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The Norwegian Air Ambulance lead the way in Europe for expanding the scope of what helicopters can do in emergency aviation. Through the application of technology, a deep understanding of their aircraft and a full grasp of the regulations, they have developed a system the outshines UK HEMS1. In this article, we look at six…
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When the UK left the EGNOS programme on 25 June 2021, the most obvious and painful result was the withdrawal of LPV approaches in the UK. However, LPV are not the only GNSS approaches available in the PBN specification. Did leaving EGNOS lead to the removal of LNAV and LNAV/VNAV approaches too? Well no, but…
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Helicopter pilots have several options for how to fly a 2D approach operation such as an LNAV, VOR or NDB. The fixed wing world have standardised on using Continuous Descent Final Approach (CDFA) as their method of choice. Is it time for the helicopter world to follow suit? Recent changes in how the approach can…
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You might be thinking that you understand a helicopter flight manual. Some limitations, some normal and emergency procedures, a bit of performance and a perhaps a few systems descriptions? Simple? However, as soon as any optional equipment gets added to an aircraft it gets very complicated. Without a thorough understanding of how civilian flight manuals…
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Post-Maintenance Flight Testing (PMFT), Air Tests or Maintenance Check Flights (MCF) can be seen as a simple box ticking exercise after maintenance but can be fatal if a pilot is not adequately prepared. The aircraft is unserviceable until proved otherwise and should be treated as such. In this article we look at the risks associated…
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First Limit Indicators (FLI) or Power Situation Indicators (PSI) are displays in glass-cockpit helicopters which bring together all the engine power parameters into one simple display. These displays can dramatically lower the workload of a pilot, giving a single visual indication of the power state of the aircraft relative to its limits. FLI and PSI…
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In the modern helicopter era, some helicopters have Flight Data Monitoring (FDM) and Helicopter Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS). This means engineering teams have vast amounts of data to diagnose issues with helicopters. However, many helicopters do not have these systems. In other cases, a pilot’s experience of a fault can unlock the solution to a…
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Loss of control of helicopters when in Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC) has sadly taken the lives of far too many helicopter crews. Whilst many of these incidents have been when non-instrument pilots inadvertently entered cloud, there are several accidents where instrument rated pilots have lost control. Training of instrument rated pilots in Unusual Attitude (UA)…
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For helicopter onshore operations at known landing sites, an accurate survey can de-risk operations and can be distilled down for the crew to use into a Company Landings Site Directory (CLSD). Various levels of scrutiny can be applied, with more rigorous surveys giving fewer restrictions than just an estimation taken by a customer. The survey…
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The UK CAA have developed a lighting scheme for hospital helipads in CAP 1264 which is based on the standard for offshore helicopter landing site marking. This offshore scheme is published in CAP 437 and is based on hard won lessons in safely operating helicopters to offshore helidecks (see here) and the principles outlined in…