History Lessons
by Gene Trainor, FAA Compliance & Airworthiness Division
We all know that a well-trained pilot is generally a safer pilot. A great way to bolster that training is using a newly available series of training scenarios from the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) — a government-industry safety advocacy team — based on lessons learned from recent fatal rotorcraft accidents.
The USHST’s Recommended Practice (RP) document is geared for flight instructors, training departments, and operators as part of its national campaign to reduce the U.S. helicopter 5-year average fatal accident rate to 0.55 per 100,000 flight hours by 2025.
The national fatal rotorcraft accident rate rose in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 but appears to be on a downward trend. New training techniques could help. The RP document identifies and describes 22 fatal helicopter accidents that involve some lack of sound aviation decision making. The accidents are categorized as follows: loss of rotor revolutions per minute (RPM) in autorotation, loss of tail rotor effectiveness, spatial disorientation, unintended flight into instrument meteorological conditions (IMC), low altitude wire strike, and low altitude engine failure.
According to Nick Mayhew, general manager of the L3Harris Arlington Training Center and industry co-chair of the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team, the impetus for the program came from a review of more than 100 fatal accidents, 23 of which the USHST believes could have been prevented through scenario-based simulator training.
The data was significant enough that the USHST issued Helicopter-Safety Enhancement (H-SE) 123, Increased Simulation/Education to Develop Safe Decision Making. It is among 22 safety enhancements that the USHST released in 2017.
According to Mayhew, pilots can learn by being placed in a simulated situation that results in a fatal accident, and then learn what steps they can take to help ensure that they land their helicopters safely.
The RP document offers guidelines to help instructors build each training scenario. For example, one scenario describes an accident where a pilot and his passenger were killed near Houston when their helicopter crashed into terrain during a low-level aerial photography trip. The National Transportation Safety Board determined the probable cause of this accident was the pilot’s inability to maintain control of the helicopter after the engine lost power.
The recommended equipment and materials for this training scenario include an applicable simulator or basic aircrew training device; an applicable pilot operating handbook/rotorcraft flight manual; applicable preflight information and/or tools; applicable flight risk assessment tools (FRATs) and/or checklists, and applicable regulations.
The training completion standards for this scenario would be that the pilot under instruction will:
(a) demonstrate proficiency in maintaining main rotor RPM in a variety of flight profiles;
(b) demonstrate understanding of the conditions and risks associated with blade stall;
(c) successfully recognize and mitigate risks associated with operating in the low-level environment, specifically at low airspeed, and choose an appropriate altitude based on the specific mode of flight;
(d) successfully maneuver the aircraft to avoid hazardous flight profiles; and
(e) successfully recognize and respond to conditions conducive to carburetor icing (if applicable).
The USHST recognizes that training continues to be one of the top operational categories of helicopter accidents in the U.S. This recommended practice will allow pilots to learn from their mistakes in a safe environment and will make them less likely to repeat the error during actual flight.
For additional data-driven training, consider attending the virtually hosted 2020 FAA International Rotorcraft Safety Conference (Oct. 27–29). The conference will include presentations geared for pilots, mechanics, and the entire helicopter community. Information and registration are available at www.faahelisafety.org.
Gene Trainor is a technical writer/communications specialist for the FAA Compliance & Airworthiness Division.
