Here is the Bell 412 that came into the shop on Sunday. As you can see, we have been busy. All of the doors were removed, the seats have all come out, panels were opened up, and cowlings were taken off the top.

The engines are now exposed and the transmission is much easier to get to now that we can see it. With all of the interior removed, we have much easier access to the inner workings of this old beast.

We have a stack of inspection forms about 1 1/2” tall. With a machine this size there are hundreds of items that need to be looked at and checked. We have operational and functional checks to perform. All of the driveshafts have to come apart to be inspected. Anything we find that is worn or damaged has to be either repaired or replaced.

Leaks have to be fixed and messes from the leaks have to be cleaned. We have a crew of three guys doing all of this work plus a fourth guy that is ordering parts and making sure all of our paperwork is in order. He will also inspect all of our work when it is completed. If it sounds like a lot of work, it is. Every inch of this machine will be looked over. There is a lot of work to be done and not much time to get the work finished. The customer wants the machine back in service by March 1^st. This gives us one month to get everything finished. Remember, this is February beginning tomorrow. We lost two days already because of the short month. It would be great if it were Leap Year, we would get one of those days back, but no such luck.

Besides all of this work, we have a Bell 212 that is going to be displayed at HAI Heli-Expo which is the big helicopter trade show for the year. HAI is short for Helicopter Association International. This show comes along once every year and is being held in Dallas, Texas on March 6-9. Our machine has to be primed and ready to go, spit polished and shoe shined. It oughta be cool.

Along with these two projects, we have recently sent to SEAT's to Chile to help fight the worst wildfires in that country's history. A SEAT is a Single Engine Air Tanker. Ours are Air Tractor 802 airplanes. Yes, they are fire fighting planes. We are also getting a third plane ready to go that the Chilean government has requested.

On top of this, we have a single engine MD 530 helicopter that has a 100 hour inspection coming up soon and my helicopter will be returning and needs more work done to it to be ready for the Alaska fire season which will soon be here. It's going to be a very busy couple of months.

I'll keep you posted on the happenings here. I'll try and show you different projects as we work through a massive list of maintenance everywhere we turn. It's going to be a tough couple of months but that's okay...this is what I live for.

ArcticArtique.BlogSpot.Com

                          

   Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse