Black Widow Helicopters has announced an order for 12 shipsets of GPMS
International’s Foresight MX, the industry’s most advanced health and usage monitoring
system (HUMS). In addition, every UH-60 Black Hawk aircraft delivered through Black Widow’s
leading digital modernization program will be standard equipped with Foresight MX. With the
agreement, Black Widow Helicopters also becomes a GPMS Certified Installer, providing a
premier installation option for the growing number of Black Hawk operators around the world.
“We selected Foresight MX to provide operators the best HUMS experience possible to monitor
their Black Hawks” said Alex Freidin, vice president of commercial and flight operations of
Black Widow Helicopters. “Foresight reduces operating costs by monitoring aircraft and
engine vibrations and identifies trending components with an easy-to-understand user interface.
With Foresight’s advanced analytics and predictive Remaining Useful Life capability for trending
components, operators are able to mitigate unscheduled and AOG events, resulting in lower
operating costs and increased aircraft availability.”
According to Todd Powers, vice president of sales for GPMS, Foresight MX goes beyond
HUMS. “In addition to the predictive HUMS, Black Widow UH-60 clients benefit from
Foresight’s touchless cellular data uploads, flight data monitoring (FDM), exceedance
monitoring, automated power assurance checks, and “one move” rotor track and balance
capability. At just over 17 lbs. installed, operators benefit from our award-winning, lightweight,
integrated, and future-proof technology versus typical federated and heavy legacy systems from
multiple solutions and vendors. We’re proud and honored to be on Black Widow Helicopters
UH-60A and soon on their UH-60L Black Hawks.
Freidin continues, “HUMS is a key part of the United States Forest Service roadmap and it’s
included in their MATOC requirement for a “modern helicopter.” We’re focused on delivering
state-of-the-art Black Hawks to our clients with full-width, touch-screen glass cockpits for a
superior pilot experience, and with Foresight MX HUMS as standard equipment, an exceptional
experience for the maintenance and operations teams. It gives our clients the competitive
advantage in an ever-increasing UH-60 Black Hawk market and more importantly, aside from
the commercial and economic benefit, a massive safety enhancement.”