Avionics News November 2012 - 48

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MeMber

AIRBORNE AVIONICS

CONTACT INFORMATION: 41 George Campbell Drive Mudgee, New South Wales 2850 Australia PHONE: +61-2-637-27444

Australia’s Airborne Avionics Delivers Day After Day

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n a crisp morning in July, technicians with Airborne Avionics worked against the clock to source a failing generator and repair the radar altimeter on a JetRanger. The helicopter was needed the next day for a deer survey near the Coorong National Park on the southern coast of Australia. The cool start to the day (summers and winters in Australia are opposite of North America) didn’t slow the service center’s two technicians as they quickly worked the issues, simultaneously troubleshooting the radar altimeter and following the generator’s problems back to a potential fire hazard. “We rectified both defects in time,” said Darren Brook, Airborne Avionics technician. “The radar problem was due to a sticking indicator needle on the bezel, which we repaired and tested serviceable. The generator problem was caused by soundproofing that had come adrift and fallen on the voltage regulator causing it to overheat and trip the generator offline.” The technicians work under constant deadlines, installing, repairing and maintaining instruments and avionics on eight busy helicopters – three Bell LongRangers and five Bell JetRangers – for their owners’ helicopter business. The aircraft play crucial and demanding roles across New South Wales and South Australia, including fire fighting, reconnaissance, mapping, power line inspections, mining support,
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feral animal control and aerial spraying over plantations and forest land. “We supply the chopper, the pilot, any extra equipment needed, such as Bambi Buckets for water bombing or systems for aerial spraying, and most often a crew person in a support vehicle with fuel, oil and grease,” said Kate Rogers, who co-owns Commercial Helicopters, Airborne Avionics and Oz Choppers with her husband, Mark. “At present, we have a chopper, pilot, crew-person and support and fuel vehicle down in southwestern North South Wales on a malleefowl nest survey run by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in conjunction with the Water Catchment Management Authority. They are flying grid patterns and literally counting how many malleefowl nests are in each sector.” Helping Fixed-wing Friends New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, is known worldwide for its capital city’s most recognizable feature – the Sydney Opera House. The region’s varied landscape includes beaches and coastline, snowy mountains and arid plains, and is home to kangaroo-like wallabies and fruit bats that look like flying foxes. The Mudgee district, where Mark and Kate live and work, lies 270 kilometers northwest of Sydney. With its quaint

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Avionics News November 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Avionics News November 2012
