Helicopter Performance Requirements

[manrow]

Prompted by the recent North Sea accidents although not performance related, I would like to know whether modern twin-engined helicopters have to meet the sort of performance requirements applied to modern twin fixed wing aircraft?

My recollection is that in the very early days of North Sea operations that the then-available helicopters could not meet the engine-out requirements and special procedures were designed to avoid the most critical performance areas?

[VTA]

While not exactly aligned with multi-engine, fixed wing operators, modern multi-engine helicopters do have "Recommend" performance requirements outlined by ICAO.

For more details refer to;

ICAO Annex 6, Pt 3, 6th Edition. Sec 4.1.1 details Class 1 performance. Sec 4.2.1 details Class 2 performance.

[JimL]

manrow,

Simplistically, the principles are the same but the reference heights, and rates of climb (as opposed to gradients) are different.

As VTA has recommended, take a look at Annex 6 Part III; however, the references he has provided are from Attachment A - Example (at the back of the Annex); reading the whole of this attachment is recommended.

Note 1 in the attachment provides some guidance on the application of performance for offshore operations.

Note 2 with respect to performance in congested areas.

The basic principles are covered in the first part of Attachment A; the mechanics in the Example.

Jim