Practically the entire Royal Canadian Air Power (RCAF) 12 Wing Shearwater Maritime fleet of CH-148 Cyclone helicopters are present process repairs after cracks have been discovered within the tails of the plane. After the cracks have been discovered on one of many Sikorsky-made helicopters throughout routine upkeep on November 26, different plane within the squadron have been inspected and cracks have been present in three extra, in line with the assertion. The RCAF reported 19 of its whole fleet of 23 CH-148 plane have been discovered to have the cracking downside. Two have been discovered to don’t have any cracking and the remaining two are in long-term upkeep and haven’t but been inspected.
Sikorsky is working with the RCAF to make repairs, in line with the division. RCAF specialists estimate that the repairs to among the plane can be accomplished in “the subsequent few days.” Whereas your entire fleet is encompassed inside 12 Wing Shearwater, 17 of the plane are based mostly in Nova Scotia and 6 in Pat Bay, B.C., to help the Royal Canadian Navy’s Pacific fleet. The problem with the Cyclones has had some influence on flood-relief operations in B.C., the place helicopters from 443 Squadron, working from their base at Patricia Bay, have been supposed to supply help, the assertion mentioned. It mentioned different air property have been in a position to fill the hole as a substitute.
Commercial
The Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone is a twin-engine, multi-role shipboard helicopter developed by the Sikorsky Plane Company for the Canadian Armed Forces. A army variant of the Sikorsky S-92, the CH-148 is designed for shipboard operations and changed the venerable CH-124 Sea King, which was in operation from 1963 to 2018. The seek for a Sea King alternative initially started within the Nineteen Eighties. The Cyclone is operational with the Royal Canadian Air Power (RCAF) as of 2018 and is to conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW), surveillance, and search and rescue missions from Royal Canadian Navy warships.
The CH-148 Cyclone has been the topic of scrutiny prior to now over the procurement course of and price. The plane took greater than a decade to enter service, and its value soared from an unique finances of $3.2 billion to $5.7 billion. In April 2020, six crew members on board a CH-148 died when their plane plunged into the Ionian Sea off Greece because it was returning to HMCS Fredericton after a flypast. The battle between guide management and the plane’s computerized flight controller system triggered an unanticipated “bias” within the helicopter’s fly-by-wire (FBW) computer systems, prompting the plane to nostril dive at full velocity into the ocean because it was returning to HMCS Fredericton after a flypast.
