AW139 Doors open, CAT A performance question.
 

Good morning,

I have a question for the room, on the supplement for flight with cockpit doors removed it mentions restricted to Cat B operations, but what is the penalty for CAT A operations with cabin door open for landing? Some HEMS operators are landing with cabin door open.

apart from doors falling off, is there a penalty for Cat A operations with Cabin door(s) open for landing abs takeoff?

Hi Fun
If they are operating into a site requiring CAT A/Class 1 performance e.g. a hospital site in a congested and hostile environment then they will not be able to open the doors during the procedure. If they are operating at an unsurveyed/ad-hoc HEMS operating site for instance, then they can't be CAT A/Class 1 and can therefore open the doors as that is permitted in the RFM supplement.
Cheers
TeeS

Most of the time, performance as depicted in the RFM CAT A part is simply not “proven” and most likely (slightly) affected (more drag) in case of an engine failure…. Mostly relevant before LDP where you want to accelerate again in case of an engine failure. Once past LDP there probably isn’t really an issue, but as it is not “proven/certified” it is officially prohibited to open the door if really flying a CAT A procedure.

Hi Tees, thanks for the info, I didn’t see that part in the supplement, I’ll have to go in again.

Doors have also fallen off Irish machines in flight

thanks Casper,

You won’t find it in the RFM supplements as it doesn’t cover operational guidance for different roles. The overriding guidance for performance classes when flying HEMS is in SPA.HEMS and more specifically the exemptions granted to the operator from SERA 5005