Longer S-92 inspection intervals ‘boost availability and lower costs’

Sikorsky S-92 helicopter operators can look forward to increased availability and lower operating costs, after the manufacturer raised the scheduled inspection intervals from 375 flight hours to 500 hours, and from 750 flight hours to 1,000 hours.

“By increasing these intervals, average S-92 operators will be able to safely keep aircraft in service longer between inspections, mitigating downtime and maximising availability for the fleet,” according to the manufacturer.

The change will cut more than a full year of downtime caused by inspections because operators will now to avoid up to 30 inspections over the course of the S-92’s 30,000 flight hour lifespan, said Sikorsky.

The manufacturer said it had developed a methodology to enable the safe extension of current limits after analysing 20 years’ worth of maintenance data collected from more than 300 aircraft and 2.4m flight hours.

“Increasing inspection intervals for the S-92 is a major victory for operators striving to mitigate downtime and maximise fleet availability and a testament of the commitment to safety and innovation that Sikorsky champions,” said Leon Silva, vice president of Sikorsky’s Global Commercial and Military Systems. “This is yet another example of Sikorsky’s continued investment in the S-92 platform, and we are thrilled to see it help customers perform against some of the biggest challenges in the world.”

In September, the company revealed it had received FAA certification to offer a one-time life extension for specific main gear box housings on S-92 helicopters.

Average S-92 offshore oil operators are now able to keep gear boxes in service for an additional 12-18 months by more accurately determining the life-limit for parts, said the company. Other operators were said to benefit from an additional 24 months.

Late last year, the FAA approved the first component life extension using Sikorsky’s LifePlus technology on the S-92’s main rotor hub. This lifted the retirement time from 9,000 hours to 15,000 hours or 45,000 ground-air-ground cycles.

Meanwhile, offshore S-92 operator Bristow welcomed the extension on the Sikorsky S-92 gearbox lifecycle, which will facilitate the return of some of the company’s S-92s to service over the coming quarters.

But in an third-quarter earnings call earlier this month, Chris Bradshaw, president and CEO added: “Unfortunately, there are other components for which we’re still seeing significant delays in both delivery and/or repairs, which is causing still a number of S-92 airframes to remain idle on the ground. So hopefully continued progress can be made on those components as well.”