Aircraft Emergency Escape Slide Service
Properly maintaining your aircraft’s safety systems is nonnegotiable for protecting passengers and crew. However, every hour you ground a plane to ensure a piece of safety equipment is fully compliant, you are losing revenue.
When you partner with HRD Aero Systems, you can service any need, anywhere. You can rely on us for rigorous safety compliance standards, OEM-quality overhauls with rapid turnaround times, and 24/7 airplane on ground (AOG) support, ensuring that your safety equipment never becomes a bottleneck for your profitability.
What Are Aircraft Emergency Escape Slides?
Aircraft emergency escape slides are complex pneumatic lifesaving systems. The slides play a critical role in passenger safety, enabling evacuation in an emergency.
Quick evacuation is vital, which is why there are strict requirements for slide deployment times. This varies depending on the type of slide being used, but it is usually under 10 seconds for slides and under 4 seconds for slide extensions.
The following are the four main types of commercial aircraft evacuation slides:
- Slides
- Slides/rafts
- Exit ramps/off-wing
- Combination exit ramps/slides
The Inspection, Testing and Overhaul Process
When you send your unit to HRD Aero Systems for slide pack servicing, we carry out a thorough and efficient process. Here’s what you can expect from emergency evacuation slide maintenance.
1. Initial Assessment
Upon receiving your slides or rafts, we check them in and verify any part numbers. Our technicians then perform a preliminary visual inspection to assess the condition of your slide. We will alert you to any potential scope-of-work changes before we fully unpack your slide.
2. Functional Deployment and Hydrostatic Testing
The best way to ensure a slide is in good working order is to inflate it. This helps spot any leaks and ensures your slide meets compliance checks.
When testing your wider safety systems, you will likely want to have your gas cylinders checked to ensure they inflate your slide properly when needed. With our hydrostatic testing, you have the peace of mind that your cylinders can safely hold the gas charge needed for deployment.
3. Expert Repair
Depending on the condition of your slide, the next step is to identify and complete any necessary repairs. These can include:
- Fabric and structural repairs:Â These range from patching fabric punctures and tears to resealing seams.
- Component replacement:Â There are various hardware components to check that support your slide. This includes aspirators, girt bar and latches as well as emergency lighting systems.
- Cylinder maintenance:Â Keeping your cylinders in good condition is vital. This includes steps like hydrostatic testing and cleaning, as well as replacing the seals on the firing head of a gas cylinder.
Most evacuation slides have a specified lifespan set by the manufacturer, as the fabric wears over time. If the fabric porosity is too high during the inflation test, the technician will condemn the slide and replace it with a new or exchange unit.
4. Precision Repacking
Repacking is a crucial step in the aircraft slide overhaul process. If it is folded incorrectly, it can jam and will not deploy properly in an emergency. Our technicians have the experience and skills to repack the slides with mathematical precision.
Navigating FAA and OEM Compliance Requirements
Understanding the proper intervals for FAA-compliant escape slide inspection and servicing is key. The first step is to consult your manufacturer’s component maintenance manual (CMM) to find out the proper inspection, overhaul and replacement intervals.
Evacuation slides can require scheduled overhauls to address aging fabric or adhesive deterioration. Newer systems may have more extended intervals before they need an overhaul or replacement. Getting the timing is crucial as missing an interval instantly grounds your flight.
Even if your slide is on a longer service interval, your gas cylinder will need to be checked more frequently as per Department of Transportation (DOT) Hazmat regulations. With HRD, you don’t have to make an earlier trip to the shop. Instead, you can book a dual service to minimize downtime.
Should you need replacement parts for your slide, parts manufacturer approval (PMA) components offer the same specifications as OEM parts at a lower cost. You can access our stock of hundreds of PMA components to get the part you need quickly.
Common Slide Failures
Professional care helps you to avoid common slide failures. Deployment failures are a serious risk to passenger safety. Rigging and packing errors can cause the slide to fail to inflate or to inflate inside the fuselage. The firing mechanism must also be set to the correct tension to trigger the inflation bottle and inflate the slide.
Over time, the coatings on fabric slides can degrade, leading to micro leaks that prevent the slide from holding air pressure. Environmental factors like rot or mold, as well as fabric fatigue, can affect emergency slides. Regular inspections detect these problems before they worsen.
Why Professional Care Matters
Waiting weeks for an OEM repair can negatively impact your revenue. With HRD, you get faster turnarounds because we are more agile than massive OEMs. You can enjoy the benefits of our vast inventory of replacement parts, which eliminates supply chain delays you might encounter with other shops.
Our exchange program also helps you get your planes back in the air more quickly. With a condemned or accidentally deployed unit, operators often scramble to find a brand-new airplane emergency slide available. Instead of buying a new slide, you can install one of our ready-to-go exchange units immediately. You then send your broken slide for repair, minimizing downtime.
In an AOG emergency, you can have peace of mind knowing a solution is already on its way. You can call on our 24/7 AOG emergency response team to get you back in the air.
Why Choose HRD Aero Systems for Slide Services?
You can depend on our aircraft emergency escape slide services, as we are an FAA Part 145 repair station. Your fleet will also benefit from a facility with European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), DOT and Airline approvals.
Sourcing a brand-new plane emergency slide for sale can be a significant capital expense with long lead times. By choosing HRD’s slide services, you can quickly source FAA-certified replacements or PMA parts to get your plane back in the air.
Service Your Aircraft Emergency Escape Slide at Speed With HRD
There’s no cutting corners when it comes to aircraft safety. Any FAA-certified component or system, including your aircraft escape slide, is engineered to meet exact specifications for safety and performance. The area where you can save time while ensuring compliance is finding a partner with the agility to deliver services and repairs at speed, wherever you are.
With HRD, you can rely on our expertise and part inventory to ensure a maintenance interval doesn’t ground your aircraft. Call us today at 877-473-2376 or fill out a contact form.
