Vanderbilt to Lead Aging Helicopter Project

Vanderbilt University’s School of Engineering is leading a new FAA program to apply and expand aging-aircraft reliability techniques to helicopters. The five-year, $1.5-million project was to be kicked off in a project team meeting this week at the agency’s Technical Center in Pomona, N.J. “The margin for error in flying a helicopter, especially in rescue missions, is very slim,” says project principal investigator Sankaran Mahadevan. “We want to make sure that helicopter pilots don’t have to deal with equipment failure, such as metal fatigue, on top of the challenges of shifting winds, unseen obstacles like power lines, birds flying into the blades, and space limitations of maneuvering in tight spots.” More