Rotorcrafts or helicopters play a vital role in various industries, and any downtime can result in costly delays. Helicopter downtime can even impact the whole community if it happens in the military or medical sectors.

In this article, you can learn about five ways to decrease rotorcraft downtime.

Maintaining an Extensive Inventory

You might have to replace several high-use parts regularly in commercial and military rotorcrafts. For example, you should check your rotor wings frequently for wear and tear because erosion can damage them. If you manage a fleet of helicopters, you can avoid extensive downtime by ensuring the right parts are available when needed. Implementing an inventory tracking system and establishing relationships with reliable suppliers would help you
avoid delays due to oversight and also help streamline your overall repair/maintenance process.

Planning Your Maintenance

While regular maintenance can help you avoid downtime, it might not be possible when you have a busy schedule. Unavoidable circumstances like weather or transportation issues can also impact your rotorcraft maintenance. By creating a schedule, you can plan earlier and focus
on tasks based on their severity. You might also need to consider your rotorcraft’s use case to make it foolproof.

Avoiding Last-Minute Spare Part Sourcing

Even after the pandemic, there is a shortage of aircraft parts and mechanics. Since rotor components are more challenging to source, you might not get a spare part if you’re looking for one at the last minute. Therefore, it’s essential to find good helicopter spare parts manufacturers and have reliable supply chains in place to make sure that you don’t run out of critical parts.

Using a Single Source

You might consider using different sources for each of your rotorcraft’s specialized components, but this can be a hassle. If you spend time researching different manufacturers, you wouldn’t have the time to serve your customers better. Using a single manufacturer for all your needs can simplify the procurement process and help you reduce downtime. It also limits the risk of manual errors in paperwork and communication.

Using Predictive Maintenance Techniques

Since the US Army started to use predictive maintenance, the concept has grown in the aviation industry. By checking data points like engine health and rotor blade wear through predictive maintenance, you should be able to identify and solve critical issues earlier. Since this is a relatively new process that takes time and effort, you could hire a good helicopter maintenance agency to speed up the results. An experienced partner can also help you track more data to generate insights about your fleet’s performance.

While these five points can help reduce helicopter downtime, you might need professional assistance to keep them flying as long as possible. As an industry leader with four decades of experience, Rotair Aerospace Corporation in Connecticut can deliver the best helicopter spare parts. We also provide excellent testing and inspection solutions for Sikorsky Blackhawk and other commercial/military helicopters, so contact us today!