Helicopter pilot believed he may have flown a bell 206 on which an improper part was installed.

Attributes
ACN	824685
Time
Date	200902
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Kiowa/Kiowa Warrior/Combat Scout
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Commercial
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 18000 Flight Crew Type 10000
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Maintenance

Narrative:

Our maintenance department changed the transponder on the helicopter I fly; due to time; on feb/09. My understanding is the transponder they installed was from a helicopter of non united states regulation. None of us was aware of this at the time of installation. Two days later I flew the helicopter 1.8 hours. Aircraft was grounded shortly after and transponder replaced.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Helicopter pilot believed he may have flown a Bell 206 on which an improper part was installed.

Narrative: Our maintenance department changed the transponder on the helicopter I fly; due to time; on Feb/09. My understanding is the transponder they installed was from a helicopter of non United States regulation. None of us was aware of this at the time of installation. Two days later I flew the helicopter 1.8 hours. Aircraft was grounded shortly after and transponder replaced.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.