CASA has approved Queensland-based Plane Support to manufacture cabin air conditioning parts for McDermott Aviation’s Bell 214B fleet using additive manufacturing.
Australian aerospace engineering company Plane Support has received CASA approval to 3D print cabin air conditioning components for the Bell 214B and 214B-1 helicopters, in a project started by aerial firefighting and disaster response operator McDermott Aviation.
CASA updated Plane Support’s Australian Parts Manufacturer Approval (APMA) on 16 September to include additive manufacturing of the parts, which include various duct, plenum, housing and nozzle assemblies. A CASA spokesperson said all the parts were classified as secondary structure.
“All of the parts listed in the Plane Support APMA supplement 5 are classified as secondary structure and are not flight safety critical components,” the spokesperson said.
McDermott Aviation, which describes itself as the world’s largest operator of the 214B and holds the aircraft’s type certificate, started the project to secure a reliable supply of replacement parts that can be difficult to source.
“An aircraft waiting on a component you can’t easily get hold of is an aircraft that isn’t working,” McDermott Aviation Founder and President John McDermott said.
“Being able to have approved parts made here in Queensland gives us far more control over that.”
Plane Support used 3D scanning to capture the original ducting and create digital models, then reverse engineered the parts for additive manufacturing while keeping their original form, fit and function. The company set up a dedicated aerospace additive manufacturing laboratory built around the Markforged FX10 industrial printer, and developed its own quality systems, production controls and inspection methods during almost two years of work with CASA.
“Ducting sounds simple until you try to reproduce it. These are complex shapes that have to fit exactly and perform in the aircraft just as the originals do, and we had to prove every step of that to CASA,” Plane Support Director of Engineering Jason Hazell said.
“We didn’t have an established process to follow, so we developed our own procedures, quality systems and inspection methods and worked them through with CASA. That groundwork now gives us a pathway for other components and other aircraft types.”
CASA has placed conditions on the approval to provide ongoing assurance of the parts’ conformity, quality and compliance with approved engineering data, and will audit Plane Support on site as part of its regular surveillance.