LE BOURGET, France - June 18, 2007 – GE Aviation has received the formal Military Aircraft Release (MAR) from the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence for all SEA KING helicopters fitted with Generic Health & Usage Monitoring System (GenHUMS).

The SEA KING GenHUMS successfully completed the Development Phase Joint Flight Trials and Product Qualification Audits, which enabled the MAR for GenHUMS on the SEA KING Mks 3, 3A, 4, 5 & 7 to be completed. The MAR process has been concluded on each mark in turn, and as a result the UK MoD has already fitted 20 Sea King aircraft.  This application pertains to an existing contract and covers the development and installation of the GenHUMS for the fleet of 90 aircraft.
 
GE Aviation, through its Systems division (formerly Smiths Aerospace), has recorded and analyzed in excess of two million HUMS flight hours of data from more than 400 in-service military and commercial helicopters. This accumulated knowledge and experience enables customers to receive specialist support and advice from diagnostic experts.
 
The SEA KING GenHUMS continuously monitors each aircraft’s health, performance and usage of safety-critical components thereby providing advance warning of the potential for equipment failures; it also records invaluable data for enhanced scheduled maintenance procedures. GE provides a comprehensive support program to ensure that the benefits of HUMS are maximized and delivered to the customer.

Individual sensors monitor: airframe, engines, transmission, drive-train & rotor systems; “health” is determined by an airborne, automated test procedure which detects, diagnoses and reports on potential failures. The “usage” is recorded, which then provides data and alerts for potential maintenance actions.

The HUMS Ground Station compares and contrasts individual aircraft data with that from other aircraft and it is this correlation process, which detects trends, anomalies and provides fleet summaries. The HUMS also provides continuous Rotor Track and Balance (RTB) monitoring & recording, negating the burden of using of carry aboard equipment and the significant and unnecessary overhead of dedicated RTB check flights. Within the GenHUMS capabilities, the Rotor Track & Balance and Power Performance Index features are of significant importance to the customer as is the ability to analyze data and isolate specific faults.

GE Aviation, an operating unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE), is a world-leading provider of commercial and military jet engines and components as well as integrated digital, electric power, and mechanical systems for aircraft. GE Aviation also has a global service network to support these offerings. For more information, visit us at www.ge.com/aviation.

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