"since new"

[sph33r]

Good morning, I would like to ask, what would be the point where a helicopter is considered NEW, for example in a service bulletin, which point in time is referred to with thee phrase "SINCE NEW"

[wrench1]

Originally Posted by sph33r

Good morning, I would like to ask, what would be the point where a helicopter is considered NEW, for example in a service bulletin, which point in time is referred to with thee phrase "SINCE NEW"

Time Since New means the total time the helicopter as accrued since it left the manufacturer or since it had a total time of 0:00. It can also refer to a calendar period of time in some instances.

[sph33r]

actually the reference is calendar related, not in terms of flight hours or cycles. So e.g would NEW, calendar wise, refer to: the last day it 0 hrs, the 1st day it was fully assembled, the day of the first flight etc. The issue revolves around a Service Bulletin stating "xx months since new". And another question that arose, is an airframe that has been retrofitted considered new again after the retrofit process (e.g going from test bed to normally operational states)?

[wrench1]

Originally Posted by sph33r

actually the reference is calendar related, not in terms of flight hours or cycles. So e.g would NEW, calendar wise, refer to: the last day it 0 hrs, the 1st day it was fully assembled, the day of the first flight etc.

Calendar TSNs are the most difficult to determine. First, it could depend on the country the helicopter received it's airworthiness certificate from as each country defines calendar TSN in it's own manner. Especially if the original issue date on the certificate does not match the mfg date on the aircraft data plate. But in general, the manufacture date stamped on the aircraft data plate is normally considered the calendar TSN starting point.
​​

Originally Posted by sph33r

And another question that arose, is an airframe that has been retrofitted considered new again after the retrofit process (e.g going from test bed to normally operational states)?

Don't know what you mean by "retrofitted" but most modern helicopters do not have a method to zero time their airframes. On the olders ones that did, like a Lama, only the manufacturer could perform the zero time and afterwards would modify the aircraft serial number with a slash mark and new number.

​​​​​

[sph33r]

Great, thanks alot, got what I was asking 100%