To determine the severity of the flying environment of the HC-130H, an aircraft was instrumented with an Acra KAM-500 Data Acquisition Unit connected to accelerometers, strain gages, and pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors. The KAM-500 also monitored aircraft parameters, such as airspeed, altitude, gear and flap position, and ramp door position. The Results Aircraft life extended by 20% for 16 of the Coast Guard’s 26 HC-130H aircraft. An 11% reduction in fleet age, resulting in approximately three additional operational years gained until CWB life limits reduce the unrestricted fleet to 16 aircraft. Additional environmental data collected for future C-130 corrosion studies. See more details at www/cwc-ae.com.

1. HC-130H
The United States Air Force
Academy teams with the Coast
Guard to forecast the Safe
Operational Service Life of the
HC-130H by monitoring the Center
Wing Box (CWB).
The System
An Acra KAM-500 Data Acquisition
Unit connected to accelerometers,
strain gages, and pressure altitude,
temperature, and humidity
sensors.
The Results
• Aircraft life extended by 20%
for 16 of the Coast Guard’s 26
HC-130H aircraft
US COASTGUARD EXTEND • An 11% reduction in fleet age
LIFE OF HC-130H WITH • Additional environmental data
collected for future C130
ACRA KAM-500 corrosion studies.

2. The System Acra KAM-500
An Acra KAM-500 Data Acquisition Unit (DAU) Lowers Risk
Proven on every platform type in
connected to the following devices
all environmental conditions
COTS hardware with short delivery
• 33 strain gages
times
• 11 Resistance Temperature Devices
Reduces Cost of Ownership
• Pressure, temperature, and humidity (PTH) transducer Reduced inventory of spares due
and remote probe to common product line
Lower installation, setup and
• GPS receiver and antenna
maintenance requirements
• 2 DC single-axis accelerometers Modular design greatly extends
• 2 Precision Pressure Transducers to record cabin system lifetime
pressure and aircraft static pressure FTI by Design
Designed to minimize the data
• A Flap Position Sensor
transfer time from sensor to screen
• A mounting pallet that contains the KAM-500, GPS, PTH Guaranteed predictable data
transducer, and one of the pressure sensors Simultaneous sampling occurs
across the complete system
The total system weight is approximately 63 lb., of which
only 8lb. is the KAM-500.
COMMERCIAL OFF-THE-SHELF
MODULAR DESIGN

3. The Results I
Aircraft life extended by 20% for 16 of the Coast
Guard’s 26 HC-130H aircraft
• 22 Aircraft gained hours, 5 lost hours
“
• The ultimate life of a C-130 CWB is limited to 45K The modularity of the
EBH regardless of further inspection or imposition of KAM-500 DAU allows us to
reuse the modules across
flight restrictions multiple programs, and
comes in handy in the lab
while working on parallel
“
• Reduction of aircraft life hours resulted in a safer programs
James M. Greer Jr
operating range U.S. Airforce Contractor
Center for aircraft
Structural Life Extension
(CAStLE)
WORKS ONCE
WORKS ALWAYS

4. The Results II
An 11% reduction in fleet age post rebaselining,
resulting in approximately three additional
operational years until CWB life limits reduce the
unrestricted fleet to 16 aircraft.
The HC-130H CWB rebaselining initiative bought the
C-130 program time to effectively and responsibly
plan its retirement, and now it's time for its younger,
more nimble J-Model offspring to take the Watch. “ Acra and the KAM-500
surpassed our expectations
for reliability, ease of use
and customer support. We
consistently collected “
accurate, valid data flight
after flight.

5. The Results III
Additional environmental data collected for
future C-130 corrosion studies
Over 2800 hours of
in-flight pressure,
humidity, and
temperature data are
available for future study
topics, including
environmentally assisted
cracking and corrosion.
HIGH QUALITY DATA
FLIGHT AFTER FLIGHT

6. For more information visit
www.cwc-ae.com
Curtiss-Wright Controls Avionics & Electronics
cwc-ae@curtisswright.com
665 North Baldwin Park Boulevard Landscape House, Landscape Road
City of Industry, CA 91746, USA Dublin 14, Ireland
Phone: 626-851-3100 Phone: +353-1295-1264