Tele-maintenance for Army Apaches and Chinooks

U.S. Army helicopter technicians get 21st century advantage with new electronic component monitoring systems and "tele-maintenance". DCLnews reports.

To cut costs and improve the readiness of its helicopter fleets, the U.S. Army is considering expanding its use of technical "health monitoring" systems. These allow maintainers to predict when parts will need replacement. Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS), as they are called, are currently being developed for the Army's new UH-60M Black Hawk and Block III AH-64D Apache helicopters. HUMS help track the wear and tear of aircraft components.

Last year, the Army tested a Goodrich HUMS system on board 20 Black Hawk helicopters of the 101st Airborne Division when the unit was deployed in Iraq.

"The experience in the field proved that this technology is needed throughout the entire fleet," says Army chief warrant officer, Sam Kunselman, from the 159th aviation brigade.

Worthwhile investment

The Army's program executive office for aviation is funding a two-year demonstration of HUMS technology. The aim is to collect data and demonstrate to Army decision makers that it is worth the investment.

"The upfront cost to install this system on existing helicopters is $150,000 per airframe," explains Kunselman. "The program manager believes the cost can be recovered through maintenance savings and safety."

Tele-maintenance

Alongside this initiative, the new Cargo Platform Maintenance Environment (CPME) is being tested for the CH-47 Chinook heavy lift helicopter (DCL converted Chinook documentation from SGML to XML). The first CH-47 unit with CPME will be deployed in Afghanistan later this year, and will demonstrate "tele-maintenance" capability that links diagnostics back to the U.S.

The CPME system will record maintenance actions and aircraft configurations, as well as routine business metrics.

"Right now, we have no visibility on the root cause of component failures," says Ted Schmidt, chief of logistics at the Aviation and Missile Command cargo helicopter program office. "We don't know if a part was removed for a fault, the time between overhauls, or a false removal."

Tracking failures

"We'll be able to track a failure all the way through the maintenance structure and see what will be the effect," adds Schmidt.

CPME data used in the CH-47 program suggests it would be acceptable to double the Chinook inspection interval from 200 hours to 400 hours. This would increase the availability of the helicopter and significantly reduce the cost of maintenance.

Accident prevention

A combination of ground-based maintenance management systems and helicopter-borne HUMS will monitor transmissions, drive-train, and control components on specific missions and the various theaters of war. Tied to cockpit displays, HUMS can warn aircrews of impending mechanical failures.

"If you prevent one accident, it pays off," says Larry Plaster, manager of Apache modernization at the Boeing Company.

Chinook technical manuals and maintenance schedules, along with instructional graphics and embedded training videos, are stored on electronic cards loaded into computers. When maintainers complete assigned tasks, the CPME records data known as "P2T3", which stands for "People, Parts, Tools, Time and Training". P2T3 information from the field is collected at the Army Logistics Support Authority, Alabama, and the Boeing Information Center, near Philadelphia.

CPME has been tested by Chinook units at Fort Campbell, Ky., and Reno, Nev., for more than two years. Boeing is now field testing the system at 33 sites for the whole CH-47 fleet, over a two year period.

DCLnews editorial