Aerospace manufacturers Sikorsky Aircraft in Stratford and Goodrich Corp., with a plant in West Hartford, say they are teaming up to install sensors aboard Sikorsky’s helicopters to monitor performance and determine ahead of time when maintenance is necessary.
Sikorsky’s Helicopter Support Inc. said it signed a tentative deal to adapt Goodrich’s health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) technology for installation aboard Black Hawk choppers worldwide.
The powerful sensors in real-time will continuously and comprehensively monitor the mechanical performance of the entire aircraft, the companies said.
Proactively spotting trouble spots and knowing in advance which parts and systems need repair lowers operating costs and extends the time the aircraft is in the air, says David Adler, president of Sikorsky Aerospace Services.
Under the deal, Sikorsky would sell and service Goodrich’s HUMS technology to Sikorsky Black Hawk customers in the U.S. and abroad, Adler said.
Based in Charlotte, N.C.,Goodrich – which stopped making tires in 1988 – supplies systems and services to the aerospace, defense and homeland security markets.
Goodrich’s West Hartford facility produces pumps and control systems.
Separately, Sikorsky deepened its working relationship with the maker of composite interiors for its S-92 civilian helicopter line.
Sikorsky said it named AAR Corp., of Wood Dale, Ill., its exclusive supplier of S-92 interiors and hired it to do precision machining of chopper flooring and structural components for Sikorsky’s H-60 line, with initial contract orders amounting to $18.8 million and eventually exceeding $60 million.
Sikorsky is a unit of United Technologies Corp. in Hartford.
