CTV.ca News Staff

Updated: Wed. Oct. 20 2004 9:17 AM ET

Canada's newest military helicopters have been grounded except for
search and rescue work, after cracks were found on a tail rotor.

The 15 Cormorants fly out of bases in Ontario, British Columbia,
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. The first cracks were found in a craft
in Newfoundland during a routine maintenance inspection. If the crack
spreads, the blade could potentially come off.

Though the crack was found on only one chopper, the decision to ground
the entire six-year-old fleet was made Saturday. The only exception
will be essential search and rescue work.

"The cause of the cracks is under investigation and inspections of
that area of the aircraft have been increased," the Air Force said in
a statement on its website.

"The situation will be re-evaluated as more details from the
investigation are made available."

This is the third time this year the choppers have been grounded, the
most recent time because of cracks in their tail rotor hubs.

Earlier this month, it was revealed the Cormorants require much more
maintenance than originally believed, costing the Air Force millions
of dollars.

The fleet, ordered in 1998 for search-and-rescue work, were supposed
to require about seven hours of maintenance for every hour of flight,
according to their manufacturer, EH Industries.

But the machines actually take up to 22 hours in the shop for each
hour in the air. EH Industries has since revised its maintenance
estimates, saying the aircraft initially needs about 12 hours for each
hour of flight.

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 23:48:12 -0700, B Ghostrider
wrote:

http://www.shephard.co.uk/Rotorhub/D...8-a889fd9c4ab4

CFB WINNIPEG: As a precautionary measure, the Air Force has limited
its fleet of 15 CH-149 Cormorant helicopters to search and rescue
(SAR) operations and test flights only until more details are known
about cracks that were found on the tail rotor half hubs of Cormorant
CH-149908. The decision was made Saturday night

The cracks on the tail rotor half hub were larger than previously seen
in Canada. While the depth of the cracks are not known at this time,
the largest, which is hairline in nature, can be seen spanning out
along a portion of the half hub.