A BK117 HELI HAD A TIME LIMITED PART EXCEED OVERHAUL TIME BY 67 HRS. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS CITED INCLUDE MANPOWER SHORTAGE AND CHANGE IN RECORD KEEPING PERSONNEL.

Narrative

ON JAN/MON/05; WHILE REVIEWING COMPONENTS TIME LIMITS AND INSPECTIONS ON ACFT X STATUS RPT; I FOUND THAT ENG #1 HAD THE FLOW FENCE ACTUATOR OVERFLOWN BY 67.3 HRS. THE ENG TOTAL TIME AND CYCLES AT THAT TIME WAS (ACTT.7728.3) (NG.15610.95) (NP.20223.80). THE FLOW FENCE ACTUATOR WAS DUE OVERHAUL AT ENG.TT.7661.0. AT THE MOMENT I DISCOVERED THIS IRREGULARITY; I PROCEEDED TO NOTIFY THE PLT TO GND THE ACFT. AT THAT MOMENT THE ACFT WAS AT ZZZ HOSPITAL. AFTER THAT; NOTIFYING THE PLT; I CONTACTED MY FIELD MAINT SUPVR OF THE SIT. DURING THE SAME TIME I ORDERED THE COMPONENT INVOLVED. COMPANY MAINT SUPVR IMMEDIATELY STARTED PROCESSING THE ORDER FOR THE FLOW FENCE ACTUATOR; GOING BACK IN THE RECORDS THIS COMPONENTS DUE DATE WAS 22 DAYS PRIOR. THE SVCABLE FLOW FENCE ACTUATOR ARRIVED JAN/TUE/05. AT THIS TIME I PROCEEDED TO ZZZ1 TO REMOVE FLOW FENCE ACTUATOR. INSTALLED A SVCABLE PART AND MADE ADJUSTMENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RESPECTIVE PROCS. CONTRIBUTING FACTORS TO THE OVERFLT; IN MY OPINION; ARE AS FOLLOWS: COMPANY HAS BEEN BEING UNDERSTAFFED WITH MECHS FOR THE LAST 6 MONTHS I HAVE BEEN HERE. (THE CONTRACT SAYS THERE WOULD BE 3 MECHS OR 1 MECH PER ENG.) IN THE PAST 6 MONTHS; THE FLT TIME AND NUMBER OF FLTS HAVE STEADILY INCREASED TO RECORD LEVELS FOR THIS CONTRACT. ALSO; WE HAVE GONE FROM ONE 24 HRS AND ONE 12 HRS TO 2 24 HRS ACFT DUE TO THE INCREASE IN FLT HRS. NUMEROUS INSPECTIONS ALL FELL DUE AT THE SAME TIME WITH DIFFERENCE DISCREPANCIES ON THE OTHER ACFT SUCH AS RADIO PROBS; SEVERE OIL LEAKS DUE TO DROP IN WX TEMP HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED ON BOTH ACFT ON AN ONGOING BASIS. PLUS; WE HAD A CHANGE IN ZZZ2 PERSONNEL THAT WERE TAKING CARE OF OUR STATUS SHEET; THAT WERE OVER 2 MONTHS OLD. ALL OF THIS FALLING AT A TIME WHEN I AS A NEW LEAD TRYING TO BRING MY BASE; PAPERWORK; PARTS ROOM AND GENERAL ORGANIZATION TO A PLACE THAT WE COULD STAY AHEAD OF THE MAINT.