Airbus Helicopters Becomes First Helicopter Manufacturer To Digitize Paper Logcards

CHC Helicopter’s newest H175 will become the first Airbus helicopter to be delivered with digital logcards. The announcement, made at HAI Heli-Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, makes Airbus Helicopters the first helicopter manufacturer on the market to transform paper-based logcards into easy-to-use digital data.

“A logcard is a document that tracks the entire history of critical helicopter parts, from manufacture all along their in-service lives. There are around 2.5 million logcards already in circulation throughout the world today, with some 80,000 new ones being produced each year,” said Matthieu Louvot, Executive Vice President of Customer Support & Services at Airbus Helicopters. “Over time the paper logcard ages, gets misplaced, becomes hard to read and more difficult to use. Our new digital version stores the content in a secured cloud while preserving the existing template, using the same process and stakeholder roles and responsibilities as the paper version, meaning no additional workload.”

”The digital logcards allow us to take better care of ourselves and our customers,” said Sean Toth, Director of Global Maintenance and Engineering at CHC Helicopter, which took delivery of its fourth H175 in January and will convert its paper logcards to the electronic format in April. ”Thanks to them we can better ensure overall compliance, while our staff improves productivity as our logcards are updated in real time.”

CHC currently operates H175s in the North Sea: one in Norwich, England and three in Aberdeen, Scotland.

The digital logcard is the latest demonstration of how Airbus is committed to developing fully digital solutions for its customers that make processes more efficient and that contribute to quality and safety. They are the result of a collaborative effort involving Airbus customers and repair centres, who were consulted during development and acted as early adopters, participating in a year-long pilot phase.

“The feedback we received from our pilot users indicates that digital logcards meets our objectives of delivering better data quality, smoother processes, time savings, reliability and data confidentiality,” said Stephanie Bonnefoy-Fourie, who leads Airbus Helicopters’ Connected Services business.

New functionalities not possible with paper logcards include the ability to attach documents, archive, search, and immediately transfer a selection of logcards. Future applications include the ability to synchronise data between the digital logcard system and customers’ Maintenance Information Systems (MIS), or to build new analytics around the collected data.

Rolling out progressively worldwide from April 2019, all customers taking delivery of a new civil helicopter can opt to receive digital logcards at no additional cost. Customers with existing paper logcards can opt to convert theirs to the digital format. Digital logcards can also be tracked online via Airbus’ Keycopter customer portal.

(Image provided with Airbus Helicopters news release)

FMI: www.airbus.com