EU-OPS SPO Helicopter external load

[tecpilot]

Got the latest SPO resulting text from the EASA rulemaking board and was surprised. Congratulations to our swiss friends, seems to me the board have fully adopted the very costly swiss helicopter external load and human external load regulations for the whole EASA world.

Now it will become not easy to qualify as pilot for external load operations cause a pilot needs a level qualification, each with much cycles and the instructing personal must be very experienced with up to 500 external load hours under their own belt.

Sure there are some specialised external load operators without problems to fullfill the requirements, but operators with not so much external load orders will get problems to qualify their new pilots for different levels and find instructors.

a few points:

load type 1: short line <20m
load type 2: long line >20m
load type 3: logging
load type 4:construction

300h at least for newbies to start the first external load course on the lowest level 1(500h in mountains)

for construction work <1500kg a pilot needs more than 5000 external load cycles

for the top level construction work >1500kg the pilot will need 2000 flight hours and 10.000 external load cycles.

On all levels different ground and flight instruction, supervision and solo training are required.

40h external load in 24months to be current for external loads

new is also the need for a load data recorder in the helicopter (lifts, weights, torques, power, forces, shocks and electrical activities)

Seems to me in the future fully qualified external load pilots will become very expensive

[zlocko2002]

soon in EASA regulations there will be a name of a pilot who is allowed to fly it

[alouette]

Look at European politics currently, and you will find out that whatever they deal with and enact SUCKS!!!

[tecpilot]

The Part-SPO resulting text can be found on

http://easa.europa.eu/rulemaking/doc...20Part-SPO.pdf

Look for
Subpart E – Specific requirements
Section 1 – Helicopter external sling load operations (HESLO)

page 217 and following

[120torque]

Cat A

Does this rule out singles then ?..... Page 218

3. Helicopter and equipment
a. The helicopter:
The helicopter should be certificated in Category A or equivalent as determined by the Agency.

[JimBall]

120torque: with much cross-referencing to other parts of the changes, and mindful that we are due new Single European Rules of the Air and UK Rules of the Air, it's hard to find the complete answer.
It seems it may come down to a risk assessment and national bodies. And the SOPs.
The situation in Greece has more transparency than this!

[tecpilot]

I believe they have a lot of misspellings in the paper. Sometimes they talk about HESLO, than HELO on the same page. May be it comes from messy "copy, paste and mixing" from and with other sources. (charts and text by different authors???)

Cycle: A cycle is a flight from site A to site B with an external load and the subsequent return to site A.

What if load and sling are dropped on site B? 0,5 cycles?

[JohnDixson]

Good thing this silliness didn't exist in 1968, else the boys in the picture below would have had the afternoon off!



I know one of the guys who was involved in this drop and he didn't have any 10,000 external load cycles. Made a nice LZ like he was supposed to tho'.

Thanks,
John Dixson

[tecpilot]

Nice picture never seen before. Some kind of a daisy cutter.

You are right, a valuable hint for the rulemaking. They have forgotten helicopter external sling destruction operations (HESDO)

St. Louis Helicopter Knocks Down Chimney With Wrecking Ball - YouTube

The poor guy can only count one cycle for a hard day

[alouette]

I have an idea where to conduct HESDOs...

[zlocko2002]

I could give you a hand

[alouette]

Join the club!!!

[170']

...

It's early morning still, but having skimmed thru the whole doc, it seems as though it was largely taken directly from the Swiss as previously reported. How did that happen? The Swiss themselves say their system is barely workable!

Interesting is that the reference on page 218 (3A) quotes Cat A requirement.Then at 244 (HEC) it quotes A or B.

Seems nothing more than a 'cut and paste' from someone completely unfamiliar with either 'HESLO' ops or 'cutting and pasting'

From here:

EASA - Comment Response Documents (CRDs) and Review Groups
It appears the closing date for comment has passed already. Can someone better informed and more familiar with the process confirm?

Things get more shambolic by the day...

[JimL]

This document has only just opened for comment - the notification was only sent out on the 31 Oct.

Please note that CRD of NPA-2009-02b (Part-SPO and Part-CAT (S+H)) "Part-SPO and Part-CAT for sailplanes and balloons" is now open for consultation on EASA website.

See: http://hub.easa.europa.eu/crt/docs/viewcrdpdf/id_138

To place reactions please logon at EASA CRT application

For further information please contact Rulemaking Process Support at [email protected]

Jim

[170']

...

Thanks for that JIm.

Can you help with another query?

Will the ability of the NAA's to amend regulations or interpret regulations differently, ever be curtailed. And if so on what date?

In plain speak. Will all EASA States ever be mandated to follow the same rules with no local exemptions?

Thanks...Paul

[squib66]

As soon as these rules come into force unless the rules build in any temporary transition arrangements.

EASA isn't the JAA 'club' where nations could choose what rules to implement or waive and when.

[170']

Thanks Squib...

But I thought the JAA was the temporary transition arrangement...

[Ranger III]

In Switzerland, we have already similar regulation for years.

Flow Chart for Aerial Work:

http://www.bazl.admin.ch/fachleute/f...NoKOn6A--&.pdf

Forms for the several steps:

BAZL - Aerial Work

[Ranger III]

Flow Chart

In Switzerland, we have already similar regulation for years.

Flow Chart for Aerial Work:

http://www.bazl.admin.ch/fachleute/f...NoKOn6A--&.pdf

Forms for the several steps:

BAZL - Aerial Work