Honeywell Aerospace, a global provider of integrated avionics, engines, systems and service solutions, has signed a major agreement with Dubai-based Transworld Aviation (TWA) to distribute its line of health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) across the Middle East markets.

TWA is one of the largest distributors of aviation-related products and services with an active role in the region for over 19 years.

The agreement, a first-of-its-kind in the Middle East, ensures that Honeywell’s defense and commercial helicopter operators in the Middle East will benefit from decreased maintenance costs, increased availability and quicker turnaround on orders, technical support and parts delivery.

Hums is a condition-based maintenance system that monitors the health and usage of an aircraft’s drive train to addresses any maintenance and safety problems.

The system increases availability for flight planners, enhances logistics for maintenance and inventory managers,andenables strategic planners to decide on fleet availability and cost containment measures.

Hums continuously checks aircraft health and usage by monitoring vibrations at numerous points throughout the drivetrain to pinpoint mechanical faults.

Monitoring up to 36 different elements, it identifies signs of stress and fatigue before they become serious issues. The system stores data on any faults,allowing operators to make informed maintenance decisions.

This is particularly valuable for helicopters operating within the Middle East where the stress on drivetrains can be exacerbated due to the region’s hot, sandy and dusty conditions.

Honeywell’s health and usage monitoring systems have been used on thousands of commercial rotorcraft including a wide variety of platforms from AgustaWestland, Sikorsky, Bell Helicopter, Eurocopter and MD Helicopters.

Honeywell’s Hums products have helped US Army AH-64 Apache helicopters reduce mission aborts by 30 per cent, maintenance test flights by 20 per cent and scheduled maintenance by 5 to10 per cent.
 
As part of the new agreement, Transworld Aviation will offer operators Honeywell’s Zing Hums 1100/1200/1400 series.TWA is ideally suited as Honeywell’s distributor of choice with its long-standing experience insupplying aircraft parts within the UAE.

Anthony Azar, the regional director, Honeywell Aerospace, said, "The UAE represents an important partnership for Honeywell, and our customers in the Middle East demand the best. We are committed to continuing to meet and exceed their expectations. This partnership, which is the first Hums agreement in the region, is another way of expanding our comittment."

"Through the TWA partnership Middle Eastern customers will benefit from shorter lead times on Hums orders and maintenance services with local expertise and after-sales support readily available," he added.

Khamas H. Al Sulaimani, the director Log & Ops, Transworld Aviation said, "Honeywell’s Hums technology sets the benchmark for usage monitoring systems. This agreement will allow operators suffering from the Middle East’s high temperatures and dusty, sandy conditions the ability to prevent environment-related and other faults before they become serious and costly failures."-TradeArabia News Service