an Horn Aviation (VHA) offer direct sale on its 206L LongRanger composite main rotor blades immediately following FAA certification, which is expected in July 2018. Aeronautical Accessories will continue to serve as the exclusive distributor for our other Bell 206 products—tail rotor blades for most 206 variants and main rotor blades for the 206B JetRanger.
The VHA 206L main rotor blades feature 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 VHA blades use the identical installation configuration as the OEM blades, allowing direct replacement without hub modification.
Anticipated service life is 16,000 hours (4x the life of the metal OEM blades) with overhauls of the root grip plates, root bolts and nuts, and bushings every 4,000 hours. The overhaul is estimated to take no longer than two weeks and cost approximately $3,500.
“Essentially customers will have a choice when they hit the 4,000 hour mark on either blade,” said VHA president Dean Rosenlof. “Either they can throw away the OEM metal blade and buy a new metal blade for nearly the same price as the VHA blade, or spend $3500 on an overhaul and go another 5,000 hours with the VHA blade, and do that two more times. Our blade clearly offers the better direct operating cost.”
Introductory pricing on the 206L main rotor blades will be $55,000 per blade through December 31, 2018. Interested customers can contact VHA directly at 1-480-483-4202 or email info@vanhornaviation.com.
