International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST)
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International Helicopter Safety Team
Highly commendable safety programme with some ambitious goals. Will be very interesting to watch this evolve and I wish it all the success in the world.
New global helicopter safety body prepares for launch
Flight International. David Learmount - London
The helicopter industry is to set up action groups to gather data and draft strategies aimed at improving rotary wing safety by a factor of five within 10 years.
The charter for a new organisation – the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) – has been drafted and will be approved by 1 January, says the founding committee, which comprises industry representatives and major national aviation regulators, including the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The draft IHST charter is the first tangible result of resolutions agreed at the groundbreaking International Helicopter Safety Symposium (IHSS) in Montreal, Canada, in September (Flight International, 4-10 October).
The committee says the IHST plan draws on programmes used to improve airline operational safety, and cites the USA’s Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) as a role model. The CAST, a task force combining manufacturers, airlines and their associations, air traffic controllers and pilots, identified the operational areas where the greatest safety benefits could be achieved, then worked out strategies to reduce accidents.
Resources will come from member organisations, says the committee, and review meetings will take place about four times a year, normally tied in with events such as the Helicopter Association International’s Heli-Expo.
Membership already includes the major helicopter associations and safety organisations, helicopter manufacturers, and organisations such as the FAA, European Aviation Safety Agency, Transport Canada and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Delegates at the September IHSS agreed that a system for implementing the plan to cut helicopter accidents globally by 80% by 2015 would start within six months.
The IHST says it intends to set up a Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) and a separate policy implementation team (JHSIT), but first it has set itself a number of objectives, including:
agreeing top safety focus areas;
establishing precise accident/incident reduction targets;
establishing safety metrics and an annual status reporting system;
chartering the JHSAT and JHSIT teams, reviewing and approving their recommendations for implementation, then monitoring and,
if necessary, adjusting the results of intervention strategies
New global helicopter safety body prepares for launch
Flight International. David Learmount - London
The helicopter industry is to set up action groups to gather data and draft strategies aimed at improving rotary wing safety by a factor of five within 10 years.
The charter for a new organisation – the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) – has been drafted and will be approved by 1 January, says the founding committee, which comprises industry representatives and major national aviation regulators, including the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The draft IHST charter is the first tangible result of resolutions agreed at the groundbreaking International Helicopter Safety Symposium (IHSS) in Montreal, Canada, in September (Flight International, 4-10 October).
The committee says the IHST plan draws on programmes used to improve airline operational safety, and cites the USA’s Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) as a role model. The CAST, a task force combining manufacturers, airlines and their associations, air traffic controllers and pilots, identified the operational areas where the greatest safety benefits could be achieved, then worked out strategies to reduce accidents.
Resources will come from member organisations, says the committee, and review meetings will take place about four times a year, normally tied in with events such as the Helicopter Association International’s Heli-Expo.
Membership already includes the major helicopter associations and safety organisations, helicopter manufacturers, and organisations such as the FAA, European Aviation Safety Agency, Transport Canada and the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
Delegates at the September IHSS agreed that a system for implementing the plan to cut helicopter accidents globally by 80% by 2015 would start within six months.
The IHST says it intends to set up a Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) and a separate policy implementation team (JHSIT), but first it has set itself a number of objectives, including:
agreeing top safety focus areas;
establishing precise accident/incident reduction targets;
establishing safety metrics and an annual status reporting system;
chartering the JHSAT and JHSIT teams, reviewing and approving their recommendations for implementation, then monitoring and,
if necessary, adjusting the results of intervention strategies
Sooth! Sounds like some Sacred Cows are headed for the butcher block now.
About time too, I might add.
About time too, I might add.
I've just been reading the minutes of the conference and it sounds encouraging.
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Final Report on the meeting
The challenge in groups of this nature, is to take the excellent theoretical perception and intent of the issue and take it back to the field and operational level.
I would suggest that any participants in this programme, sample ideas and try them here. You will probably run the entire gamut of responses, including potentially, the one that holds the key.
The key is to never tell anyone what to do, but include them in the resolution process and incorporate them entirely into the solution.
This group is a great idea, and not before time.
The challenge in groups of this nature, is to take the excellent theoretical perception and intent of the issue and take it back to the field and operational level.
I would suggest that any participants in this programme, sample ideas and try them here. You will probably run the entire gamut of responses, including potentially, the one that holds the key.
The key is to never tell anyone what to do, but include them in the resolution process and incorporate them entirely into the solution.
This group is a great idea, and not before time.
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International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST)
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita prevented many U.S. helicopter operators from attending or sending representatives the International Helicopter Safety Symposium (IHSS) held in Montreal last September, so I’m posting this thread to make sure you’re aware of events transpiring since and to encourage you to join the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) that resulted from the IHSS. The IHST was introduced to the industry at the HAI Heli-Expo in Dallas this past February. As you may have heard, the IHST has the goal of leading the industry to reduce the current helicopter accident rate by 80%. At the IHSS and again at Heli-Expo there was the near unanimous support from helicopter manufacturers, operators, and regulators for this goal.
The IHST’s mission is to provide government, industry and operator leadership to develop an integrated, data-driven strategy to improve helicopter safety worldwide, both military and civil, and to focus the implementation of this strategy. The IHST vision is to achieve the highest levels of safety in the international helicopter communities by focusing on appropriate initiatives prioritized to result in the greatest improvement in helicopter safety.
The IHST’s Executive Committee is co-chaired by Dave Downey, FAA Rotorcraft Directorate, and Matt Zuccaro, HAI President, and includes Rhett Flater, AHS Executive Director, Somen Chowdhury of Bell Helicopters, Don Sherritt of Transport Canada, and Bob Sheffield of Shell Aircraft. IHST has created and is soliciting industry support for a Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) that will look at all available data and prior analyses of helicopter accidents to determine the most prevalent causes and the most effective accident prevention measures. Mark Liptak, FAA, and Jack Drake, HAI, are JHSAT co-chairs. The JHSAT will present the IHST with a prioritized list of helicopter risk reduction measures. The IHST will then create a Joint Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (JHSIT) that will carry out rigorous cost/benefit analyses on the proposed risk reduction measures, then develop and carry out a process to implement the best risk reduction measures for each helicopter industry sector. Cooperation and contribution from each industry sector is the key to success for this effort.
There are two important opportunities coming within the next two months for you to engage in IHST work. There will be an International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) meeting on Monday, May 8, 2006, at the Phoenix Civic Plaza in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. For more information on this IHST meeting, go to www.ihst.org where you’ll find a program for the event at http://ihst.org/images/stories/documents/ihst%20may%208%20meeting.pdf. This meeting is a part of the AHS 62nd Annual Forum & Technology Display, May 9-11, 2006, in Phoenix. For more details on this AHS Forum, go to http://www.vtol.org/ahsfrm.html. There will also be an International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) Regional Conference on June 12-13, 2006 at Hotel Le-Meridien, in New Delhi, India. For more information on that conference, please contact The Rotary Wing Society of India at AeSI HQs Building, 13-B, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi-110 002 - Tel/fax: 91-120-2536730.
IHST membership is free! Go to www.ihst.org to join. Please engage in this effort.
The IHST’s mission is to provide government, industry and operator leadership to develop an integrated, data-driven strategy to improve helicopter safety worldwide, both military and civil, and to focus the implementation of this strategy. The IHST vision is to achieve the highest levels of safety in the international helicopter communities by focusing on appropriate initiatives prioritized to result in the greatest improvement in helicopter safety.
The IHST’s Executive Committee is co-chaired by Dave Downey, FAA Rotorcraft Directorate, and Matt Zuccaro, HAI President, and includes Rhett Flater, AHS Executive Director, Somen Chowdhury of Bell Helicopters, Don Sherritt of Transport Canada, and Bob Sheffield of Shell Aircraft. IHST has created and is soliciting industry support for a Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) that will look at all available data and prior analyses of helicopter accidents to determine the most prevalent causes and the most effective accident prevention measures. Mark Liptak, FAA, and Jack Drake, HAI, are JHSAT co-chairs. The JHSAT will present the IHST with a prioritized list of helicopter risk reduction measures. The IHST will then create a Joint Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (JHSIT) that will carry out rigorous cost/benefit analyses on the proposed risk reduction measures, then develop and carry out a process to implement the best risk reduction measures for each helicopter industry sector. Cooperation and contribution from each industry sector is the key to success for this effort.
There are two important opportunities coming within the next two months for you to engage in IHST work. There will be an International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) meeting on Monday, May 8, 2006, at the Phoenix Civic Plaza in downtown Phoenix, Arizona. For more information on this IHST meeting, go to www.ihst.org where you’ll find a program for the event at http://ihst.org/images/stories/documents/ihst%20may%208%20meeting.pdf. This meeting is a part of the AHS 62nd Annual Forum & Technology Display, May 9-11, 2006, in Phoenix. For more details on this AHS Forum, go to http://www.vtol.org/ahsfrm.html. There will also be an International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) Regional Conference on June 12-13, 2006 at Hotel Le-Meridien, in New Delhi, India. For more information on that conference, please contact The Rotary Wing Society of India at AeSI HQs Building, 13-B, Indraprastha Estate, New Delhi-110 002 - Tel/fax: 91-120-2536730.
IHST membership is free! Go to www.ihst.org to join. Please engage in this effort.
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Report by David Learmount (Flight International)
from the IHST regional conference in New Delhi
from the IHST regional conference in New Delhi
Helicopter team drafts safety plan
The newly formed Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) is examining the details of the nearly 600 rotary-wing aircraft accidents that occur annually worldwide to derive a strategy for improving helicopter safety by 80% within 10 years. The plan is based on the strategy successfully used to enhance airline safety since the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) began its work in 1998.
Speaking at the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) regional conference in New Delhi, India last week, US Federal Aviation Administration rotorcraft manager David Downey said that, despite the lack of flight data or cockpit voice recorders (FDR/CVR) fitted on helicopters, the JHSAT is going to use the accident reports to identify the greatest risks to this industry sector. The task will then be to determine how the industry needs to act to reduce individual operators’ exposure to the identified risks. If it works, he says, the 600 accidents could reduce to 120.
Ideas to improve rotary-wing safety included installing cockpit cameras as the lowest-cost method of putting a form of flight recorder into helicopters, and greater training credits to be given by aviation authorities for the use of advanced flight-training devices, rather than insistence on full-flight simulator time.
Kevin Connell, vice-president of Bell Helicopter’s XworX, said that the manufacturer will set up a training organisation in India next year and is negotiating with potential partners in the venture.
India’s fleet of 140 civil helicopters is predicted to grow by 15% a year, says the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The industry reports 14 months without a rotary-wing accident, says head of the DGCA’s helicopter group P K Chattopadhya, but between 2001 and early 2005 there was a surge in serious and fatal accidents, 2003 being the worst year with seven.
The newly formed Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JHSAT) is examining the details of the nearly 600 rotary-wing aircraft accidents that occur annually worldwide to derive a strategy for improving helicopter safety by 80% within 10 years. The plan is based on the strategy successfully used to enhance airline safety since the Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST) began its work in 1998.
Speaking at the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) regional conference in New Delhi, India last week, US Federal Aviation Administration rotorcraft manager David Downey said that, despite the lack of flight data or cockpit voice recorders (FDR/CVR) fitted on helicopters, the JHSAT is going to use the accident reports to identify the greatest risks to this industry sector. The task will then be to determine how the industry needs to act to reduce individual operators’ exposure to the identified risks. If it works, he says, the 600 accidents could reduce to 120.
Ideas to improve rotary-wing safety included installing cockpit cameras as the lowest-cost method of putting a form of flight recorder into helicopters, and greater training credits to be given by aviation authorities for the use of advanced flight-training devices, rather than insistence on full-flight simulator time.
Kevin Connell, vice-president of Bell Helicopter’s XworX, said that the manufacturer will set up a training organisation in India next year and is negotiating with potential partners in the venture.
India’s fleet of 140 civil helicopters is predicted to grow by 15% a year, says the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The industry reports 14 months without a rotary-wing accident, says head of the DGCA’s helicopter group P K Chattopadhya, but between 2001 and early 2005 there was a surge in serious and fatal accidents, 2003 being the worst year with seven.
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Tell Me More!
I have a few questions regarding the IHST. Is there anyone with the answers?
Just who is the IHST? Is it the AHS in another guise?
How is it funded?
Is it really going to be ‘International’ or is it going to be like the HAI and only give lip service to being ‘International’?
Perhaps it was trying to prove it was ‘International’ by holding a regional conference in New Delhi? How did this choice of the region and the venue come about?
What other regions has the IHST established? I noticed the HAA made a presentation. Is Australia now part of South Asia? I can’t believe that there were no takers from the onshore operators in India when it came to talking about themselves for 30 – 45 minutes.
How was the conference advertised? I didn’t hear about it until it was over. Perhaps it was by invitation only?
We seem to have the ‘establishment’ represented on the Team by manufacturers, regulators and trade associations. Does Shell Aircraft (interestingly the only none North American representative) regard itself as an operator or a user of helicopters? Are we going to see some ‘regular operators’ on the team? By ‘regular’ I mean companies that are not ‘their own’ clients.
Cyclic Hotline’s point (‘include them in the resolution process and incorporate them entirely into the solution.’) is excellent but when is this inclusion going to take place?
Just who is the IHST? Is it the AHS in another guise?
How is it funded?
Is it really going to be ‘International’ or is it going to be like the HAI and only give lip service to being ‘International’?
Perhaps it was trying to prove it was ‘International’ by holding a regional conference in New Delhi? How did this choice of the region and the venue come about?
What other regions has the IHST established? I noticed the HAA made a presentation. Is Australia now part of South Asia? I can’t believe that there were no takers from the onshore operators in India when it came to talking about themselves for 30 – 45 minutes.
How was the conference advertised? I didn’t hear about it until it was over. Perhaps it was by invitation only?
We seem to have the ‘establishment’ represented on the Team by manufacturers, regulators and trade associations. Does Shell Aircraft (interestingly the only none North American representative) regard itself as an operator or a user of helicopters? Are we going to see some ‘regular operators’ on the team? By ‘regular’ I mean companies that are not ‘their own’ clients.
Cyclic Hotline’s point (‘include them in the resolution process and incorporate them entirely into the solution.’) is excellent but when is this inclusion going to take place?
