PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Sikorsky S-76 down in the North Sea (Threads merged)
Old 27th Jul 2002, 08:20
  #121 (permalink)  
Hummingfrog
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
Location: Up north
Posts: 687
Likes: 0
Received 1 Like on 1 Post
BIMs

In my old and bold days I flew Sikorsky designed Wessex and Seakings with similar blade designs to the S76. These blades had hollow spars pressurised with nitrogen and a BIM indicator at the root which was white if the spar was pressurised but turned to white with black stripes if the spar lost pressure due to a crack etc. A BIM may have given warning of the crack before the catastrophic failure occurred.
I believe that the S76 blade spar is a cold formed welded titanium tube which is then hot formed into the required aerofoil shape.

HM
Hummingfrog is offline