Maneuvering helicopters are highly prone to fatigue failures instructural dynamic components. As such, constant attention to thecomponents' life limits is required. Assuming each maneuver has a knowncontribution to fatigue damage (based on SN curves and flight-loadspectra), the classic questionnaire-based maintenance method tries toquantify the maneuvers actually performed by the aircraft, by correlatingthem to pilots' estimations in retrospect of the maneuvers which they thinkthey performed. Such a method obviously lacks in reliability, effectivelyaltering the calculated retirement time (CRT) of each component. Anautomated regime recognition algorithm, such as developed by the IAFusing a HUMS (Health Usage and Monitoring System), and described inthis paper, can highly improve the quantification reliability of theperformed maneuvers, potentially allowing longer lifespan, or safer flight,due to up to an order of magnitude difference between questionnaire-basedand RRA-based estimations. Unlike similar works, the described algorithmis based on scarce flight-test data.
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