Van Horn Aviation has received an FAA supplemental type certificate and parts manufacturer approval for its retrofit Airbus Helicopters AS350 tail rotor. The tail rotor replaces the AS350’s spar-and-paddle with two composite tail rotor blades attached to a steel hub with self-lubricating spherical bearings. 

According to Van Horn, its tail rotor solves maintenance issues associated with the elastomeric half-bearings in the standard AS350 tail rotor and eliminates the associated inspections and replacements. Van Horn’s replacement tail rotor serves as an alternate means of compliance for four airworthiness directives.

The company claims that operators can save at least 25% in lifetime maintenance costs by replacing their AS350 tail rotors. Van Horn's tail rotor also has a service life of 4,800 hours, which is 800 hours more than the OEM’s design.

“When we first tackled the AS350 tail rotor design, our main goal was to solve the maintenance problem posed by the elastomeric bearings,” said Van Horn CEO Dean Rosenlof. “Through four years of research and redesign, we’ve not only solved that issue but also produced a system that noticeably enhances tail rotor performance on the venerable AS350.”

The AS350 tail rotor, along with individual components and the installation tooling, is on display this week at Van Horn’s Verticon booth. Components of Van Horn’s AS350 tail rotor include two swept-tip composite tail rotor blades, interchangeable pitch horns, a steel hub with a teeter axis for reduced pitch link loads, the spherical bearings, and a drive shaft extension with a teeter stop. 

“Our AS350 tail rotor introduces several major improvements over the OEM system, from allowing operators to replace a single damaged blade to eliminating the time and expense of frequently replacing elastomeric bearings,” added Van Horn flight operations manager Terry Tyner. “In addition, they are great blades to fly. They’re very responsive.”