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.
