Promote your company to the global vertical aviation industry through the VAI Member Spotlight, a free benefit for VAI member companies. Want to be featured? If you’re not already enjoying the many benefits our members receive, join VAI today! VAI Member Spotlight: EAA Tools, Arizona, USA Veteran-owned business provides custom tooling for US military aircraft, including the Sikorsky H-60 and S-70. By Jen Boyer Prior to 2011, two critical and chronic maintenance issues persisted on the Sikorsky H-60/S-70 platforms—regular damage to the main-sump transmission, main-module chip detector, and main-rotor hub due to a lack of tools designed specifically for their maintenance. Mesa, Arizona–based EAA Tools was established in 2011 to provide better options for these and other tooling issues involving H-60 and S-70 airframe maintenance. That same year, the company launched its main-sump transmission chip detector removal tool and its main-rotor hub spindle puller. A Modern Approach The chip detector removal tool allows for a no-spill, no-damage, one-handed operation. It can be stored in the aircraft for use after a chip light comes on. Before the tool was created, legacy tools often led to spilled transmission fluid, damaged chip detectors, or—in extreme circumstances—damaged transmissions. The company designed the spindle puller to prevent damage to the main-rotor hub caused by improper tools used during spindle removal (which was typically done using a wooden 2×4 and mallet or slide hammers). The tool allows for a smooth, high-force, always-aligned, safe pull that takes less than three minutes to complete, according to EAA. The process alleviates issues such as stuck spindles, which can lead to damaged hub liners, pitch horns, and spindle lugs that can occur when loosening the spindle with traditional tools. A Military Veteran’s Insight The brainchild of US Army veteran Ed Elsner, EAA Tools continues to develop modern solutions to replace outdated tools, often for the H-60 and S-70. Many legacy tools that the OEM provided at the aircraft’s original fielding desperately needed updates to incorporate lessons learned in the 40 years since their original design. Elsner blends his experience with extensive input from military maintainers to design field-ready tools, whether they’re entirely new or redesigned from existing tools. EAA Tools engineers its tools to provide superior performance, ease of use, durability, dependability, effectiveness, and efficiency. “We do not use the old OEM mentality of limited tooling support that you have to resolve,” Elsner says. “We provide tooling solutions from real and actual soldier needs, each with its own logical maintenance rationale to resolve a chronic maintenance issue, as defined by you.” Since its founding, EAA Tools has expanded from solely supporting military operations directly to working with maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) organizations to design and develop kits. EAA Tools recently developed a spindle pry bar for the US Navy that will go into service this summer. The company has also begun to support the US Army’s Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR) Task Force for the Sikorsky MH-60 and Boeing MH-47 at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, including with special tooling and kits for rapid deployment needs. Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
