guarantee of autorotation even if the whole lot goes pop. I'm sure it can be done it requires some motivation and 25 years after HARP I think it's time to do something that will deliver that paradigm shift needed to move helicopter airworthiness another rung up the ladder.

G
Geoffersincornwall is offline