Blackhawk Operations Resume in Australia

After being temporarily grounded on 20, January over safety alarms surrounding fractured bolts, Australia’s fleet of Black Hawk combat helicopters returned to the skies yesterday. The defective bolts were found during a routine maintenance check causing a fleetwide suspension following concerns that all power could have been lost to the engine, if the bolts failed entirely. The faulty bolts were found on the drive shaft between the engine and transmission. Chris Clapperton, director of Maritime and Asia Strategies for Sikorsky Aerospace Services, noted, “The bolt that failed is a general aviation hardware bolt that is not manufactured by Sikorsky; we are assisting the Australian Army with their investigation into the cause of the failure.”