Comparing airlines to helicopters..... not again.
If you want higher safety levels in helicopters, then let's stop buggering around with engine failure and tackle what is really killing us.
PC1 and the associated system may well suit offshore operations and they are a logical, very well thought out risk reduction methodology against the risk of engine failure. JimL has amazed me with his work in this area. But I feel they are a complication to onshore ops and are ensuring our time, energy, and dollars are diverted onto a minor threat and away from our major threats. I am not saying that there is a zero accident rate from engine failures, I am saying that we are at Mrs Footes Trolley.
This philosophically based dilemma puts you at the track change switch of a trolley/train line. You can see five people are tied to the rails on the path of the trolley, but you can divert the trolley onto a siding before it gets to the 5 people. Tied to the siding rails however, is one person. So, do you pull the lever and kill the one to save the five? What if the one was your mother, or a child? Etc, etc.
We are there at the lever. The trolley can either run over lots of people on the CFIT line or hardly anyone on the engine failure line. It is simply a matter of collective choice as which one we put our time and effort and dollars into.
I also suspect that the lever choice may well be different based on what sector of the industry you are in. I get that offshore have come to a contrary conclusion than I have, and I do not for a minute disrespect that choice given my lack of offshore exposure. I know that the limits of my experience also formulate the limits of my outlook, but from an onshore and EMS perspective the balance needs serious debate.
Our industry passion with engine failures has absolutely diverted focus from the major threats of my onshore/EMS sector (not the only threats - but the major ones). I get that there is a consequence of diverting the trolley.... I am not saying that no harm will come of engine failures, but put against the harm we continue to permit by a lack of focus???
I am with Nick 100%.