SPECIFYING HUMS TO MEET ENHANCED SAFETY AND REDUCED OPERATING COST REQUIREMENTS

Helicopter requirements and contracts are now frequently requiring the inclusion of Health and Usage Monitoring Systems. Enhanced Safety and Reduced Operating Cost benefits have been widely recognized and are being sought. Additional features for enhancing both cost and safety benefits are in development. Simple comparison of HUMS features and benefits has been difficult however, due to the wide range of systems currently available. Marketing literature often tells an incomplete story, and the definition of what constitutes a HUMS and what benefits are delivered has been the subject of many papers. Of additional importance is the maturity of the systems being considered, their system certification status, and the availability of an installation on a specific aircraft type. Monitoring systems need to be tailored to specific aircraft and its particular operational and maintenance requirements, if real benefits are to be maximized. Equally important considerations include the performance and cost of ground support equipment, and the operational and support costs associated with fully utilizing the systems. There is a serious need to put the specification of HUMS and its costs and benefits in a clear and understandable format and to be knowledgeable of what new developments to expect in the future.! The focus of this paper is to put the relationships between HUMS System Requirements, system cost, enhanced safety, and reduced operating cost benefits into an understandable form.