For centuries, the monks of the Greek Orthodox monastery of St Barlaam used a windlass and rope to hoist supplies – and visitors – to their clifftop sanctuary high above the plains of Thessaly. One such guest, noticing that the rope displayed signs of wear, asked the abbot when it would be replaced. “When it breaks,” came the reply.

Such fatalism might be appropriate for a religious community strong in its faith. Waiting for vital systems or components to approach breaking point before repair or replacement, though, isn’t really an option for emergency medical services (EMS) operators.

New-generation health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) can predict with precision when an aircraft needs care and attention, helping operators to plan proactively and cutting down on the unscheduled grounding of aircraft. Increasingly, too, operators may find potential clients insisting on HUMS as a condition of doing business.

Deciding when individual components or whole systems are nearing the end of their working life and due for overhaul or replacement is one of the keys to keeping aircraft functioning at peak efficiency, saving time, money – and, of course, lives. HUMS help operators make those decisions – and they’re becoming more affordable and easier to use, even for operators of medium-sized rotorcraft.

Such systems benefit operators in all sectors, from military and police agencies to search and rescue (SAR) and aerial firefighting. EMS providers, though, benefit even more than most, claim the developers of such systems. Further, private sector operators are increasingly seeing such innovative tech as a vital tool to keep ahead of the competition, helping them to win new contracts where potential clients mandate HUMS solutions that are original equipment manufacturer (OEM) validated and supported.

Early-generation HUMS for aircraft were expensive to install, cumbersome and weighty, leading to greater fuel consumption and making them less attractive to operators of light and medium-sized rotorcraft, though with clearer safety benefits for heavy-lift operators. Manufacturers today are pioneering ever lighter and more compact HUMS systems as they look to penetrate the SAR, firefighting and air medical sectors, where cost-conscious operators are increasingly seeking lightweight, user-friendly systems.

New-generation systems such as Foresight MX, manufactured by GPMS International, weigh significantly less than old-school HUMS.

Improved safety and cost savings

They’re also getting cleverer. Older systems monitored flight components until they were close to failure. Newer HUMS can flag up a faltering component 100 hours or more before it becomes unfit for purpose, systems manufacturers claim. Cutting-edge systems use algorithms to analyze data gathered by networks of hundreds of sensors, allowing operators to monitor the performance of vital parts and systems with precision and to predict when a given component will be due for overhaul or replacement. Aircraft health can be monitored remotely using cloud capability and wireless data transfer, removing the need to physically download data after a flight. Honeywell, for example, claims that RECON, the latest version of its HUMS, acquires and processes data eight times faster than its previous-generation systems and reduces flight-test data acquisition time by up to 85%, transmitting alerts via satellite communication systems. This allows maintenance crews on the ground to measure aircraft performance at any time, wherever the aircraft is, Honeywell says, and this type of intelligence is key to keeping aircraft mission-ready, boosting safety and cutting operational and maintenance costs.

This type of intelligence is key to keeping aircraft mission-ready, boosting safety and cutting operational and maintenance costs

That, in turn, translates into improved safety, cost savings and more effective maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) scheduling – all factors that have been welcomed by HEMS operators.

The latest HUMS are less than half the weight of legacy systems, and for the first time are affordable for many HEMS operators, according to Ronnie Ries, Vice President of Marketing at GPMS, whose Foresight MX system is already certified on popular HEMS rotorcraft platforms including the Bell 407, Bell 429, Bell 412 and Airbus H125, with certification expected soon for the Airbus H135 and H145.

HEMS operators benefit even more than most rotorcraft companies from the transition from reactive to proactive maintenance, Ries said.

“By identifying a negative component sometimes over a hundred hours before an event like chip lights occurs, HEMS operators can be confident that emergency transports, especially during the ‘golden hour’, will be successful,” he said. “Having greater insight into the health of their components will provide better aircraft availability, ensuring the aircraft is ready to fly when the transport call comes in.”

Having greater insight into the health of their components will provide better aircraft availability, ensuring the aircraft is ready to fly when the transport call comes in

Grayson Barrows, General Manager of the Part 145 repair station at Precision, concurs. The Oregon-based operator long ago axed the original OEM systems from its Airbus AS332 Super Puma fleet, citing considerations including the weight of the equipment, maintenance cost, and potential obsolescence issues. Precision has become the first AS332 firefighting operator in the USA to adopt advanced HUMS for MRO support, with the installation of the Foresight MX system.

“HUMS is going to be a game changer for us,” Barrows said. “The predictive capabilities of Foresight MX will allow us to become more proactive rather than reactive, allowing us to shift to more scheduled than unscheduled maintenance and shrink our aircraft-on-ground (AOG) expenses.”

Agencies and regulators encouraging uptake

Some HEMS operators have reported that they have been even more strongly incentivized to consider investing in new-generation HUMS by potential clients, especially when those clients are government entities. These users are being encouraged by aviation safety organizations such as the US Helicopter Safety Team and the Commission on Accreditation of Medical Transport Systems to favor contractors with fleets that have HUMS in place or are on the way to adopting the new tech. As an example, the US Forest Service’s latest multiple award task order contract (MATOC), introduced in 2022, mandates preference for companies operating ‘modern helicopters’, and has included HUMS as a defining requirement for aircraft to qualify as ‘modern’.

As contracting agencies start to see how HUMS technology will benefit the mission, more are likely to include them in future contract requirements. The USA, in effect, sets global regulatory benchmarks, so firefighting and SAR agencies of other governments, when putting lucrative contracts out to tender, are likely to follow its lead in giving preference to operators that embrace the newest HUMS technology.

In late 2022, the US Forest Service mandated real-time comms, automatic flight following, cockpit audio monitoring and flight data monitoring for firefighting helicopter operators seeking to meet its MATOC requirements, further incentivizing would-be contractors to up their game.

“Over the last year, orders for Foresight MX have been driven now more than ever from customers purchasing HUMS because of contract requirements,” said Ries.

“The US Forest Service MATOC requirement for HUMS on what it calls ‘modern helicopters’ has resulted in numerous purchases of Foresight MX from operators who were awarded task orders, and is driving significant interest from those looking to future-proof their fleet from similar requirements from other agencies and customers.

“We’re seeing this from operators looking to gain or retain their Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) certification, win contracts from energy and mining companies, and from public safety organizations.

Organizations such as CAMTS are now strongly encouraging HEMS operators to install HUMS due to the safety benefits

“Additionally, organizations such as CAMTS are now strongly encouraging HEMS operators to install HUMS due to the safety benefits, and we’ve seen an increase in orders as a result of that.”

In February, GPMS and Airbus Helicopters agreed to expand the ability of Airbus-built rotorcraft – including the H125, H130, EC135, EC145, and AS332 models – to incorporate information from the GPMS Foresight MX HUMS, which provides features such as engine performance monitoring, flight data monitoring, and integrated rotor track and balance. The deal represents “an important milestone” for GPMS, GPMS Vice-President of Sales Todd Powers said.

“For many Airbus operators, previously there weren’t any solutions available to meet those requirements. With this agreement, customers benefit from Foresight MX’s affordable and user-friendly interface and gain optional access to OEM support,” Powers added.

Elsewhere, Helicopter Express, based in the US state of Georgia, is another enthusiastic adopter. The company, which operates within the USA and internationally with a mix of firefighting, disaster relief and utility aircraft, has placed a follow-on order of Foresight MX for its new Bell 412EPX rotorcraft after hearing “very positive” comments from other operators, according to Richie Kittrell, its Chief Operating Officer.

We’ll have remote visibility of the health of our various models of deployed aircraft on one easy-to-use dashboard, even on our phones

“We’ve been following GPMS and their progress with Foresight MX since they started and we’re excited to start using it,” Kittrell said. “We’ll have remote visibility of the health of our various models of deployed aircraft on one easy-to-use dashboard, even on our phones. This will assist us in planning our maintenance and flight operations, reduce our AOGs, and even help us with recruiting,” he added.

A new industry standard?

The latest HUMS technology may not yet be universally mandatory for HEMS, SAR and police aviation operators chasing lucrative contracts from private government and parastatal agencies as well as from private sector clients. As such systems become more affordable and prove their value, though, they are likely to become industry-standard worldwide. For operators of all sizes, investing in new HUMS tech will cut operating and maintenance costs, win and retain business, and boost end user confidence in their services. In other words, it’s a no-brainer.