Articles for category Safety
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Nov
14
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Randy Mains: My Two Cents Worth
The following is the beginning of my latest book, The Reluctant Activist.
I stood next to the helicopter’s tail plane, looking up in disbelief at the massive damage I’d done. The accident was entirely my fault. I knew I shouldn’t have been anywhere near a cockpit this morning. My mind wasn’t focused on flight training, but I decided to fly anyway. It was a stupid mistake. The reality of knowing how badly I’d screwed up sickened me. As well as losing my wife to another man recently, it seemed likely I could now lose my job. This was not turning out to be one of my better mornings.
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Categories:
Safety
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Nov
07
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Helicopter Emergency Medical Services And Weather Related Accidents
by Bryan Butler
Many organizations are looking at ways to help make the Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) safer. The FAA is working with FAR Part 135 Operators along with Organization such as HAI, CAAMS and AAMT to bring in voluntary solutions. One simple solution to help alleviate many of the night HEMS Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) accidents is by changing the night VFR visibility minimums for FAR Part 135 HEMS Operations. But what should they be changed to? To help determine that answer let us first look at the root cause of many of our fatal HEMS accidents since January 2000.
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Categories:
Safety
Regulatory
Helicopter Sectors
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Oct
24
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Aviation Specialties Unlimited
Night Vision – Business Vision
Article, Photos & Video by Lyn Burks
Helicopter flight training wearing Night Vision Goggles (NVG) is as exciting and interesting as any other new skill or technique that can be learned in a helicopter. It’s right up there with learning touchdown autorotations! The one and only buzzkill is that, as the name of the device suggests, you must be using them at night. It’s all fun and games --- until your flight-training block is from 0200 – 0400.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Training
Safety
Regulatory
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Oct
10
2013
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Posted by Admin
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White Hot: Adding a Thermal View with EVS
By Rick Adams
I was driving on the turnpike through western Massachusetts a number of years back, enroute to Boston, and the fog was thick. I should have pulled off and waited for better conditions, but I had a hotel reservation for that night and appointments the next morning. So I followed the only visual aids I had – the stripes on the side of the road and the taillights of the car in front of me. If the car ahead had gone off a cliff, well …
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Training
Safety
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Oct
03
2013
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Posted by Admin
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My 2 Cents Worth - Breaking the Error Chain
By Randy Mains
“This is stupid!”
What wonderful words to break the error chain. I’ve certainly said it when I’ve been flying. Like in bad weather when scud running, or doing anything in the air where I figured I probably shouldn’t be there. “This is stupid,” can potentially be one of those simple, but brilliant, ideas designed to let you, the pilot, know it’s time to call it quits, go home, and thus prevent really scaring yourself and possibly having an accident.
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Categories:
Safety
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Sep
12
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Helicopter Pilot Insurance Coverage Trends
By Rick Lindsey
Helicopter accidents can result in property damage, death or catastrophic injuries. When things go wrong, there is usually plenty of blame to go around. Read the headlines today and you’ll see that millions of dollars have been awarded in liability lawsuits.
Helicopter pilots are trained, highly skilled, cautious and careful professionals who understand the importance of being proactive by double-checking all systems, safety checks, and other factors when piloting a helicopter. A pilot must be prepared to be thrust into a dangerous or unexpected situation at any moment and have the skills to react quickly.
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Categories:
Safety
Regulatory
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Aug
29
2013
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Posted by Admin
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CRM – The Last Line of Defense!
by Randy Mains
Imagine you’re an aviation doctor and you hold the cure to save lives in a deadly segment of helicopter aviation. One day you learn that the FAA has finally mandated that all Part 135 operators must be administered this cure, or they cannot fly. You gladly offer the cure, knowing it can save lives. However, you soon discover that the parent (the helicopter company) of the patient (the flight crew) doesn’t want to give the full dose because of the added time and expense it takes to administer it. So the helicopter company waters down the dose to near microscopic proportions, which satisfies the letter of the law, while successfully avoiding the spirit of the law. But in their effort to save time and money, they render the cure totally useless. It is my opinion that’s what’s happening in many HEMS programs.
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Categories:
Safety
Human Interest
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May
28
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Discussion: Some flight helmets may contain outdated components that don’t afford the same level of protection as updated components. Additionally, some manufactures are misrepresenting their products by stating that they meet military
specifications (milspec) or that they’re “exactly the same” as milspec helmets and related components. Wearing helmets that don’t meet the agency requirements is not only against DOI and USFS policy, it’s downright dangerous!
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Categories:
Safety
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Dec
28
2012
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Posted by Admin
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On September 30th three more names were added to the growing number of air medical air crash
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Categories:
Safety
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Nov
08
2012
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Posted by Admin
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Nothing brings a productive day to a screeching halt quicker than a broken aircraft. At the very core of getting the anomaly identified and corrected is that initial interaction between the mechanic and pilot.
By following a few simple suggestions you can fine tune these early communications, improve troubleshooting efficiency, and get the aircraft back online sooner.
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Categories:
Training
Safety