Second in a Series of Articles for LinkedIn

Another in the series of "Dragon Slaying"​ Stories that tell the behind the scenes of an accomplishment that I had in my resume.

GE T-700 Engine – Flight Safety Part Program - Army Troop Command (ATCOM) Aviation Acquisition Division (AAD).

Photo from wikipedia.org – General Electric T700 Engine.

The Rest of the Story – Accomplishment T-700 Engine Component Failure Database (ECFD)

Published on June 26, 2019
Michael A Eastman
Senior Technologist - System Integration Design Development, Analysis, Configuration Data Management, Application Development

These stories are aptly named after a series that I listened to many years ago by Paul Harvey. These would dig into past or current events and tell what other media, news outlets or papers do not normally cover. Next up is another “Dragon Slaying” story that actually has a far more reaching affect than I had envisioned.

At about the same time that I was combing through my resume for material for another accomplishment, I came across my sample of a database project that I had done on my own after the Flight Safety Part Update Project (FSPUP). The date registered on my copy is from May 26, 1995.

Again, this story will detail what I listed as a small line or paragraph on the resume. My resume presents this particular position at Army Troop Command (ATCOM) (Consultant Via Camber Corporation) - St. Louis, Missouri    06/1994 - 06/1996.

US Army Aviation Systems Command (AVSCOM) Aviation Acquisition Engineering Division (AAED) in association with Army Program Executive Office (PEO) and Program Management Office (PMO) under Programming and Technical Support (PATS II) Contract.

The titles that this was accomplished under: Senior Engineer/Analyst, System Administrator, and System Data Base Administrator (Secret Clearance – DISCO).

As listed under the accomplishments section: “The U.S. Army had several aircraft in different disciplines that needed upkeep where the initial costs and manpower requirements were too high.  I developed a T-700 Engine Component Failure Database (ECFD) to analyze, repair and re-engineer the efforts on the Army’s air fleet.  This enabled the organization to see where the duplication of efforts was happening, and to reduce costs associated with them.  The analysis revealed which components on the engines were close to failure, resulting in better management of the mean-time-between-failure (MTBF) repair of the parts.  The database also included locations of supply centers vs. aircraft, reducing the amount of time required for delivery of replacement parts.  This database had never existed previously and was duplicated among several branches to help in reducing manpower resources and associated costs.”

Using Microsoft (MS) Access A-SQL/I-SQL coding in these tasks, I was able to develop the database with a small subset of the reports from the Data-Warehousing effort I did on the Windows-for-Workgroups (WFW MS 3.11) Project.  To you these terms for earlier MS products would seem ancient, but to the engineers and programmers they were the latest and greatest that we had to work with. (I may not have mentioned this, but I spent a good part of college using a slide-rule and logarithmic tables to do homework.)

The front end of the program present a series of components that had a good history on MTBF.

Here is a brief explanation of some acronyms used on the program.

• AISBV - Anti-Ice System Bypass Valve
• DECU - Digital Engine Control Unit
• ECU - Electrical Control Unit
• HMU - Hydro Mechanical Unit
• GG - Gas Generator
• P Turbine - Power Turbine

When checking on a particular section of components, for example the Anti-Ice System Bypass Valve (AISBV), we have a list of parts by nomenclature and part number. The Failure Data Summary (FDS) drills down to the cause and corrective action taken with corresponding reports that can be pulled up.

This illustration from Scott Turvey UH-60 slide presentation shows the complexity of the T-700 engine.

When I first put this together I had the Army Helicopters with the Boeing AH-64 Longbow Apache and the many variants of the Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk to work with. As I found out later, this program had many uses with several agencies.

From the GE Aviation Website: “Developed in response to the United States Army’s requirement to deliver added power and improved field maintainability, 20,000 T700/CT7 engines have now surpassed 100 million flight hours in nearly four decades of service. In addition to proving their mettle in the harshest military operating environments imaginable, T700/CT7 engines are the power of choice in 50 countries and 130 customers for transport, medical evacuation, air rescue, special operations and marine patrol. A product of continuous innovation, the story of the T700 will continue unfold as it incorporates advanced components and materials for increased power, reliability and fuel savings.” The newest version is now fighting extreme wildfires with extreme machines. “One weapon in the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s arsenal is the Firehawk, a modified Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter that can carry 1,000 gallons of water and fly near intense fires causing huge temperature swings.

Sikorsky originally developed the chopper for the U.S. Army. But the Firehawk, which is powered by a pair of souped-up T700 GE helicopter engines, has been modified for firefighting, rescue, external lift and medical evacuation.”

This shows the real size of the engine.  Two engines power each Sikorsky H-60 Black Hawk variants for the Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast guard, as well as the Army's Boeing AH-64 Longbow Apache.

A final word on development of newer versions of the program and the statements made at the time from friends and co-workers on the project. "How did you do that? We didn't know you knew how to code." HR would also miss this little bit. I used the titles that I was contracted to work with, but on hindsight I could have added "Senior Database Programmer" as well.

3 Comments

Michael Felmey - 1st

A&P Mechanic at Leading Edge Aviation Inc.

That's awesome. I'm sure it had a direct impact on the life limits of turbine components. I also didn't realize SQL predated Windows NT.

T700s are still exceptionally versatile engines used on several airframes across the branches.  I wonder how well Rolls Royce tracked our Allison M250-C30R engines, being they were on consignment to the Army for the OH-58D Kiowa Warrior. 

Michael Eastman - 2nd You

Senior Technologist - System Integration Design Development, Analysis, Configuration...

I was using the MS Access A-SQL/I-SQL coding at that time. Simple back then (WFE MS 3.11), but still powerful to use. What really made it work was that all the 486 computers were linked to a 586 NT 4.0 Beta Server that I configured.  I had access to all the reports on all components in the Army's files for my project while there at ATCOM.  I havent't heard of anyone doing a MTBF database for the M250-C30R engines.  I can't imagine that any company would ignore this.  While rummaging around my files, I found an Army Troop Command News - Spotlight article on the subject.

Michael Eastman - 3rd You

Senior Technologist - System Integration Design Development, Analysis, Configuration...

And a few days later my direct manager issued a Memorandum from the Contract Company - Camber Corporation.