Van Horn Aviation recently received FAA approval to extend the service life of the grip plates on the original 206B main rotor blades (Part No. 20631000-101) from 2,800 hours to 4,800 hours. This change results in a corresponding extension in the time between required grip plate/hardware replacements, which is now 4,800 hours. The service life of the blade assembly itself remains at 18,000 hours.
Instructions for Continued Airworthiness manual number VMM-MR-206B-501 Rev. G contains the updated grip plate limitation information. In addition, Rev. G also removed the requirement to change bushings at the 4,800-hour interval and changed the 1,400-hour tap test requirement to 1,200 +/- 200 hours. Note that these changes do not apply to Part No. 20635000-501, which still requires the removal, inspection and re-installation of the grip plates at 2,400 hour intervals.
Rev. G also marks the first ICA making trim tabs optional and providing instructions for installing tracking wedges. Section 62.4 of the ICA has been updated with new dynamic tracking information covering the use of tracking wedges and incorporating customer feedback.
