Unfortunately, that is what you get when you buy an 'A' model. They wanted to be launch customer of something, remember the S92 fiasco, may they have fun.

I suppose you don't have that problem CVR, how old is that S61?

Lunar

God Bles the Aer Corps, despite their handicaps with spanking new heli's and planks. I wonder what their incident / accident rate is per 100,000 hours of flying, especially the stuff you never hear about because it's become a state secret!!! If the pilot is reading this thread...... go on, tell us what the hullabaloo is over that lovely new piece of kit that you landed somewhere on the European Continent with, and was the Agusta pilot sworn to state secrecy? Why wasn't there a full AC crew compliment. Experience, concerns over performance and integrity of aircraft? Free ride to Irlande for a few scoops with the chaps at Bal?? :} Thats a funky looking Beret worn by the Flight Crew! Where is his helmet? Nice moving map indeed! A big 109, with even bigger headaches! Wait til the old spare parts line dry's up!!! Fly Safe Y'all!:ok:

Having problems in the gulf with cracks in the tail booms. You can only see them from inside the tail section though. We have 4 down, with Augusta's here fixing them :ugh:
Am lead to believe after number 50 there were strengthened... lets hope so..:eek:

Apologies for thread drift!
Darren can you give hours of airfames with the cracks, location and how spotted please. We're approaching 300 hrs. PM if prefer as off main thread thrust. Thanks.

Sandy,
Open the rear bagage hold, take out the rear panel. On the Co Pilots side there is a rear spar running at the top before it connects to the empanage section its cracking there, they are small cracks so take a torch. I apologise for the very vivid explanation. I will try and get some pics for you, If I can I will post them for you. By all accounts Augusta are aware of this problem and from number 55 onwards they are patching the aircarft before they leave the factory. Our's are getting a patch which gives you a further 50hrs. This repair requires a 337. There is a thought that it cracks near our CPI panel perhaps with airflow against it, causing vibration, again this is only a thought. To date 5 of ours need this patch on airframes from 300-800hrs. I'm sure there are people on here more quailfied to give you a better explaination. But I hope this helps. If you want the real answer contact Augusta I'm sure they will be able to assist
If you need further info please contact me, or PM.

Regards

Darren999, CPI has nothing to do with the cracking. Upper left tailboom attachment on all helicopters that have a counter clockwise main rotor, take most of the load from the tailrotor.
On the ground, they are under tension loads from the weight of the boom, and when flying they are also under tension loads from the tailrotor thrust. Have a look at a Bell 205/212/412 tailboom attachment (they are all the same). LH side has a solid wall in the rear fuse compartment, RH side only has a compression strut (compression forces are easier to fight against than tension forces). Bell 205/212/412 tailboom attachments use 3 different bolt diameters from memory, and the upper lefthand gets the biggest bolt, done to the highest torque loading. It's all about load paths.
Agusta have tried to simplify things by designing the boom around that upper lefthand corner, and then copying that bolt size/torque for the other 5 locations. One bolt length/diameter/torque, makes things much easier and quicker during maintenance. Unfortunately, the upper lefthand attachment doesn't seem to have as much strength as they thought, although personally, from looking at the structure in a few of these, I think that the build quality also has to be a factor. Holes are not drilled very well in some areas. Perhaps Agusta should tighten up on the quality of product coming out of PZL in Poland, where the fuselage and tailboom are produced.

nooby- Thank you for that explaination. That also explains the CPI theroy and blows what I was told right out the water:ok: I will have at look at mine today, they only have another 2 139's to repair here.
Best regards