Suppose that the US military is considering a new lifetime regulation on their helicopter rotor blades. Instead of using them for 1000 hours (which leads to a likelihood of 5 failures per 10,000 blade sets), they are considering reducing the likelihood of a crash by replacing the blades after 500 hours, thus reducing the likelihood of a crash to 1 failure per 10,000 blade sets. Assuming a fleet of 10,000 helicopters, and assuming the helicopters are flow for 1000 hours/year, and a cost per set of blades of $5000.,
a) estimate the extra cost per year due to the increased use of blades
b) estimate the cost savings due to fewer crashes (assume a cost of $1million per helicopter, assume an average of two people in the helicopter, and remember that helicopter crashes are usually fatal).
c) Based on your calculations, what would you recommend?