The FAA has proposed that ERA Helicopters pay a civil penalty of $260,000 for operating a helicopter on Part 135 flights without complying with required post-maintenance checks and test flights. According to the agency’s penalty letter, sent to ERA on January 28, ERA operated Agusta AW139 N156JS for 23 passenger-carrying flights without accomplishing a required blade track and balance check following replacement of a rotor system lag damper. In addition to the track and balance check, the FAA believes that a flight test is required because “installation of a lag damper is a maintenance procedure that may appreciably alter the aircraft’s flight characteristics or substantially affect its operation in flight.”
The AW139 maintenance manual specifies that the track and balance check must be done if a lag damper is replaced, according to the FAA. And ERA’s Part 135 operations specifications “require that ERA conduct maintenance according to its manuals.”
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