Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

Curtiss-Wright Defense Solutions (Booth 111) and Ultra Electronics Flightline Systems (Booth 11445) have joined forces to develop Fortress HUMS, a compact and lightweight (13-pound) ED-112A-compliant cockpit voice and flight data recorder with integral health and usage monitoring system. The Fortress HUMS is optimized for use in rotorcraft and installs in a single box. The system is connected through a single cable routed through the aircraft and is suitable for retrofit or new rotorcraft. 
The system combines Curtiss-Wright's next-generation Fortress crash recorder with the integrated HUMS developed by Ultra Electronics. Fortress HUMS’s algorithms calculate the remaining useful life of components, potentially generating cost savings and increasing aircraft availability by reducing or extending maintenance beyond conservative periodic routines. 
Fortress HUMS can accommodate up to 60 smart sensor channels. The distributed sensor network acquires all data parameters required for both HUMS and flight data recorder functions. This includes vibration data for mechanical diagnostics, engine monitoring and airframe monitoring; platform dynamics for rotor track and balance; analog and digital signals for HUMS usage monitoring, exceedance monitoring and regime recognition; and Arinc 429, analog and digital signals for flight data recording. Fortress HUMS can operate with the cockpit-area microphone, HD color camera, recorder independent power supply and ground replay software to provide cockpit voice, video and flight data recording capability. Fortress HUMS sensors can be repurposed, added or removed and then reprogrammed without the need to remove hardware from the aircraft.

News and issues regarding all manner of civil and military rotorcraft and their powerplants, including helicopters, tilt rotors and unmanned air vehicles.

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