VHA Engineers Present Tech Brief at Heli-Expo 2022

Van Horn Aviation engineers presented a Manufacturer’s Tech Brief on installation and repair procedures of composite rotor blades at HAI Heli-Expo 2022 on Tuesday, March 8 at 3 pm. Approximately 35 technicians and other company representatives attended the tech brief.

A copy of the VHA tech brief presentation can be downloaded here.

VHA General Manager Austin Schneider began the presentation with a brief company overview and introduced the presenters.

VHA repair engineer supervisor Gobi Kastelic discussed various inspection and repair topics including:

• Damage tolerances on composite materials
• When and how to conduct tap tests
• Identifying and repairing paint cracks
• Preventing erosion and UV damage with properly applied paint
• Published VHA service bulletin and ICA updates plus in-work updates submitted to the FAA

VHA engineer Dan Belber explained best practices for installing main and tail rotor blades including:

• Overview of installation procedure and adjustments available
• Balance equipment and polar charts
• Recommendations for best chance of smooth track and balance procedure
• Understanding, troubleshooting and optimizing 1P and 2P vibration
• Introduction of tracking wedge technology

The session was broadcast via live streaming so both virtual and in-person Heli-Expo attendees could participate; see Tech Briefs for a list of all manufacturer tech briefs to presented at Heli-Expo 2022.

The VHA session was approved for IA renewal credit. 

VHA customers are encouraged to email suggested topics for next year’s tech brief.