During the week of September 23, Ed DiCampli, executive vice president of HAI; and Dave Green, health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) program manager for HAI, traveled to London to attend Helitech and meet with safety experts, HUMS design engineers, and regulatory personnel. Prominent in this group were Bob Sheffield, AgustaWestland senior advisor, safety and fleet operational improvements; Nick Keningley, Rotorcraft IVHM leader, GE Aviation, UK; Dave Howson, CAA UK helicopter research manager; and Lionel Tauszig, rotorcraft project certification manager, European Aviation Safety Agency.

The following week the HAI team traveled to Aberdeen, Scotland, to meet with HUMS analyst and maintenance managers of Bristow Helicopters, CHC Scotia Helicopters, and Bond Offshore Helicopters. In all three of these meetings, the HAI representatives were shown around the respective facilities before attending sessions on the processes that each company use to debrief HUMS data downloads after each flight and to accomplish follow-ups when an anomaly is detected.

This Bristow meeting was chaired by Russell Gould, director U.K. fleet support for Bristow Helicopters, Aberdeen. He was assisted by Rick Barnett, HUMS manager, Bristow U.S. Attendees included Cameron Beattie, chief engineer, Bristow Helicopters, and John Wilson, engineering manager, EBO.

The meeting at Bristow also included a series of presentations by HAI, showcasing elements of a program to be undertaken in the near term by a recently formed partnership including HAI, the FAA, Bristow Helicopters U.S., and Honeywell. The objective of the program is to develop and validate an automated data logging methodology to meet evolving guidelines of the FAA and helicopter OEMs. The Bristow S-76C++ fleet equipped with Honeywell HUMS and the transmission overhaul facilities at New Iberia, Louisiana, provide an ideal opportunity to demonstrate this.

Ed DiCampli detailed the role HAI is playing in support of HUMS-related FAA research, and Dave Green presented a brief on the HUMS Data Analyst Working Group that was established in February 2013, just prior to the AHS-HAI Workshop on Airworthiness, HUMS, and CBM. In addition, there were exchanges of ideas on processes used to detect mechanical defects and ensure continued safe operations of helicopters transporting oil and gas personnel to and from platforms in the North Sea.

The London and Aberdeen meetings were very informative and opened lines of communication important to HAI’s current and future HUMS initiatives. Ed DiCampli is pleased to report that six new members joined the HAI HUMS Data Analyst Working Group.