Can Reduce Cost of Spey and Tay Major Maintenance Events Up to 35 Percent

Dallas Airmotive's TomCat process, specifically developed for Spey and Tay engines, can save operators up to 35 percent on their turbine section overhauls. TomCat can safely extend the service life of High Pressure Stage 1 (HP1) turbine blades for an additional 4,000 hours or 10 years, whichever comes first, to minimize the need for blade replacement.

"Material replacement is a dominant cost factor in operating Speys and Tays," said Dallas Airmotive President and CEO Jim Donlan. "The TomCat process we developed can potentially save operators hundreds of thousands of dollars in blade replacements over the life of the engine."

To date, Dallas Airmotive has successfully applied their TomCat inspection on more than 800 Spey and Tay corporate and regional airline powerplants. TomCat employs non-destructive radiographic inspection (X-Ray Tomography) to examine and measure the leading edge wall thickness of each HP1 turbine blade. Before the TomCat process begins, the HP1 blades are stripped of aluminized coating, cleaned, inspected with fluorescent penetrant, and the leading edge dressing is completed. Then Tomography is used to inspect the turbine blades by rotating them in a fan beam of radiation. This provides the desired cross-section views to determine turbine blade wall thickness. This process accurately determines the remaining service life based on each blade's actual physical condition rather than the number of cycles. Dallas Airmotive imprints serial numbers on every TomCat blade, and X-Rays of the blades are kept on file to verify their condition.

In evaluating the HP1 blades, Dallas Airmotive uses its extensive Spey and Tay historical data and its Rolls-Royce service experience with Spey and Tay major maintenance events.

FMI: www.dallasairmotive.com, www.bba-aviation.com