Seems that the Carson blades may be back on the programme again! Now lets tackle some of the problems that somone else hasn't solved!
Rotorhub story
Carson: S61 blade TC and Sikorsky deal near
Source: Defence & Public Service Helicopter
28 October 2002
Frank Carson - inventor of a blade designed to enhance performance of the existing fleet of Sikorsky S-61 helicopters - says FAA approval of the new design Type Certificate (TC) will be received ‘by December 15 this year.’
An earlier deadline of this past June slipped ‘due to paperwork issues, nothing to do with the blade itself,’ Carson tells Rotorhub.com.
‘We’re up to 18,000 hours of fatigue testing and we’ve had the flight testing for the Type Inspectional Authorisation (TIA) completed.’
Carson also said a deal with Sikorsky on the blades will be announced soon, possibly within the next three weeks.
‘We can’t tell you the details obviously, but it will seal the relationship between us,’ Carson said.
Meanwhile, Carson says production tooling has been set up. The work will be performed by Composite Structures Inc., Monrovia, Ca.
‘They’re probably going to start making the first articles by the end of this year.’
Carson said his nine-strong fleet of S-61s would be the first customers, but that others were waiting in the wings.
‘As soon as we have the approval, we can start marketing them,’ he said.
A deal with Sikorsky is expected to see Carson Helicopters feeding new blades to Helicopter Support Inc., Orange, Conn., Sikorsky Aircraft’s wholly owned service and support organisation, says Jeff Hill of Carson.
‘I expect they’ll be our worldwide marketing organisation for the blade.’
Sikorsky had no comment on an impending deal, however.
‘I don’t know what the meaning of soon is,’ said Ed Steadham, company spokesman.
Jeff Pino, the company’s marketing executive director claims he was misinterpreted when he told an AHS meeting recently that Sikorsky had no plans to ‘directly’ support S-61s or the Carson blade in the field.
That started a stream of messages to Rotorhub.com questioning the policy. Pino declined to take the matter further.
The Carson blade has been widely praised for significantly raising performance margins of the original S-61 blade design.
The story of development has been a saga. Carson claims many years - and equally as many millions of dollars - have been poured into the project.
‘We’re almost there,’ he said. ‘You’ ll be the first to hear.’