Helikopter - Dette høres ut som en historie fra en fjern fortid - Curt Lewis

All kommersiell helikopterflyging, også HEMS, bør foregå med to sertifiserte flygere som har instrumentsertifikat. Statistikken i dag er alt for dårlig slik at såkalte upopulære remedier må tas i bruk. Dette er kostbart, men det kan spare mange liv. Dette er IFALPA Policy. (Red.)

Helicopter Pilot Suggestions Sought to Improve IFR


The Aerospatiale SA-341G Gazelle was the first single engine helo to gain FAA certification for IFR flight in 1975.

The National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA) and U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) are seeking suggestions on improving the use of instrument flight rules (IFR) by helicopter pilots.

The organizations announced a survey on Jan. 13 soliciting input from all helicopter pilots who hold an instrument rating to conduct operations using the national IFR system.

The survey will "obtain information and insight on helicopter IFR issues and limitations facing today's helicopter pilots," the organizations said.

"The information obtained from this survey will be presented to the Federal Aviation Administration and other industry stakeholders in February 2019 at the USHST Infrastructure Summit held in Washington, D.C." on Feb. 7-8, according to a statement from the groups. "This data will be used to assist the industry in helping identify IFR deficiencies and prioritize IFR requirements for the helicopter community as a whole."

Rex Alexander, the president of the Five-Alpha LLC consultancy and the co-chair of the USHST Infrastructure Working Group, said that the survey results will be used to furnish an understanding of the primary roadblocks to pilots' use of IFR, what improvements are needed, and how to prioritize them.

"In working directly with the FAA through the USHST we were asked by the FAA, 'What are the major roadblocks preventing helicopter pilots from flying IFR?'" Alexander wrote in an email. "Given the political landscape in the FAA they shy away from conducting their own surveys so the USHST teamed up with NEMSPA to make this one happen."

"The FAA keeps asking the helicopter industry what it want and needs in an IFR system, but the industry as a whole has been less than responsive so we have decided to take the question directly to the folks that fly in the system every day, i.e. the pilots," Alexander wrote. "We expect that we will get feedback from pilots on things like weather reporting requirements, currency requirements, ATC issues, proprietary instrument procedures and several other areas."

For their part, Helicopter industry officials have sought to facilitate FAA certification of single-engine rotorcraft for IFR. The Vertical Flight Society has said that "there is broad consensus throughout the rotorcraft industry and operational community that equipage and training for IFR operations in single-engine helicopters has the potential to make a significant impact on safety."

"AHS International and our partner associations believe that the unacceptable number of lives lost due to inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) or controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) accidents in single-engine helicopters that result from low-level flight to avoid weather can be easily addressed if the FAA facilitates IFR certification of single-engine helicopters through the new Safety Continuum policy," AHS has said. "In addition, the expanded use of IFR operations has the potential to improve the safety for Part 29 by encouraging the more ubiquitous use of IFR."