Fatigue Crack Found in Naval Operation Helicopter Part... Flight Resumed

[Asia Economy Reporter Yang Nak-gyu] The reason for the abnormal signs observed during the patrol flight of the Wildcat (AW-159) maritime operation helicopter last year was investigated to be fatigue cracks.

According to the Navy on the 3rd, at around 12:10 PM on November 23 last year, one AW-159 experienced vibrations during a patrol mission and made a precautionary landing at a military base. A precautionary landing is made when it is judged that continuing the flight poses a risk.

The Navy issued a flight suspension order for the AW-159 model as a precautionary measure that afternoon. All eight AW-159s owned by the Navy were grounded.

The Navy, together with the manufacturer and specialized institutions, investigated the cause and conducted a full inspection to determine whether the same phenomenon occurred elsewhere. The Navy explained that it plans to continue investigating the cause of the early occurrence of fatigue cracks relative to the operational period in cooperation with the manufacturer.

Generally, the lifespan of the damper is 1,000 flight hours, but it was reported that this model had flown about 300 hours.

It was found that the remaining seven aircraft operated by the Navy did not show signs of damper fatigue cracks. Accordingly, flights of the seven aircraft, excluding the faulty helicopter, resumed that day.

The Navy introduced the AW-159, jointly developed by the United Kingdom and Italy, in 2016 to respond to North Korean submarine threats.

The AW-159 is a maritime operation helicopter mounted on destroyers and frigates, equipped with armaments capable of attacking enemy ships and submarines, such as the anti-ship missile 'Spike' and the domestically produced torpedo 'Cheongsang-eo'.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.