CHC Helicopter, in collaboration with Leonardo and Skytrac, has completed testing and is introducing a real-time aircraft data solution on the AW139 helicopter. The ground-breaking technology monitors over 500 Heliwise health and usage monitoring system (HUMS) indicators in real-time, alerts ground crews as soon as an in-flight exceedance is detected, and streamlines the HUMS and flight data monitoring (FDM) file download process post flight.
An additional electronic flight bag (EFB) solution provides live weather and marine AIS data to the flight deck.
The advanced solution installs Leonardo’s Heliwise HUMS analysis libraries onboard the aircraft. Skytrac’s ISAT-200A data acquisition unit then monitors for Heliwise exceedances during flight and communicates HUMS alerts in real-time. With a fully deployed solution, the CHC maintenance team can gain immediate insight into emerging technical issues and begin investigation and preparation before the aircraft is back on the ground. By streamlining the HUMS and FDM file download process, CHC can also avoid laborious post-flight data processing and save valuable aircraft turnaround time.
Using the same “smart connectivity” solution, pilots gain new situational awareness tools. Live weather and marine vessel locations are sent inflight to an intuitive EFB application ensuring crew can make decisions based on the most up-to-date information at all times.
“We are always looking for ways to boost operational efficiency for our customers through the use of innovative, emerging technologies,” said Dave Balevic, senior vice president of engineering and operations at CHC. “We are proud to be the first operator to utilize this solution. By streamlining our processes and sharing critical information between the air and ground in real time, we can deliver an even safer operation that removes opportunities for human factors errors while providing more immediate visibility into potential issues. We are very pleased with the results and look forward to expanding to a fully automated solution over the following months.”
“This is an important historical milestone for Leonardo AW HUMS development, based on Leonardo’s 30 years of experience with this technology,” said Leonardo Helicopters’ head of PSE and licenses, Maurizio D’Angelo. “It also demonstrates Leonardo’s commitment to the continuous development of leading-edge technologies that enhance operational safety for our customers and improve the customer service offering. The successful real-time in-flight transmission of HUMS data has been achieved with the full collaboration of CHC and Skytrac and a tangible outcome of this teamwork is a solution that is designed to support commercial helicopter operations in a range of market segments.”
“Skytrac is committed to delivering practical and effective real-time air-to-ground connectivity solutions,” said Skytrac’s vice president of sales Jan van der Heul. “This real-time HUMS and EFB project marks a significant step forward for Skytrac, CHC, Leonardo and the aviation industry as a whole. We foresee great potential to increase operational safety and efficiency and look forward to driving the rollout of the final solution.”
A controlled rollout of the new technologies across the AW139 fleet is underway out of CHC’s Den Helder base in the Netherlands.
