CHC Helicopter, in collaboration with Leonardo and Skytrac, is introducing a real-time aircraft data solution on the AW139 medium-twin helicopter. A controlled rollout of the system across CHC’s AW139 fleet is under way at the company’s Den Helder, Netherlands base. It installs Leonardo’s Heliwise health and usage monitoring system (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.
The system monitors more than 500 Heliwise HUMS indicators in real time, alerts ground crew as soon as an in-flight exceedance is detected, and streamlines the HUMS and flight data monitoring (FDM) file download process post-flight. The system speeds aircraft turn times by giving maintenance technicians insight into emerging technical issues and time to prepare for them before the aircraft lands and further saves time by avoiding post-flight data processing.
Adding a connected electronic flight bag can provide live weather and marine automatic identification system data to the flight deck, enabling the crew to make decisions with the most current information.
“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,” said CHC senior vice president of engineering and operations Dave Balevic.