The use of expert systems in helicopter health monitoring

Helicopter safety is currently a topic of considerable concern. This arises because the policy of providing redundancy of critical components, which is so effective in fixed-wing aircraft, cannot always be applied to helicopters. The rotor and gearbox, for example, are areas where failure is likely to be catastrophic. There are many areas in which expert systems might contribute to improving helicopter airworthiness. However, in order to limit the size of the problem to manageable proportions, work has been restricted to consideration of rotor-induced vibration and to a single aircraft type, the PUMA/SUPER PUMA