"I still have great confidence in the aircraft, the capability, because I've got great confidence in the people that manage it and oversee the operations day to day," he said.
Yet despite the cracks and several other problems, Meinzinger expressed his continued confidence in the Cyclones thanks to the Air Force's inspection and maintenance procedures as well as the technicians who found the cracks in the first place. "These cracks are not in primary structural load components of the airframe and therefore do not pose an immediate safety hazard." "Further inspections and repairs, as required, are being implemented to avoid more extensive repairs if the cracks were allowed to propagate in size," spokesman John Dorrian said in an email. However, he could not say when the rest of the fleet will be fixed.Ī spokesman for Sikorsky Aircraft, which builds the Cyclone, said the repairs entail removing damaged sections and installing new parts, primarily aluminum sheet metal and standard hardware. Three of the Cyclones have been repaired since the problem was first discovered two weeks ago, while Meinzinger said another four should be back in the air by the end of the week. "So certainly (I'm) concerned with the fact we're having to do a non-standard repair and that these cracks were detected." "These are non-standard in the sense that every aircraft is slightly different," he said. Al Meinzinger said the cause of the tail cracks remains under investigation but revealed each of the 19 of 23 Cyclones affected by the problem requires different types of repairs. In an exclusive interview with The Canadian Press, Lt.-Gen.
Cbs chopper 2 cyclone software#
The cracks are the latest in a growing list of issues with the Cyclones, including a software problem that caused one of the helicopters to crash off the coast of Greece last year, killing all six service members on board. The commander of Canada's air force says he is concerned about the recent discovery of tail cracks in most of the military's new Cyclone helicopters, and the need for "non-standard" repairs to each aircraft, but he remains confident in the fleet.
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