German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
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Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#2The Navy's version of the 53 has a crash rate 3x higher than other helicopters. Maintenance debt killed two of my classmates.
https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/distress-signal-...
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#3The Navy's version of the 53 has a crash rate 3x higher than other helicopters. Maintenance debt killed two of my classmates. https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/distress-signal-...
A worn-out fuel line had been rubbing silently against a bundle of old electrical wires near the front of the cabin – a problem that had gone undetected for years. The same mechanical defect existed inside every Sea Dragon in the fleet, though nobody knew it. Over nearly three decades, the Navy had never required anyone to regularly inspect Sea Dragon wires or fuel lines for damage.
Calling this particular problem maintenance debt is a bit disingenuous. PMCS/PMI could have been performed perfectly for decades and not caught this problem. Peculiar dichotomy in this story; the conflation of design flaw and lack of spare parts and improper maintenance.
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#4The Navy's version of the 53 has a crash rate 3x higher than other helicopters. Maintenance debt killed two of my classmates. https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/distress-signal-...
I'm sorry to hear that. Aircraft maintenance is the kind of stuff where you really don't want to cut corners. :-(
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#5The Navy's version of the 53 has a crash rate 3x higher than other helicopters. Maintenance debt killed two of my classmates. https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/distress-signal-...
A worn-out fuel line had been rubbing silently against a bundle of old electrical wires near the front of the cabin – a problem that had gone undetected for years. The same mechanical defect existed inside every Sea Dragon in the fleet, though nobody knew it. Over nearly three decades, the Navy had never required anyone to regularly inspect Sea Dragon wires or fuel lines for damage. Calling this particular problem ma…
The US Navy seems to have lost the culture of maintenance and seaworthiness that they were famous for over the previous half-century.
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#6The Navy's version of the 53 has a crash rate 3x higher than other helicopters. Maintenance debt killed two of my classmates. https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/distress-signal-...
A worn-out fuel line had been rubbing silently against a bundle of old electrical wires near the front of the cabin – a problem that had gone undetected for years. The same mechanical defect existed inside every Sea Dragon in the fleet, though nobody knew it. Over nearly three decades, the Navy had never required anyone to regularly inspect Sea Dragon wires or fuel lines for damage. Calling this particular problem ma…
We shouldn't underestimate what we don't know about building machines. Maintenance should accommodate time to check for wear on parts we don't expect to, to check things that are different from what we expect them to be. The problem was there for decades and one inspection in one unit over that period would probably have evidenced the issue and added one more item for the maintenance checklists.
It's not like the manufacturer can't schedule a full disassembly of a unit 10 years into its lifetime. Car magazines do it.
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#7Earlier quoted context omitted.
A worn-out fuel line had been rubbing silently against a bundle of old electrical wires near the front of the cabin – a problem that had gone undetected for years. The same mechanical defect existed inside every Sea Dragon in the fleet, though nobody knew it. Over nearly three decades, the Navy had never required anyone to regularly inspect Sea Dragon wires or fuel lines for damage. Calling this particular problem ma…
The US Navy seems to have lost the culture of maintenance and seaworthiness that they were famous for over the previous half-century.
[deleted]
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#8The Navy's version of the 53 has a crash rate 3x higher than other helicopters. Maintenance debt killed two of my classmates. https://pilotonline.com/news/military/local/distress-signal-...
A worn-out fuel line had been rubbing silently against a bundle of old electrical wires near the front of the cabin – a problem that had gone undetected for years. The same mechanical defect existed inside every Sea Dragon in the fleet, though nobody knew it. Over nearly three decades, the Navy had never required anyone to regularly inspect Sea Dragon wires or fuel lines for damage. Calling this particular problem ma…
WTF? I thought aircraft maintenance stipulated that all parts have to be inspected, some often, others seldom, but none never.
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#9Same two contenders as the original competition in 1965!
Significantly updated but still disappointing in showing how little aerodynamics has progressed in five decades.
Re: German military kicks off heavy lift helicopter competition
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
A worn-out fuel line had been rubbing silently against a bundle of old electrical wires near the front of the cabin – a problem that had gone undetected for years. The same mechanical defect existed inside every Sea Dragon in the fleet, though nobody knew it. Over nearly three decades, the Navy had never required anyone to regularly inspect Sea Dragon wires or fuel lines for damage. Calling this particular problem ma…
WTF? I thought aircraft maintenance stipulated that all parts have to be inspected, some often, others seldom, but none never.
A 747-400 has 6 million parts (according to Google). Good luck inspecting all of those.