Sikorsky Skies

Since its introduction in 2004, the S-92® helicopter’s ability to handle difficult missions in hostile environments has rapidly made it the aircraft of choice for the offshore oil and gas (OO&G) industry. Sikorsky Aircraft’s continuous improvement initiatives, designed to bolster safety and performance while reducing direct operating costs, have helped to reinforce the aircraft’s premier status.

Currently deployed throughout 26 countries, the S-92 fleet today consists of 155 helicopters with more than 443,000 fleet hours. The average customer reports availability of 96 percent.

Of these, 99 are operated by helicopter transport companies serving the offshore oil and gas sector. These include Cougar Helicopters, based in Canada and part of the VIH Aviation  Group.

Cougar also has provided search and rescue (SAR) services since 1991 to the oil and gas industry in harsh environments including Alaska, Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland. Cougar Helicopters is the first operator to utilize the S-92 in a SAR role.

“Our customers rely on the S-92 helicopter for their most demanding missions,” notes Robert Kokorda, vice president of sales and marketing for Sikorsky. “Offshore oil S-92 helicopters fly an estimated 80 to 110 hours per month; the high-time aircraft has more  than 12,000 flight hours to date. Safety and reliability are key factors. We have to ensure the aircraft  performs at optimal levels while we continue to enhance its value for customers.”

Sikorsky has introduced 18 new product improvements to the fleet during the past 18 months. These range from expanding the envelope with high wind rotor starts to 55 KTS to localizer
performance with vertical guidance (LPV)/dual WAAS, a system that allows a precision approach with vertical guidance into airfields without an instrument landing system (ILS).

Coming soon is a rig approach safety enhancement system that provides the ability to conduct fully coupled, GPSbased approaches to offshore platforms in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), using waypoints virtually connected to the destinations. Sikorsky has made a considerable investment to design, flight test, and certify this capability. The system integrates the latest FMS and GPS technology with next-generation flight control and avionics management algorithms, as well as special software and equipment.

Sikorsky’s aftermarket division, Sikorsky Aerospace Services (SAS), is also changing the way aircraft are supported. In addition to dedicated product support teams that provide 24-hour aircraft on ground (AOG) and customer service engineering support, SAS established its Fleet Management Operations Center (FMOC), which monitors the health of  the S-92 fleet in near real-time. As customers look to lower the maintenance man-hours on their aircraft, SAS is moving toward condition-based maintenance. Increasingly, maintenance is determined by how operators fly their aircraft versus the hours they have flown. The FMOC, which monitors virtually the entire worldwide S-92 fleet, is central to this approach.

Based in Trumbull, Conn., the FMOC is a collaborative endeavor among Sikorsky teams from safety, analytics, engineering, support technology, customer service, and material support. The FMOC compiles and analyzes data across the full spectrum of aircraft operations, from in-flight monitoring, maintenance environment, and warehouse inventory which it receives from the S-92 fleet. Working with industry and regulatory partners, Sikorsky uses the data to identify opportunities to improve aircraft and component performance. The FMOC has helped reduce overall operating costs by focusing on several key areas, such as part life extension, increasing part reliability, and reducing repair costs. Some key examples:

• Main rotor hub life extended from 4,900 to 9,000 flight hours.
• Use of HUMS data to extend the life of the main rotor hub based on actual usage.
• Improved reliability parts for complicated rotor ice protection system (RIPS).

Sikorsky knows the operators of its S-92 fleet count on the safety and reliability of the aircraft to accomplish the most demanding of missions. Through continuous improvement and innovative support, Sikorsky works to ensure the S-92 helicopter remains the leader in the OOGS and SAR categories.