Rotor Blade Quality Surveillance requested

Blade quality surveillance (BQS) is one of strongly requested support issues. BQS concept of an Offshore wind farm comprises a complete third party assessment of each key procedure to obtain Type and Project Certificate. It covers design assessment (second phase), blade testing and surveillance of important steps in project (IPE). In order to obtain and retain blade airworthiness periodic monitoring of blade production, witnessing of quality assurance inspections, testing and supervision of whole life cycle operation is mandatory as well as supervision of maintenance and repair acceptance procedures.

HMS Technical Advisers strengthened

We proudly present MATTHIAS VYSHNEVSKYY joining the team. Welcome on board! Matthias has years of experience in flight physics as well as design approval and he is reinforcing the AVIATION wing of the HMS consultancy portfolio.

Lightning strike event scale

We talk about MINOR COSMETIC findings due to LS when only receptors and blade surface in some way swept over by lightning current. In those cases even receptors do not have to be substituted.
A bit more impact is performing the category WEAR OF COMPONENT, where receptors, connections and sparc gap are affected.
If you might find DAMAGE TO COMPONENTS, you have to admit that not only wear of structural integrity had happend, but also overload in critical sectors. You can have reasonable suspicion that lightning protection system is somehow a wrong design.
Incident with BREAK DOWN OF SYSTEM: in this category the component, i.e. blade is desintegrated and has to be replaced or repaired comprehensively.
And if there had been DAMAGE TO OTHER SYSTEMS you might talk about an accident with wider consequences.
(Event scale stated by Thomas H. Krogh, Electricon, Herning, DK)

It is not all about blades

when Blade Experts talk ...
I learned a lot about fly-fishing: Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish, Torben Schmidt says. He is one of this great sport enthusiasts

Hijacking a single engined aircraft

I could not believe it's true when I first heard of this incredible story my client presented the other day. But after his explanations on the phone I felt he is apparently in big trouble to verify an insured loss and I promised to try my best to help. Here is the original report of an enthusiast and member of PlanePictures.net André Garcez:

(LPCS Cascais, Portugal) 12-February-2010: Private Pacific Aerospace PAC-750XL André Garcez D-FGOJ c/n 139. ex ZK-JDQ. Straight from a Hollywood movie. A ex-military hijacked the aircraft, after pretending to be a photographer shooting parachute jumps from inside the airplane. The aircraft took off from LPEV (Évora) to LPCS (Tires) with 2 parachuters, and right after, the hijacker diverted the aircraft using a pistol. When the aircraft was landing at Tires, the pilot managed to take the weapon from the terrorist, but he went for the controls and tried to crash the airplane. The parachuters jumped at very low altitude and the aircraft landed with the engine shut down, with a strugle between the pilot and the hijacker, skidded into a ditch breaking the left wing and left again to the grass breaking the landing gear. The pilot jumped from the aircraft as soon as it hit the ground and the hijacker committed suicide (you can see him underneath the left wing). It also seems that the hijacker's car exploded in Évora. Handheld, raining a lot, and almost dark.

Incredible story, isn't it? What brave reaction this pilot had shown! I would have been scared to death...

Ironic Australian decision

Australian government decided to cancel photovoltaic funding in order to take care about flooding wrap-ups.
Australian thinking not always comprehensible for me.