Tag: helicopter
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In an earlier article, I discussed how big a landing site needed to be for UK and European Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) operations. However, this is only part of the story and there is a lot more to choosing a landing site than just the size. Whilst this article is primarily focussed on UK…
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“How on earth did I get here?” IMC, 36 kg of fuel in the main tank before minimums and facing a lengthy period of radar vectoring to get lined up for an approach. I had planned in detail, applied Threat and Error Management (TEM) and been supported by the rest of the company along the…
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Introduction Following a few recent accidents with aeromedical helicopters, I thought it is time to take a look at what makes a good landing site for a helicopter. I am going to focus on helicopters being used for aeromedical evacuation (in Europe called “Helicopter Emergency Medical Service – HEMS”) as that is the most likely…
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When we are flying around, unless you are flying old school IFR at very low level (I Follow Roads), there are no posted speed limit signs. There are some speed limits with respect to weather limits in the Rules of the Air but when you fly in cloud they do not apply and we can…
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Designing hospital helipads so they are safe and efficient is a fine art. A growing body of guidance is provided by the aviation authorities to help with delivering effective capability from day. However, some of the guidance is currently flawed; there is an assumption that bigger helicopters are the most restrictive when actually it’s what…
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Introduction The EC135 SAS DCPL or SAS/AP CUT button is a red semi-guarded button on the head of the cyclic used to disengage all elements of the autopilot and stabilisation system simultaneously. Pressing the button usually gives fairly benign results when flying visually but if it is pressed in fully coupled instrument flight, it can…