NAVAIR, Sikorsky swap ideas over H-92
NAVAIR News Release
Release Date: 11/12/2002
By JAMES DARCY NAS Patuxent River Public Affairs Department
PATUXENT RIVER NAVAL AIR STATION, MD-Sikorsky held a two-day show-and-tell with its prototype H-92 medium helicopter at Helicopter Test and Evaluation Squadron 21 recently, giving the NAVAIR rotary wing community a chance to weigh in on the new design. Arranged by HX-21 with assistance from the NAVAIR Science and Technology Office, the visit also gave planners here a chance to assess the latest offerings in helicopter technology.
"When doing strategic planning, it's critical to understand where the state of the art is," said Dr. John Fischer, director of NAVSTO. "It prevents reinventing the wheel."
The NAVSTO develops policy and strategy for naval aviation technology development, working with program executive offices to prioritize S&T programs, and mapping investment strategies with the Office of Naval Research.
Sikorsky provided briefs and rides to NAVAIR leaders and experts in the S&T and rotary wing fields. The Sikorsky pilots were also generous with stick time, giving test pilots here a chance to wring out the new design. Rear Adm. Timothy Heely, NAWCAD commander, was among those to pilot the helo, which is one of four flyable prototypes of the H-92.
The H-92 is a successor to the H-60 Blackhawk and Seahawk family, developed with both civilian and military customers in mind, explained Nick Lappos, Sikorsky's H-92 program manager. However, the H-92 will have no common part numbers with the H-60s, nor does it bear much cosmetic resemblance to its progenitor. Its fuel sponsons, rear loading ramp and asymmetric tail are reminiscent of the MH-53 Sea Stallion, while it is closer in size to an H-3.
The H-92 boasts a 25 to 30 percent power increase over the Hawk family, Lappos said, with two General Electric GE CT7-8C engines resulting in 11,000 pounds of payload capacity. Sikorsky has two lots already in production to meet orders from the civilian sector, where it will serve in transport and search and rescue roles, he said.
But Sikorsky is promoting the H-92 as an optimal platform for tactical troop transport, anti-submarine warfare, search-and-rescue and combat SAR. Configured with folding crashworthy seats, the H-92 would hold 22 combat-equipped Marines.
The Navy has no current plans to buy the H-92, but Sikorsky believes aging aircraft and evolving mission requirements will create a niche for the H-92 in the Navy inventory. For the Navy, finding potentially suitable military aircraft in the civilian market offers a different approach to acquisition.
"This is a very efficient way of leveraging commercial technology," Fischer said. "There are fewer development costs on the DoD side. ... The return on investment is much higher."
For Sikorsky, the trip to NAVAIR Pax River was an informal opportunity to get Navy feedback on the product as it stands today, Lappos said. Cmdr. Dale Feddersen of HX-21 took the first familiarization flight, and offered his impressions to Sikorsky test pilot Phil Pacini both during and after the flight. Feddersen is MH-60S flight test director, and was involved in developmental testing of the common glass cockpit for the S and R variants of the MH-60.
On his 45-minute flight, Feddersen performed a number of basic test maneuvers, including level speed changes, climbs, descents, rolls and reversals. He also exercised some of the automatic flight control systems.
Feddersen delivered his detailed impressions to the Sikorsky team, while acknowledging that one flight was not enough time to thoroughly evaluate an aircraft.
"In these few minutes of flight, though, if there's something that's really good or bad, you'll catch it," he said.
"We brought the H-92 down to show our customers what we have, to glean their comments and learn from what we're told," Lappos said. "But the folks we're flying are also gathering information."
"As a test pilot," Feddersen said, "it's good to know what's out there and what can be done."
Besides looking at specific design concepts, Feddersen said his familiarization flight was a way of "putting more stuff in my backpack," expanding his depth of experience and giving him more tools to draw on in future test and evaluation work.
For NAVSTO, familiarization visits such as this one help planners maintain currency in developmental trends.
"Keeping visibility of the next generation of rotary wing technology is important for maintaining awareness of what's available," Fischer said.
Advances seen in the H-92 may offer solutions for present-day Navy helos. For example, wide-chord blades and anhedral blade tips such as those on the H-92 could offer greater hovering efficiency for aircraft in the inventory today, explained HX-21 Technical Director Joe Carbonaro.
Many of the advances featured on the H-92 relate to safety, Lappos explained during his briefs. All components that are vulnerable to bird strikes, for instance, have been strengthened to survive a collision with a 1-kilogram bird at 165 knots. "We scrapped the original tail rotor design just to comply with the bird-strike requirements," Lappos said.
Because the H-92 was developed with both civilian and military aviation in mind, every area of the helicopter was engineered to comply with the most stringent requirements of both communities, Lappos said. Often what was acceptable for a military helicopter would not pass civilian criteria, and vice versa. The H-92 has three times the deicing capability of the Hawk family to meet civilian aviation requirements, he explained.
Flaw tolerance was another heavily discussed issue in the briefs. Sikorsky tested all critical rotor components with flaws engineered in, particularly in high-stress areas, Lappos said. Inspection and replacement rates are based on those flawed parts. The H-92 has a maintenance computer that compiles data from around the airframe, and Lappos said that the routine 50-hour inspection for the H-92 is the same as the 10-hour inspection in the Hawk family.
One development that was demonstrated during the flights here was a new vibration suppression system. When engaged, the system uses a series of computer-controlled motors to oscillate against vibrations created by the power plant. The counter-vibrations are harmonized with changing flight conditions, resulting in a noticeably smoother ride.
With both NAVAIR and Sikorsky having learned from the visit, the H-92 has returned to finish developmental testing. Sikorsky has logged about 1,350 flight hours on its prototypes, and anticipates FAA certification in January.
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