2
Photo Info

Collins Aerospace continues to grow Goodrich hoist portfolio with new contracts & products

By Dan Megna | January 28, 2020

Estimated reading time 10 minutes, 6 seconds.

It has been just over a year since UTC Aerospace Systems and Rockwell Collins merged to create the aerospace and defense solutions provider Collins Aerospace. Perhaps one of the more unique business lines under the Collins umbrella is its Goodrich rescue hoist portfolio.

Originally founded in the mid-1970s as a subsidiary of century-old Western Gear Corporation, the business is today recognized as a leader in helicopter rescue hoist and aircraft cargo winch systems.

Its success was shaped over 40 years, having been affiliated with Lucas Aerospace, TRW, and UTC Aerospace. Through it all, hoist technology evolved, from early pneumatic designs to today’s more capable hydraulic and electric models. Presently, the company offers roughly 40 models of rescue hoists and cargo winches utilized by civil and military operators worldwide.

Traditionally, the helicopter hoist was a search-and-rescue apparatus to deploy and recover personnel to and from treacherous situations. Hoisting techniques were developed to minimize the time a rescuer and victim were suspended on the hook outside the aircraft during the hoist evolution.

In the mid-2000s, however, the company responded to a growing number of operators seeking to utilize hoists outside traditional applications. Utility operators were looking for alternatives to human external cargo (HEC) missions using a long line attached to the aircraft’s cargo hook and sometimes a “belly band” as a means of moving workers between job sites, such as tall utility towers.

As a result, the company introduced the 44316 and 44318 model hoists, which today remain the only hoists approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and European Union Aviation Safety Agency for HEC operations.

Collins Aerospace’s Goodrich rescue hoist portfolio is one of the more unique business lines under the company’s umbrella. Dan Megna Photo

“The rising trend in rotorcraft HEC activity represents a game change for our industry, and one that’s driving significant growth for our business,” said Nick Demogines, director of business development for Hoist & Winch at Collins Aerospace. “It’s essentially a new market for hoists, as operators are now using them for things like power line maintenance, harbor pilot transfer and offshore wind farms. Instead of using hoists to rescue people, they’re using hoists to help people commute to their jobs, which means the hoists are used more frequently and for longer periods of time.”

To meet the operational requirements of HEC, these hoists are engineered and built for higher load factors with redundant systems, and tested to more stringent requirements with an emphasis on electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding and environmental testing.

Collins Aerospace’s Goodrich 44318 hoists were recently chosen by three of California’s premier firefighting agencies as the rescue hoist aboard new helicopters. The Los Angeles County Fire Department and California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) selected the 44318 for their new-generation Sikorsky S-70i Firehawk helicopters, while the Santa Barbara County Fire Department chose the hoist for its HH-60L Black Hawks being converted to aerial firefighting configuration.

“Seeing the new S-70i Firehawk with our hoist is very exciting,” said Demogines. “I think the need for this capability will grow, not just domestically, but also internationally, as government agencies and municipalities start seeing the benefits of a multi-mission helicopter that can perform rescues as well as fight fires.”

Introducing Pegasus

Embarking on 2020, there is great anticipation for Collins Aerospace’s next-generation Goodrich rescue hoist — Pegasus. This is an entirely new, “clean-sheet” design resulting in large part from the company’s global “voice of the customer” campaign.

Collins’ Goodrich 44316 and 44318 model hoists remain the only hoists approved by the FAA and EASA for HEC operations. Collins expects its next-generation Goodrich rescue hoist, Pegasus, to go into production in 2021. Dan Megna Photo

Launched in 2015, this campaign encouraged customers, operators, maintainers, and aircraft manufacturers to provide direct and honest feedback as to the “good, the bad, and the ugly” as it related to the company’s product improvement, customer service, and technical support.

As a result, Pegasus is an entirely new HEC-compliant hoist design, incorporating modular architecture, highly durable components, innovative technology, and simplified maintenance for improved mission readiness.

Demogines said, “Pegasus is our first opportunity in more than 20 years to have a clean sheet design, taking everything we’ve learned in the past four decades and applying it to a new design and the new requirements, and answering the desires of the operators and the regulatory agencies and maintenance folks.”

“There are 40 years of lessons learned that have gone into Pegasus,” said Richard Bryson, program chief engineer for Hoist & Winch at Collins Aerospace. “For example, we’ve simplified the maintenance. Something that today takes half an hour, now we can get it done in 10 minutes. We wanted to give the operator more necessary data so when they’re hoisting, they know what’s going on and when they land they can download and review that data.”

At the heart of Pegasus is DASH (Data Acquisition Sensing and Health). Described as a mini health and usage monitoring system (HUMS), DASH can be integrated into the aircraft’s internal HUMS system or independently monitored and downloaded via a smart phone/tablet app. The system monitors and records critical hoist parameters including load, speed, cycles, and temperatures.

Collins’ Goodrich 44318 hoists were recently chosen by three of California’s premier firefighting agencies as the rescue hoist aboard new helicopters. Dan Megna Photo

“We took everything we liked from the existing hoists and then added to it to Pegasus,” said Demogines. “Things like sensors and new technology, to make it more innovative in terms of supplying more information to the operators; additional information to the maintenance folks that can be used for prognostic health management for cable changes, oil changes, how much load is on the hook. . . . We really made it a smart and high-performing hoist.”

Collins expects Pegasus will go into production in 2021.

In addition to the completely new Pegasus hoist, the company is finalizing another new product: a “drop-in” or retrofittable clutch aimed at improving the performance of Goodrich hoists already in the fleet. Bejan Maghsoodi, principal mechanical engineer for Hoist & Winch, explained, “We’re continuing our focus working with regulatory agencies to obtain certification for the High Performance Clutch. Hoists with this new clutch are expected to be certified and flying later this year.”

The cornerstone for all Collins products and services is demonstrating the value and appreciation for the customer. Bryson said, “There is a very strong focus on the customer — customer first, customer satisfaction. That’s one thing we have maintained and pushed over the past two years. We’re not perfect. We can always get better.

“We now have a dedicated hoist and winch field service team located around the world that can provide on-site service,” he continued. “They can answer technical questions, provide technical publications. . . . We’ve improved all of those things over the past year plus, and are much better than we were before.”

For example, in 2019, maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) on-time delivery improved by more than 15 percent, Bryson said. “We all have improvement goals and we’ve improved immensely over the past five or six years,” he emphasized.

Collins Aerospace is today recognized as a leader in helicopter rescue hoist and aircraft cargo winch systems. Dan Megna Photo

The customer base for the Hoist & Winch business is among Collins’ most varied, as it sells directly to rotorcraft original equipment manufacturers and operators. The business estimates it has roughly 600 customers worldwide, including federal, state, and local public safety and utility operators, and the military.

Being part of Collins Aerospace provides the hoist team with vast technical and financial infrastructure to enhance research and development, training, and customer service. As an example, this allows the business to maintain an ample inventory of spare hoist models and configurations to support customers with repairs or overhaul.

The unit is also looking to leverage company expertise in technical training groups to take hoist training beyond the classroom. The team is assessing simulation, augmented reality, and virtual reality training activities to immerse operators in a “virtual environment,” similar to what is done in flight simulator training.

Demogines said, “By combining the strengths of our legacy companies, Collins Aerospace represents a transformative moment for rotorcraft. Collins has the scale, strength, and technical resources to redefine the rotorcraft industry. Within our hoist business, we have already begun to experience these synergies. For example, we are working with our lighting business to explore the possible interaction/coordination of a searchlight into future offerings.”

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

HAI Heli-Expo 2024 Recap

Notice a spelling mistake or typo?

Click on the button below to send an email to our team and we will get to it as soon as possible.

Report an error or typo

Have a story idea you would like to suggest?

Click on the button below to send an email to our team and we will get to it as soon as possible.

Suggest a story