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The Science of Track and Balance - Part II – Vertical MRO Tech Talk by Bell – Ep 6 — Transcript

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0:02Welcome to the Bell Tech Talk segment of
0:03the Vertical MRO podcast. This segment
0:06takes you into the nuts and bolts of
0:07helicopter maintenance. It's about
0:09safety, support, and operational
0:11readiness.
0:12Top priorities for the Bell team.
0:14Join us for technical insights and
0:16personal stories from the front lines of
0:17helicopter maintenance from the industry
0:19leading experts at Bell. Hey, welcome to
0:22the Bell Tech Talk segment of the
0:24Vertical MRO podcast. This is one of my
0:26favorite Vertical MRO podcasts that we
0:28do. This this particular topic is
0:31something that's near and dear to my
0:32heart. This is going to be part two of
0:34the track and balance segment talking
0:37about, you know, how to efficiently and
0:39effectively
0:40do track and balance on a on a rotor
0:42system.
0:43And that's something for me as a as a
0:45pilot that's
0:46bittersweet and I'm sure it's
0:47bittersweet for all the maintainers.
0:49You you come in and know when you've got
0:51track and balance day and you're like,
0:52oh, you know, I'm not sure what I want
0:54to do and
0:55you know, as I'm thinking through this,
0:57I have somewhat of a an icebreaker for
0:58you guys. This relates to something I've
1:00been dealing with the last 12 hours.
1:02So, it's a would you rather type
1:04question.
1:05So, my question is, would you rather
1:07spend 12 hours playing cat and mouse
1:09trying to exterminate a skunk or would
1:12you rather deal with [laughter] a nasty
1:14track and
1:15track and balance situation with a rotor
1:17system? And Greg Arnold, we'll start
1:19with you. That's easy. Rotor track and
1:22balance any day.
1:23>> [laughter]
1:25>> I'm going to say what day of the week is
1:28it? Well, it depends on the
1:31Friday, I'm not sure. I think I'll go
1:32chase skunks on a Friday.
1:34>> [laughter]
1:36>> Well, that's part of the conversation
1:38that that part of the reason we're
1:39having the conversation with you guys is
1:41is for folks to to make this as
1:42simplistic as possible. And I realize in
1:44saying simplistic and and, you know, not
1:47time-consuming isn't really
1:50a thing when it comes to track and
1:51balance, but we want to make it as
1:53efficient and effective as possible. So,
1:55I'm excited to go that go through this
1:57with you guys and and talk about that.
1:59You know, like you said, Fridays are the
2:00last day that you want to be doing a
2:02track and balance cuz you never know how
2:04long it's going to take, how many
2:05flights it's going to take.
2:07It's it's it could be a challenge. So,
2:10before we we kind of get into the nuts
2:12and bolts in the conversation as a
2:13whole, I'd like to just introduce you
2:15guys. Uh Greg Arnold, you've you've been
2:18in the lobby of the Hangar Z podcast of
2:20the Vertical MRO podcast and and the
2:22Bell Tech Talk podcast. So, now we're
2:24actually here. So, for for the listeners
2:26who [laughter]
2:27you haven't had a chance to meet you at
2:29at one of the shows or or through can
2:31you give us a snapshot preview of of
2:32your career and how long you've been at
2:34Bell and what you're currently doing?
2:35Yeah, absolutely.
2:37Yes, I have been at Bell 17 years.
2:41I have 36 years of experience.
2:44All of the time that I've had
2:46at Bell where
2:48I was a CSE, 17 years of being a CSE or
2:51tech rep, also known as tech rep in the
2:53industry. And um
2:55the 35 36 years actually now
2:59the uh
3:01it has been rotorcraft maintenance the
3:03whole time and I guess you could say I
3:05had a
3:06easy segue into aviation cuz my father
3:09was a helicopter Vietnam helicopter
3:11pilot and uh
3:13and I have really been around aviation
3:14all my life. So, it's uh
3:17been a thrill.
3:18And the the Vietnam era pilots, man,
3:21they not just pilots, but industry as a
3:23whole, I feel like in a lot of ways that
3:26was kind of the birthplace of of current
3:28modern helicopter aviation. There was so
3:30much we learned during that time.
3:33I love the inspiration that comes from
3:35from that era of of aviation. For for
3:38Greg Arnold, we're going to call you
3:39Greg Greg squared for this conversation.
3:42>> [laughter]
3:45>> 36 years as a as a maintainer,
3:4817 years with Bell.
3:51Is that correct? Correct. And you're
3:54inspired by your your your father's time
3:57in in Vietnam.
3:59Can you talk us just briefly through how
4:01you got to to where you did
4:02educationally?
4:03Kind of where you you got your your
4:05initial training and and what it looks
4:07like today.
4:08Yeah, absolutely. So, I was fortunate
4:11enough to get hired by a company to uh
4:14to come in as an apprentice
4:16and work on helicopters in 1989 while I
4:21was
4:22attending AMP school, wrapped up AMP P
4:26school in about 1990 and uh
4:29rolled into the the industry. I
4:32switched jobs. I've been uh
4:34my experience has been mainly at MROs,
4:37but for the most part
4:39I I have
4:40been involved in uh
4:42EMS, law enforcement, ENG, charter, 135.
4:48My I was at Dallas PD for about 5 years
4:51before I came to Bell. That was a
4:53a career highlight there. It was
4:56always exciting, enjoyed it.
4:59Miss it some days. Yeah.
5:02>> [laughter]
5:02>> You're speaking you're speaking my
5:04language. The the public safety aviation
5:06sector is near and dear to my heart as
5:07as you guys know. But thank you for your
5:09service in in that arena of the
5:12industry. I really love the missions
5:14that are being done on the public safety
5:15side. All the missions are great, but
5:17that one is just near and dear to my
5:18heart. Yeah, absolutely. Yep. Yeah.
5:21>> It's an important one for us for sure.
5:24Absolutely.
5:25Take prioritize the, you know, those
5:28folks and our EMS folks. Greg Jed, I I
5:31had the the privilege of of seeing you
5:32at at Verticon. It's always great seeing
5:34you, but
5:36you know, I got to see you there and I
5:37feel like the last couple shows we've
5:39had the chance to run into each other.
5:40So, always happy to to to run into you
5:43at one of the shows and really happy to
5:44get to talk to you today. For the folks
5:46who who may have not have heard part one
5:49or any other of the podcasts you've been
5:50a part of, can you give us a thumbnail a
5:52snapshot of your career?
5:54Sure. Yeah, I
5:56started in aviation, got into it, you
5:58know, like Greg Arnold, 1989 and then uh
6:02was fortunate to to uh
6:05you know, I didn't work on helicopters
6:07right out of the gate. I worked on
6:08flight simulators and I
6:10I took a little bit of a sabbatical,
6:12went back to school and started working
6:14on fixed-wing stuff as well, but then
6:16got heavy into into the helicopters
6:18again. So, I've been
6:19I've been involved with aviation at some
6:21level since '89 as well, but
6:23helicopter is where I really gravitated
6:26to and uh
6:28before I come to Bell, I've been to Bell
6:30I've been with Bell 12 years now. Before
6:32I was at Bell, I was I worked for a
6:34large operator in the western US here
6:37out of Utah.
6:38Fortunate enough to work for them for 13
6:40years and learned a lot, did a lot of
6:43It was EMS and utility firefighting.
6:45Okay. Such like that. So, we had a we
6:47had a pretty pretty busy pretty big
6:49fleet of aircraft and I still because of
6:51that and like Greg, you know, you you
6:53you create these relationships with all
6:55these folks that you see in the field on
6:57a fire or or in the EMS when somebody's,
6:59you know,
7:00The nice nice thing about the helicopter
7:02world is when it comes to fixing
7:05helicopters and needing help, there's no
7:07boundaries. There's no they're the
7:09enemy. It's whatever we can do to help
7:11each other out cuz we want to we focus
7:13on the mission, you know, and that that
7:15makes it a better place for everybody.
7:16Absolutely. You get to know a lot of
7:18folks and then as you roll into this
7:20role as a as a tech rep, you know,
7:22customer service engineer with Bell, you
7:25end up having those relationships. So,
7:26it
7:28it really makes it it amplifies your
7:31ability to support folks. You understand
7:32their mission, you understand who they
7:34are, who you're talking to and all that.
7:36And so,
7:46Yeah, you guys are a a quality group of
7:49folks. That's 100% sure. Uh Yeah. You
7:53know, it's interesting you bring up
7:54relationships and I we talk about this
7:56quite a bit. How important those
7:57relationships are for career development
8:00or troubleshooting. You know, we talk
8:02about not having to reinvent the wheel.
8:04You go places and develop these
8:05relationships with the folks and it
8:07allows you someone like phone a friend,
8:08you know,
8:09you got this person you can reach out to
8:11and be like, hey, how did you guys
8:12tackle this particular problem? The more
8:13people you have like that in your back
8:15pocket that you can reach out to and and
8:17get some help from, I think the better.
8:19I love that you brought that up. It's
8:21just a
8:22it's a necessary part of of I think
8:24career development in our industry. You
8:25know, it's just a it's a great community
8:26that we're part of and we talk about
8:28that all the time, too. Yep. And that's,
8:30you know, that's why we want to do these
8:31podcasts is to help share the knowledge
8:33we have and
8:35like with track and balance, the one
8:36we're doing now,
8:38it can be so frustrating for folks and
8:40we know that. We've been there. We've
8:41been frustrated and we want to just give
8:44you all the all the ammo we can, all the
8:47tricks and tips, the tools in your
8:49toolbox. You can go out there and be
8:50successful and it not be a frustrating
8:53or painful experience or, you know,
8:54negative experience, you know,
8:56cuz we've all had those days where you
8:58roll in there and
9:00oh, you got to balance this, got to
9:02balance that and 2 days later you're
9:03still balancing. You know, you're still
9:05trying to figure out what's going on.
9:06And then other days you walk in there,
9:08throw the gear on, make one or two
9:10adjustments and you're gone. You know,
9:11it it just it's hit or miss. Sometimes
9:14it's it's the actual equipment and other
9:15times it's it's the it's the pilot or
9:17the air crew themselves saying, hey,
9:19there's something not right here. Yep.
9:20And you guys you hook all up all the
9:22equipment and you're like, well, I don't
9:23know. And it's funny it was funny, you
9:25know, the last podcast you guys talked
9:27about there was some troubleshooting
9:29that went into it. And actually the
9:30pilot's the one that realized, well, it
9:32was actually me. I'm the problem. I have
9:33a wallet in the place that I don't
9:35usually have it. throws off the feel.
9:38So, [clears throat] there's there's a
9:39lot of things, a lot of nuances that
9:40that go into track and balance. We have
9:43just a little bit of experience between
9:45the two of you here to to talk through
9:46some of the tips and tricks that that go
9:48through of track and balance. So, if we
9:51if we could, I'd like to start you guys
9:52there's a recent announcement that you
9:53guys have regarding RADs. Can you guys
9:56kind of go through that recent
9:58announcement and what that means for
9:59track and balance?
10:00Yeah, we were
10:02we were all excited to
10:04see the release of general information
10:06letter
10:082561
10:10which announced the approval of
10:13the RADs NG.
10:16The RADs NG is the the latest next
10:19generation
10:20GE
10:22manufactured track and balance
10:24equipment. And uh
10:27it is uh
10:28uses a
10:29a laptop in place of a CADU.
10:32For those that don't know what a CADU
10:34is, I wish I had one here to show you.
10:36But it's pretty heavy, bulky item, you
10:38know, it it
10:39it's heavy enough that if you were to
10:41drop it, it'll punch right through a
10:43chin bubble and away it goes. But uh
10:46it's you know, older technology and good
10:50to see we've got some new technology to
10:52to move forward with it.
10:54We're currently using it
10:56in our production facilities. Our
10:58training academy has it and our flight
11:00research department has it and using it
11:03as well.
11:04The good thing is it's you know, we've
11:06validated it. Our engineering group has
11:08validated it and and uh
11:11one of the nice things about it is if
11:13you have an an original RADs unit a lot
11:16of the hardware's usable between the
11:18two. So you don't have to go out and buy
11:19a whole new setup. You can use your
11:21accelerometers, you know,
11:23cables, cameras, photo eyes.
11:27Uh
11:29all that stays pretty much the same. So
11:32it it helps in reducing the expense of
11:35it, but
11:36we've had good success with it so far.
11:38So That's huge. I I feel like with a lot
11:40of the advancements that technology
11:42brings, a lot of it comes with a hefty
11:44price tag. Cuz like you're saying, you
11:46have to go back now and retrofit a lot
11:47of the things that you already have. So
11:49I love that you guys have implemented
11:51this with you know, a lot of that stuff
11:53the
11:54the old called the older but the
11:55previous hardware in place. You're only
11:57having really to replace the computer
12:00itself if I'm hearing you correct.
12:02Yeah, there's two there's two boxes get
12:04replaced. The DAU and the CADU.
12:06The data acquisition unit is the DAU and
12:09it's a big bulky box that all the cables
12:11that connect to now you get a different
12:12box basically. Right, Greg? Did I say
12:15that?
12:15>> Yes, correct. Well, it's a different
12:18collection box where all the cables come
12:19together and then plug into your laptop
12:21from there. So and it's good. It'll be
12:23good. It'll be good.
12:25So. I'd imagine based on what you're
12:27saying with the laptop, you'll be able
12:28to visualize the data in a way that it
12:30might be more efficient and effective
12:31for you. Is that right? Absolutely. Yes.
12:34Yeah, the old RADs you have to the
12:36original RADs, I shouldn't say old. It
12:38is old, but the original RADs rotor
12:40analysis diagnostic whatever.
12:43The it was 70s technology.
12:47Late 70s, yes. Really early 80s, yeah.
12:51You know, LCD screen that was two
12:52colors.
12:54>> [laughter]
12:54>> Yeah.
12:55And and the and the sun you couldn't
12:57read it. The the
12:59liquid crystal display would turn black
13:01when it got too hot. You couldn't see it
13:03at all. Yes.
13:05But if you needed to fend off wild
13:07animals, skunks or say or whatever, that
13:09was perfect for [laughter] it.
13:11It was heavy enough to take care of
13:13business. So Yes.
13:15>> [laughter]
13:15>> As we kind of transition to the the next
13:18segment, you know, I want to talk about
13:19preparation for track and balance. Cuz I
13:21think that's key, right? Ensuring you
13:23have all the proper things in place
13:24prior to going into it. I think that'll
13:26save you a lot of time, but It's the key
13:28with everything. Yeah, absolutely.
13:30Absolutely. And you're doing but in
13:32track and balance, way more important to
13:35pay attention to the little details.
13:37Cuz Greg can Greg can go into the
13:40details here, but I just wanted to get
13:43this out of the way. You can't balance
13:45dirt. You know, you can't
13:48I mean you can balance dirt, but
13:49you're just wasting your time. But you
13:51know, do do your housekeeping. Clean up,
13:52make sure everything's clean, tidy. The
13:54aircraft's tight as you know, as within
13:56reason. Obviously, you can't rebuild
13:58everything, but there's acceptable
14:00limits for wear on components and that's
14:02that's what we deal with, you know.
14:04And so yeah, I mean Greg, you you put a
14:07bunch of stuff there. You've done this a
14:09lot. What do you normally do with folks,
14:11you know, when they're when you show up?
14:13Well, ask a lot of questions, you know,
14:15I know that in many cases they've
14:16already inspected the aircraft and
14:18looked things over. So I ask a lot of
14:20questions and then
14:22and then occasionally, you know, or most
14:24often I will uh
14:26if needed, I will climb over the
14:29aircraft and look at it myself. See if I
14:30can find anything and you know, it's not
14:32that the guys aren't looking for things,
14:34but some things that I have seen and
14:37experienced over the years, they may not
14:40have. So they just don't know how to
14:43look or exactly how to move the part to
14:45see if it has mechanical looseness.
14:48You know,
14:49for example, the the play between the
14:51swash plate sleeve and support. Most
14:54people don't even take that into
14:55consideration as a possibility for the
14:58inability to track and balance. So
15:00it's
15:02it's you know, it's one thing that a lot
15:03of folks overlook. One of my one one of
15:06my most interesting finds was I drove 8
15:09hours to help some folks track and
15:11balance a 407 and I
15:14you know, they told me they'd looked it
15:15over, but I thought I'd have a look
15:16myself and climbed up. First thing I
15:18found is the the left aft corner mount
15:21which is the most common corner mount to
15:23to go bad.
15:25And it was
15:28in such bad shape that it was contacting
15:29the up stop and that you could see
15:31fretting mud, you know, from the two
15:33contacting each other in flight and uh
15:36so you know, corner mounts aren't
15:38changed easily. So I ended up spending
15:41an extra day there while uh
15:43they changed the corner mounts out so we
15:44could move forward with track and
15:46balance, but uh
15:47but yeah, I looked the ship over. Um the
15:50don't balance dirt. You know, Martin in
15:52the last podcast mentioned that that was
15:54mine and I can't take credit for that.
15:56That belonged to Dave Birch,
15:58a mentor of ours.
16:00>> [laughter]
16:02>> And
16:03the guru of track and balance, Dave.
16:05Yes.
16:06We should we should clarify something
16:08here real quick though. We're we're
16:09going to focus on just the 407 in this
16:11particular podcast. Okay and the tips
16:14and tricks on that. So when Greg's
16:16talking about corner mounts, they're
16:17unique to the 407 installation. We don't
16:20have one any other aircraft. We have
16:21live mounts, but and you know, we have
16:24different mounting stuff, but
16:26just for clarity, 407 is what we're
16:28going to focus on.
16:30Yeah.
16:31I appreciate that and I appreciate the
16:34don't don't balance dirt. You know, as
16:36we're recording it's spring, you know,
16:37and I actually saw a interesting photo.
16:40It was the it was the it was the the the
16:43back edge of a of a wing, but the same
16:45thing could happen on a on a you know, a
16:47helicopter rotor blade. It was there was
16:49so much pollen attached to the back end
16:51of that you know, the trailing edge of
16:53the of the wing. It was affecting lift.
16:55You know, and that
16:56going to
16:57you know, what we're talking about here.
16:59So you know, washing the the blades,
17:01washing the aircraft, making sure that
17:03you're not tracking dirt, you know,
17:05balancing dirt. That's huge. So I think
17:07that's a that's a
17:09really interesting point and I think it
17:10maybe is something that most people
17:11don't consider off the bat. Well, I I
17:14can I can relate a quick story. It
17:16happened to me.
17:18We had an aircraft bring it in do some
17:20heavy maintenance over the winter. We
17:21had to touch up a few spots on the
17:22aircraft. Uh we I think we repainted the
17:25tail boom. We changed a number or
17:27something. We take it out, the thing
17:29flies horrible.
17:30You know, but
17:32in our in our haste to get the aircraft
17:34out, we took the blades off when the
17:36painter was putting the tail boom. Oh
17:37no, we didn't have one. They were on the
17:39rack.
17:40And they just painted the tail boom and
17:41they oversprayed the top of the blades.
17:43So there was overspray on the top of the
17:45blades.
17:46And uh
17:47we figured this out after
17:49like what's going on here and and Dave
17:52Birch
17:53and Dave Parkinson, our our mentors, one
17:55of them said, "Hey, check and make sure
17:57your blades are clean." Well, we just
17:58put them on. Yeah, we just had we were
18:00just going through maintenance, but
18:01there was this layer of overspray on two
18:03of the blades that
18:04I mean they they were dirty. We we
18:06cleaned them all off. Didn't have to do
18:08anything really. We did some adjusting,
18:09but it wasn't like Point is
18:11to your point, John, they're super
18:13sensitive to dirt and to contaminants
18:16and you know, so just be aware that.
18:18Clean everything up. Yeah,
18:20it's interesting and I'll I'll plug our
18:22our previous conversation on aircraft
18:23washing. That's a whole art of of
18:25itself, you know. It is a point. Cuz it
18:27really is. There's an actual science
18:29behind it and if you haven't heard that
18:31one, I recommend going back and
18:32listening to the podcast we recorded on
18:34on the science of of washing your
18:35aircraft.
18:37Uh something else that I want to touch
18:39on is is
18:40trim tabs. Can you guys talk about trim
18:42tabs and and the importance of the prep
18:44work? Trim tabs. So you know, a lot of
18:46questions come up related to trim tabs
18:48and and uh
18:51what what where they should be set.
18:53Well, for example, uh
18:55you know, when they're they're going to
18:57proceed with track and balance. And
18:58often we
19:00you know, if if you've got a
19:012,000 hour
19:03407 that you have never replaced the
19:05blades on, then
19:07there's no reason to zero the trim tabs
19:09unless you change blades. The uh
19:13the trim tab settings and and so that
19:152,000 hour 407
19:18and having the original blades, those
19:19blades would have gone through our world
19:21stand at Bell Helicopter prior to being
19:24put on the ship and there would have
19:25been a trim tab setting that we
19:27stenciled on the root end of the blade
19:30where that trim tab was factory set to
19:33to successfully track and balance that
19:38set of blades in a world stand.
19:40And that is a setting where you with
19:42those particular blades where you're
19:43going to start with
19:45and and leave that setting.
19:48Yeah. And that would be your zero.
19:52But each blade would have a
19:54trim tab setting stenciled on it on the
19:56root end of the blade. Are Are you
19:58seeing a lot of folks actually set the
19:59trim tabs back to zero
20:01uh
20:02when you go out there and and do your
20:03initial uh walk-arounds? Yes. Not You
20:06know, not everybody. They often they'll
20:08call and ask questions, but in some
20:10cases we would set the trim tabs to zero
20:13you know, with a new Yeah. Uh not
20:16necessarily with a new blade, but a
20:17repaired blade, refinished blade um
20:20Yeah, this the the blade most likely
20:22will not fly like it did when it was new
20:24because it may or may not have had a
20:26repair or just a refinishing itself
20:28change the profile of that blade enough
20:30that it would not uh
20:32fly like it did when it was new.
20:35Okay. Yeah, so just to be clear, you
20:37know, the
20:39we use the tabs for a couple things, but
20:42well, we use tabs for our initial
20:44settings at uh 35% torque on the ground
20:48which a lot of I'm not aware too many
20:50folks that actually do that. The the 407
20:52rotor head is a soft in-plane type rotor
20:54head, so it responds differently to the
20:56adjustments than an underslung
20:58two-bladed or a fully articulate rotor
21:01head. So
21:02when we like with the tabs and
21:05to to Greg's point stenciled on the root
21:08is the is the tab angle that made that
21:11blade fly with the master. So
21:13I call that tab zero versus cord zero.
21:16Cord zero is in line with the cord. Tab
21:19zero is what's on the root of the blade.
21:20That's the That's the way I was taught
21:23to use that. I think it calls it out
21:24that in the book. It calls tab angle
21:27blade root tab angle is what it says
21:29center weighted blade root tab angle.
21:31Anyhow
21:32those tabs basically twist the blade,
21:35allow the aerodynamics to twist the
21:36blade more or less depending on how you
21:38do the tab, but
21:40as you accelerate like in any other
21:41rotor, the tab becomes more effective
21:43because of the speed. Okay, so
21:46we keep that in mind, but
21:48the other thing stenciled on the blade
21:50root is a product balance weights that
21:52were set to the master and we'll get
21:53into that here in a little bit. So
21:54you'll see you'll see some weights upper
21:56lower and a tab angle stenciled on the
21:59back side trailing edge of the root
22:01where you can read it when you're
22:02standing on the ground looking at the
22:04back side of the blade. The the
22:06consequence of of kind of not following
22:07the the advice that you guys are giving
22:09is really just additional flights,
22:10right? Additional troubleshooting that
22:12isn't necessary had you, you know, maybe
22:15not done that.
22:16Yeah, and compromising your ride. You
22:18know, you may never get it as good as it
22:21could be if you don't uh
22:23if you don't
22:24I like to be methodical with how we do
22:26track and balance on these aircraft and
22:28and I think Greg's a Greg is in
22:32agreement. We stick to what you know,
22:34stick accurate moves, you know
22:38and if something isn't working right, I
22:39always plot stuff. I tell hey, get your
22:41chart out, plot your moves on your
22:43chart, see where it went versus the
22:44machine
22:46then you know, if you need to do a
22:47correction or whatever, but that will
22:49tell you a lot about what's going on,
22:50you know.
22:52And and back to setup you know, I know I
22:55said this in the first first uh
22:57podcast about this, but
22:59don't get frustrated with us and when we
23:01go, "Hey, double check your equipment
23:03install."
23:04You know, we're seeing 180 out on this
23:06on this move here.
23:08Uh that tells me is the accelerometer
23:10hooked up? You know, is it wrong
23:12orientation? Is it upside down pointing
23:14down instead up or
23:16So there's a lot of stuff we can learn
23:18from just the data we get and and what
23:20the move does versus how the aircraft
23:22responds to it, what it reads. Uh
23:25So it's good to it's good to uh don't
23:28get mad at us when we say, "Hey
23:30go double check that. Are you sure
23:31accelerometer one's hooked to
23:34the lateral or or, you know, four and a
23:36half? You know, just just double check
23:38that." So
23:39>> Yeah. We see that a lot and that gets
23:41I've had that happen where customers
23:43will get so frustrated with the track
23:44and balance
23:46and they're two or three days in it and
23:47they give us a call, "I can't figure
23:48this out." He go double check your
23:50equipment and then you hear this this
23:52while you have them on the phone and you
23:53hear this long pause like well
23:56Oh man, you know what I'm
23:58>> [laughter]
23:59>> That's and I I feel for them cuz I have
24:02done the same thing. Yeah. I've gotten
24:05you know, you get you get target
24:07fixated. You're going to go out, you're
24:08going to work this rotor. I'm going to
24:09go handle this.
24:11Three, four, five moves into it, this
24:13thing is not right and you know, we all
24:15got a little pride, you know, we all got
24:17a little I got this. I got I got it.
24:19I'll help you.
24:20Then you start
24:21making moves opposite of what it's
24:22telling you and then it's not that. Just
24:24go back and check, you know, never
24:26hurts. Takes a couple minutes. Yeah.
24:28Yeah, how many I I can think of plenty
24:30of times where, you know, I'm getting
24:32frustrated with with with mission piece
24:34of mission equipment in particular
24:36and I'm like, "Hey, this is not working.
24:37What is going on?" My partner's like,
24:39"It's off." And I'm like, "Oh, I'm an
24:41idiot." [laughter]
24:42It's not working in the off position,
24:44you know. [clears throat]
24:45So it's you know, it's different but
24:47similar in that it you know, you do get
24:48frustrated and and fixated on what
24:50you're trying to accomplish and without
24:52realizing that it's something simple.
24:54Uh can you talk about uh hub balance
24:57weight and what, you know, preparation
24:59does for that? So
25:02for hub balance weight, typically, you
25:05know, for an in-service helicopter
25:06you're you're and you're just going to
25:08do a routine track and balance, you'll
25:09leave the hub weight where it's at. The
25:11the hub weight um
25:13you know, mounts uh in between the grip
25:16um on each blade and they are uh
25:20Bell part number weights. Some are made
25:22of uh steel, some are made of tungsten
25:24um but uh overall that that uh
25:28uh hub weight is there just to balance
25:31uh
25:32mass and um
25:34and then
25:34>> But not always. Not always.
25:36>> Not always, yes. On Yes, on the 407,
25:39yes, there is that exception. It will
25:41affect track. It does affect track and
25:44and off more often than not if you get a
25:47rotor that's smooth up to like 100 knots
25:49and then you start coming out hub
25:51weight's my go-to for that. I'll look at
25:53the hub weight move first because that
25:54you're not tabing, you're not PCLing and
25:57the hub weight will clean that up nine
25:58times out of 10. And so that's that's
26:01where the soft in-plane business comes
26:02in versus fully articulate or other, you
26:06know, that uh underslung, but yeah, I
26:09mean we use it mainly for map for
26:12for four and a half balance, but
26:14not always. There are times where, you
26:16know, and and
26:18it'd be amazing how little the amount of
26:21weight will make a difference, you know,
26:22one of one of our birch our mentor used
26:25to say
26:2610 g is a significant move of weight on
26:30a hub weight.
26:31And a 10 g is a washer is like an AN
26:33washer, right? Thick steel, right? Greg,
26:36something like that two of them? Yeah,
26:38yeah, it's like 14 g, yes. Yeah, so you
26:41I mean, don't discount
26:44a move like that if you're getting to
26:45the end.
26:47I
26:48it works
26:49and It really does. Yeah. So I had a 407
26:53that was an ENG equipped aircraft that
26:56uh
26:57we were struggling to get 60 knots in,
26:59you know, and of course they fly at
27:01slower speeds and and we had a point two
27:03at 60 knots and and 20 g of hub weight
27:07fixed that for us. So
27:09uh Yeah. No pitch link moves, no trim
27:11tab moves, just 20 g of hub weight. Well
27:15going back to the preparation side of
27:16things, you know, I think you guys one
27:18of your points is, you know, not setting
27:20that the hub balance weight to zero. Are
27:22you guys seeing a lot of operators do
27:24that? And then if if so,
27:26when is the appropriate time to reset
27:28that to zero? Well, for me what I
27:31usually tell folks is if um
27:33if you're installing a
27:35new
27:36uh multiple new blades or repaired
27:39blades, then we would zero the hub
27:42weight at that point. Um
27:44Now, it's not necessary cuz you know,
27:46you're going to find out when you start
27:49checking uh
27:50the the balance that you're that the
27:54weights either going to stay or it's
27:56going to come off. But if you're
27:58replacing two or more blades, I'd say
28:00yeah, you know, it is okay to pull the
28:02hub weight off
28:03but uh not completely necessary. So
28:07Yeah, like if you do a hub change like
28:08you've got a timed out hub, you're
28:09putting an overhaul hub on.
28:11Uh
28:12but it's I always started with zero.
28:14Cuz you
28:15everything changes just a little bit
28:17there.
28:18But to Greg's point, you may not have
28:19any more runs if you throw the same
28:21weight back on. You'll it'll adjust for
28:22you the position. So
28:25I mean, it's up to you. It's what you're
28:27comfortable with, but if you get
28:28repaired blades in there, sometimes
28:30repaired blades can be so heavy
28:32that you end up correcting that with
28:34with hub weight, you know, and that's
28:36where
28:37you know, it probably behooves you to
28:39strip the hub and go to zero. Okay.
28:42What about uh the the pitch links and
28:45the length of those? What What impact
28:47does that have? And as far and I guess
28:50really in preparation for track and
28:51balance, what what is your
28:52recommendation for that?
28:55So as I mentioned earlier, you know,
28:57you've got a 2,000 hour aircraft with
28:58the same original main rotor blades, you
29:01know, then the PCLs would just stay as
29:03is
29:04unless, you know, for some reason
29:06somebody that's tracked and balanced it
29:08in the past has turned one of the rod
29:09ends all the way in or out where you
29:12might run out of adjustments because you
29:14know, there's a minimum and a maximum
29:16thread count that you can have on the
29:17rod end. So
29:19if if if one of those needs to be
29:21corrected, then you know, we always
29:23recommend that you do it so that you're
29:25not in the middle of tracking and
29:27balance and that's the worst when you
29:29the technician calls up and says
29:31>> [laughter]
29:32>> "I can't go anymore on this rod end."
29:34And you're nearly done. That is not
29:37good. You take you take about three
29:39steps back cuz you got to pull it off,
29:41travel it and try to get it close and
29:44Yeah. Yes.
29:45Yeah. I mean, you can you get pretty
29:47good at it, but the other thing I'll add
29:49to that PC link is when you're getting
29:50ready to track and balance uh
29:52check your rod ends. Make sure they're
29:54good and tight, you know, they they're
29:56within a limits. So,
29:58a loose rod end will will play havoc in
30:00trying to clean up, you know, finish up
30:02a rotor. You know, you'll get close, but
30:05then you won't be able to finish it. And
30:06that that gets frustrating, too.
30:09So, but and and keep an eye on your PC
30:11links. Keep them clean. Protect them
30:13when you're working up there. I've seen
30:15folks with Velcro sleeves that they put
30:17over when they come to do the
30:18maintenance with streamers on them. I
30:20wouldn't say they're delicate, but
30:21they're susceptible to damage when
30:23you're working around the rotor head
30:24with torque wrenches and all that. So,
30:25just pay attention to that. And uh you
30:27know, you don't want to nick a tube or
30:29something like that in the dirt and so
30:31that would ruin your day for track and
30:32balance as any of you have in your
30:34career, you know. Yeah.
30:36Absolutely. I said that usually when
30:38you're if you're putting like a new hub
30:39on, there's re-torques for the through
30:41bolts, the lower cone and all that.
30:43That's why you would have the torque
30:44wrenches and wrenches around those. Let
30:47alone when you're adjusting the PCLs,
30:49you're going to adjust. And one last
30:51note on adjusting PCLs, you know, when
30:53you're doing that,
30:55focus on keeping them lined up in the in
30:58the swash plate so they're square and
31:00they're square in the pitch horn.
31:03That makes your moves consistent with
31:05your threads. If you let one get off a
31:07little bit and whatever, I mean, we
31:08don't want them off too far anyhow cuz
31:10they can actually damage stuff, but just
31:13a little bit of thread difference
31:14changes how much you move that PCL and
31:17it you know,
31:18to for for
31:20for
31:21for uh clarity here, we're talking
31:23millimeters. We're talking millimeters,
31:25not inches, half inches, quarter inches.
31:27We're talking millimeters. And when we
31:29start out of out of initial, we want to
31:31be less than, you know, ideally less
31:33than 2 mm track between all four blades.
31:36So, uh you know, a little move there
31:39goes a long way to tip.
31:40Yeah. I digress.
31:42>> [laughter]
31:45>> I I think the next point to bring up is
31:47aircraft CG, how important that is in
31:49the preparation for for track and
31:51balance. Can you guys talk about that?
31:52Yeah. So, often uh we we you know, when
31:56I
31:57first came to work for Bell, I never
31:59even gave it a a real thought. You know,
32:02we get in the helicopter, we go
32:04put the we install the equipment, we go
32:06out and we fly, we check vibration
32:08levels, track, and then we come back and
32:11we make adjustments and then, you know,
32:13but it wasn't until you know, I I
32:15started running into these aircrafts
32:17that uh
32:18that were more difficult to get tracked
32:20and balanced because the CG was so far
32:23aft. Now, in particular, in EMS
32:25aircraft, you got a pilot up front, you
32:27know, maybe a 170, 80, 90-lb pilot. You
32:31get a 500, 600 lbs of fuel in the back,
32:34then you get two guys riding in the back
32:36and often this is the case because, you
32:38know, a lot of what I've done is gone
32:40out and filled with show people how to
32:41use their RADs um and um
32:44and give them a little bit of guidance
32:46and familiarization with it, but I end
32:48up in the back of the helicopter along
32:49with them and their CG's a little
32:51further aft. And what we've noticed is
32:52that uh
32:54that the IPS levels will be, you know,
32:57as much as an inch higher, you know,
32:59when you got the CG far aft. And with
33:02the EMS equipment in the back in the in
33:04the baggage compartment and all that,
33:06that air conditioning and all that, it
33:08just it compounds the issue. They're
33:10still within the CG envelope, but it's
33:12aft, so you have to think about that a
33:14little differently how you're going to
33:15approach that track and balance. That's
33:16why we measure.
33:18Mhm. We measure [clears throat] in the
33:19in the cockpit and in the aft cabin for
33:21vertical cuz, you know, you may have a
33:23glass ride in the cockpit and the aft
33:25cabin could be a point three.
33:27Yeah. And you know, medics don't like
33:29working in that environment back there
33:32uh
33:32where they're trying to help a patient
33:35trying to you know, start an IV and
33:37they're dancing around back there. It's
33:39just it's just not the way it, you know,
33:41it can be. It can be bad.
33:43>> [laughter]
33:43>> It it can, so. That's a precision
33:45movement for sure. As a I had to be a
33:47medic. You know, your hands bouncing
33:48around trying to
33:49>> [laughter]
33:50>> I'm sorry, I stabbed you in the
33:51forehead. I was trying to get your arm.
33:53Yeah. I I you know, more than once I've
33:55had EMS operators say, "Hey, the medics
33:57are not happy with the ride in the back
33:58of this aircraft. We need to fix it."
34:00Yes.
34:01>> and to that point, just like we talked
34:02earlier about the pilots,
34:05the pilots and the crew that are in this
34:06aircraft every day, they know this
34:08aircraft.
34:10Listen to them
34:11when you're doing your troubleshooting.
34:13It may be something totally unrelated to
34:15track and balance, but there's something
34:17going on with the aircraft. We've seen
34:18this uh you know, we see this a lot. Uh
34:21instrument mounts, instrument panel
34:23mounts, stuff like that will throw
34:24erroneous stuff, but
34:26you know, it's because there's a
34:27vibration somewhere. Doors will be
34:29loose. You get a high high four per when
34:31the cabin doors are loose cuz every
34:33revolution of the rotor,
34:35that air the downwash off the rotor
34:37impacts the cabin.
34:39So, you get a four per, you know, and so
34:42there's a lot of a lot of things, but
34:44yeah, we That that's the reason why we
34:46measure both cuz we want to we want to
34:48balance it smooth in both the fore and
34:50aft cabin. I think that's a great point
34:52talking about utilizing your air crew.
34:54You know, we're joking earlier about,
34:55you know, how how you can get some
34:57erroneous readings, we'll we'll call
34:58them, from from pilots or air crews on
35:00things, but you know, as a as a law
35:01enforcement pilot, I would use my
35:03tactical flight officer as an instrument
35:04of sorts. When he's looking out the
35:06window at the left side, I'm looking I'm
35:08using his head where he's looking as a
35:10kind of an instrument, a gauge to figure
35:12out whether the target he's looking at
35:14is behind us, in front of us, or at 90°.
35:17Uh
35:18so you know, we were always kind of
35:19taught that that use that tactical
35:21flight officer as an instrument. So,
35:22you're kind of describing the same
35:24thing. It may not be a precision
35:26instrument all the time. It's not
35:27scientific, but it's a great it's a
35:28great uh tool to use when it comes to
35:31problem-solving and and helping to kind
35:32of work through this stuff. So, I think
35:34it's a it's a great point to bring up.
35:36Uh we've talked about, you know, making
35:38sure from the very beginning there's no
35:40mechanical looseness in your in your any
35:42of your systems that may affect the
35:44track and balance. Making sure the
35:46aircraft's clean. You know, that that's
35:47an important we've talked about. Uh the
35:50trim tabs we we talked about that as
35:51well. We talked about uh hub balance,
35:54making sure that's that's good. And then
35:55the pitch links. So, once all that's
35:57kind of done,
35:58and then we've we've dealt with uh CG,
36:01kind of the last thing is to install the
36:03the track and balance equipment. And
36:05we've already kind of alluded to how,
36:07you know, that there could be some
36:08mistakes there, but assuming
36:09everything's installed correctly, you're
36:11kind of well on your way to to starting
36:13the process. Any any advice when it
36:15comes to installing that that track and
36:16balance equipment for folks? Do I do? I
36:19have some. Yes, we do.
36:21>> [laughter]
36:23>> If we may.
36:24>> Go ahead, Mr. Judd.
36:27I I'm a I'm
36:29a clean housekeeper. I like my cables
36:31tidy. I like them all tied together. I
36:33like them secured. I like the equipment
36:34secured in the cabin. I don't like it
36:36banging around. I've had
36:38some experiences where I've had to
36:40gather up equipment as we're doing
36:42different things as it's float floating
36:44around the cabin. Uh
36:46so, run your cables clean, tidy them up,
36:48make sure they're tight, make sure they
36:49don't foul anything. You've got like on
36:51the 407, your mag pick up on your swash
36:53plate, make sure you have a service
36:55loop. Don't just bring it out of the
36:57stowage bag and put it on. Yes. If you
37:00pull up collective, you're going to
37:01you're going to tear the you know, pull
37:03the wires out of the back of it. So,
37:05just just general housekeeping. You're
37:07running the wires, you know, out of the
37:09off the camera on the nose, you come to
37:10the chin bubble, tape it down, tidy it
37:13up. I I prefer to use
37:15Adel clamps on the screws for the
37:17landing light camera to hold the cable
37:20nice and secure so it doesn't get
37:21dancing around. Just stuff like that.
37:23But uh yeah, keep it away from the
37:26flight controls. Keep everything
37:28uh
37:29tidied up. Just nice clean, tidied up,
37:32you know, doesn't need to look like a
37:34rat's nest with cables in the back.
37:36Silly as it may be, do you have a
37:37preference on on the type of tape that
37:39that folks are using to secure their
37:41their cabling?
37:42I prefer the metal tape myself. I don't
37:44know about you, Greg, but I I like the
37:45metal tape. Yes.
37:47Absolutely. Aluminum tape. It
37:50stays It stays in place. It doesn't peel
37:52off, you know, easily. Masking tape,
37:54I've seen people use masking Not a fan
37:56of masking tape. No.
37:57>> I have used that I I don't know if
37:59you're familiar with gaffer's tape
38:01uh
38:01from the, you know, movie industry, I
38:03think is where it come from, but it's
38:05really like a it's like a canvas type
38:08tape that's really good. Fabric
38:10embedded.
38:11>> Fabric embedded, yeah. And it's good
38:13tape. It's good it's good as well, but
38:15just don't put something on there that's
38:17peeling off as you're putting it on and
38:18it goes through your tail rotor or Lord
38:20knows where it'll wind up, you know.
38:22Yeah. Cuz I have seen [clears throat]
38:24I know, I've made a lot of mistakes in
38:25my life with track and balance. I I shut
38:28down one time in a 407 and go, "What
38:30What is that noise?"
38:32And I hear this put you
38:34and it's like, "What the heck's that
38:35What is that?"
38:37I had painted the blades, blacked out
38:40the leading edge of the blades, which
38:41you have to do on a 407 so the camera
38:42sees one black bottom.
38:44And there were still I missed a piece of
38:48masking tape on the top of the blade and
38:50as we flew, it didn't come off, but it
38:52was peeling up and going
38:55>> [laughter]
38:56>> And I heard it as the blade was going
38:58down and I
38:59and it wasn't the track and balance
39:00wasn't really going well, neither,
39:02believe it or not. I know it was. That
39:04may have affected it tad bit.
39:06>> [laughter]
39:08>> Might have.
39:09Yeah, I've seen the tape come loose
39:12uh where they where they route the cable
39:13for the tracker down there the chin
39:15bubble and that tape comes loose and and
39:18it's holding the cable and then you got
39:19the cable smacking the chin bubble as
39:22you're flying along and that's uh
39:24not a good thing. Don't know where it's
39:26going to end up.
39:27>> [laughter]
39:28>> Or break the chin bubble is was my fear
39:31that time, so. Yeah, no kidding.
39:34Before we jump into product balance, can
39:37you guys any last closing thoughts when
39:39it comes to uh the preparation that goes
39:42into track and balance.
39:43Let's talk about fuel loads with the CG
39:46stuff. You know, when you're doing this,
39:47you want to be consistent. You want to
39:49keep your weights consistent. And the
39:51heavier the better is what we prefer.
39:54You don't need to be running max gross
39:55weight, but if you're running like
39:57600 lb of fuel, stay with 600 lb of
40:00fuel. You may have to add fuel every few
40:01flights, but that's okay. You know, be
40:04consistent. The key is consistency in
40:06your moves, in what you're doing. Be
40:08methodical and consistent. You know, and
40:10it's a lot easier for us to troubleshoot
40:12over the phone with you
40:14if we if we know like we'll ask, "Okay,
40:17where's this? Where's that?" And we get
40:19a consistent answer back,
40:21then we know things we we can do a lot
40:23better job of helping you as well with
40:26with that. If that makes sense. I think
40:28Uh Yeah, it's a it's an interesting
40:30point. You you had brought that up in
40:31the last uh in in part one and I hadn't
40:33considered that. And I think it's really
40:35important to consider using the similar
40:37fuel loads, like you said, for CG. Is
40:40that could be the one thing that's
40:41that's thrown you out of whack? I think
40:43that's an interesting point. Well, we
40:45try to balance with mission weights as
40:47much as possible. Like in EMS, if you're
40:48going out at 5250,
40:51then let's balance it as close as we can
40:52to 5250 because once the light cup
40:55lights up, it's going to fly fine. Mhm.
40:57When it's heavy, if you heavy it up,
40:59they may fly different cuz you got more
41:00load on the blades. So,
41:03uh the ride'll change. And of course, in
41:04in our aircraft, like especially 407, uh
41:07we recommend to check your ride every
41:09season'll change, you know, temperature
41:11swings. So, uh and you'll feel it. The
41:13pilots will feel it.
41:15Yes. Yeah, you feel a little bit of
41:17something going on. So,
41:18>> Yeah. Greg Squared, any any last uh
41:21points of of conversation for the
41:23preparation that goes into it? Oh, yes.
41:26Good preparation. Um
41:28Yeah. Um main rotor blade uh paint, I
41:32know we've talked about that. Make sure
41:33that that's on there evenly.
41:35The um
41:37that that tracker measures the chord of
41:39the blade and it's got to know exactly
41:41where the leading edge and the trailing
41:42edge of the blade is. And if you don't
41:44paint the leading edge well enough, if
41:46there's a bare spot or a break in it,
41:48you may get bad track data.
41:51Tracker angle, too. Make sure your
41:52tracker angle's correct. Yeah, I have a
41:55little trick for the tracker angle. You
41:56if you're using the sun shield, you can
41:58actually use the uh the sun shield
42:01bracket and line it up with the screw
42:03hole on the P-dot tube, and that's
42:05pretty close to about 57, 56°. So, you
42:09know, just as a starting point. You
42:10always want to check it with the
42:11protractor, but you know, you can kind
42:12of snug it up there and
42:14and then make minor adjustments as as
42:16you need it. And you know, I have better
42:18luck with the tracker tracker angle from
42:2155 up myself.
42:23>> Yep.
42:23Yeah. So.
42:24>> Yep. Yep. The same.
42:26Yeah. Those are the kind of pro tips
42:27that I think are gold. You know, that's
42:29something you only kind of learn through
42:30experience or or hearing someone like
42:32you guys talk about. So, yeah, thanks
42:34thanks for sharing that part. Uh going
42:37on to to product balance, can you talk
42:38about uh product balance and and you
42:41know, what its impact is and and what
42:43we're talking about? Yeah, absolutely.
42:46Tracking product balance was something
42:48that I feared. You know, I I was always
42:51uh
44:34afraid to just jump in and try it. And
44:36then, you know, I took this job and I
44:38and obviously, I had 19 years of
44:40experience when I started this job. So,
44:41I thought I knew a lot. I didn't know
44:43nearly as much as I needed to know to do
44:46this job even with after 19 years of
44:48experience cuz I've never tracked
44:49product balance 407. And you know,
44:51there's a lot of people that have not
44:53because they fear it
44:54you know, the the uh the the complexity
44:57of it, but it's really not that
44:58difficult. And the idea is that you're
45:01just we're we're
45:03starting uh it's a starting point. So,
45:05that's why we call it initial. And um
45:08and and
45:09before I move ahead, I'll say there's
45:11two programs. There's an initial program
45:13and initial PB program. The initial
45:15program was really developed for
45:19ships without
45:21product balance weights. Uh you can use
45:23it um
45:24to uh start your initial to do idle and
45:29100% 35% torque.
45:31But, um
45:33then you're going to have to when you go
45:34to hover, you'll have to switch over to
45:35the other program. So, my personal
45:37preference is to just use the initial PB
45:39program. And if I'm not ready to hover,
45:42I just stop it after
45:44100% check, the idle 100% check, and
45:48before I you know, before we go to
45:50hover.
45:51Um
45:52and um
45:54and make those adjustments to the idle,
45:56but I should
45:57uh so, the difference between the two is
45:59that initial PB just has you do a hover
46:01check so you can check the track change
46:04from uh 100% to a hover. And if that
46:09track change is significant enough,
46:11uh then
46:13then the blades may require product
46:15balance to make them dynamically
46:18similar. Um Yes. Yep. So, the
46:22the big difference is with the track is
46:25from uh
46:26where we're looking to make to to to see
46:28if it needs product balance is from the
46:31100% to hover. And I just happen to have
46:34some product balance weights. I'm
46:35probably getting a little bit ahead, but
46:37I'll show you those in a second.
46:38>> good. The um
46:40the the idea behind the the track the
46:44initial is that we're just really
46:46focusing on track. Often, um
46:49we just want to make sure that all four
46:50blades are in the same plane,
46:53dialed in as close as you can get them.
46:55And we always recommend to use
46:58uh millimeters as your measurement
46:59because the millimeters are more
47:01accurate. And one thing people don't
47:03realize that use the inches is um the
47:06inches the rads in in inches only
47:08measures down to a tenth of an inch. So,
47:11that's equal to 2.5 mm. You're not going
47:14to be able to dial your track in using
47:16inches as close as you would if it is if
47:19you were using uh millimeters for
47:22your measurements. Yeah. Yeah, so.
47:24>> Let me jump in here for a second, Greg.
47:26Right. So, let's get a little history
47:28lesson here. Initially, when the 407
47:29were released, the only time you could
47:32do Well, you we we in the field were
47:34never allowed to use product balance
47:36initially. They come out later on and
47:38finally Yeah. come out with it. We Bell
47:40come out later on and finally come out
47:42with the
47:43a process for doing product balance, but
47:45Yeah. you know, that's set on the world
47:47stand just like your your tab angle.
47:49That's where they had set the initial
47:50product balance. And and
47:52heavy forward, blade doesn't climb as
47:54much. Heavy aft, blade climbs more. We
47:56control the twist of the blade and how
47:58it reacts with product balance. It's a
48:01It's like a fine tune
48:03to a tab, but
48:05more accurate and manage you know, it's
48:08it's consistent. So,
48:10uh that being said, when we're doing
48:12like from 100% 35% torque to hover, the
48:15rotor's already loaded at that position.
48:17[clears throat] We're going to pull up
48:17into a hover. Now we're picking up the
48:19weight of the aircraft,
48:20and we want those blades to be within a
48:22couple millimeters ideally. The time you
48:24spend here in initials pays back
48:27tenfold in forward flight. Yeah.
48:30>> And you you reduce [clears throat] the
48:31number of forward flights you have you
48:33know, flights you actually physically
48:35have to make if you take your time here.
48:37Yeah. So, I wanted to make that point,
48:39Greg.
48:40Good point.
48:41>> Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, there's a lot of
48:43stuff we miss as we're talking about
48:44this. And and it's going to take time to
48:46explain it cuz it's there's so much to
48:49it. Um you know, it's it's really not
48:50that difficult. But, uh
48:53but the idea with the initial PB is if
48:56we were checking
48:58uh our track
49:00and balance at idle,
49:02uh 100% with 35% torque pulled in. And
49:05the reason we pull in 35% torque is cuz
49:08there's axial play by design in the mast
49:10bearing that will, you know, if you're
49:12at flat pitch, it'll allow the
49:14helicopter to hop up and down. And it's
49:16base it's really hopping up and putting
49:17control inputs into all four PCLs. So,
49:20you just kind of hop and then you know,
49:23get
49:24a little more cyclic pulling collective.
49:26The mast lifts up and the and the swash
49:28plate stays. Then it pulls the PCs down.
49:31Down. So, then they the blades to get
49:33pulled back down and it gets in this
49:35oscillation. And and you
49:37anybody that's flown a 407 know what
49:39we're talking quadrant, you know. Yep.
49:41And you you know how it should feel when
49:43it's right and then it's like, this
49:45doesn't seem right, you know. So,
49:46there's little things like that that
49:47affect everything. So, okay, I'm going
49:49to push it over here. Well, the cyclic
49:51centering light might not be on, but it
49:53right there it might be right on the
49:54edge of that.
49:56And so now the rotor's loaded up a
49:57little different at idle or 35 and you
49:59know, so you have to it's it's just good
50:02to pay attention to that stuff. So,
50:04let's get into this product balance
50:06stuff, right? Let's get on it. Yeah.
50:09So,
50:11you know, the the the typically when we
50:13when when we do product balance, you
50:15know, I mentioned the 2,000-hour 407
50:18earlier, that that ship and it's got the
50:21original blades, it wouldn't need
50:22product balance adjustments uh
50:24necessarily, but uh
50:26most likely not, but you know, if you've
50:28got a ship that you've just installed
50:30two new blades, two repaired blades, um
50:33or full set of new blades, full set of
50:35repaired blades,
50:36you're going to need to go through this
50:38initial product balance check to verify
50:41that those blades are stable from 100%
50:45to a hover, meaning that one of them
50:47doesn't climb or dive significantly
50:50uh more than
50:522 mm centrally, actually more than 3 mm
50:55in in flight. You you know, we we try to
50:57get it as close as we can, but the the
50:59way the program works is we're going to
51:00check it at idle
51:02and we're going to um adjust or track
51:05using pitch links at idle.
51:08We're going to dial it in as close as we
51:10can. I mean, I like to see zeros, you
51:12know, across the board. Blue, orange,
51:14red, and green, or also known as borg,
51:16the color coding. Easy way to remember
51:18the color coding is borg. Yeah. You
51:20know, dial them in at a at idle
51:23and then you're going to check it again
51:24at 100%. You're going to dial
51:27the blades in at 100% with 35% torque
51:30applied
51:32uh using trim tabs.
51:34And Yep. myself, uh I have learned from
51:37experience that it you know, when you're
51:40doing the initial program, that hub
51:41weight is is not as
51:44necessary to make adjustments on as
51:46track is. So, I have gone through this
51:50where I will,
51:51you know,
51:52check idle, 100%, and I make all the
51:54moves the rad gives me, and then the
51:57next move I'm taking the same hub weight
51:58back off again because I've made some
52:01different changes. And you'll go through
52:03that a lot, but I
52:04there in some cases you don't have to
52:06just add hub weight until you go to a
52:08hover. Um
52:09the uh
52:11Yep. the the uh
52:13so, you'll check it at idle, 100%,
52:16you'll get those dialed all in as
52:19perfect as you can get um
52:22before you go to a hover. Uh and then
52:24you'll do your hover check, and
52:25obviously uh the the rads will provide
52:28you track figures for idle,
52:32100%, and hover, and from there you just
52:36Yeah. do the math, calculate whether the
52:39blade is 3 or more millimeters out of
52:41track from hover Yep. from I from from
52:46100% to hover. Yeah. So, Yep. from 100%
52:49to hover, you want them dialed in
52:51closely. Now, that might be that
52:54you know, you've got uh a 1 mm at on the
52:57blue blade at 100%
53:00uh and then when you go to a hover, it's
53:035 mm at a uh in a hover. And that would
53:07be one example of where you would have
53:10to do a product balance move on the blue
53:12blade.
53:14The the the the other one would be is if
53:16you have significant differences between
53:19the blades in hover.
53:21Uh you know, if for example, the blue
53:23blade was at a a positive five and the
53:26red blade was a a negative five, then
53:30you know, we would have to clean those
53:31up most likely with product balance.
53:34And that's only if, you know, and I
53:36wanted to have an example to show you,
53:38but the
53:39uh but the track, as long as the track
53:42at idle and 100% is, you know, within a
53:45millimeter of two of each other, then
53:47there's
53:48not much you can do with the I pitch
53:51links or tabs to make the hover come in.
53:54Yeah. Occasionally, you could roll one
53:56down negative and it might bring it down
53:58a scosh, but uh
54:01but may or may not
54:02>> in mind, yeah, keep in mind these
54:03initials are starting point. Yeah. I've
54:07had more than one customer come back and
54:08say, hey, my initials are way out, but
54:10the aircraft's good. Well, it's a
54:12starting point. Go don't go backwards.
54:14It's like rigging.
54:16Once you start and head down that road,
54:18unless we tell you to go backwards,
54:19don't go backwards. Yeah, don't go back
54:21and start double-checking stuff. It's
54:23just it it's not worth your time, and
54:25it's going to change as you start
54:26working the rotor in flight. And one
54:27other
54:28one other point I wanted to make about
54:30product balance, you know, like he said,
54:32we typically only see this on where we
54:34need to use it where we're mixing new
54:36blades with repaired blades or, you
54:38know, a flying set of blades with a
54:39repaired blade pulling it in, or we have
54:41two repaired blades, or you know,
54:44there's there's some other circumstance
54:46that drives us to do this because the
54:47world stand does a really good job of uh
54:50standardizing these blades to each other
54:53uh to the master, which makes in theory
54:55makes them all fly together. I have had
54:57cases where
54:59the aircraft was doing just fantastic,
55:01and then all of a sudden
55:03a blade needed product balance.
55:05Okay, it's rare, but it happens. So,
55:07when that if you have that happen,
55:09have a good look at your blades.
55:11There may be something else going on
55:13that drives that. And then
55:15as as we get in, you know, you adjust
55:17product balance weights. Show them the
55:18weights, Greg. You got one there.
55:20Yeah, so I have um
55:23this would be a um
55:25uh a what a product balance weight looks
55:27like, if you can see that well.
55:30Um
55:31the uh
55:33the weights, there's um
55:35weights that are made of tungsten,
55:36there's weights that are made of steel,
55:38aluminum. They're different weights. Um
55:41there is a retainer. This retainer
55:43uh has threaded holes in it, which is um
55:47for
55:49the uh cover to
55:52be threaded into. This is This would be
55:54for a forward main rotor blade pocket.
55:56And you can obviously you can stack
55:58three weights on it.
56:00And um
56:02the three weights
56:03>> Any combination. Any any combination of
56:05weights. It's important to note though
56:07right here, I'll jump in, Greg. If
56:09you're doing product balance weight
56:10adjustments and you're moving weight
56:12from the forward pocket to the aft
56:13pocket, there's an overall
56:16uh
56:17weight package for that blade. You can't
56:20change that weight more than 8 g. Is
56:22that right?
56:23>> Yeah, 7 8 g, something something like
56:25>> Yeah, you need to stay The notes in the
56:26book, but you need to stay within 7 or 8
56:28g of what your initial total weight was
56:30out there cuz that affects the mass of
56:31the blade.
56:33You know, as long as you're you're
56:34moving top to bottom back and forth,
56:36you're okay, but you may have to use a
56:38spacer or a lightweight to make up the
56:40difference you need to tighten up. You
56:42have to have
56:43uh the pockets need to be the weights
56:45need to be tight in there so they don't
56:46vibrate.
56:47Yes, I'll show you that real quick.
56:49There's a there's these uh
56:51peelable shims that you just place over
56:55the uh the retainer. That locks it in.
56:58Yeah. Locks it in. And there yeah, you
57:00can add two or three. If you've only got
57:02one eight weight, you're probably going
57:03to have to add two shims, but they are
57:06peelable. Um
57:08and you want the cover to
57:10uh the covers on the blades to be flush
57:12with the skin of the blade. So,
57:13obviously, you don't want to
57:15uh
57:17over shim or under shim them under shim
57:19the the
57:20the retainer and and weight or they will
57:23rattle in the blade or the cover will
57:26stick out and it'll change the profile
57:28of the blade and your track and balance.
57:30So, We have a we have a diff- a
57:32limitation on what that cover can be. I
57:34don't know about you, Greg, but it says
57:36to seal those pockets up. If I'm doing
57:39if I'm doing product balance, I don't
57:40seal the pockets until I've got the
57:42blades dialed in. And then then I pro
57:44seal them.
57:45So, don't don't put pro seal them on
57:47every time and then go fly cuz you're
57:48just going to have pro seals, you know,
57:50the sealant's going to be smeared across
57:51the blade. I I mean, that's pretty
57:52common, but if you're not if you've
57:55never done this before, you may think,
57:57oh, I need to seal this, you know, if
57:58you're not flying in the rain and you're
58:00out working the rotor, which you really
58:02flying in the rain's hard to work a
58:03rotor anyhow, but
58:05you just want to make sure you don't
58:07seal it up till you're done.
58:09Otherwise, you'll be cleaning up pro
58:10seal.
58:11>> [laughter]
58:12>> So, done making adjustments, I should
58:14say. So, but it's it's uh
58:18it's it's amazing to me how how
58:22nice of a ride we can make when we do
58:24product balance adjustments on a rotor
58:26that maybe is mediocre at best.
58:28And then we can clean it up. And there
58:29are rare occasions where we'll use
58:31product balance in forward flight to
58:34like fix a blade that's been repaired
58:36that maybe flies a little different,
58:38climber initially and diver, we may
58:40change that product balance with with
58:42engineering's permission. Yes. We can go
58:44in and get that change we can use that
58:46to change mass a little bit. Now, here's
58:48the other caution I will say,
58:50be careful when you're doing product
58:51balance and state like I said, the
58:53weight thing. We Greg, you had it happen
58:55on one of your aircraft.
58:57We had a two-per in a 407, we couldn't
58:59figure it out. Ended up somebody had
59:00mis- messed up the weight packages in
59:03two blades, right, Greg? It did.
59:05Absolutely, yes.
59:07You are correct. Yes, I
59:09I I went out and I tracked and balanced
59:11the ship and um and got it dialed in
59:15pretty good, you know, using our
59:16standard guidelines.
59:18And but it still just felt horrible. It
59:21was like there was a rumble in the
59:22floor. And uh so, we decided to so,
59:26I being confused, uh you know, we looked
59:29at the tail rotor, didn't see anything
59:31wrong with the tail rotor. We
59:33uh often you'll feel the tail rotor
59:34vibration in the floor of a 407.
59:36But we looked over
59:38uh the tail rotor, didn't see any reason
59:40that it was causing a problem, but we
59:42did go ahead and check the balance of
59:43it.
59:44But then it wasn't until I uh downloaded
59:47the information to the Win Rads program,
59:49which Win Rads is a you know, laptop uh
59:53software that you can
59:54you can transfer data from your Rads
59:57Caddy to your laptop to view it on uh on
1:00:01your laptop.
1:00:02And often we use it
1:00:04the main thing we use the Win Rads for
1:00:05is to save the data for future, you
1:00:08know, because the the Rads Caddy only
1:00:10has so much memory in it. So, we save it
1:00:12for a future use or for records uh for
1:00:15example. But with um with this
1:00:17particular one I went in I downloaded it
1:00:19to Win Rads and I looked
1:00:21uh and found that it had this higher
1:00:23than normal two per rev.
1:00:25So, we the only way we were
1:00:28we looked the aircraft over, we couldn't
1:00:29find any reason why there was a two per
1:00:31rev, but we ended up uh
1:00:33opening up the product balance pockets
1:00:35and finding that there was two blades
1:00:36opposing each other that somebody had
1:00:38decided to add 80 g of weight to the
1:00:41leading edge and uh
1:00:44Yeah, I think the track data led me to
1:00:46that because I want to say that the both
1:00:48of those blowed blades dive dough
1:00:50significantly and they both had up trim
1:00:53tab in. So, yeah.
1:00:54>> I remember that. Yeah, I remember that.
1:00:57And that's another thing it's it's not
1:00:58uncommon to have you know, tabs up a
1:01:00little bit on all the blades, but when
1:01:02you see opposing blades that the tabs
1:01:04are actually working against each other
1:01:07bolts up a mount
1:01:08stop there's something going on, you
1:01:11know.
1:01:11>> [laughter]
1:01:12>> I'm a fan of the less tab angle the
1:01:15better.
1:01:16Uh
1:01:17less likely to wash out uh
1:01:19and less stress on the tab and the and
1:01:22the blade in my opinion. Absolutely.
1:01:25Man, there's there's so many nuances you
1:01:28you know, and and little tips and tricks
1:01:29that that goes into track and balance,
1:01:32you know, I think you know, going as we
1:01:34started this this conversation as we you
1:01:36know, went into it uh I'm looking at at
1:01:38our talking points and and I'm like I
1:01:40don't know if we're going to cover it.
1:01:41Well, there's no way. There's just so
1:01:42much for us to touch on you know, at
1:01:45this conversation. It's so important
1:01:47because you know,
1:01:49the shops are spending a lot of time in
1:01:50this.
1:01:51Um so, before we move on do
1:01:54We're at about an hour. Do you guys want
1:01:56to
1:01:56try and tackle another uh segment or do
1:01:59we want to come back and and do another
1:02:01hour like a part three on track and
1:02:03balance?
1:02:04Well, I think we'd be okay with a part
1:02:05three. There's still a lot of stuff to
1:02:07There's a lot more to cover than
1:02:10I would rather do a part three than try
1:02:11to try to jam it in. But the one thing I
1:02:13will say
1:02:15we learn as much from our customers when
1:02:17we're out and working these rotors as we
1:02:19do ourselves cuz we like I know Greg you
1:02:22probably do, but I don't I don't know it
1:02:25all, but I'm a
1:02:26>> [laughter]
1:02:27>> No.
1:02:29I it's amazing to me the little tips and
1:02:31tricks you learn from your customers.
1:02:33So, you know, when we start these
1:02:35conversations back and forth with
1:02:37customers about track and balance, keep
1:02:39keep that in mind as a customer.
1:02:41You're educating us on your aircraft.
1:02:43Every aircraft has a personality or has
1:02:45its nuances. And every aircraft's got as
1:02:48as
1:02:49in the first podcast we talked about it
1:02:52uh
1:02:52we talked about how the different
1:02:53aircraft have different frequencies
1:02:56uh
1:02:56natural frequencies to the airframe
1:02:58depending on how they're customized and
1:02:59all that.
1:03:00So, we have to learn that aircraft.
1:03:03We've actually gone to the point I think
1:03:04there was one aircraft where engineering
1:03:06actually wrote
1:03:07its own Rads program for that aircraft
1:03:09because of the customizing that
1:03:11aircraft. Yes. Uh Wow. And that. So,
1:03:14anyhow, the point is uh
1:03:16uh
1:03:17there's a lot Martin covered it pretty
1:03:20good on the first one. Actually really
1:03:22well.
1:03:24About the different frequency and all
1:03:26that, but we learn we learn from you
1:03:29the customer on each aircraft what is
1:03:31unique about that aircraft. Now,
1:03:33sometimes we'll learn that hey, we've
1:03:35seen this before and you need to pay
1:03:36attention. Go have a look at this
1:03:39uh
1:03:39something's going on here, you know, and
1:03:41and we can there's some tips, you know,
1:03:43like
1:03:45descending right hand turns. If you got
1:03:46a hop in a descending right hand turn
1:03:49go look at your corner mounts.
1:03:51I mean, and a lot of times goes back to
1:03:53housekeeping.
1:03:54Before we get before you get into rotor
1:03:56smoothing check up your corner mounts
1:03:57and double check them. Uh you can look
1:03:59at the tops all day long and it like
1:04:01Greg mentioned
1:04:02they have to be really really
1:04:06uh
1:04:07worn, you know, the last ones their last
1:04:09ones. They have to be really worn out or
1:04:12or
1:04:13torn before you contact the up stop with
1:04:15one of the corner mounts.
1:04:17So, there's damage, you know,
1:04:21just because they're not contacting the
1:04:22up stop doesn't mean they're over. You
1:04:24need to look at the bottom of our
1:04:25serviceable. So,
1:04:26and then and you know, I just I was with
1:04:29an EMS operator just uh just before the
1:04:32holidays and uh
1:04:34we were talking about their mission and
1:04:35they're going through corner mounts
1:04:36pretty regular. I mean, 1,000 hours,
1:04:381,200 hours, but their mission is EMS,
1:04:41so they're leaving it near gross weight
1:04:43all the time. They're living in that
1:04:45environment and
1:04:46you're going to that's just a byproduct
1:04:48of that environment.
1:04:50We can balance a rotor and and
1:04:53with a lot lot of wear and tear in the
1:04:55parts, they're still serviceable parts.
1:04:58But there comes a point where it's a
1:04:59cumulative effect and you're going to
1:05:01have to start cleaning it up at some
1:05:02point.
1:05:03The concept you brought up I think is
1:05:04really interesting. A friend of mine his
1:05:06name is Nick Mingione. He runs a a law
1:05:08enforcement aviation training company.
1:05:10He talks about this this carrier pigeon
1:05:12uh concept that
1:05:14he he experiences when he when he
1:05:15trains. So, he he trains air crews
1:05:17across the world and he'll go to an air
1:05:19crew and he'll learn something that
1:05:21that he's never heard before and he'll
1:05:24take what he heard there and he'll then
1:05:26share that with the next air crew and
1:05:28Yeah. he calls it the carrier pigeon uh
1:05:31philosophy. And it's kind of what you're
1:05:32describing here. You guys talk to so
1:05:34many different uh shops so many
1:05:36different experiences that that you may
1:05:37not have directly had yourselves, but
1:05:39you've kind of worked through it and now
1:05:40you can offer those solutions to your
1:05:42customers by nature and by virtue of
1:05:44those those conversations you've had in
1:05:46the past. You're seeing uh a lot of the
1:05:48trends and the things that each
1:05:49individual shop isn't going to know or
1:05:51be aware of. So, I think tapping into
1:05:53you guys' experience whether it's
1:05:54through the podcast or or through you
1:05:56guys you know, talking in person, I
1:05:58think it's so valuable for
1:06:01you know, for the operators themselves.
1:06:03So, I I love that you guys offer that
1:06:04and again it's I always go back to you
1:06:06guys' custom trainings. They're they're
1:06:08huge for a lot of those reasons. Yeah.
1:06:10Well, I
1:06:11I will say what we're what we're sharing
1:06:13here is stuff that customers have trial
1:06:15and error and learned and we've learned
1:06:17with them. Or we've learned you know,
1:06:19when we were a customer and so, I learn
1:06:22something pretty much every time I get
1:06:24into a track and balance evolution
1:06:25that's really deep troubleshooting, you
1:06:28learn something. You either you learn it
1:06:30from an engineering group or you learn
1:06:31it from a another customer or another
1:06:34customer service engineer on our team.
1:06:36Some way around somebody halfway around
1:06:38the world may have found something and
1:06:40we have this we have this weekly little
1:06:42email chain that goes back and forth
1:06:44where we the Bell CSE share information
1:06:47with our company.
1:06:48And you'll pick up stuff you'll pick up
1:06:50stuff from that on occasion like oh man,
1:06:51I didn't even think about that, you
1:06:53know, it's like oh yeah. Yeah. It makes
1:06:56sense, but the point is shame on anybody
1:06:58that would keep this stuff quiet.
1:07:00Yeah.
1:07:01if if we want to improve the safety in
1:07:04the industry and improve improve the
1:07:06experience with our product, we're going
1:07:07to share with everything we can, you
1:07:09know, about uh this kind of stuff. Love
1:07:13And that's that's Bell's way. You know,
1:07:16it's we have a lot of top level support
1:07:19in in our in our group from our director
1:07:22to the VPs to you know,
1:07:24and we're lucky. We're fortunate that
1:07:25way because they stand behind us and
1:07:27they help us, you know, they understand
1:07:29the value of being there for the
1:07:30customers. So,
1:07:32it's a good thing all the way around the
1:07:33block.
1:07:34Absolutely. Greg's support isn't very
1:07:36good cuz he relies on me for that
1:07:37support.
1:07:39>> [laughter]
1:07:42>> Stop.
1:07:43But yeah, I don't I don't necessarily
1:07:45follow the same business model as
1:07:46everybody.
1:07:48>> [laughter]
1:07:51>> With
1:07:51>> [clears throat]
1:07:51>> talking about the community aspect of of
1:07:54the rotorcraft industry and and what
1:07:55you're talking about is is just that,
1:07:57you know, trying to provide a an
1:07:58opportunity for folks to to learn from
1:08:00each other without having to experience
1:08:02the the headaches of re- of inventing a
1:08:04wheel themselves, you know, again the
1:08:06the wheel doesn't need to be reinvented.
1:08:08Let's as a community put our heads
1:08:09together and come and provide solutions
1:08:12you know, to to make uh shops more
1:08:14efficient and effective.
1:08:16I do real quick. I get I get these the
1:08:18customers will call say hey, you got a I
1:08:19got a I got a dumb question for you.
1:08:22And I go, no such thing. My my automatic
1:08:25answer is no such thing.
1:08:27And [clears throat] I mean that because
1:08:29I learn from every question that's
1:08:32asked.
1:08:33And you know, I may have an answer right
1:08:37off I may have experienced it a week ago
1:08:39or a year ago and remember hey yeah, we
1:08:40did we had this with this or whatever,
1:08:42but there's always a little nuance to
1:08:44everybody's situation, you know, so
1:08:47don't think the point is ask the
1:08:49questions. Yeah. Get us engaged. We're
1:08:52happy to be engaged with you and help
1:08:54you. You know, and and uh more than
1:08:56often than not we'll we'll travel out if
1:08:58it's an aircraft that's
1:09:00that's uh
1:09:01you know, experiencing some stuff we
1:09:03can't we've not seen before or we're not
1:09:05sure about. We'll just travel out and we
1:09:07have gear, you know, our our department
1:09:09has balance gear that we use for
1:09:11troubleshooting.
1:09:12Uh we have a Zing, we have Rads uh
1:09:15and we use those you know, Honeywell ZTE
1:09:17kit and a Rads and hopefully soon we'll
1:09:20have Rads NG
1:09:21uh
1:09:22available for us. But the point is we
1:09:23can come out and double check your
1:09:25equipment with our equipment and make
1:09:26sure you know, there's not It's not an
1:09:28equipment issue or something like that
1:09:30that isn't easily diagnosed.
1:09:32Yeah. And that's
1:09:34that's what we do. You know, we're happy
1:09:36to happy to do that.
1:09:38Again, that level of expertise is is
1:09:40huge. So, thank you guys for for sharing
1:09:42that for for leaning into,
1:09:44you know, your your customers in a way
1:09:45that is truly supportive.
1:09:47Uh Greg Squared, any any kind of closing
1:09:50thoughts before we start walking through
1:09:52uh the end of of this part two of which
1:09:55is going to be a a multi continued
1:09:57multi-part uh part, you know, process as
1:10:00as we've seen, there's lots of nuances
1:10:01here.
1:10:02Yeah, so yeah, just, you know, to add to
1:10:05what you were saying, I think that it's
1:10:07important that we share our knowledge.
1:10:09Uh
1:10:10you know, I don't know but
1:10:12um
1:10:13I I I I do it on a daily basis.
1:10:16Um
1:10:17but uh
1:10:19you know, just that's a
1:10:20I get joy out of bringing and sharing
1:10:23that knowledge to people
1:10:25uh
1:10:25and letting them know
1:10:27a good way, the right way, and not the
1:10:29wrong way to do their task, whether it
1:10:32be track and balance or not.
1:10:34Um and I I I know um
1:10:38my experiences, if I don't pass them
1:10:40along, then they're you know, people are
1:10:42going to waste days like I did trying to
1:10:44figure them out. So,
1:10:46absolutely,
1:10:48I need to share our knowledge.
1:10:51Yeah, to Greg's point, a customer's
1:10:52success is our success.
1:10:55If a customer's not successful, then we
1:10:56haven't done our job.
1:10:58You know, that's the way we look at it.
1:11:00We take pride in that. We take
1:11:02we take stake in those conversations. We
1:11:04want the customer to be, you know,
1:11:07And I will say this, I have been in
1:11:09facilities where there's multiple
1:11:10different OEM aircraft there and I've
1:11:13seen people, you know, very frustrated
1:11:16with the another OEM's track and balance
1:11:18or whatever and I I'll have a
1:11:20conversation with them.
1:11:22I don't
1:11:23you know,
1:11:25it's not that I'm going to talk about
1:11:27how to balance that other customer's,
1:11:29you know, their OEM's aircraft, but it's
1:11:30what it is is
1:11:31I want to make sure they not they don't
1:11:33have the pitfalls that we the common
1:11:35pitfalls that are common across all
1:11:37track and balance.
1:11:39And so, you just ask a few questions.
1:11:40And and then, you have a conversation,
1:11:43you know, I have a conversation with
1:11:44these folks. Hey, step back, take a
1:11:46breath.
1:11:47Let's just review everything.
1:11:49And
1:11:50you know, I don't I ended up leaving. I
1:11:52don't know where they ended up, but I
1:11:53I'd heard later on that they ended up
1:11:55getting that taken care of rather
1:11:56quickly. They found something that
1:11:57wasn't
1:11:58hooked up correctly and they went on
1:12:00their way. But that was just
1:12:03neither here nor there. The point is
1:12:05when customers are sharing information
1:12:06with us and we're we're helping them
1:12:08become successful,
1:12:10then we're successful. And people it
1:12:12makes it for a better experience all the
1:12:14way around the block and the product is,
1:12:16you know, utilized more. So, that's a
1:12:20lot of this stuff. You are a game if we
1:12:22want you flying our product, we want you
1:12:24happy with your product.
1:12:25The more availability, the more missions
1:12:27are being completed. Like I said, the
1:12:29happier folks are. So, again, appreciate
1:12:32your your guys's expertise, your your
1:12:33passion for the industry. I always love
1:12:35talking to you guys because it's so
1:12:36evident how, you know, how much passion
1:12:38you guys have for the rotorcraft
1:12:40community.
1:12:42Um so, thank you guys for that. You
1:12:43know, I think that's a a big part of why
1:12:45our community is the way it is cuz
1:12:46people are passionate about it. So,
1:12:48>> Well, we need we need to thank you folks
1:12:50for giving us the platform to do this
1:12:52and and helping us with this because
1:12:53it's a It's a great team, you know, it's
1:12:56a great relationship here and we want to
1:12:58continue that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah,
1:13:00we we love these conversations. We love
1:13:02you we love Bell and and, you know, we
1:13:05love folks like you again who are
1:13:06passionate about the industry and just,
1:13:07you know, looking to make a a positive
1:13:09impact in the overall well-being of of
1:13:11our community.
1:13:12Uh so, Yeah, this is this is what it's
1:13:14about, right, at the end of the day?
1:13:16You know, it's it's uh it's about the
1:13:18relationships we have with our customers
1:13:20and with their and with the folks in the
1:13:21industry. Absolutely.
1:13:23>> such a good good industry to be in and
1:13:25hopefully that attracts
1:13:26more folks into our industry and, you
1:13:28know, it's it's part of it. So, Yeah,
1:13:31you know, I think when it comes to the
1:13:32recruitment side, a lot of the
1:13:34recruitment that takes place is word of
1:13:36mouth from family members. And when your
1:13:38community is happy, you're you're
1:13:39encouraging your your your sons, your
1:13:41nephews, your family members to say,
1:13:43"Come join this community cuz it's
1:13:44really cool." versus the opposite,
1:13:46right? You're like, "Uh don't don't come
1:13:48to the don't come to the don't come to
1:13:50the industry cuz it's it's negative and
1:13:52I'm so thankful to be a part of this
1:13:53industry that that isn't that way. You
1:13:55know, at least from my perspective, it's
1:13:56been it's been wonderful. Uh an industry
1:13:59that I absolutely love and these
1:14:00conversations are are part of that.
1:14:02So, Yeah, I would say Yeah, just one
1:14:04last thing. I'm I'm sorry. I will say
1:14:07being involved with the rotorcraft
1:14:08industry from firefighting to oil
1:14:11exploration all that, I have met so many
1:14:15good, quality people.
1:14:17Not just in aviation, but in these small
1:14:18communities the helicopters end up being
1:14:21that I have friends for life that I
1:14:22would have never met or even known
1:14:25existed had I not had these
1:14:27opportunities, right? So, Yeah. It
1:14:30it pays it pays back in a lot of things
1:14:32you do. Absolutely.
1:14:33>> you do, but this industry is is really
1:14:37it's exciting, it's fun to be in and and
1:14:39track and balance is just one little bit
1:14:41of it, but it's a it's an important part
1:14:43of it. So,
1:14:44Yeah, that that may not be the thing
1:14:46that people love about the industry, but
1:14:48we're here to help people through that,
1:14:50you know. So,
1:14:51>> to make them love it. We're going to
1:14:52help them love it. Yeah, that's what
1:14:53[laughter] we're
1:14:55Uh
1:14:56Greg Squared, any any closing thoughts
1:14:58before we we walk out of here? Yeah,
1:15:00just yeah.
1:15:03Call me if you have any questions. If
1:15:05you are not sure
1:15:07and want to know what Bell thinks or how
1:15:09we would go about fixing it, give me a
1:15:12call. That's what I'm here for.
1:15:14Awesome.
1:15:15I call him all the time.
1:15:17>> [laughter]
1:15:21>> Until part three of this track and
1:15:23balance series, uh we'll look forward to
1:15:26to having this conversation again. Look
1:15:28forward to seeing you guys soon,
1:15:29hopefully in person. And we'll catch you
1:15:32later. All right. Cheers.
1:15:33>> Thank you, John. Cheers. My pleasure.
1:15:35Take care.
1:15:37Thanks for listening to the Bell Tech
1:15:38Talk segment of Vertical MRO podcast.
1:15:41We want to hear from you. Have a
1:15:43technical topic for the team or a
1:15:44favorite technical tip? Let us know. Our
1:15:47email is [email protected].
1:15:49That's t e c h t a l k @bellflight.com.
1:15:55If you're having a technical issue with
1:15:56the aircraft, as always, our team is
1:15:58here 24/7 at
1:16:00[email protected].
1:16:03If you like what you heard, subscribe
1:16:05and come back for more. [music]

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