A EUROCOPTER AS-350 WAS DISCOVERED TO HAVE THE TAIL ROTOR GEAR BOX OVERHAUL LIMIT OVERFLOWN BY 386 HRS. CAUSED BY A COMPUTER DATA ENTRY ERROR.

Narrative

AFTER ACQUISITION OF A NEW COMPUTER SYS; ALL COMPONENT DATA WAS RE-ENTERED INTO A NEWLY FORMATTED COMPUTER COMPONENT CTL SHEET DATABASE. A DIGIT ENTRY ERROR REDUCED THE TIME SINCE OVERHAUL BY 1000 HRS OF THE TAIL ROTOR GEAR BOX AND THIS ERROR WAS MISSED ON THE INITIAL AUDIT OF THE INPUTTED DATA. THUSLY; THE NORMAL COMPUTER COMPONENT CTL SHEET FLAGGING FOR AN IMMINENT COMPONENT OVERHAUL REQUIREMENT DID NOT OCCUR; THUS ALLOWING THE COMPONENT TO OVERFLY ITS 3300 HR OVERHAUL INTERVAL BY 385.9 HRS. THIS OVERFLT WAS DISCOVERED DURING THE NORMAL 500 HR INTERVAL COMPUTER COMPONENT CTL SHEET AUDIT VERIFIED AGAINST COMPONENT LOG CARDS AS INSTITUTED BY OUR MAINT DEPT SOME YRS AGO. THE ACFT WAS GNDED IMMEDIATELY UPON THIS DISCOVERY; AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE TAIL ROTOR GEAR BOX WAS REMOVED AND REPLACED WITH A SVCABLE LIKE PART NUMBER ASSEMBLY AND RETURNED TO THE ORIGINAL EQUIP MANUFACTURER (EUROCOPTER) FOR EVALUATION AND OVERHAUL. THE ACFT HAS BEEN RETURNED TO SVC ONCE AN AUDIT OF ITS RECORDS WAS COMPLETED WITH NO FURTHER ERRORS FOUND.