Category Archives: Newsletter

EHEST Newsletter December 2011

By ehestuser | Published: December 6, 2011

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 5^th 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 5^th 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.

Category General

An Important Safety Message – But Is It Reaching The Right People?

By ehestuser | Published: September 4, 2011

Article published in 4Rotors in August 2011

Accidents happen! Sadly, too many of them happen – but why? More importantly, what can be done to prevent the next helicopter (and the occupants) following the same path to disaster as those that have gone before?

4Rotors has been kind enough before to allow the European Helicopter Safety Team (EHEST) space to explain how we went about the task of identifying common themes from all 311 accidents analyzed by the Regional Teams; for those that have yet to see the results, the Final Report is available online1.

As part of the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) initiative, EHEST has one simple objective: to reduce the helicopter accident rate by 80 percent by 2016 worldwide, with emphasis on improving European safety. Simple on paper but a significant task in reality.

With the top causal categories identified the hard work began to identify control measures to prevent recurrence and this hard work is now delivering usable (and free) tools to help operators mitigate the risks they face in their respective areas.

In developing these tools, it was clear that one size does not fit all and the risks associated for a fire-fighting operator are very different from those of a General Aviation pilot on a ‘pleasure flight’ from A to B on a sunny afternoon. Therefore, the ways of controlling those risks will differ. However, some of the core issues remain common no matter what the reason for getting airborne.

What the EHEST initiative cannot provide is a ‘magic cure’; improving the safety of the helicopter community in Europe comes from raising awareness and from getting people to stop and think about what they are doing, as well as how they are doing it.

If a pilot is not qualified to fly IFR what tempts some of those to ‘give it a go’? In other cases they don’t mean to go IMC without suitable training/qualifications, they simply get ‘caught out’; but if pre-flight planning had been more comprehensive they might well have known that the weather through which they had to pass was going to be marginal at best.

Raising awareness through training material will hopefully help and EHEST’s Specialist Team on training has developed a video on the subject. This is just one of many awareness and information products developed by the team (all volunteers and all with a wealth of experience in the training role). The language barrier is another hurdle we must cross and so many of the products have been (or will be) translated into the key languages of Europe.

The communication challenge now is making people aware of the fact that this information is out there and using the vast network of helicopter operators in Europe to ‘spread the word’. I don’t think for a second that anyone involved in helicopter operations wants to see another accident happen to one of their fellow aviators – but are they willing to do that extra bit to help pro-actively prevent it?

The new European Helicopter Association does much to support the EHEST initiative and is an outlet that will be used more in the future to reach the smaller operators; for the larger operators, European Helicopter Operators Committee (EHOC) plays a key role, and the major manufacturers have also all allowed their Technical Bulletins to be used as a launch pad for EHEST information.

However, there are still vast areas of the helicopter community in Europe who have not heard of EHEST and who therefore don’t know what they can do to help achieve the aim. Ironically, those areas that are yet to be ‘touched’ by the EHEST message are amongst those who featured significantly in the 311 accidents that informed the work ongoing now.

To help overcome this communication challenge, a new website is being developed by the EASA members of EHEST; the website aims to provide a one-stop shop for all of the material produced and will have a variety of links to other useful references.

For some, the introduction of legislation that will require certain operators to have a functioning Safety Management System will soon be a reality. Regulation has a role to play in reducing the accident rate and there is a Specialist Team looking at how EHEST can provide input to that regulatory process in order to act on the evidence of the analysis done. However, whilst Regulation can set the boundaries, the real change will come when individuals, training organizations and helicopter clubs/associations want to do things differently simply because they know it’s the right thing to do to prevent needless loss of lives, livelihood and (expensive) equipment.

Whilst the thought of creating an SMS for a relatively small operation may seem daunting it needn’t be so and it’s got to be time well spent if it prevents an accident. To assist, the Specialist Team for SMS and Ops is developing a template and supporting material to make it easier for those with fewer resources and less experience in the SMS principles; details will be on the website soon. Their work builds on the SMS Toolkit developed by the IHST team in the States and this highlights the importance of International cooperation.

It’s little surprise that the mistakes (and they are more often mistakes than willful violations) being made in helicopters across Europe are broadly the same ones being made in Australia, Brazil, the USA, the Gulf, China and Russia (to name just a few of the areas of the world covered by the IHST initiative). To that end, EHEST will be participating at the forthcoming International Helicopter Safety Symposium 2011 in Fort Worth, Texas which provides the opportunity to share the work being done in Europe as well as ‘borrowing’ good ideas from others.

There are a variety of European events throughout the year where helicopter operators, owners, maintainers, and trainers meet. Large events (like airshows) tend to attract large operators and whilst they still have some work to do on maintaining/enhancing safety standards, it is the smaller operator and GA community that offers the biggest savings (of lives as well as money) in terms of accident reduction.

Participation by EHEST volunteers at any event where smaller operators might be is a key way of passing on the message. So if you know of an event, or have an idea on how we can get the message across, let me know. Better still, get in touch, join the team and help us achieve the aim.

Download the article in pdf: 4Rotors August 2011

Duncan Trapp, Communications Sub-Group Leader, EHEST

Category General, News

EHEST Newsletter June 2011

By ehest | Published: June 1, 2011

European Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (EHSIT) meeting of 7-8 June

The EHSIT processes the accident data analysed by the EHSAT to develop, implement and monitor safety enhancement action plans. The EHSIT is composed of five Specialist Teams (STs) on Training, on Operations & SMS, on Regulation, on Maintenance, and on Technology.

Update from the EHSIT Specialist Team on Training

The work plan has changed slightly and the team is preparing to have the following material ready for IHSS 2011:

5 Leaflets on helicopter airmanship, risk assessment in training, off airfields landing site, rotor RPM management and autorotation, and planning and decision making

2 videos on helicopter passenger management and on helicopter mission preparation including off airfield landing.

A webpage for the publication of the training deliverables is in development and the entire EHEST website will soon be revamped.

Update from the EHSIT Specialist Team on Ops & SMS

The team was tasked to launch the development of a European Helicopter SMS Manual on the basis of the EASA Opinion OPS (Implementing Rules and Acceptable Means of Compliance) recently published on the EASA website. This EASA Opinion pre-figures the future European rules, to be published in April 2012. Ongoing work on the risk assessment tool and on the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be completed and the development of other SOPs postponed. The development of the SMS Manual is considered a priority.

Update from the EHSIT Specialist Team on Regulation

The team is revisiting the Intervention Recommendations (IRs) coming from EHSAT work for using the pre-Regulatory Impact Assessment (pre-RIA) methodology published by EASA. New grouping was produced for the IRs: Aircraft Data Recording & Analysis; Inadvertent Entry into DVE; Authority Oversight; Equipment Requirements; Ditching, Water Impact & Survivability; Helicopter Stability and Handling Qualities; ADELT; Airworthiness Procedures & Documentation; Intervention Times; Radio Altimeter Provision; and Wire Strike Protection. Pre-RIA will allow assessing the priority of the associated tasks.

Update from the EHSIT Specialist Team on Maintenance

This team was formed to develop a Maintenance Toolkit to complete the IHST Toolkits series. The document is now available on the IHST and EHEST websites.

Update from the EHSIT Specialist Team on Technology

Design and technology don’t rate high on the list of safety issues identified by the EHSAT. But technology can be a powerful means to improve safety as it brings solutions to known safety problems, including of operational nature. EHSIT ST Technology assesses the benefit of new technologies on mitigating safety issues. Technologies include for example predictive ground collision avoidance using digital terrain referenced navigation, light Helicopter HOMP systems, deployable system for crash–load attenuation, and integration of RFID technologies in helicopter maintenance processes. Recent developments include drafting a description of work, a technology listing and rating tool and a process manual. ONERA, France has recently joined the team and a paper co-authored by J. Stevens and J. Vreeken, NLR, and M. Masson, EASA, will be presented in ERF 2011.

European Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (EHSAT) meeting of 8 June

Recommendation for free access to safety data by operators

The team discussed extensively freeing access to safety data for operators. EHSAT commented on the development of the European Central Repository (ECR) and proposed to use the European Aviation Safety Plan (EASp) instrument to make the following recommendation: “Operators need free access to safety data to implement the safety management principles effectively. The European Helicopter Safety Team (EHEST) recommends that data be collected, appropriately protected, and made freely available to the community. Data and/or aggregated information derived from the data will inform operators and help them address their safety management obligations and safety needs.”

EHSAT database and proposal for monitoring of accidents

M. van Hijum, EASA presented a proposal to monitor European helicopter accidents data. The current EHSAT data could be supplemented with accident classification information using the CICTT taxonomy. The advantage would be to use an international standard and to create a link with the EASA Annual Safety Review (2010 edition published on 28 June). A group was created for this purpose.

European representation on the JHIMDAT

Beside, M. van Hijum has been appointed as EHEST representative on the Joint Helicopter Implementation and Data Analysis Team (JHIMDAT), recently created at IHST level. Operating on the US CAST JIMDAT model, the JHIMDAT will centralise, consolidate and analyse exposure and accident data for monitoring progress towards achieving the IHST objective of 80% reduction of accident rate worldwide by 2016.

European Helicopter Safety Team (EHEST) meeting of 8 June

The EHEST is the plenary body fixing strategic orientations, approving plans, and making decisions. Reports on the progress of EHSAT and EHSIT were provided. The work programs of the different teams were reviewed and approved.

In particular, the EHEST approved the recommendation of EHSAT to provide free access to safety data for the operators for safety management purposes.

The EHEST also approved development by the EHSIT of a European Helicopter SMS Toolkit, while continuing participation in the development of a helicopter compatible version of IS-BAO by IBAC.

The EHEST also endorsed the recommendation made by the EHSIT to foster organisation of helicopter safety events in all European States.

Finally, the team recognised the need to improve estimates of flight hours and accident rate data in Europe and worldwide. In the United States, the FAA has contracted MITRE to produce such estimates together with the major manufacturers. Data will feed the JHIMDAT work. The EHEST follows up these developments and contributes to the effort through the participation of European manufacturers.

EHEST participation in IHSS 2011

The planning is well underway for this major event of 8-9 Nov in Fort Worth, Texas. Along with B. Sheffield, Shell Aircraft, D. Trapp, CHC Helicopter represents the views of EHEST on the Programme Committee. The theme of this edition is “Human Factors: Our Collective Challenge – Our Individual Responsibility.” EHEST contribution was discussed and presenters were suggested. The preliminary agenda and online registration will be available shortly on www.ihst.org.

Conferences

European Rotorcraft Forum (ERF) 2011, 13-15 Sep, Cascina Costa, Italy

IHSS 2011, 8-9 Nov in Forth Worth, TX, USA

EASA Rotorcraft Symposium 2011, 7-8 Dec, Cologne, Germany

For further information please contact: EHEST@easa.europa.eu

by EHSAT co-chair Michel Masson, EASA, Clément Audard, EASA, and EHEST Communication SG Leader Duncan Trapp, CHC Helicopter

Category General

EHEST Newsletter March 2011

By ehest | Published: March 1, 2011

by EHSAT co-chair Michel Masson, EASA, and EHEST Communication SG Leader Duncan Trapp, CHC Helicopter

1^st 2011 meeting of the EHSAT of 22 March in Cologne

The final EHEST Report of 2000-2005 European Helicopter Accidents was presented at the 4^th EASA Rotorcraft Symposium of 8-9 Dec 2010 in Cologne, a very successful event attended by more than 200 representatives from the helicopter community (manufacturers, operators and regulators) across Europe, the US, and Russia.

In parallel the EHSAT Regional Teams continue the analysis of helicopter accidents which occurred in Europe after 2005 and for some of them, like the UK EHSAT, of accidents before 2000 as well. The Regional Teams will continue the analysis of accidents reports at the rate of approximately one year of accidents per year. The information gained will be used to monitor the effects of future safety enhancements and to identify any emerging safety issues related, for instance, to operational, technological and regulatory developments.

The EHSAT is also considering launching a new safety analysis targeting 2006-2008 and was asked by the European Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (EHSIT) to make a study of Aerial Work accidents.

EHSAT is also represented on the sub group of the CAST ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT) tasked to revise the helicopter section of their taxonomy. This will allow better coding of helicopter accidents by the Safety Investigation Authorities (SIAs) and the National Aviation Authorities using ECCAIRS.

EHSAT has also recognised the need to improve estimates of flight hours by aircraft categories in Europe to allow better estimation of accident rates. The International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) has recently decided to address this matter at international level and has contracted MITRE to produce such estimates together with the major manufacturers. Better data will allow improving the monitoring of IHST action towards the objective of reducing the accident rate by 80% by 2016 worldwide. The EHSAT will follow up these developments and is offering to contribute.

1^st 2011 meeting of the EHSIT of 22-23 March in Cologne

The EHSIT processes the data analysed by the EHSAT to develop, implement and monitor safety enhancement action plans across Europe. So far, the EHSIT was composed four Specialist Teams (STs) on Operations and SMS, on Training, on Regulation, and on Maintenance. A fifth Specialist Team addressing Technology was created in this meeting.

Jos Stevens, NLR, gave a report on the EHSIT ST Ops & SMS on behalf of Stefano Burigana, Elilombarda, lead. Large operators have a Flight Ops Department, FDM data, and often sophisticated Quality and Safety Management Systems. Small operators are often in a very different situation. SMS is essential to identify, assess, and manage everyone’s risks and the IHST/EHEST is focusing on two key products: the IHST SMS Toolkit (available free on www.ihst.org) and the Helicopter compatible version of IS-BAO in development (see below), which will contain an SMS module. Both are designed to assist in particular the smaller operator.

The work plan for 2011 consists of:

- SMS Risk Assessment: develop a Guide to assist operators assessing risks inside a SMS program and several tools such as Pre-Flight Risk Assessment checklist.

- SOP standardisation: develop a Guide to assist operators creating company Standard Operating Procedures Manual.

- Safety Promotion: identify or produce promotion material on SMS and develop the Ops & SMS section of the EHEST website.

Walter Schneibel, pilot and NVIS Flight Instructor in REGA, a Swiss Company member of the European HEMS and Air Ambulance Committee (EHAC), has recently joined the team. REGA has renowned expertise in safety management. They have shared with the team a few examples of SOPs.

The EHSIT supports the development of a new version of IS-BAO also addressing helicopter operations. An agreement to develop IS-BAO (HE) was signed at the Berlin Air-show on 9 June 2010 by new EHA, the Helicopter Association International (HAI), the British Helicopter Association (BHA), and the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC). IS-BAO is a set of performance-based standards that addresses operations, maintenance, training and other related issues. As well as providing an SMS template it also provides a complete verification audit programme. Benefits are foreseen in particular for small operators. Revision work is performed by an international team led in Europe by Bob Sheffield, Shell aircraft, IHST Director Europe. The new version is expected to be published by IBAC in January 2012.

Gilles Bruniaux, Eurocopter, presented the work and plan of the EHSIT ST Training on behalf of Christophe Marchal, Eurocopter Training Services, lead. A first Safety Leaflet on Safety Considerations addressing important subjects such as Vortex Ring; Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness; Dynamic and Static Rollover; and Loss of Visual References was published in 2010. The Team has also produced a video on Flying in the Degraded Visual Environment (DVE), which is now published on the IASA-France, EHEST and IHST websites. For 2011 the team plans to produce four new Leaflets on Helicopter Airmanship Planning and Decision Making, Off Airfields Landing Site Guide, and Flight Instructor Flight Risk Analysis, and one new video on Helicopter Mission Preparation Including Off Airfield Landing. For 2012 the plan is to produce a Helicopter Flight Instructor Guide focusing on Human Factor aspects of instruction.

Tony EAGLES, UK CAA, reported on the EHSIT ST Regulation work on behalf of Dave Howson, UK CAA, lead. The team has aggregated all related Intervention Recommendations (IRs) coming from the EHSAT and prioritised them using two criteria accounting fatalities. The top five priority subjects are: 1. Data recording; 2. inadvertent entry into IMC/DVE; 3. Flotation, markings and exits; 4. Authority oversight; and 5. Seat and harness design. The final products of the ST Regulation may take the form of proposals for future rulemaking tasks (using standard processes) addressed to NAAs, EASA, or ICAO depending on applicability; AMC/GM; EASA Safety Information Bulletins (SIBs), or best practices. The standard pre-Regulatory Impact Assessment (pre-RIA) methodology published by EASA is used to assess proposals. The plan for 2011 is to review and agree completed pre-RIA forms for the top 10 consolidated recommendations and to prioritise these top 10 recommendations.

Chaired by Dave Huntzinger, Eurocopter, the EHSIT ST Maintenance brought together European and US experts who have volunteered to develop an IHST Maintenance Toolkit. The team proudly announces that this Toolkit is now published on the IHST website. This toolkit is offered as a resource for maintenance technicians everywhere and anywhere in the world. The format is a skeletal reflection of what is known in Europe and some other regions as a Maintenance Organisation Exposition (MOE). The intent of this toolkit is for helicopter operators to assess their existing maintenance activities against these guidelines. Chapter 1 addresses the purpose of the helicopter operator’s maintenance organisation, its scope of work, key roles and responsibilities, key policies (e.g. quality and safety) and resource requirements. The remaining chapters give guidelines for maintenance procedures, quality assurance, training and competence assurance, record keeping, HUMS, maintenance support equipment and fuel systems. The toolkit shows best practice used by many operators throughout the world. Many items of best practices are taken from authority regulations such as EASA and the FAA. Others are taken from the Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) standards and individual helicopter operators and major clients of helicopter operators. It is important to note that the operator’s relevant Authorities regulations always take precedence over the guidelines.

Design and technology don’t rate high on the list of safety issues identified in the 2005-2010 European Accidents Report. But Technology can be a powerful means to improve safety, as it brings solutions to known safety problems, including of operational nature. The EHSIT ST Technology has been created in this March meeting to assess the benefit of technologies on mitigating safety issues. For this exercise, safety issues will be expressed using two different taxonomies: Standard Problem Statements (SPSs) used by the EHSAT and the CAST–ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT) taxonomy of accident types. Technologies are assessed using a 0-10 score combining safety impact and usability, which mixes Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and cost considerations. Technologies include for example predictive ground collision avoidance using digital terrain referenced navigation, light Helicopter HOMP systems, deployable system for crash–load attenuation, and integration of RFID technologies in Helicopter maintenance processes. Led by Jos Stevens, NLR, participation is sought from research organisations such as NLR, DLR, and ONERA, manufacturers and equipment manufacturers, authorities and universities.

Clement Audard, EASA, gave a report on the activities of the EHEST Communication SG on behalf of Duncan Trapp, CHC Helicopter, lead. A comprehensive list of organisations and existing distribution networks is under development. This list will be used as an ‘entry point’ to the helicopter community, focusing on the GA/small operators but also reaching out to pan-European organisations and linking to International forums. The SG has also assembled a list of events where small operators and private pilots can be engaged. Membership details from new EHA can now be used and this may have a fairly strong result in sending information out but further effort must be made to better reach the small operators and the GA community.

IHSS 2011 planning is well underway for the event in Fort Worth, Texas, this November 8-9. Along with Bob Sheffield, Shell Aircraft, Duncan Trapp represents the views of EHEST on the Programme Committee. The theme of this edition is “Human Factors: Our Collective Challenge – Our Individual Responsibility.” A key challenge in achieving the IHST goal of reducing the helicopter accident rate by 80% by 2016 lies in addressing the human factors in helicopter safety and fostering a culture in which individual members of the international helicopter community (both organisations and people) take personal responsibility for preventing accidents and enhancing safety. The agenda for this meeting will be posted soon and online registration will be available shortly on www.ihst.org.

1^st 2011 meeting of EHEST of 23 March in Cologne

The EHEST is the plenary body, fixing strategic orientations, approving plans, and making decisions.

The candidature of Luigi Candiani as EHSAT industry co-Chair was unanimously approved. Congratulations to Luigi Candiani who is also member of the EHSAT/EHSIT Italy and of the EHSIT ST Regulation.

EHEST Co-Chair David Huntzinger, Eurocopter, reported on the recent IHST Executive Committee (EXCOM) meeting. The EXCOM is focusing on strategic planning, internationalisation and pooling of resources, and data collection. The EXCOM also plays an essential role in organising IHSS 2011.

EHEST Co-Chair John Vincent, EASA, presented the role of EHEST in the European Aviation Safety Plan (EASP). The first edition addresses 2011-2014 and the plan will be reviewed on a yearly basis. The overall European approach with regard to safety planning combines a Plan, a Program, and a Strategy. The Plan is the technical document while the Programme has more statements of methodological and political nature. The Plan and Program were designed to be presented to ICAO as evidence to comply with the State Safety Program (SSP) requirements, in addition to the National Plans. Developed by the European Commission, the strategy is a higher level document providing direction for aviation safety in Europe. Content of the EASP has been endorsed by the EASA Management Board on 15 Dec 2010. Actions will be voluntary implemented until the Plan is officially adopted at political level. Actions allocated to the EHEST concern the development and promotion of SMS best practices for helicopter operations, the development of risk awareness and safety promotion and training material and the development of a communication network focusing on small operators and GA (these actions already figure on the EHEST work programme).

Ryan Hunnighaus, FOCA, participated in the meeting as observer. Ryan Hunnighaus is a member of the EASA Safety Advisory Committee (EASAC), a strategic group advising the Agency on the European Aviation Safety Plan and Program. EASAC recognises the expertise provided by the EHEST. The intention is to strengthen the role of the EHEST and of the other ESSI teams in the implementation and revision of the EASP.

EHEST Secretary Michel Masson, EASA, reported that cooperation has been established with the Gulf Helicopter Safety Team following their invitation to participate in the January meeting organised by the CAA of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Cooperation started on exchanging best practices on night off-shore operations.

EHEST Co-Chair John Black, EHOC, mentioned the invitation by India to initiate a SMS synergy with EHEST. This might result in an invitation to visit India to provide a leadership start for SMS and Safety Culture.

Deliverables in brief

- The EHSIT training video on Flying in the Degraded Visual Environment (DVE) is published on the IASA-France, EHEST, and IHST websites.

- The IHST Maintenance Toolkit has been released for publication on the IHST website.

- A mixed European-US Team is developing the helicopter compatible revision of IS-BAO, planned to be published by IBAC in January 2012.

Category General

EHEST Newsletter December 2010

By ehest | Published: December 1, 2010

3^rd 2010 meeting of the European Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (EHSAT) on 6 Dec at EASA in Cologne

The final EHEST Report of 2000-2005 European Helicopter Accidents was formally presented at the International Helicopter Safety Seminar (IHSS 2010) on 3-4 October which, for the first time, took place in Europe. This report is the main deliverable of 2010 and follows on from the Preliminary Report published in 2009 which covered the first 186 accidents to be analysed. The final report covers 311 reports, showing the significant progress in analysis over the last two years.

This report was also presented at the 4^th EASA Rotorcraft Symposium that took place in Cologne on 8-9 December, a very successful event attended by more than 200 representatives from the helicopter community (manufacturers, operators and regulators) across Europe, the US, and Russia.

In parallel the EHSAT Regional Teams continue the analysis of helicopter accidents which occurred in Europe after 2005, and for some of them, like the UK EHSAT, of accidents before 2000. The Regional Teams will continue the analysis of accidents reports at the rate of approximately one year of accidents per year. The information gained will be used to monitor the effects of future safety enhancements and to identify any emerging safety issues related, for instance, to operational, technological and regulatory developments.

The EHSAT is also represented on the sub group of the CAST ICAO Common Taxonomy Team (CICTT) tasked to revise the helicopter section of the taxonomy. This will allow better coding of helicopter accidents by the Accident Investigation Bureaus and the National Aviation Authorities using ECCAIRS. The EHSAT also works on improving exposure data; the aim is to provide, by mid 2011, an estimate of flight hours by aircraft categories in Europe, which will allow better estimation of accident rates.

3^rd 2010 meeting of the European Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (EHSIT) on 6-7 Dec at EASA and in the Miragem hotel in Cologne

The EHSIT processes the data analysed by the EHSAT to develop, implement and monitor safety enhancement action plans across Europe. These action plans will contribute to achieving the shared IHST/EHEST objective of reducing the accident rate by 80% by 2016, with emphasis on European safety.

Gilles Bruniaux, Eurocopter Fleet Safety, has joined José Esteve as EHSIT industry co-Chair.

The EHSIT is composed of three Specialist Teams on Operations and SMS, on Training, and on Regulations.

Stefano Burigana, Elilombrada, gave a report on the EHSIT ST Ops & SMS. Large operators have a Flight Ops Department, FDM data, and often sophisticated Quality and Safety Management Systems. Small operators are often in a very different situation. SMS is essential to identify, assess, and manage everyone’s risks and the IHST/EHEST is focusing on two key products: the IHST SMS Toolkit (available free of charge on www.ihst.org) and the Helicopter version of IS-BAO (see below) both of which are designed to assist in particular the smaller operator.

Based on the EHSAT data, the EHSIT ST Ops & SMS main objective is to support small operators on operational risk management. The Team has almost completed the development of the Pre-flight risk assessment checklist. The Tool is customisable and can also be used either in electronic or in paper format. The goal is to make the pilots aware of their mission risks and to take actions to mitigate these risks. For HEMS and SAR missions it is not considered realistic using this CL before the flights. But the tool could be used at the beginning of the shift or during the day as the conditions evolve.

The Team is also working on guidance on how to develop SOPs, based on existing and future regulatory material.

EHSIT co-Chair Jose ESTEVE, INAER and NewEHA, gave a presentation on a Methodology for Safety Assurance usable in the context of an SMS. The goal is to provide assistance to operators to make intelligent safety performance decisions based on estimated and observed risk. The approach which requires assembling reference data by sectors will be very useful for small operators who don’t have enough flight hours and occurrences to realistically measure their safety risks.

The EHSIT supports the development of the Helicopter version of IS-BAO. An agreement to develop IS-BAO (HE) was signed at the Berlin Airshow on 9 June 2010 by newEHA, the Helicopter Association International (HAI), the British Helicopter Association (BHA), and the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC). IS-BAO is a set of performance-based standards that addresses operations, maintenance, training and other related issues. As well as providing an SMS template it also provides a complete verification audit programme; benefits are foreseen in particular for small operators. Development of the helicopter version is performed by an international team led in Europe by Bob Sheffield, SHELL aircraft.

The EHSIT ST Training has developed one Safety Leaflet addressing important safety considerations such as: Vortex Ring; Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness; Dynamic and Static Rollover; and Loss of Visual References. The Team also produced a video on Flying in the Degraded Visual Environment (DVE), which will be published on the EHEST and IHST websites in the first quarter of 2011. These first deliverables were officially presented at IHSS in October. The Team has also the more ambitious project to develop a European Instructor Training Manual.

The EHSIT ST Regulation has aggregated all related Intervention Recommendations coming from the EHSAT and prioritised them using two criteria accounting fatalities. The top five priority subjects are: 1. Data recording; 2. Inadvertent entry into IMC/DVE; 3. Flotation, markings and exits; 4. Authority oversight; and 5. Seat and harness design. The final products of the ST Regulation may take the form of proposals for future rulemaking tasks (using standard processes) addressed to NAA, EASA, or ICAO depending on applicability; AMC/GM; Safety Information Bulletins (SIBs published by EASA Airworthiness), or recommendations for best practices (voluntary adoption).

Chaired by Dave Huntzinger, Eurocopter, the EHSIT ST Maintenance was created in April 2010. It brings together European and US experts who have volunteered to develop an IHST Maintenance Toolkit. Work started on the Toolkiit on the basis of SHELL Aircraft material. Material is currently being developed by David Casson, Casson Aviation Ltd, and is being reviewed by a core team including US and EASA maintenance specialists. The Toolkit is planned to be delivered by first quarter 2011 and will complete the series featuring so far the IHST SMS Toolkit, the IHST Training Toolkit, the IHST Risk Assessment Toolkit, and the IHST Helicopter Flight Data Monitoring Toolkit – all available free of charge on www.ihst.org. Other maintenance related products are envisaged such as a Pre-shift risk assessment checklist.

2^nd meeting of the European Helicopter Safety Team (EHEST) on 7 Dec in the Miragem hotel in Cologne

David Huntzinger, Eurocopter, was unanimously nominated as new EHEST co-Chair in lieu of Jean-Pierre Dedieu, who has retired. Gilles Bruniaux, Eurocopter, was unanimously nominated as new industry EHSIT co-Chair. Congratulations to David and to Gilles, and to Jean-Pierre for the fantastic work performed as EHEST co-Chair and IHST EXCOM Member since 2006.

EHST Communication SG Leader Duncan Trapp reported that a comprehensive list of organisations and existing distribution networks is under development. This list will be used as an ‘entry point’ to the helicopter community, focusing on the GA/small operators but also reaching out to pan-European organisations and linking to International forums. The SG has also assembled a list of events where small operators and private pilots can be engaged.

IHSS 2011 will take place in Texas and the dates are being finalised. The following formula was suggested: IHSS will be run every year in a different region of the world and EHEST events will be organised every two years in Europe. The European events should be shorter and more practical and will focus on the presentation and demonstration of practical tools to the operators and on getting feedback. The European events could be associated to Helitech or to other events as well.

Publications and Conferences in brief

The Final EHEST Analysis Report of 2000-2005 European Helicopter Accidents was first presented at IHSS 2010 on 3 Oct.

A mixed European-US Team is developing the Helicopter version of IS-BAO to be delivered mid 2011.

A mixed European-US Team is developing the IHST Maintenance Toolkit, to be delivered in the first quarter of 2011.

Jaume Bosch, SEPLA, EHSAT/EHSIT Spain, delivered a presentation on “Safe Helicopter Operations in Aerial Firefighting” at the Aerial Firefighting International Conference 2010 on 2-3 Dec in Málaga, Spain.

The 4^th EASA Rotorcraft Symposium took place on 8-9 Dec in Cologne. EHEST gave a presentation on day 1, afternoon session. The agenda and all presentations are published on .

For further information please contact: EHEST@easa.europa.eu

by EHSAT co-chair Michel Masson, EASA, Clément Audard, EASA, and EHEST Communication SG Leader Duncan Trapp, CHC Helicopter

Category Newsletter

EHEST Newsletter October 2010

By ehest | Published: October 12, 2010

2^nd 2010 meeting of the European Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (EHSAT) on 7 Sep at EASA in Cologne

The EHSAT has finished its contribution to the Final Report of 2000-2005 European Helicopter Accidents. This report is the main deliverable of the year and follows on from the Preliminary Report published in 2009 which covered the first 186 accidents to be analysed. The final report covers 311 reports, showing the significant progress in analysis over the last two years. It was formally presented at the International Helicopter Safety Seminar (IHSS 2010), which, for the first time, took place in Europe. The 4^th EASA Rotorcraft Symposium organised in Cologne on 8-9 Dec will also be used to reach our target audiences.

In parallel the EHSAT Regional Teams continue the analysis of helicopter accidents which occurred in Europe after 2005, and for some of them, like the UK EHSAT, before 2000. The Regional Teams will continue the analysis of accidents reports at the rate of approximately one year of accidents per year. The information gained will be used to monitor the effects of future safety enhancements and to identify any emerging safety issues related, for instance, to operational, technological and regulatory developments.

2^nd 2010 meeting of the European Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (EHSIT) on 7-8 Sep at EASA in Cologne

José Esteve Fernández de Córdova, Corporate Safety and Quality Manager at INAER, Spain, representing newEHA, was unanimously approved as the new EHSIT industry co-Chair.

Johan Agin, ECA, gave a report on the EHSIT ST Ops & SMS. Large operators have a Flight Ops Department, FDM data, and often sophisticated Quality and Safety Management Systems. Small operators are often in a very different situation. SMS is essential to identify, assess, and manage everyone’s risks and the IHST/EHEST is focusing on two key products: the IHST SMS Toolkit (available free of charge on www.ihst.org) and the Helicopter version of IS-BAO (see below). Based on the EHSAT data, the EHSIT ST Ops & SMS stated a main objective was to support small operators on operational risk management and started to develop operation-specific, pre-flight risk assessment checklists. Regarding SOPs, it was decided to try and produce guidance to develop SOPs based on existing EU-OPS AMC and on the EASA NPA material.

The EHSIT will support the development in 2010 of the Helicopter version of IS-BAO. An agreement to develop IS-BAO (HE) was signed at the Berlin Airshow on 9 June 2010 by newEHA, the Helicopter Association International (HAI), the British Helicopter Association (BHA), and the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC). IS-BAO is a set of performance-based standards that addresses operations, maintenance, training and other related issues. As well as providing an SMS template it also provides a complete verification audit programme; benefits are foreseen in particular for small operators.

The EHSIT ST Training has developed Safety Leaflets and videos on important safety considerations such as Vortex Ring and Loss of Tail Rotor Effectiveness, Dynamic and Static Rollover, Loss of Visual References, RPM management, and Helicopter Modern Cockpit & Training. In the longer term, the Team will also tackle the more ambitious project to develop a European Instructor Training Manual. The first Safety Leaflet and video were officially presented at IHSS 2010.

The EHSIT ST Regulation has aggregated all related IRs coming from the EHSA, and has extended participation. Their Terms of Reference were approved in session. Tony Eagles, UK CAA, noted that the work of the ST Regulation can result in rulemaking proposals but also in proposals for best practice material. Proposals could be addressed to EASA but also to ICAO or to the NAAs, depending on the subject. This summer the ST Regulation has provided on behalf of the EHEST inputs to the EASA Rulemaking CRD concerning the draft Agency Opinion on a Commission Regulation establishing the Implementing Rules for the Licensing of pilots. In particular the removal of the mandatory 5 hours Instrument Flying in the PPL (H) was commented on. Since then, the EASA Opinion has been published and EASA Rulemaking has provided an answer to the comments submitted. Some elements requested by the EHEST will be moved in the AMC.

Chaired by Dave Huntzinger, Eurocopter, the EHSIT Specialist Team on Maintenance brings together European and US experts who have volunteered to develop an IHST Maintenance Toolkit. The following aspects will be covered: maintenance operations, sustaining training and competence, Quality Assurance, and fuel management. This new toolkit will complete the series featuring so far the IHST SMS Toolkit, the IHST Training Toolkit, the IHST Risk Assessment Toolkit, and the IHST Helicopter Flight Data Monitoring Toolkit – all available free of charge on www.ihst.org.

IHSS 2010 Announcement. The 4^th iteration of the International Helicopter Safety Symposium (IHSS 2010) took place in Europe for the first time in Oct. IHSS 2010 was jointly organised by the IHST and the EHEST and took place in the Miragem Hotel in Cascais, Portugal, on 3-4 Oct (just before Helitech which also took place in Cascais). More information on this event will be published shortly.

EASA Rotorcraft Symposium 2010. The 4^th iteration of the EASA Rotorcraft Symposium will take on 8-9 Dec in Cologne. The call for papers is open. EHEST Secretary Michel Masson, EASA, will send an abstract for the EHEST. In addition, EHEST organisations are invited to send an abstract to Marina Spinello, EASA.
For more information please visit http://easa.europa.eu/events/events.php.

Publications and Conferences in brief

The Final EHEST Analysis Report of 2000-2005 European Helicopter Accidents was officially presented at IHSS 2010 on 3 Oct.

A mixed European-US Team will develop the Helicopter version of IS-BAO, to be delivered in 2011.

A mixed European-US Team will develop a Helicopter Safety Portal on SKYbrary.

A mixed European-US Team is developing the IHST Maintenance Toolkit, to be delivered in 2011.

The International Helicopter Safety Symposium (IHSS 2010) took place in the Hotel Miragem in Cascais, Portugal, on 2-3 Oct, just before Helitech.

Authored by Michel Masson an Information Paper on ESSI was presented at the 37^th ICAO General Assembly taking place between 28 Sep and 8 Oct in Montreal. See http://www.icao.int/Assembly37/docs/.

Co-authored by Duncan Trapp and Michel Masson an article on SMS was published in the Oct edition of 4Rotors, the official publication of newEHA.

Jaume Bosch, SEPLA, EHSAT/EHSIT Spain, will deliver a presentation on “Safe Helicopter Operations in Aerial Firefighting” at the Aerial Firefighting International Conference 2010 to take place on 2-3 Dec in Málaga, Spain.
http://www.unisdr.org/europe/events/v.php?id=13958 http://www.tangentlink.com/events/

The 4^th EASA Rotorcraft Symposium will take place on 8-9 Dec in Cologne.

For further information please contact: EHEST@easa.europa.eu

Category Newsletter