by EHSAT co-chair Michel Masson, EASA,
IHSS 2011 – A Successful Event
The theme of this year’s edition was “Human Factors: Our Collective Challenge – Our Individual Responsibility.”
“More than 200 professionals from helicopter companies, associations, and government agencies in 21 countries gathered in Fort Worth, Texas, for the 5th annual International Helicopter Safety Symposium. They left the Lone Star State with a renewed optimism about safety successes, along with a recognition that much more work needs to be accomplished in order to reach the helicopter community’s 2016 safety goal. Stronger outreach efforts to general aviation pilots, instructors and mechanics; a continued push for additional participating countries worldwide; and a persistent focus on creating safety cultures were repeating themes throughout the two-day conference.” More on www.ihst.org.
The EHEST 2011 update was presented by Stefan Becker, EHAC, EHSIT Representative; John Steel, Irish Aviation Authority, EHSIT co-Chair; Gilles Bruniaux, Eurocopter, EHEST and EHSIT co-Chair and Duncan Trapp, CHC Helicopter, EHEST Communication Leader. All presentations are published online.
EASA Rotorcraft Symposium 2011, 7-8 Dec, Cologne, Germany
The 5th edition of the now famous EASA Rotorcraft Symposium was successfully organised, like for all previous editions, by the EASA Certification Directorate.
A presentation entitled “The EHEST 2011 Achievements and Plans” was given by John Black, EHOC, EHEST co-Chair; Michel Masson, EASA, EHSAT co-Chair and EHEST Secretary; Gilles Bruniaux, Eurocopter, EHEST and EHSIT co-Chair; Stefan Becker, EHAC, EHSIT Representative, and John Steel, Irish Aviation Authority, EHSIT co-Chair.
This presentation provided an update on the EHEST initiative, its objective, composition, deliverables, plans and challenges. In its conclusive remarks it highlighted the importance of reaching the small operators and General Aviation community and of reinforcing cooperation under the IHST umbrella to progress towards the aggressive goal to reduce helicopter accident rates by 80% by 2016 set by IHST.
The presenters highlighted in particular the continuous enrichment of the EHEST Safety Safety Promotion and Training website with the publication of new Safety Leaflets and videos and the publication of previously released material, including the 2010 EHEST Report of 2000-2005 helicopter Accidents, in German, French, Italian, Spanish, and Russian. In addition, the Leaflet Safety Considerations will soon be available in Chinese, too. The Leaflets Helicopter Airmanship and Off Airfield Landing Site were distributed with the Symposium documentation.
On the SMS front, EHEST announced the publication of a helicopter compatible version of IS-BAO by IBAC for early 2012 and the publication of an EHEST SMS Manual for medium size operators featuring standard lists of hazards, a Risk Assessment method and a pre-flight Risk Management Check List for the beginning of 2012.
More information on the initiative can be found in the presentation itself, published, together will all other presentations, in the EASA Rotorcraft Symposium 2011 mini-site accessible from the EASA Events page.
