In any aircraft or helicopter engine maintenance, application of borescope is quite common. The requirement for helicopter engine inspection may vary, based on the helicopter type and intended use.
Usually, most of the military and commercial helicopter engines have certain stringent inspection criteria as lives of many people flying are at stake.
Borescope inspection does the following inspections:
- Routine inspection of the turbine engines and its internal parts
- Checking of panels, blades and fans
- Detection of signs of crack, corrosion, wear and tear, poor lubrication and fluid contamination etc.
By doing proper inspection as well as by identifying actual issues, you can save your money for unexpected damages.
Following are few tips for best borescope for Helicopter inspections and maintenance, while using this device from USA Borescope for identifying engine problems.
- Proper training
The maintenance technicians must know exactly what they are seeing on the monitor of borescope. It needs careful observation while looking at the borescope monitor for detecting the problems. They must know the difference between good or bad parts.
Besides, technician needs to know about any possible engine defects. All the maintenance crew must therefore be fully trained about handling all these systems to detect engine defects.
- Look for bright lights
All the maintenance technicians must understand how bright lights can affect while detecting any engine problems. Often bright lighting can also negatively affect their ability to see at the images displayed on borescope.
To obtain proper clarity, it is best to do borescope inspection inside the hangar.
- Use the right borescope
Videoscopes of different types are available and one must follow manufacturers’ recommendations for choosing right borescope.
If any borescope of wrong type is used then it may create difficulties to detect engine faults. Modern borescopes must be used for inspection of engines of helicopter. These tools have few advanced functionalities e.g. 3D stereo-defect monitoring.
- Know What you want to Inspect
One great thing about these borescope inspections is, they can be performed almost anytime by using the images saved.
Software will allow the re-measurement of various dimensions and many other problems, which were not identified during the first inspection.
Common borescope mistakes
While using borescope even a well-trained technician can make mistakes. One most common mistake is not reading or understanding the complete instruction manual.
During every borescope use, it is important to spend time to read the manual to understand clearly what they are able to do and what not able to do with their equipment.
Another mistake is allowing your borescope to remain inside the engine, as it can hit the floor that breaks the camera, hence you must keep one hand always on the borescope.
Also, avoid using borescope in any engine when it is too hot, as they work well at 150ºF less than this temperature. Anything above this temperature may damage its internal components.
Last but not the least, always use right tool for your entire job. By using wrong tool, you will always end up in damaging your borescope.