2017 helicopter safety culture seminar announced
The CAA and the British Helicopter Association (BHA) are holding a second ‘Safety Culture Seminar’ at the CAE Academy Auditorium, London Oxford Airport, on 17 May 2017, hosted by Capital Air Services. The intent of the Seminar is to promote dialogue and debate amongst the helicopter community with the aim of raising awareness and reducing occurrences. The CAA say that recent UK helicopter accident and incident investigations indicate...
Straight and Very Level By Darragh Owens
My student Rick had been looking forward to this long cross-country flight, part of his commercial pilot’s licence (CPL) training. Quite the stickler for detailed planning, all of his paperwork was immaculately prepared, legible, and well organised in the cockpit. His plan called for a cruising altitude of 5,000 feet. We were climbing to that height and he had just checked in with the en-route controller. Mind you, we weren’t...
UK CAA publish Pilot Support Program guidance
The UK CAA has outlined a framework for an operator’s Pilot Support Programme (PSP). The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has published an Opinion that will require all commercial operators to have a PSP in place by approximately August 2018 As part of a PSP, the UK CAA say that all pilots should receive education from medical professionals, with topics to be covered including: self-awareness; ranges of ‘normal’ behaviour and...
Circuit conflict
A Robinson R44 helicopter departed from Bankstown Airport (near Sydney, Australia), on a training flight to Camden Airport, New South Wales. On board were a student pilot and a flight instructor. After completing exercises in the Camden area, the helicopter returned towards Bankstown. According to air traffic control (ATC) audio data, at about 1607 Eastern Standard Time (EST), the instructor of the R44 contacted the Bankstown...
NTSB issue mid-air avoidance advice
The US National Transportation Safety Board has issued a ‘Safety Alert’ to pilots with suggestions on what they can do to reduce their chances of being involved in a mid-air collision. To illustrate the limitations of the ‘see and avoid’ concept of aircraft separation, the NTSB has created a series of animations depicting the pilots’ visual field of view from each of the four aircraft involved in two mid-air collisions that were...
ATC SUSPENDING OPERATIONS
Report Text: I was engaged on an instructional cross country flight with a TAF at my destination [in Class D airspace] of: ‘EG** 2112/2118 21013KT 9999 FEW012 TEMPO 21122118 21018G30KT 6000 RA BKN008’. The flight went very well and the student learnt a great deal due to the strength of the wind and commented on the high ground speed and the need to keep ahead of the navigation. He carried out all radio calls and handled the aircraft...
