Honeywell’s reputation as a supplier of first-class avionics and systems for fixed-wing aircraft is well established, but the company is still in the embryonic stage of building similar credibility in the helicopter industry,
Although there is already much synergy between the two, Honeywell is investing heavily in innovative systems that it says will address issues that are the cause of 80% of helicopter accidents around the world.
With Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS), Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS) and Heath and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) all in the Honeywell range, Vice President Defence & Space Asia Pacific Honeywell Aerospace, Mark Burgess, believes the company has a lot to offer helicopter operators.
“Honeywell has got an incredible brand reputation in aeroplanes, but less so in rotary wing aircraft, and that’s something that we’re working hard to change,” Burgess says. “For whatever mission purpose: offshore, EMS, VIP … we have a solution that will enhance the reliability and efficiency and safety of your platform.
“Controlled flight into terrain causes 45% of accidents, as well as collisions with man-made obstacles and other aircraft, so if you look at our TCAS and EGPWS solutions, they accommodate for a very large proportion of the flight risk for commercial helos.”
One of the most significant indicators of an impending problem in rotary-wing aircraft is vibration, so any warning an operator can get in advance is most welcome. To that end, Honeywell has developed both integrated and portable systems to detect tell-tale vibration that points to an issue.
"We sell a lot of our roll-on roll-off portable vibration monitoring solutions," Burgess says, "because you can have one or two systems and cover your entire fleet, so you roll it onto an aircraft, fly a mission and that vibration monitoring system provides an enormous amount of value from a short period of operation. And, because it’s portable, you can use it across multiple aircraft."
But perhaps the flagship product Honeywell has developed is their HUMS. HUMS monitors several parameters of helicopter operation and feeds the data back to the operator, which then drives improvements in both reliablity and durability of the aircraft.
"In rotary-wing aircraft, that is hugely invaluable," Burgess reckons. "Data management has always been a significant issue in terms of the reliability of the maintainer to download data and send that data back to a central repository. We’ve invested a lot of effort in connectivity to the aircraft so operators can automatically extract that data on a real-time basis and use it to measure their own reliability for management purposes.
"But data connections have always been a big challenge, so some of the developments that we’ve made in satellite communications off helicopters are enabling that real-time HUMS transfer. We’ve done several prototype installations connecting HUMS via the satcom to ground stations to take the data off real-time."
Honeywell has invested heavily in new products in a range of different areas, mechanical as well as avionics, for new platforms. That’s the longer-term play; it’s focused on OEM relationships with a fairly small number of helicopter operators. For now, Honeywell is keeping its eye squarely on what's important: operational safety.
"All aircraft flying should be as safe as they possibly can be, but there’s obviously economic considerations, and it’s to do with the risk appetite of the individual operator," Burgess points out. "We have much greater penetration with fleet operators that have the means and interest from either a duty of care or a liability perspective to have their aircraft as safe and as available as possible.
"We see that our role, in all that we do, is about enhancing the reliability and efficiency and safety of everything that we deliver."