Van Horn Aviation is continuing flight testing of its new composite main rotor blades for the Bell 206L at Falcon Field in Mesa, Arizona, after performing the first flight in February. "While our Long Ranger main blade is based on the [206B] Jet Ranger blade that we certified last year, we made some modifications to the design beyond just the 22-inch increase in length," said Van Horn president Dean Rosenlof. "So the 206L is essentially a new blade. We're thrilled that our Long Ranger blades performed well enough to go from ground to hover to 100 knots and turns in our first test session."
Like the Van Horn 206B main rotor blade, the Van Horn 206L blade features carbon-fiber skin and spars, an efficient NASA-designed laminar-flow airfoil, tapered tip and a combination of stainless steel and nickel abrasion strips that cover the entire length of the blade for erosion and lightning-strike protection. The 206L blade, however, is 22 inches longer to match the original OEM design. Van Horn expects FAA certification of its 206L main rotor blades at the end of 2017 with a 20,000-hour service life—four times that of the original blade—and overhauls every 5,000 hours. Van Horn blades install identically to the OEM blades and overhauls are estimated to cost $3,500 and take no longer than two weeks. Overhauls can be performed by authorized blade repair stations.