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The gross weight expansion provides benefits both in terms of range and cargo capacity. Mike Reyno Photo

Transport Canada approves 1,200-lb. S-92 gross weight expansion

By Oliver Johnson | April 23, 2018

Estimated reading time 5 minutes, 23 seconds.

Sikorsky’s gross weight expansion (GWE) for the S-92 has been approved by Transport Canada, allowing Canadian operators to benefit from an additional 1,200 pounds of useful payload in the aircraft that has come to dominate the heavy-lift offshore transport sector.

The modification, which was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2015, increases the S-92’s maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) from 26,500 to 27,700 pounds (12,020 to 12,565 pounds). Era was the launch customer for the GWE S-92, and now has four of the type in its fleet.

The gross weight expansion provides benefits both in terms of range and cargo capacity. Mike Reyno Photo
The gross weight expansion provides benefits both in terms of range and cargo capacity. Mike Reyno Photo

These have now been joined by one GWE S-92 in Canada. The aircraft was delivered in 2017, but had been operating at the S-92’s original 26,500-pound MTOW until the increase was certified by Transport Canada.

Dana Fiatarone, vice president of commercial systems and services at Sikorsky, said the expansion provides benefits both in terms of range and cargo capacity.

“The key component is it does give you 1,200 pounds of additional useful load, so whether you use that in terms of passengers or fuel for added range is really up to the mission requirements of the customer,” he said. “Let’s say you want to take three additional 200-pound passengers, and their packs, so you can take 700 pounds of people and packs, and put another 500 pounds of fuel into the aircraft. . . . It gives you that additional mission flexibility.”

Fiatarone said the certification process with Transport Canada had been straightforward, but that Sikorsky had waited until securing a Canadian customer for the modification before pursuing the approval.

“For product improvement, it’s typically best practice to have a customer requirement in mind, because they can go hand in hand with you and get that certification accomplished,” he said.

Sikorsky also revealed that the FAA has certified a field modification kit that will enable existing S-92s to benefit from the 1,200-pound GWE. As with the certification of the production GWE S-92, it plans to add approvals for the modification kit from regulatory agencies around world based on customer demand. Sikorsky will continue to produce both versions of the S-92 — with and without the GWE.

Fiatarone said the manufacturer expects demand for the GWE in regions that have longer range missions, or a requirement for a full complement of 19 passengers at range, such as in Atlantic Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, and in Australia.

Sikorsky delivered the 300th S-92 — to Era Group — earlier this year during Heli-Expo in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Fiatarone said the type was proving its worth during the ongoing downturn in the offshore sector.

“Even in a downturn, we’ve been encouraged with the flight hour profile for the S-92.” He said the global fleet had a significant increase in utilization mid-2016, and flight hours increased by three percent in 2017. Sikorksy is expecting another five percent increase this year.

“Even in a soft market, we have been happy that the aircraft is being utilized at continually higher rates, and that the flight hours for the fleet have continued to climb,” he said. “I think that’s a real testament to the aircraft and certainly to the pilots and the maintenance crews that fly and take care of the aircraft.”

He said he expects that general trend to continue, especially with the oil-and-gas market “showing signs of life,” with oil-and-gas companies increasing their capital expenditure in the form of leasing new rigs and bidding on new basins and territories.

“All those things are encouraging signs to bolster new opportunities for the [S-92],” said Fiatarone. “In the interim period, we have seen continued demand for search-and-rescue platforms and head of state platforms, so that’s been positive for us in the oil downturn.”

In terms of the ongoing evolution of the S-92, Fiatarone said Sikorsky is aiming to increase the availability of the aircraft above its current rate of 95 percent, through the use of its forward stocking locations around the world, for example; and on the technology side, is introducing developments to improve crew situational awareness by implementing offerings like “real-time HUMS.”

The latter was launched last year in collaboration with operator PHI and communications provider Outerlink, and provides operators with the ability to transmit in-flight HUMS data in real time from the aircraft to their operations center. It is already in operation in aircraft in the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, Western Australia, and now in Canada.

Fiatarone said he hoped to see the use of real-time HUMS expand as the system proves its worth in operation, and pointed to “good early positive returns” from customers thus far.

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