Abz S92
 

As there is all the talk of the coastguard S92 how is ABZ's S92 fairing at the moment ? What are the current servicability rates ? Any new problems ? How many hours has it logged ?

NST

Maybe this will give a clue
http://www.thisisnorthscotland.com/d...=sidebarsearch

HC

Ah, not so good !! Any news on problem ? main/tail rotor ? Is it fixed ?

"The crew of the twin-engined Sikorsky S-92 alerted air traffic controllers when they noticed a vibration about half an hour after they had taken off"

I think the word 'noticed' is somewhat of an understatement! ::\

Don't blow it all out of proportion. Vibration 'noticed'! A/C landed safely. No accident. Nothing to see here, move along please.

Disagree helimutt. Evidently S92 in bits at Longside and something to do with the tail rotor. Good that no-one was hurt and aircraft landed safely, but I for one would be interested in knowing what the problem was.

What do you do differently on the Europian side of the pond? Norwegians and now the flying Englishmen seem to have experienced problems with the S92, but...

one operator just west of the Atlantic doesn't seem to have any problems with the machine.

Good Point Heli Ice

Aren't there a few 92's in daily operation in the GOM . Never see any threads about those machines with technical or teething problems.

Anybody liKe to comment , :confused:

Helimutt, I beleive the pax were told it was rather major? Just a rumour though!

Over 90% availability. Outstanding support from Sikorsky. Only problem is parts availability, sometimes parts are hard to get, but Sikorsky will rob from production if we go AOG.
Overall the S-92 is an easy to maintain aircraft, stay on top bearing wear and the ride is much smoother. The Hums works very good, keep an eye on several key parameters and the aircraft availability will reflect it.

(From a neighbour who heard it from a friend of a friend :hmm: )

Tail rotor blade (s) striking the tail/tailboom tend to scratch the paintwork!

RE the GOM machines, how hard are they being flown ? I believe the ABZ machine does 10hrs regularly per day, so it is a tail rotor problem ? blades hitting the tail boom ?

Helimut, I wsn't trying to blow it out of proportion: I had good reason to find the word 'noticed' amusing! :ugh:

If the reports of blade striking are correct, it will be very interesting to hear the cause. Those blades don't have much scope to flap, TGB loose? :uhoh:

Noticed a thread re-S76 tail rotor and found this reply by NickLappos

The S76 TR is the same as the Black Hawk's but was developed about 3 years later. When the 76 design was being finalized, the BH was going through a bit of development angst where the bonding of the paddle to the blade spar was working loose. There was a recurring ultrasound inspection and the chief S76 designer decided to use a "belt and suspenders" approach, so it is bonded and bolted. Since then the hawk process was squared away, so it dropped the inspection.

How does the 92 tail rotor compare to the Black Hawk and S76 ? Could this be an occurrance of the Blackhawk problem ?

NST

From a Sikorsky press release today:

So the moral is, never believe anything you read in a press release!

HC

As long as it stays in the hangar it is "operationally ready". Its only when it flies it goes u/s. In other words. it spends 98% of its time in the hangar.

Just seen it depart from ABZ this afternoon, is it back on revenue now or is it flight testing ?

NST

So S or U/S ?

I don't know - that aircraft is on contract to Apache - at the moment.

But I'd assume U/S if no one from CHC has commented.

Just hope they are keeping Apache better informed.