Composite rotor blade manufacturer Van Horn Aviation has received Supplemental Type Certification (STC) and Parts Manufacturer Approval (PMA) from the Federal Aviation Administration for its new tail rotor for the Airbus Helicopters AS350.
Developed entirely in-house at Van Horn Aviation, the new AS350 tail rotor replaces the current spar-and-paddle design with two composite tail rotor blades attached to a steel hub using self-lubricating spherical bearings. This design eliminates the problematic elastomeric half-bearings in the current tail rotor — along with associated inspections, replacements, and several Airworthiness Directives — while reducing control loads and increasing performance.
“When we first tackled the AS350 tail rotor design, our main goal was to solve the maintenance problem posed by the elastomeric bearings,” said VHA CEO Dean Rosenlof. “Through four years of research and redesign, we’ve not only solved that issue but also produced a system that noticeably enhances tail rotor performance on the venerable AS350.”
The VHA AS350 tail rotor includes the following components:
- Two individually-replaceable swept-tip composite tail rotor blades
- Removable pitch horns to allow interchangeability with various pitch links
- Steel hub with industry-standard teeter axis for reduced pitch link loads
- Spherical bearings to eliminate elastomeric bearing inspection and replacement issues
- Drive shaft extension and teeter stop
- New tail rotor bolt and installation hardware
Borrowing from the company’s highly successful 206 series tail rotor blade first certificated in 2009 and with more than 5,000 blades currently flying, the VHA AS350 tail rotor blades use a laminar flow airfoil for improved efficiency and swept tips for noise reduction.
“Our AS350 tail rotor introduces several major improvements over the OEM system, from allowing operators to replace a single damaged blade to eliminating the time and expense of frequently replacing elastomeric bearings,” said VHA Flight Operations Manager Terry Tyner. “In addition, they are great blades to fly. They’re very responsive.”
The service life of Van Horn Aviation’s AS350 tail rotor is 4,800 hours, which is 800 hours more than the OEM tail rotor. List price for the VHA AS350 tail rotor is comparable to the Airbus product.
