Two crew or autopilot now required for Aussie night flying

[Savoia]

Australian helicopter air transport operations with passengers at night will be required to have an autopilot fitted or operate with a two-pilot crew

Australia is tightening up rules for flying helicopters at night following the release of the final report into the August 2011 crash of a Eurocopter AS355F2 Twin Squirrel helicopter at Lake Eyre in South Australia.

New regulations being introduced next year will require all air transport flights in helicopters with passengers operating at night to be equipped with an autopilot or a two-pilot crew. While this extends the range of operations required to have such risk controls, the ATSB notes it does not address the situation for other helicopter operations, namely those not carrying passengers.

Australia tightens rules for helicopter night flying (http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/australia-tightens-rules-for-helicopter-night-flying-393467/)

[tottigol]

Perhaps the FAA ought to take advice by the Aussies on this.
Autopilot or full time stabilization on all helicopters operating night VFR for hire.

[ShyTorque]

Same rules were brought into force by the UK's CAA around 1999 after a number of similar RW accidents by night, including at least one police aircraft.

We all complained at the time, but in retrospect it is a sensible rule.

[John Eacott]

"Following the release of the report etc" is a tad duplicitous since the Part 61 re-write has been underway for some years and is currently suspended until late next year for further review (it was due to be brought in in December).

Furthermore this is a requirement only for charter operations, not for aerial work or private ops. Night VFR charter already requires a twin engine helicopter plus an Instrument Rated pilot, it is a relatively minor variation to the current requirement to add a copilot or an autopilot.

[grumpytroll]

Adding a co-pilot requirement or an autopilot to a existing fleet of aircraft is not what I would call "minor". If the owners of helo companies (those evil devils) have to suddenly add one or the other, it is going to be a challenge to stay in business based on their current budget, contracts etc.

Cheers

[SASless]

Contracts can be re-negotiated for the change. Rates can be increased. This is just another cost to doing business.

I don't suppose you think other costs remain constant and "budgets" once put into place are etched in stone?

US Law affords protection for Contractors in this kind of situation. A good Contracting practice is to include Language that sets up that protection.

Sample language.....which would be a Sub-Paragraph under Contract Modifications.


In the event of any change in any applicable statute, rule, regulation, ordinance, or other law or any order or directive or interpretation of any applicable governmental authority or regulatory body which, invalidates or is otherwise inconsistent with the terms of this Agreement or that would cause one or both of the parties to be in violation of the law, the parties shall negotiate in good faith in an effort to agree on appropriate revisions to this Agreement. If the parties have been unable to do so within thirty (30) calendar days of commencing such negotiation, either party may elect to terminate this Agreement upon sixty (60) calendar days written notice to the other party.


A Contractor cannot be compelled to perform under a Contract that would constitute a Violation of Law. Changes in the Law require both the Operator and Customer to make such changes required for each/both to be in compliance with the new Law.

Does not Australian Law not have the same foundation for Contract Law?

[ersa]

I was under the impression that CASA were to re classify air ambulance machine from being air work to passenger carrying charter

[Nigel Osborn]

Over 20 years ago CASA required the 206 marine pilot transfer at Port Hedland to have a second pilot or a SAS fitted for the 20 mile point but not the 10 mile one. The company decided the SAS was the cheaper option. I found the nights there the blackest I had experienced but after a few nights, it's surprising how easy it became. We also had to have a large moveable light fitted, I think it came from a 212. New pilots without much night experience found it very hard & some never made the grade, so the CASA requirement was popular.

[imabell]

Night vfr is by its title, a flight by night under the vfr, navigating by visual reference not a charter flight on a pitch black night over outback australia without any reference at all.

[sunnywa]

The new regulations are Part 133 (passenger carrying operations) and Part 138 (Aerial Work Operations). No such thing as charter anymore under the new rules. EMS are looking at being placed under the Part 133 rules by CASA. Not sure of the results but will have big impact on aircraft with PC1 etc.
I think Night VFR is a furphy and should be removed from the rule book. Gets very black out there in the GAFA............:eek:

[tacr2man]

theres not a lot that stands out during daylight either JMHE :)

[floatsarmed]

Unless you are flying around a major city of several million people with its associated illumination there's NO such bloody thing as NVFR. Especially if you are anywhere near the GAFA which is blacker than the inside of cow.

It's quite simple, night, outside of the immediate confines of a very large metro area is IMC and any legends who think they know better are just kidding themselves and are endangering themselves and their unsuspecting pax.

If you go out at night you need an IFR equipped aircraft and an instrument rating that is well used.

Just how many night time crashes and deaths are required for CASA to stop this nvfr bulldust?

[topendtorque]

how many have their been flats armed?
i can think of a few, most of which were by pilots in good conditions, but not night rated.
one in particular - his last report at 2800 ft was of lights at outstaion x. he had a habit of cruising way too high for horizon definition. the light he saw must have been a star, there was no one at that location or light, lonely trip down from 2800 ft i would think after inverting an R22.
With the rating (i.e. how to do a night auto and why you have no depth perception, how to maintain horizon definition) + say better than 1/4 moon + stringent cloud and vis forecast conditions, it would be hard to argue against.

what we call territory IFR by day when there is lots of burning off (ground disappears at 3000ft) is a lot harder than the conditions i described above.

[Geoff Williams]

How many current Aussie EMS operators don't mandate in their Ops Manual that their EMS operations are conducted under the CHTR category? Ours always has.

The patient(s) we all carry normally have no opportunity to make an informed decision as to whether they wish to go in a helicopter or not, so there should be an expectation that a high level of safety is associated with any EMS transport.

For mine, NVIS is the way to go with an IFR fallback position. Plus of course, a helicopter that will meet the PC2 requirement of 1%, soon to become 50fpm by all accounts.

Geoff.

[SASless]

Night flying in the mountainous area of the East Coast of the USA can be a thrill.

Throw in the nearly constant Haze, steep mountain ridges with scant lighting on the tops and all of the house lights in the valley...which means you can see the lights if you are over the valley....but not if you are past the one valley and approaching the ridge between you and the next valley.

Too many times....no horizon....over cast.....no celestial lighting....and generally not much to see at all. Throw in some ground fog in the valleys....and yes....it gets darned dark.

Now on the other hand....on a clear, cold, crisp Winter night....Full Moon...Snow covered ground....and you darn near need your Sun Glasses.....it might as well be daylight....but so much prettier than day flying could ever be.

I did the Danville to St. Mary's run in Pennsylvania on each of the two kinds of nights....one was pure Joy....and the other was really...really...really hard. Look it up on Google Earth....and you will see how the mountain ridges run across the route.

[nonsense]

Googlemaps link for Danville and St Mary's (http://goo.gl/maps/cpgrp) for anyone who is curious.

[SASless]

Non.....on a Direct routing....notice how few lights would be possible between Lock Haven (original home of Piper Aircraft) and St. Mary's.

That part of Pennsylvania is beautiful....especially in the Fall when the Tree Leaves are changing color....great Deer Hunting area as well. But....for EMS Helicopter Flying....it does get dark.

[floatsarmed]

Top end,
Territory IFR eh? Well at least it's day time.:)

How many, I dunno exactly but over the last 10 - 15 years it seems an all too regular an occurrence.

I'm not saying you can't do it if you are flying the right machinery and are very current. For instance, the HA MPT guys out of Karratha fly to moving ships just about every night and surprise surprise they're bloody good at it and they have good well equipped machinery too. But that's just it, they do it all the time. The real danger comes when it's on an ad hoc basis where all of a sudden it's thrust upon you to either get your client home or on some bogus night ems job in a light single without the proper kit or ifr training! Seriously at night I reckon it's got to be two engines, IFR rated and current, fully stabilised machine etc etc.

Sure when it's a perfect clear fully moonlit night with good vis then you have some visual reference but the trouble is that you can't only go NVFR on those nights and stay in business.

If it's black it's an IFR flight plain and simple.

The longer the seat of the pants, 'I'm a bloody legend' gang continue to do it then there will be a continuance of the crash reports identifying 'spatial disorientation at night' being the primary cause of the accident.:sad:

A pilot could 'get away with it' for ages and not get disorientated at night but sooner or later irrespective of their experience level they'll chuck a wobbler and it's all over.

Then, when they're dead people say, oh he was a very experienced pilot with x thousands of hours and x years experience, very respected in the industry blah blah must have had some sort of mechanical failure blah blah. Bull****, they took off on a pitch black as guts night and flew vfr really well right up until the minute they lost the plot and flew it straight into the bush upside down at vne!

CASA do your job and regulate NVFR into the history books. The bar for air safety standards has been raised, make night time the domain of the trained and equipped? :ok: