A CAAC requirement for electrical load analysis (ELA) data resulted in a temporary halt in Robinson helicopter deliveries to China. Skip Robinson Photo
Robinson Helicopter Co. president Kurt Robinson told Vertical that the impasse in shipping around 30 helicopters due to new import requirements for electrical load analysis data (ELA) from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) “is no longer an issue.”
When an aircraft arrives in China, the CAAC wants to check ELA data for each aircraft, he explained. “It’s something that we didn’t have readily available, and there was a reason — we don’t want people out in the field just adding various avionics or starting to modify the aircraft, because it could affect some of the other components.”
The company, he continued, “worked with the Chinese authorities and have made some changes in our maintenance manuals, so that the dealers delivering aircraft there can work with the CAAC to get the aircraft registered, so they have all the information they need. As far as I know, it’s not holding up any aircraft at this point.”
Robinson also spoke about aviation in China and other countries, including India and Russia, for an upcoming feature on Emerging Markets in the December/January print edition of Vertical Magazine. The demand for helicopters in China, he said, is just starting to open up — with the caveat that it’s “always slower than everybody thinks.”
It’s becoming easier to fly from one region to another in China, he added, “and if that continues to evolve, I think helicopters will prove to be more and more popular.”
