Static Blade Balance Management – Cost Benefits
The use of periodic Static Balance of rotor blades at user or operator level, provides significant and easily quantifiable cost savings. It will make a noticeable positive difference to the rotor track and balance to your aircraft and increase their availability for tasking or profit.
The Cost Effectiveness of a Static Balance Tool (USBF) can very easily be quantified. Obtain a free, easy-to-use Cost Benefits spread sheet to help quantify potential savings to a Helicopter fleet owner/operator.
Periodic Static balance releases the full potential of the Dynamic Rotor Track & Balance (RTB) procedure. It allows it to work in 1-3 maintenance test flights. It significantly reduces Man Hours and Maintenance Flying hours. Static Balance provides significantly smoother, more balanced rotor blades. The use of a USBF provides interchangeable blades across the fleet of helicopters. The reduced vibration reduces well accepted wear and tear on parts, avionics and airframes.
Release the Cost Benefits achievable by implementing a Static Balance capability into your helicopter fleet. This will provide significant cost savings to the average helicopter fleet operator.
By implementing a simple but effective change in blade management procedures, this has the potential of returning the capital procurement costs in just one blade. The new Blade management plan incorporates the routine use of a quick, accurate and simple to use Static Balance tool.
If only one, otherwise unusable blade from commonly used helicopters today can be returned to service, this will easily pay the capital procurement costs of one of these tools. Any subsequent savings in man hours, flight hours, increased aircraft availability or reduced blade inventories is purely additional savings above and beyond the initial procurement costs.
To assist in analysing potential savings such a system may provide, three spreadsheets are provided Free as downloads.
It will rapidly become apparent how effective control over the Rotor Blade Static Balance solution translates into profit enhancing, significant cost savings. It immediately will show the flow on effects at greater aircraft availability for operational or revenue flight hours rather than being stuck in the hanger for Maintenance and test flying trying to achieve a serviceable Rotor Track & Balance solution.
Loading a CH47 Blade
These spreadsheets include the following parameters and put monetary values on these parameters to give you a quick, easy to read anticipated savings that can reasonably be expected to be returned.
These parameters include:
- Number of Test flights/flt hrs on RTB?
- Average Maintenance Man Hrs used per RTB?
- Average Pilot hrs used per RTB?
- Maintenance Man Hr cost?
- Aircrew Man Hr Cost?
- Charge out rate per flying hour? Ie lost revenue time?
- Number of blades held in spares inventory?
- How much per blade?
- How many “Rogue” blades held?
- Do you fly “sets” of blades?
- Number of aircraft in fleet?
- Number of blades in Inventory?
- How many blades sent to overhaul/OEM for balancing/”too heavy”
- Blade Transportation costs?
- Turn around time of blades sent away?
- Average cost of service?
It will rapidly be seen that very large savings can be materialised very quickly – and easily.
