Aircraft Programs
CVM™ sensors were first installed on a US Navy H-53 helicopter in February 2002 as part of a trial program. The sensors were installed in front of an existing crack in a location which required approximately 4 hours to disassemble, inspect and reassemble. This inspection was required every 25 flight hours on a large and heavily used fleet, but was reduced to approximately 5 minutes with the CVM™ system without any requirement to disassemble the aircraft. The system successfully detected crack growth on three separate occasions.
To date, only the periodic system has been installed on flying aircraft. SMS realized early in the development of CVM™, the certification requirements for placing instrumentation onto a flying aircraft would be long and difficult; but by only placing the sensors and a small connector onto the aircraft and monitoring the system with ground equipment, many of the requirements would be significantly reduced. This approach has allowed a large body of knowledge with regard to the sensor system to be developed through a number of military and civilian trial programs.
The CVM™ sensors have been installed and monitored on a number of military aircraft.
As the civil airframers have increased their interest in using the CVM™ system as a maintenance tool and in the longer term to potentially reduce the weight of their aircraft, their programs started to include installations on selected aircraft to gain experience on what is required to install the CVM™ sensors. Even on a trial basis, the paperwork to install the CVM™ sensor system can take several months and requires many of the tests outlined in DO-160E have been completed and documented.
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Quality