Meggitt is a company that deals in extremes: temperature, impact, vibration and contamination. Its products are engineered to detect impending and catastrophic mechanical failure. And, the company says, without them, an entire system can fail.

Meggitt’s diversity is represented in its Heli-Expo display (Booth No. 1852), with products ranging from cockpit displays, detectors, monitoring and management systems to high-performance wheels, brakes and brake-control systems.

The corporation is composed of 30 separate companies, of which about 20 are represented at Heli-Expo. Two of the more familiar names operating under the Meggitt banner are S-Tec autopilots and Dunlop brakes.

At Heli-Expo, Serck Aviation is displaying its shell and tube heat exchanger for the Eurocopter EC 225 and Meggitt Thermal Systems its robust EH101 engine air inlet. Meggitt Avionics is showing its three-axis air-data measurement and flight-data acquisition units, health and usage monitoring system and rotor trim and balance system, and Stewart Warner South Wind is featuring main gearbox and engine and transmission oil coolers. Vibro-Meter has its Auto-Fault fuzz burn electronic chip detection system, and Whittaker Controls is displaying fuel valves and quick-disconnect couplings.

“Our great advantage is in the individual companies, each of which has a shallow chain of command,” explained Tony Ollive, key customer relationship manager, based in Mesa, Ariz. “Each has only one or two levels of management, so they tend to have more of an entrepreneurial spirit.”

While the processes of data acquisition, detection, measuring and monitoring were unavailable a generation ago, Ollive said that electronics are key to today’s engineering solutions.

“It makes good business sense, too,” he added. “By making our components and systems lighter, smaller, more reliable and efficient, we help customers meet the challenges of economy and environment, performance and safety.”