Sun, Feb 12, 2012
Resumes MD 530F Main Rotor Blade Flight Testing
Rotor blade manufacturer Van Horn Aviation (VHA) will resume
flight testing in March on its newly redesigned composite MD 530F
main rotor blades in anticipation of FAA certification by the end
of 2012. Following a series of successful ground and flight tests
in April 2011, VHA engineers redesigned the main rotor blade to
address control load and manufacturing issues. The redesign
required new production tooling to be built at the same time the
company moved into a larger facility that was renovated to
accommodate the development and production of the MD 530F main
blades.
“The new 23,000 sq. ft. facility is large enough to
accommodate all of our current tail rotor blade programs plus
current and future main rotor blade programs,” said VHA
president James R. Van Horn. “With the move completed, we
have been able to refocus our attention toward tail rotor blade
production and the MD 530F main rotor blade development.”
Van Horn Aviation is producing a set of the newly designed MD
530F main rotor blades. These FAA conformed blades will be
installed on a test helicopter shortly after Heli-Expo for flight
testing to begin in March.
The VHA MD 500 series main rotor blade shares the same
NASA-designed laminar flow airfoil, shaped tip, and composite
structure as VHA’s successful 206B/L composite tail rotor
blade, which received a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) from
the FAA in September 2009 and has been in production since. The
goals for the new VHA blades include increasing the MD 530F’s
internal gross weight and nearly tripling the blade life limit
while also decreasing aircraft fuel burn rates, overall aircraft
noise and direct operating costs.
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