Pall Corp, Carson Helicopters team for Sea King engine upgrade

Pall Corporation has announced that it entered into a new partnership agreement with Carson Helicopters to provide an upgrade of its legacy Centrisep engine advanced protection system (EAPS) for Sikorsky Sea King/S-61 helicopters. The announcement was made on 9 October 2012.

Carson Helicopters is an FAA-approved helicopter innovator specialising in the overhaul, repair, and remanufacture of the S-61 product line, and will hold the Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) on the Pall Centrisep EAPS.

According to the company, the newest design will ‘improve the performance and operating efficiencies over the existing S-61 EAPS system and will be significantly lighter’. It can be installed on commercially certified S-61 aircraft, whereas the legacy EAPS was only available to Westland Sea King operators and government users of Sea Kings.

The Centrisep EAPS is an inertial air cleaner system that removes airborne contamination from helicopter engine inlet air. The air stream is subjected to a centrifugal force that continuously separates contaminants and exhausts them overboard. The EAPS technology reduces erosion of critical engine components and hence, extends engine service life, enhancing helicopter safety, reliability, availability, and performance even under severe conditions such as sand and dust; rain; snow and ice.

Vince Northfield, president, Pall Aerospace, said: ‘Pall and Carson are once again joining forces to combine our respective, long-standing experience in helicopter innovation to improve the safety and life expectancy of one of the world’s mainstay helicopter fleets. The newest enhancement of the Pall Centrisep EAPS will be especially valuable to those aircraft currently in service without engine protection systems.’