FIVE YEARS OF DAILY HUMS OPERATIONS - WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?

There, at the current time, six operators are providing aviation services to the offshore industry with HUMS equipped aircraft. Over 160 aircraft are now HUMS equipped, with a combined operating experience of approximately a half million flight hours. This paper presents a summary of the HUMS experience in the North Sea operations. The paper discusses the architecture and use of the two major system types, which are employed in the North Sea operations. There are many lessons learned. The objective of the paper is to present these lessons learned from the perspective of how the North Sea experience can be used as the “grand experiment”. The lessons learned can aid in the employment of HUMS to improve helicopter safety and make the helicopter more able to provide an important mode of transportation in a safer and more cost effective manner. The experience began over ten years before the decision was taken to implement HUMS. The paper presents some of the major findings of the five years of operations, including the implementation phase.