the journal of the professional helicopter pilot
Flying with ‘the law’ in the
wild, wild west--
COLUMNS
2 From the President
16 Purely “Pete”
FEATURES
& MORE
13 PHPA Pilot Plays Role in
EMS Accident Review
Too Close to the Trough
14 A Loggin’ Story
Volume 5
4 Cover Story: Flying with ‘the law’
in the wild, wild west—
Riverside County Sheriff’s Dept.
10 The First International Helicopter
Safety Symposium
www.autorotate.com
18 PHPA’s New Pilot Testing Center
19 PHPA’s Virtual Flight Surgeons
22 Test Pilot
Issue 5
winter 2005
A u t o r o t a t e i s t h e o f f i c i a l p u b l i c a t i o n o f t h e P r o f e s s i o n a l H e l i c o p t e r P i l o t s ’ A s s o c i a t i o n ( P H PA )
From the President
PHPA UPDATE
We have finally completed the new
PHPA International office suite in
Daleville, Alabama, just outside of Fort
Rucker. The new offices consist of a
lobby, business office, president’s office,
and an FAA Test Center where PHPA
International members get great discounts
on FAA written exams. We are currently
testing an average of 100 pilots a month
in the new center at half the cost to the
member as compared to just a year ago at
other testing facilities. We have also
hired a new office manager, Mrs. Leah
Harlow, who has a degree in business
management and six years management
experience. Leah is getting the new office
organized and can be reached at 334-5981031 or toll free at 1-866-FOR-PHPA
(367-7472).
You can also look for some much
needed updates to the website
www.autorotate.org in the very near
future. Leah has already ordered a series
of changes to make it work better and I
believe by the time she is through with it
we all will have a much better experience
each time we visit the website. With that
2
in mind please send any suggestions for
the website to [email protected].
PHPA Int. is now a member of the
International Helicopter Safety Team
(IHST). Please refer to the articles in this
issue referencing the Safety Conference
for more information. The IHST is an
industry wide initiative to reduce helicopter accidents by 80% worldwide over the
next ten years. PHPA Int. recently sent
four pilots to the opening conference in
Montreal. Everyone came away feeling
optimistic about the possibilities. I will
keep you posted as we progress through
the myriad of committees and conferences which are sure to come in the near
future. Safety is one of our most important priorities and we intend to be an
integral part of this most ambitious initiative by the entire industry to make our
profession a much safer one.
I want to know! I would really like to
know something about our members, as
would others, so if you have a few spare
moments, how about jotting down a short
paragraph on who you are, what you fly
and why you chose your particular area
of our profession. We are all in this
together and the more we know about
you, the better we can represent you.
So, write a short bio, add a cool photo
and send it to Tony for publication in
Autorotate ([email protected]).
Stay Safe!
Butch Grafton
President, The Professional Helicopter
Pilots’ Association (PHPA)
PHPA International
354 S. Daleville Ave, Suite B
Daleville, AL 36322
[email protected]
Photography: (l to r) Michael Goodwin, President, OPEIU; Butch Grafton, President, PHPA; Kevin Kistler, Director of Field Services, OPEIU—in PHPA’s new office lobby.
END
www.autorotate.com
AUTOROTATE, AUTOROTATE, WHEREFORE ART THOU, AUTOROTATE?
Publisher:
The Professional Helicopter Pilots’ Association
Managing Editor:
Anthony Fonze
Design:
Studio 33
Editorial Assistance:
Michael Sklar
It would seem as though putting out a
24 page publication like Autorotate every
other month should be relatively simple
and straight forward. Sometimes it is and
sometimes it isn’t.
Be assured, we are committed to putting out a new issue of the magazine
every other month. And for the most
part, we remain in the ball park. But we
got just a little bit out of whack in
September of this year, and we’re still
trying to recover. Two areas primarily
result in delays: printing and scheduling
the interview for the lead story.
Frequently, our lead stories require us to
schedule a meeting, session, flight, etc.
with the target of the article and sometimes these things take longer than anticipated—especially when we’re dealing
with any type of government agency.
Probably a bit of poor planning on my
part, and I accept the hit on that.
And then, there’s Hurricane Katrina.
Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans on
the same day that we uploaded the last
issue of Autorotate to our New Orleans
based printer, Garrity Printing. At first, it
looked as though we might be OK, and
then the levees broke and the issue took a
back seat to concerns for the welfare of
our friends at Garrity and the many
PHPA members who live and work in the
area. Trying to reconcile our responsibility to getting the issue out with a sense of
responsibility to our loyal printer, we
decided to wait several weeks to see if
Garrity could get back online in time to
handle the issue. In the end, they couldn’t, but we felt like we owed it to them to
try.
Now it was time to find another printer, with our caveat that it be a union
shop. This took several weeks. And
finally, though the substitute printing
company, based in Maryland, was very
cooperative and supportive, they weren’t
Volume 5 Issue 5
Autorotate is owned by the Professional Helicopter
Pilots’ Association (PHPA). Autorotate (ISSN 1531166X) is published every other month for $30.00 per
year by PHPA, 354 S. Daleville Ave, Suite B, Daleville,
AL 36322.
Copyright © 2005, Professional Helicopter Pilots’
Association. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or
in part is strictly prohibited. It is illegal to make copies
of this publication. Printed in the U.S.A. by union
employees.
familiar with our publication and we
weren’t familiar with how they do things
and it took another week or two to get
that worked out. One interesting delay
was the result of the fact that our periodical postage permit was maintained by the
New Orleans Post Office, which, in fact,
no longer existed at the time. Oh well,
live and learn.
To help remedy the situation and get
back on track, our plan is to attempt to
accelerate the next two issues so that we
will get more or less back on track during
the first quarter of 06. I do want to thank
you for your patience and let you know
that I am truly embarrassed by this breakdown in timeliness and that steps are
being taken to get back in your good
graces.
Subscriptions:
Subscriptions are provided to current members of PHPA.
PHPA membership is offered at $60.00 per year.
Promotional discounts may be offered. For a complete
list of membership benefits go to www.autorotate.org.
Single issue reprints offered, when available, for $5.00
each. To become a member of PHPA or to notify PHPA of
a change of address, contact PHPA at 354 S. Daleville
Ave, Suite B, Daleville, AL 36322.
Phone 334-598-1031 Fax 334-598-1032.
The Toll Free Number is 1-866-FOR-PHPA
E-mail [email protected].
PHPA members may submit address changes at
www.autorotate.org. Local members may submit address
changes through their locals. Local members with e-mail
addresses, who are not registered at the website, should
contact their locals.
Article Contributions and Editorial
Comments:
Article contributions, including ideas, freelance stories,
an interest in assignment articles, Live and Learn
experiences, photographs, and comments are welcome
and should be sent to autorotate, 3160 N. San Remo,
Tucson, AZ 85715. Phone 520-906-2485.
Fax 520-298-7439. E-mail [email protected].
Autorotate and PHPA are not responsible for materials
submitted for review.
Thanks for your loyalty and support.
Notice:
The information contained herein has been researched
and reviewed. However, Autorotate and PHPA do not
assume responsibility for actions taken by any pilot or
aircraft operator based upon information contained
herein. Every pilot and aircraft operator is responsible for
complying with all applicable regulations.
Tony Fonze, editor
[email protected]
Cover: Tom Magill
END
3
Cover story
Flying with ‘the law’ in the wild, wild west–
Riverside County Sheriff’s
Office Aviation Unit
As my rental car and I sat idling at an
intersection in morning construction-zone
traffic north of San Jacinto, California, it
struck me that the view from the car was
a microcosm of life in Riverside County.
To my front and rear, scores of motorists
were tied up while road crews labored to
widen the highway. To my left was a
vista of rolling plains whose backdrop
was beautiful San Jacinto Peak, topping
out at almost 11,000 feet above sea level.
To the right, a tangle of prickly pear
seemed to guard a large field of festivelooking pumpkins which was, in turn,
bordered to the rear by an emerging
housing development. Riverside County
itself is at a crossroads, facing the challenges of migrating from a rural, agrarian
history to a dense, urban future.
A place that needs helicopters
Riverside County, at over 7,200 square
miles, is nearly the size of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts and
considerably more geographically
diverse. From fertile river valleys to low
deserts to pine-crested mountain heights,
4
the county stretches nearly 200 miles
across, from the Colorado River in the
east to within 14 miles of the Pacific
Ocean. Just for fun, somebody included
part of the Salton Sea, a huge, saltwater
lake whose surface elevation, as well as
that of the surrounding area and several
airports, is well below sea level. (As a
side note, for someone accustomed to
flight altitudes of 3,000’ MSL or greater,
an altimeter showing less than zero was
both puzzling and amusing!)
If I could ever escape this intersection,
I was headed to the Hemet-Ryan airport
to meet up with the folks at Riverside
County Sheriff’s Office Aviation Unit.
Since 1893, when the county was formed
from slices of neighboring San
Bernardino and San Diego Counties, the
Riverside County Sheriff’s Department
has been charged with keeping the peace
and maintaining the safety of county residents. I was interested to see firsthand
how helicopters had been integrated into
a department whose history stretched
back to the days of the lone deputy on
horseback.
I arrived at the well-appointed hangar a
bit late. I’d like to blame it totally on the
traffic, but actually, I was a little navigationally-challenged that morning. I’d forgotten the road map I’d intended to bring
along and the map provided by the rental
car company didn’t include the Hemet
area. Fortunately, the Los Angeles VFR
Terminal Area Chart I’d tucked away in
my bag showed enough detail that I
could use it to navigate to the general
vicinity of the airport. Then, I just
homed in on the airplanes in the pattern.
As luck would have it, the day’s flight
crew was out on an unscheduled mission,
so my tardiness would go unnoticed.
While waiting for the crew to return,
maintenance technicians Joe Pike and
John Thomas were extremely gracious,
letting me poke around their spotless
hangar and pepper them with questions.
By Troy Hayes
Two of the most immaculate Bell OH58s I’ve ever seen were perched on
wheeled dollies in one corner of the
hangar. The maintenance guys were
clearly proud of these machines, as well
they should be. There are more than a
few surplus OH-58s out there in public
use. Many have not aged gracefully.
Not so here. Had the data plates not
revealed an early 70’s vintage, the casual
observer would think the machines had
recently rolled off the line in Texas.
Alas, the days of these beautiful
machines may be numbered, at least as
far as service to Riverside County. “We
get great support from the factory (Bell
Helicopter Textron) and the machines are
very reliable,” said Joe, a first-rate maintenance technician who has spent most of
his life immersed in helicopters and all
things aviation. “They’re like old,
dependable pickup trucks, but they just
don’t have the capabilities the
Department requires.” The unit has, over
the last several years, acquired two factory-new Eurocopter AS350B3 AStars,
whose considerable ‘high and hot’ capa-
Photography by Tom Magill
bilities are much better suited to the
Riverside County terrain and the nature
of the missions flown. Two additional
B3s are budgeted and slated to replace
the venerable but comparatively underpowered OH-58s.
As if on cue, the distinctive sound of
an AStar vibrated through the hangar and
one of the Department’s two Eurocopter
AS350B3s hover taxied into view out the
west hangar door and alighted gently on
its dolly. Once the brief shutdown procedure was performed and the rotor blades
came to a stop, I was greeted warmly by
Sergeant Steven Bertling, the unit supervisor, as he exited the aircraft. After they
completed refueling and other postflight
duties, Sergeant Bertling introduced me
to Corporal Kurt Franklin and Deputy
Eric Hoidahl, both pilots and tactical
flight officers (TFOs).
Sergeant Bertling had to graciously beg
off on the scheduled patrol flight I was to
accompany. A desk piled with paperwork, the supervisor’s perpetual nemesis,
was calling him. I’d have a chance to
talk with him later but, for now, I was
anxious to get aloft and see what airborne
law enforcement in Riverside County
was all about. Deputy Hoidahl, the pilot
in command for the mission, briefed me
on emergency procedures and ensured I
was securely buckled in. It had been a
while since I’d been a passenger in an
AStar and I’d forgotten the excellent visibility the aircraft affords to backseaters.
With no bulkhead or “broom closet” to
block the view, I had an excellent vantage point, for both the world outside the
aircraft and the ‘glass’ instrument panel
Photography: (from left, page 4) Yes, you too can live the life of luxury in Riverside County; There’s not a lot of unused space in the AStar’s cockpit; Corporal Kurt Franklin checks out
action on the ground with his gyro-stabilized binoculars;Tom Magill
5
and color, moving-map display within.
A serious training regimen
Corporal Franklin, a seasoned pilot
himself, strapped into the left front seat,
ready to assume the role of TFO for the
mission. The unit’s philosophy, he
explained, was that each pilot be missioncapable for both crew positions.
Although the aircraft’s dual controls
remain installed, the pilot flying the TFO
position has a high workload coordinating the mission with units on the ground
and rarely touches the controls, except to
give the PIC the occasional “breather”.
What, I wondered, did it take to be a
crewmember and occupy the front seats
in this aircraft? As is the case with many
airborne law enforcement entities,
Corporal Franklin explained, the
Riverside County aircraft are primarily
viewed as highly advanced, force-multiplying patrol vehicles. As such, the unit
feels a strong background in ground law
enforcement operations is an essential
qualification for both the TFO and the
PIC, and both are required to be certified
peace officers.
In fact, with the exception of one
deputy/pilot with a military aviator background and another with previous service
as an officer/pilot with a large municipality, the unit’s line pilots began their avia-
tion careers with the department as patrol
deputies and were later selected for TFO
training in the aviation unit. Their actual
pilot training came later, at the hands of
the unit’s own certificated flight instructors.
Once minted as commercial pilots and,
remember, fully capable as TFOs, unit
pilots begin their progression toward mission-qualified PIC by flying one of the
OH-58s, along with a unit CFI working
double duty as TFO and instructor, during daylight patrol missions. Once
deemed proficient in that airframe, pilots
transition into daylight work in the AStar,
again partnered with a CFI. Attendance
at the Eurocopter factory school is
required before signoff as an AStar PIC.
Nighttime patrol missions, flown exclusively in the AStar, begin once competence in the airframe has been demonstrated during daylight operations.
Once they master the aircraft during all
facets of routine patrol missions, training
begins in unit special operations. These
include night vision goggles, mountain
flying, hoist operations and long line
work. Training doesn’t stop there, however, as unit pilots are required to undergo periodic in-house checkrides and regularly visit renowned Western Operations
in Rialto, California, for precision touchdown autorotation training (see
AUTOROTATE, VOL. 3, Issue 6 and
“Purely Pete”, in this issue). Yearly
6
Photography: (from top) TFO/Pilot Corporal Kurt Franklin; Corporal Franklin on the left and Deputy Eric Hoidahl in the pilot seat (right); The Breeze-Eastern hoist; Nice profile shot; Tom
Magill
www.autorotate.com
attendance at the Eurocopter factory
school rounds out the ongoing training
regimen.
A little bit of everything
We took off from the airport and headed southbound, past Diamond Valley
Reservoir, toward the City of Temecula.
With the San Jacinto Mountains looming
to the east, Deputy Hoidahl explained the
role that both hoist and long line capability play in the unit’s mission profile. As
is usually the case in other jurisdictions,
he explained, the Riverside County
Sheriff’s Department has ultimate
responsibility for search and rescue within county boundaries and will assist, as
requested, in neighboring counties.
Local, suburbia-weary outdoor enthusiasts as well as tourists from around the
country are attracted, by the thousands, to
the mountains, as well as the significantly
less populated desert areas beyond to the
east. The law of averages dictates that a
certain percentage of those venturing into
the backcountry will end up lost or somehow incapacitated and need to be located
and/or rescued. That’s where the AStar
comes in.
“The addition of this powerful aircraft
to our fleet has dramatically changed the
way we do business,” says Hoidahl.
Working closely with three distinct
groups of county search and rescue volunteers, who are each overseen by the
sheriff’s department, the aviation unit is
frequently called upon to locate and rescue individuals in distress. If a confined
area landing, whether flat pitch or ‘one
skid / toe in’, cannot be accomplished in
order to effect a rescue, the crew will
press the aircraft’s Breeze-Eastern hoist
into service, day or night. With the TFO
acting as spotter and hoist operator while
standing on the aircraft’s left skid, specially-trained rescue personnel can be
inserted into the scene very expeditiously.
After the victim is “packaged”, he/she is
then hoisted out, either solo or with an
attendant.
n’t have to be queued up. I was just
mourning the loss of the beautiful ‘Vette’.
If the victim can tolerate sitting, the lift
can be conducted with the victim in a
harness and the victim is ultimately
brought into the aircraft cabin. If the victim’s condition necessitates lying down, a
Stokes-type basket is utilized. Due to
logistical considerations, such as available space in the aft cabin, a victim in a
rescue basket is generally not taken within the cabin. Instead, the basket is hoisted above skid height and stabilized in
place outside the cabin by the TFO.
Lateral CG is not adversely affected in
this configuration, according to Hoidahl.
The PIC then flies to a pre-established
command post where the aircraft can be
landed or the victim hoisted down to
waiting personnel. Medical care of the
victim is not provided by the flight crew
themselves, as the aircraft is not medically equipped and the crew is not certified
in emergency care.
I also wondered, tongue firmly in
cheek, how the people of the lovely city
of Temecula withstood the hardships of
such abject poverty. “Luxury housing is
booming here in this part of the county,”
Franklin explained. Sprawling subdivisions, in recent years, have replaced
many of Riverside County’s legendary
citrus orchards and vineyards. Despite
the increasing affluence of its citizens,
however, crime has not disappeared in
the County. Clandestine methamphetamine labs abound, even, paradoxically,
within multi-million dollar homes,
Franklin said. The sheriff’s aircrews
work closely with ground units in support
of illegal drug surveillance and interdiction operations. The aircraft’s infrared
imager can be a valuable asset in these
types of operations.
As we orbited over the scene of a burning, late model Chevrolet Corvette in
Temecula, Corporal Franklin’s years of
patrol experience and ‘cop skepticism’
were evident. “You’ve got to wonder
what circumstances are involved when a
car like that catches fire,” he pondered
aloud. He related that it is not uncommon for someone to “torch” a car in
hopes of covering up evidence of a
crime, including a body, within. I wasn’t
on duty, so my own police instincts did-
Photography: (from top)Circling above a serious injury accident; Watching the ‘Vette’ go up in flames; Deputy Eric Hoidahl; Tom Magill
7
With well-honed TFO proficiency in load
spotting, pilot vertical reference is generally not done. This obviously requires a
high level of trust, respect and communication between flight crewmembers.
Interestingly, as I would later learn from
Sergeant Bertling, the rescue hoist has
proven an unexpected boon to drug interdiction operations, as well. It seems
canyons in the surrounding mountains are
an ideal environment for illicit marijuana
cultivation. When deputies raid “grow
sites”, which are often in remote locations with difficult access by ground,
sheriff’s department aircraft are utilized
to insert interdiction teams via the hoist.
These operations are conducted in a
potentially hostile environment, however,
as grow sites have been known to be
defended by armed ‘bad guys’. “You
feel pretty exposed when you’re at a
hover, executing two or three hoist evolu-
tions in order to get ‘good guys’ on the
ground,” says Bertling, a dual-rated pilot
and former FAA designated examiner
with over 17,000 flight hours.
Long line work also comes into play
when confiscated marijuana plants are
lifted out by helicopter in 500-1000
pound increments. As with hoist operations, the TFO “spots” the load throughout the evolution and is responsible for
providing directional instructions to the
PIC. Crews have found that, with placement of the pilot seat relatively far
inboard, as compared to other light helicopters, pilot ‘vertical reference’ of sling
loads is more challenging in the AStar.
It was an easy leap to imagine Franklin
and Hoidahl conducting such an operation without a hitch, since their polished
use of Crew Resource Management
(CRM) seemed effortless and unforced.
Franklin easily transitioned back and
forth from acting as my tour guide to his
duties as TFO, working the law enforcement radios and the GPS-slaved moving
map display while helping Hoidahl watch
for traffic in the congested airspace
around French Valley and Skylark airports.
Star 9-2, on the scene
Skylark, a private, uncontrolled airport
on the southeastern shore of Lake
Elsinore, attracts throngs of folks whom I
personally consider to be on the lunatic
fringe of aviation: those who willingly
fling themselves out of perfectly airworthy aircraft wearing a parachute someone
else packed and those who opt to skitter
around on thermals in an airplane without
an engine. (No offense to the reader who
engages in such lunacy!) We had to keep
a sharp eye out for both as we lent airborne “officer presence” to a pair of
deputies who were rousting a homeless
encampment on the western edge of the
lake. Franklin monitored developments
on the ground, aided by motion-stabilized
binoculars, until the sheriff department
dispatcher requested the crew by call sign
for a higher priority mission.
“Star 9-2, proceed to the junction of
Post Road and Santa Rosa Mine Road.
Reporting party is in the first residence
west of the intersection, in a grey and
blue trailer. Reports 3-5 male subjects on
foot somewhere to the west, firing shotguns.” “Now we’re cooking with gas,” I
thought. The target area, in the hills west
8
Photography: (from top) Corporal Franklin is thinking “Come on Tom (photographer) we don’t have all day…;” The Sheriff’s Dept. maintains an immaculate hangar; Tom Magill
www.autorotate.com
Hoidahl pointed the aircraft back toward
the airport in Hemet, where a solution to
both problems awaited.
of the town of Perris, was not far, as the
helicopter flies, from our current position. In fact, once Franklin plugged the
intersection into the moving map system,
using a small keyboard tucked under the
ample display screen, his announcement
of “Two minutes, six seconds” was the
computer’s calculation of our time
enroute.
“Dispatching the helicopter ahead of,
or even in lieu of, deputies on the ground
is commonplace in Riverside County,
especially to locations with difficult
access or prolonged response time by
ground vehicle,” Hoidahl explained as we
sped along. The helicopter, in a sense, is
utilized as a specialized patrol vehicle,
one that travels at 120 knots without
regard to road conditions or traffic lights.
“Quite often, we’re the first law enforcement on the scene,” said Hoidahl, as
Franklin reported, “On course, 13 seconds.” “We are frequently able to determine, from the air, that no ‘situation’
actually exists,” commented Hoidahl,
“thus avoiding the need for ground units
to run around ‘chasing ghosts.’” As was
the case here, to my chagrin.
My ride-along time was over, but the
crew’s day was far from finished. After
the maintenance staff quickly fixed a
glitch in the ship’s air conditioning system, they were off again. This time, the
mission was to support a neighboring
jurisdiction with the investigation of an
officer-involved shooting. (En route, I
would later learn, Franklin and Hoidahl
detoured to a more pressing call for service, and were instrumental in the capture
of a suspect who had fled from a stolen
vehicle. All in a day’s work …)
The evening crew was due in shortly,
but I had a plane to catch. Somehow, I
was sure, they’d do just fine without me.
Providing adequate law enforcement
resources is a challenge, as rapidly grow-
ing counties like Riverside catapult into
the twenty-first century. Sheriff Bob
Doyle and the County Board of
Supervisors have invested wisely in able
leadership, competent aircrews, extensive
training, experienced maintenance support and capable aircraft, and have poised
the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office
Aviation Unit to help lead the department
around the next corner. Now, if they’d
just do something about that road junction north of town, I’d be able to make
my flight back home.
Troy Hayes is a paramedic/flight officer with
a state law enforcement agency in the southwest
United States, as well as a corporate pilot/flight
instructor with a small aviation company.
Editor’s Note: I want to express both my and
PHPA’s appreciation to Troy and Tom Magill
(photographer), both PHPA members, for donating their time and talents to the development of
this story. Thanks guys.
END
The area’s spider web of dirt roads is
popular with off-road enthusiasts and
partiers alike, according to the aircrew,
and well-known, from a patrol standpoint, to both of them. A few passes over
the locale revealed nothing amiss. The
gun-toting horde had melted away, leaving us with low fuel and full bladders.
Photography: Tom Magill
9
Special Section: First International Helicopter Safety Symposium
First International Helicopter
Safety Symposium
By Troy Montanez
Four PHPA members attended this
international event held in Montreal,
Canada, September 26-29. The historic
meeting was organized and presented by
the American Helicopter Society
International (AHSI) and the AHS,
Montreal/Ottawa Chapter. The number
of sponsors and partners of the groundbreaking assembly are too numerous to
mention, but here are just a few:
Helicopter Association International
(HAI), European Helicopter Association
(EHA), Flight Safety Foundation,
Association of Air Medical Services,
Transport Canada Civil Aviation
(TCCA), U.S. Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA), U.S. National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB),
U.S. Naval Safety Center, U.S. Army
Combat Readiness Center; and industry
sponsors to include representatives from
Canadian Helicopters Ltd./CHC
Helicopter Corporation, Bell Helicopter,
American Eurocopter, Sikorsky, Pratt &
Whitney, Turbomeca, Honeywell, and
many, many others.
The purpose of the 2005 IHSS as stated from the official program: “To initiate
an international collaborative effort to
reduce both civil and military accidents
in the vertical flight industry. The
Planning Committee has set the goal of
reducing the industry wide accident rate
by 80 percent within the next ten years.
The committee considers this goal to be
challenging, but achievable...”
Consisting of four full days, the symposium offered speakers who presented
on literally dozens of subjects. A small
sampling of topics included: safety management systems, new technologies,
night vision devices, virtual reality simu10
lation, accident response analysis and
planning, resource management, design
theory, and numerous training subjects.
Presentations were 30 minutes to several
hours in length, and they were generally
categorized as Human Performance,
Maintenance, Accident Investigation and
Regulation, Management and Economics,
Training, EMS Mission, Offshore
Mission, and Military.
In addition to the traditional, lecture
approach, an entire session, basically half
a day, was committed to an interactive
panel discussion that invited and encouraged participation by the attendees.
Panels, chaired by noted experts in their
fields, focused on Accident and Incident
Data and Investigations, Human
Performance Issues, Economics of
Safety, Regulatory Aspects of Safety, and
Training. The purpose of the open forum
format was to give participants a direct
opportunity to contribute to the development of the action items to be used as the
actual basis and means of achieving the
safety goals.
Out of the overwhelming body of
information brought forth, two concepts
emerged as being clearly fundamental to
the success of our collective accident
reduction goal, both of which are directly
related to you the reader, the PHPA
member.
First, the entire world of aviation as we
see it today was designed, as we all
know, around airplanes, and helicopters
are not airplanes. Second, not only is the
rotorcraft different from the airplane in
both concept and design, it is not at all
used in the same manner. In fact, helicopter missions differ widely across the
profession. If we’re going to attempt to
improve rotorcraft safety records, we
have to keep these facts in mind.
It was commonly accepted, long ago,
that flying helicopters was not in any
way similar to flying fixed-wing aircraft.
But, we are only now beginning to realize and accept that flying offshore in the
Gulf of Mexico is essentially different
than flying law enforcement in Omaha;
that flying EMS in the Arizona mountains, at night is essentially different than
flying for Channel 8 News in Los
Angeles on a traffic congested, Friday
afternoon; that flying a plush, corporate
S-76 is essentially different than training
a brand new, zero-time student in an R22.
Wait a minute, I’m not done yet: that
flying an AH-64… by FLIR… in formation… blacked out… while dodging
shoulder fired weapons… is essentially
different than hoisting a half-ton log off
the side of a mountain with a 200 foot
cable; that flying Hawaiian shirt clad
tourists between volcanoes is essentially
different than flying olive drab, flight-suit
clad Army flight students through the
“Clios One Departure, Banbi Transition”
out of Cairns Army Airfield over and
over and over again;1 and that flying a
zero-zero, GPS approach in the North
Sea (while wearing a survival suit) is
essentially different than piloting test
flights in the Osprey.
The challenges we face in establishing
the basic “stick and rudder” skills that we
are required to master are readily apparent. But, arguably, the real challenges
lay beyond that and should be more
appropriately and directly defined by
what we are doing with the machines.
www.autorotate.com
First International Helicopter Safety Symposium
So how can this possibly be related to
you? The answer to this question is the
second important theme to emerge from
the symposium—industry-wide involvement.
While this also appears, at first glance,
to be profoundly simple, the undertaking
itself easily eclipses the concept. When
we say “industry-wide involvement”
what do we mean by that? It means that
in order to achieve the end result of
improved safety, we have to move
beyond that old style thinking of “safety
through regulation.” We now have to
move to the premise that improving safety is an on-going process that requires
input from everyone: engineers, designers, airframe and component
manufacturers, operators, and
finally, to you, the doers, the men
and women who are actually getting the job done.
In understanding the model that is
being envisioned and the direction this
will take us, it is necessary to briefly
explain what, or perhaps more importantly who CAST is. For those who are
unfamiliar, CAST is co-chaired by the
Deputy Associate administrator for the
FAA’s Office of Regulation and
Certification, and the vice President,
Operations and Safety for the Air
Transport Association.3 CAST members
are comprised of government representatives: European Joint Aviation Authorities
(JAA), FAA, International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), NASA, DOD, and
Transport Canada Civil Aviation
(TCCA), as well as industry representatives: Aerospace Industries Association
In ten years, let’s hope for not
only an 80 percent reduction in
the accident rate, but with that, let
us look forward to an improved
future where safety is not only
demanded of Helicopter Pilots,
but also where Helicopter Pilots
get to decide, in part, how best to
be safe.
Is this a novel concept? One’s
initial response is probably not
just “yes” but, “yeah, it’s novel
alright; then pigs will fly too…”
Well, as far as helicopters are
concerned, you may be right, but
not so fast; there is hope on the horizon.
Unanimously, the leaders, organizers and
participants of the symposium concluded
that an “inclusive” approach was essential to reaching the goal. Furthermore,
there was almost an instantaneous leap to
the “CAST” (Commercial Aviation
Safety Team) concept as implemented by
the Federal Aviation Administration in
1998 under the “Safer Skies” Initiative.2
So, as the saying goes, “better late than
never.” The near eight-year lag for the
helicopter industry is proof of the fringe
identity we continue to overcome. That’s
not intended to be an insult to any persons, parties, or agencies; it is purely presented as evidence of our unique challenge.
Photography: Kelly Teague
aforementioned assertion: that this is
somehow directly related to you, the
PHPA Member. Simply put, finally, it
appears as if those of us doing the job
will actually have some input into deciding how to make it safer. Bringing these
two themes together, the admission and
recognition of the differences in what we
are doing and the development of a collaborative body to assess these differences cannot be fully realized without the
involvement of the real expert– those of
you who are sitting in the cockpit. PHPA
is prepared to represent that integral part
of the rotorcraft industry version of
CAST, whatever that may come to be. It
is necessary, and it is time. And thank
goodness PHPA exists to do it!
(AIA), Airbus Industries, Air Transport
Association (ATA), Boeing, Flight Safety
Foundation, International Air Transport
Association (IATA), Pratt and Whitney
(also representing General Electric and
Rolls Royce), and Regional Airline
Association (RAA). And lastly
Employee Groups: Air Line Pilots
Association (ALPA), Allied Pilots
Association (APA), International
Federation of Air Line Pilots (IFALPA),
Association of Professional Flight
Attendants (APFA), and National Air
Traffic Controllers Association
(NATCA).
Therein is the significance of this
entire, drawn out, long winded dissertation—the inclusion of Employee
Groups. This brings us back to the
1. The “Clios One Departure” is a
published procedure at the Cairns
Army Airfield commonly used in
the course of instruction during
the instrument training phase for
U.S. Army Flight School students.
2. Under the Safer Skies Initiative, the FAA’s
goal also was an 80 percent reduction over
a ten year period and as of an April, 2005
report, they are currently at a 73 percent
reduction with projections of a 79 percent
reduction by 2007.
3. A General Aviation (GA) Joint Steering
Committee within CAST also includes members from the FAA; NASA; Aircraft Owners
and Pilots Association (AOPA); General
Aviation Manufacturers Association
(GAMA), Helicopter Association
International (HAI); National Air
Transportation Association (NATA); and
National Business Aviation Association
(NBAA).
END
11
First International Helicopter Safety Symposium
MY THOUGHTS...
By Jeff Smith
Ten-dollar Beer
Well, here I am fresh back from
Montreal, and the first International
Helicopter Safety Symposium. Before
you start complaining about us “lucky
ones” who got a trip to Canada, let me
mention the $10.00 beer at our hotel (not
including tip, and not covered on my
expense account). From the little I got to
see outside of meeting rooms, Montreal
is a beautiful city, but, WOW!, is it
expensive to a boy used to southeast
Alabama!
80% Reduction in Ten Years
The objective of this symposium was
to get an industry wide consensus that we
have a safety problem in this business
(duh), and to adopt the goal of an 80%
reduction in the accident rate within 10
years (wow). The good news is that with
262 people attending in various roles, and
a lot of big hitters showing up to voice
their support, there is an even chance that
something positive will come out of this.
The big hitter list included the presidents of AHS, HAI, Sikorski Aircraft,
CHC Helicopter Corp. and the
Association of Air Medical Services.
The Commanding General of the U S
Army Combat Readiness Center spoke,
as did the Deputy Director, Air
Navigation Bureau ICAO; the Director
General, Transportation Canada Safety
Board; the Director, Office of Accident
Investigation, FAA. There were others,
but by now you should get the idea.
These were not third-tiered safety guys
representing their organizations.
Can’t Give Away Free Flights
I won’t bore you with a bunch of statistics (of which there were many), or
opinions of what to do, or not do (there
were lots of those, too). To me, the most
12
telling statement of the entire four days
came during the final hour on the last
day. G. Edward Newton, Vice Chairman
of Helicopter Association International
(HAI) recounted the story of a career day
that HAI had participated in recently
somewhere in the Northeast. HAI conducted a drawing for two lucky youth to
receive an hour of dual instruction in a
helicopter as a way of promoting careers
in vertical flight. After the drawing, the
parents of the winners would not let their
kids accept the flight, convinced that flying in a helicopter was too dangerous. It
took 8 drawings before they had parents
who agreed to let their kids go. Then,
before the flights occurred, two helicopters went down generating lots of press,
and now they can’t give the flights away!
PHPA president, Butch Grafton, was
keeping a tally on the number of helicopter accidents and fatalities that occurred
during the week ending with the symposium. The results: 9 accidents and 28
fatalities worldwide during the 7-day
period.
Yah, I think you can say there is a
problem here. So what now?
Just Another Committee?
I called Al Duquette immediately after
the symposium to tell him the great news
that the industry was going to form a
committee to work on the problem. After
a pause, he skeptically said, “Oh, another
committee?” (Al has logged more committee time than flight time over the past
couple of years.)
Note: Al Duquette,is PHPA’s safety representative to the world but could not attend the symposium as his house was located center path of
hurricane Rita. While Al’s house is OK, he was
without power for weeks and had no gasoline
available within 100 miles.
I understand his hesitation. Past safety
committees have produced more noise
than results.
Works for the Airlines
It could be different this time. Truth is,
this whole meeting was nothing more
then a setup to sell a copy of something
the airline industry had a lot of success
with recently. The air carrier industry set
up a program known as CAST, which
stands for Commercial Aviation Safety
Team—essentially a safety committee
made up of representatives from all participants in the industry. CAST brought
together operators, manufactures, maintainers, regulators and yes, even pilots.
They used a very effective program of
analyzing the major causes of accidents
and targeting the most important ones on
a cost/benefit basis. It has had a remarkable amount of success.
Can this formula work for the helicopter industry? That’s yet to be seen, but
those in attendance seemed ready to
make an honest effort to give the process
a chance.
Don’t Just Sit There
As the largest representative of rotary
wing pilots, PHPA is making plans to
send representatives to participate in this
ambitious program. We will keep you
advised of how things are going.
On second thought, don’t just sit
around waiting for your representatives
to solve a problem that affects all of you.
Look at what you do every day. Ask
yourself where the next accident will
occur in your end of the business. Then
do something to stop it! It’s not the safety guy’s problem—it’s OUR problem. If
people won’t fly in helicopters because
they believe it unsafe, well, write your
own ending.
Truth is, pilots have more to loose in
this then anyone—and, more to gain.
Jeff Smith
PHPA Executive Board
& Local 102
END
www.autorotate.com
PHPA Pilot Plays Role
in EMS Accident Review
By Tony Fonze
In July of 2005, USA Today ran an article entitled, “Surge in crashes scars air
ambulance industry.” SubTitles sprinkled
liberally within the article reveal the
author’s focus: “Changes that greatly
improved airline safety don’t apply to
helicopters;” “Reports detail crash nightmares;” “Rescues gone wrong;” and
“Pressure to fly in the face of danger can
come from pilots themselves.”
The article draws attention to a growing area of concern for not just the community at large, but for helicopter pilots
in particular. In fact, PHPA’s President,
Butch Grafton, drafted a response to the
article which ran in the July/Aug. 05
issue of Autorotate. While USA Today
may not have researched the piece as
thoroughly as they should have, they did
help draw attention to some real issues.
One of those issues is inadequate training.
The article featured an interview with
Scott Rivers, a 7-year EMS veteran who
was working, at the time, for EMS operator, Omniflight during the time of a tragic, preventable, accident. Scott is a military-trained pilot experienced in Hueys,
Cobras, Apaches and OH-58s. In fact, as
a member of the National Guard, he
recently underwent UH-60 transition
training at Ft. Rucker in preparation for a
tour to Iraq.
company that the young pilot had a consistent problem with disorientation during
dark night flight. When asked to execute
a right hand turn, he dove the aircraft,
and when asked to make a left 180, he
climbed. Aberdeen, South Dakota, the
pilot’s base, lies smack dab in the middle
of pitch dark nowhere.
Scott strongly recommended to the
company, in writing, that the pilot in
question not be placed on the night
schedule; going so far as to recommend
that he be transferred to a two-pilot program in another sector of the company’s
operations. These suggestions were
ignored, and the pilot was put on a standard rotation at Aberdeen. On his fourth
night flight, the pilot drove his aircraft
into a farmer’s field near Doland, S.D., at
140 knots. Everyone on board was
killed: the pilot; two clinical personnel
and the patient, a 70-year old doctor.
Scott, offering to testify on behalf of one
of the victims families in a pending law
suit, left the company shortly thereafter.
Scott now flies with Air Methods, OPEIU
Local 109.
Scott is quoted in the article as saying,
“It never should have happened. It gets
me mad every time I think of it.” During
my conversation with Scott, I asked him,
“What needs to change?”
His response—“We don’t need more
regulation, we need better training. What
I mean by that is that EMS pilots need
more mission-oriented training, an example of which would be landing to a confined area at night. Many of the flight
profiles we routinely perform in EMS are
not taught in the civilian world, and that
is a problem.”
And, I would add to that, we need
more responsible, courageous helicopter
pilots like Scott Rivers, willing to take
action based on their convictions even
though those actions may be unpopular
with their employers and may have repercussions. And, as a quick aside, there are
other testaments to Scott’s courage as a
pilot. He spent 6 months in the role of
test pilot for the Mini-500. ‘Nough said.’
PHPA is proud to list Scott Rivers
among its members. Together, we must
all remain equally vigilant and committed
to advancing the safety of helicopter
piloting in our respective industries.
Thanks Scott.
END
As base Safety Officer for Omniflight
at their Aberdeen location, Scott flew
with the accident pilot and reported to the
Photography: Jerry Mennenga for USA Today
13
Too Close to the Trough - The Tsunamis of Winter
By Dorcey Wingo
My crusty old logbook was useful in
recalling the wintry morning I learned the
real meaning of the word trough. I’m
referring to the weather kind of trough—
not the kind Beauford had on the farm
outside of Longmont. That one was for
the pigs.
It used to fascinate me as a kid to
watch hungry pigs feed, but I learned you
have to climb on the fence and get up
close to the trough or you’ll miss out on
all the action. In being close to the
trough, however—you are also in danger
of being eaten alive, a chewed up old hog
farmer told me once.
14
copter, which was soon to disappear into
a winter storm.
The weatherman hadn’t beat around
the bush at all that morning, we knew an
Arctic Clipper was forecasted to cross the
Idaho/Montana border some time after
day break—which meant a short work
day, if he was right. But we considered
ourselves to be stand-up heli-loggers and
we were gonna give it a go, by golly.
Turns out, if you happen to be flying a
chopper when a trough comes through,
and you’re too close to the trough once
again—the thought of being eaten alive
might cross your mind.
It had been that kind of winter for us
loggers: Down for weather, back up until
the mud got too deep, then down for mud
until it froze hard, then down for weather
again. Paydays were a mite disappointing. The Boss was hangin’ around more,
too—frettin’ about production and payroll, while we peeled the frozen covers
off our flying machine, waging our daily
race with the rising sun.
Raking away the cobwebs of time, my
meandering Okie-fied brain remembers
well that second day of February in
Double Ought One, when I lifted
Skyline’s UH-1H out of the Little Joe
quarry and headed toward Two-Mile
Canyon in western Montana with long
line a-dangling. Five rowdy hookers and
a few other bad actors fought off the cold
awaiting her arrival—a white Huey heli-
“Hopefully, it’ll blow over and we can
keep loggin,” the Boss mumbled under
his turned up collar as I pinned up the
latest colorful weather-map printout he
brought in from his toasty truck. In the
jittery glow of the maintenance trailer’s
florescent lights, the weather map highlighted one of those menacing “Ls.”
Another rapidly moving cold front was
symbolized by a trough that drops down
Photography: Douglas Bosworth
out of the Bering Sea and races across
Western Canada, bringing to us yearround Montana wind loggers the minions
of wintry hell. This was indeed the suitable playground for thickheaded fleshy
creatures to butt heads with Mother
Nature.
Every man-jack on the line that day
wanted the forecast to be wrong, and we
heard about it on the radio. “We’ve
logged in blizzards before!” someone
suggested.
“Suzy needs new shoes,” came a more
reasonable voice over the FM. “Lace
‘em up!” taunted Pie-Cut. It was clear
that the girls were hungry—and in denial.
Under the first horizontal rays of dawn,
I banked left into Two-Mile Canyon and
eyeballed the darkness to the northwest.
Was it moving this way? I had my sensors on extra vigilant for a fast movin’
snow cloud or distant tree-tops all bent
over, my signal to back-track down the
canyon to the quarry before JC closed the
curtains. The girls would be unhappy, of
course—but we’d still have a helicopter
come tomorrow.
My log book shows “0.7” total flight
time for the second of February, [you can
www.autorotate.com
take off 0.3 for the ferry to and from] –
so my actual logging time that morning
was just enough to get my first round of
hookers all hot and bothered beneath
their orange hardhats and multiple layered garments. That was when the
trough busted through the trees on the
high ridgeline to our west, dropped down
the face of the slope and came rollerballin’ in our direction.
Doug had just thrown several choker
eyes onto my remote hook’s load beam
when someone at the log landing radioed
something about “a storm cloud comin’
this way.” Holding a steady hover at the
end of my 185’ synthetic long line, I
craned my neck around in the left bubble
to get a gander at this untimely visitor—
as Doug yelled, “Clear!”
There were 160’ tall standing Larch
trees all around, restricting me from turning Lorena’s nose downslope and into the
wind—the best way for the ship to take
her punishment, so I made a quick decision and pulled power, knowing that I
needed something attached to the ground
to hang on to. Doug’s turns were heavy,
snow-laden timbers and they’d resist over
forty pounds of torque without breaking
loose.
“That’s all for me, fellas!” I
announced, finally pickling Doug’s turn
as a brief clearing appeared behind the
first wave. The valley beckoned downhill to my left, inviting me to drop on
down, bring my long line and head for
the quarry. The second wave was seconds away, and it looked twice as nasty!
“Wh - where’ ya goin’?” Came Ted’s
comical inquiry, as the ship rock and
rolled amid some rude gusts and rapidly
changing conditions. “Waaaaa,” I heard
Doug cry, imitating a bawlin’ baby
bear—the howling wind buffeting his
hand-mike.
“You guys are about to get buried! I
answered. “I suggest you either head for
your rigs now or build yourself a big
fire!” The Captain kibitzed, while struggling to keep the ship upright and the
swinging long line out of his tail feathers.
Swallowing a lump in my throat, I
knew we had once again strayed a little
too close to the trough. A logging pilot
makes a lot of decisions in a day’s work;
some are more important than others. As
for February 2nd, I decided to try and
please everyone, and we all got showed
who’s Boss.
Despite what she had thrown at us, we
were evidently going to survive the
effort. I listened raptly as the guys
described the second wave clobbering
them. Now they knew what a trough
was! They barely made it out that morning. It snowed like no tomorrow, and
we were down, once again.
If you’d like to read more from Dorcey Wingo,
the “Mark Twain of helicopter pilots,” buy his
new book, Wind Loggers, a wonderful collection
of short stories with that one-of- a-kind Wingo
“voice”. Send your check or money order for
$25.00 to Smoking Hole Productions, 807 W.
Lorraine Pl., Rialto, CA 92376-5635. If you’re
nice, he’ll even autograph it for you. I’ve got
3—Tony
END
The choked-up tops of several logs lifted partially out of the snow as I concentrated on the dark mass of green limbs
underneath them, my only visual reference in the forest of white below to help
me avoid the oncoming rush of vertigo
when the first wave of blinding snow hit.
Taking a blast of wind up the tail like
that made me feel momentarily like an
old schoolmarm caught outside in a
Norther: Hanging on to something heavy
with one long, bony arm, my long black
skirt held up tightly with the other while
my white pantaloons flap wildly in the
frigid wind; tall Larch trees bending over
in unison as the blast raced up and over
the hill ahead of me.
15
Purely ‘Pete’
Let’s talk wind
Editor’s Note: In this issue we introduce a
new column—Purely ‘Pete’. It is written by Pete
Gillies, Chief Flight Instructor of Western
Helicopters, a different kind of flight school.
Western’s predominant clientele includes local,
state and federal law enforcement and other professional pilot groups from around the country.
Their claim to fame is precision autorotations—
how to hit ‘that spot right there’ from different
altitudes, airspeeds and wind directions. They
also teach long-line and mountain flying. The
Western folks provide primary instruction: private, commercial, CFI, and instrument as well.
Pete is a highly experienced, knowledgeable
and (sorry Pete, I’ve got to say it) opinionated
pilot and I’ve invited him to share some of his
thoughts, experiences and opinions with us every
other month. I hope you enjoy it. I know I will.
Let me know what you think, and we’ll print
your comments along with Pete’s response in the
next issue.
Tony Fonze, editor, autorotate
[email protected]
Our company, Western Helicopters, is
located at the Rialto Airport (L67), an
uncontrolled field just west of San
Bernardino, CA. The field elevation is
1455 ft. MSL. From the field we can
look directly north into Cajon Pass, the
top of which is about 4,000 ft. MSL.
During the fall and winter months, we
often have a very strong north wind condition known locally as a Santa Ana (or
Santana) wind, with velocities typically
between 25 and 40 knots. On really wild
days, gusts can top 60 knots.
On these wild and windy days, we usually cancel all primary training and do
ground school instead. Our charter operations, however, continue without interruption. Wind is a very normal part of
most flying in this part of the lower 48,
and as long as the helicopter doesn’t
mind…and the customer doesn’t
mind…off we go. But, in the basic training scene, very little is learned by a lowtime student trying to fly, dual or solo, in
16
winds that are pushing the performance
envelope of the helicopter with the associated turbulence and flight planning
challenges.
Often, I find myself in our groundschool class room, pontificating about
wind in general and the art of flying in
the wind in particular. It is perfectly normal for a student to question the sanity of
anyone who wants to fly in wind so
strong that the hangar doors are threatening to blow open, and that everything not
nailed, chained or cemented down is ultimately going to end up south of the border.
By the way, when I use the term “student,” I’m talking about myself along
with anyone else in the classroom. “We
are all students forever,” I say to the
class, and I, personally, am the biggest
student of all! I love to teach, but I love
to learn even more, and the greatest satisfaction I can get is to transfer what I’ve
learned to our students. Those of you
with a CFI rating know the wonderful
feeling of seeing a student catch on to
what you are presenting in the lesson
plan, and especially when they end up
doing the maneuver better than you can
do it! My goal is to make every student
with whom I come in contact, a better
pilot than I am. Hmm, I guess that’s not
much of a goal, come to think of it.
Here are some stories and thoughts that
I share when discussing the art and science of flying helicopters in the wind.
Your helicopter, an MD500D, N105JL,
known affectionately as “JL,” is sitting
on the helipad, facing directly into a 35knot wind. You walk up to the helicopter, ready to fly. The following conversation ensues:
You: Good morning, JL. Ready to fly?
JL: Yep, Captain. We’re good to go.
You: Say, JL, is the wind blowing?
JL: Ah, Captain…Is this a trick question?
You: No, seriously. I’m asking you if
the wind is blowing.
JL: Well, duh. Come on man! Sure
it’s blowing! My airspeed indicator says
it’s about 35 knots.
You: OK. Well, thanks, JL. Let’s go
fly.
(You crank up the smooth and powerful Allison/Rolls-Royce C20B and lift the
helicopter to a hover, still facing directly
into the wind.)
You: Hey, JL. I’ve got another ques-
tion for you.
JL: Fire away, Master.
You: Is the wind blowing?
JL: How the heck should I know?!
You: Come on, JL. Three minutes ago
you told me the wind was blowing 35
knots!
JL: Well, it was!
You: Well, all I’ve done is lift us to a
hover, and now you tell me you don’t
know if the wind is blowing. What
gives? We haven’t gone anywhere. The
wind is still blowing at 35 knots. Why
can’t you tell me if the wind is blowing?
JL: All I know Captain, is that we are
flying at 35 knots. No big deal, man.
This is easy. Well above translational lift
speed, but not needing much power at all.
Ah, life is good.
www.autorotate.com
By Pete Gillies
OK, I say. Tell me what the helicopter
is doing when you are hovering downwind in a 25-knot wind.
So what’s happening here? Very simply, the helicopter only knows the wind is
blowing if it has its feet (i.e. skids,
wheels, floats, etc.) on the ground. It
then can measure how fast the wind is
blowing past the airframe, assuming the
pitot tube is pointing into the wind.
But, if the helicopter is airborne, it has
no idea if the mass of air in which it is
flying is moving over the surface of the
earth, which is what “wind” is. All it
knows is that it is flying! It has no way
of knowing if there is any wind, or which
way it is blowing, or what the wind
velocity is, and it could care less.
All pilots need to review this simple
concept from time to time. Most of our
“wind problems” are in our minds.
Helicopters are relatively bullet proof as
far as wind is concerned. Between the
high wing loading and the natural gyroscopic stability presented by the main
and tail rotors, we can safely and comfortably operate in winds that would keep
a similar size fixed-wing airplane on the
ground, or subject to physical abuse if
flown.
Updrafts, downdrafts, headwinds, tailwinds and crosswinds present identical
problems and/or advantages to both airplanes and helicopters. The laws of
physics and aerodynamics apply equally
to both types of aircraft. But we have
some very obvious advantages over airplanes when it comes to being able to
orient ourselves into the wind for routine
takeoffs and landings, and when we find
we cannot handle a particular wind condition in rough country–we are able to
abort an approach or landing very easily
and quickly.
If I could have my way, I’d like a
steady wind of 15 to 20 knots for every
type of mission I’ve ever flown except
Photography: Pete Gillies, by Tom Magill
The student will say, well, ah, I’m hovering, I guess.
Yes, I reply, but do you realize that
what you are really doing is flying backwards at 25 knots?
lifting heavy air conditioners downwind
to a rooftop. Sure, there are times when
having to transition to forward flight with
a heavy load and a tail wind is not the
ideal situation to have. But again, if I
had to commit to one type of wind condition for all future flights in my career,
give me a steady 15 to 20 knots, and I’ll
deal with it one way or another.
In serious mountain flying, one can
almost always use the prevailing wind to
an advantage. And I truly believe we
here at Western Helicopters are qualified
to make that statement. We’ve lived,
trained and worked in the wind environment for many years, as have many other
pilots across this country and around the
world.
Here’s another ground-school story:
The wind is blowing about 25 knots
across the ramp. I ask a student if he can
fly backwards at 25 knots in zero wind in
one of our Schweizer 300Cs. The student says, ah, er, no. Backwards at 25
knots? No way. I can’t do that.
OK, I say. How about this: Can you
make a smooth 360-degree pedal turn in
the 25 knot wind that is blowing across
our ramp right now, stopping for, say, ten
seconds at the 180-degree point?
The students says, ah, well, I guess so.
Heck, sure! I’ve done that already. It’s
work, but I can do that.
Oh, wow, is his answer. I never
thought of it that way. Hey, that’s right!
I guess I can fly backwards at 25 knots.
One more story: Here we are again
with our 25-knot wind. I ask the student
if he can approach and land with this
wind on his tail. The usual answer is no,
or heck no, or I don’t think so, or I’ve
never tried it, etc.
I explain that if the student can hover
facing downwind in this wind, he can
certainly make an approach and come to
a hover in this wind. And we go out and
do it! It’s simple. Just make a normal
approach to the landing area, slowing
down very smoothly and well ahead of
the point at which you want to be in a
hover. Keep slowing down, down, down.
Notice the airspeed dropping below 25
knots. At this point, the ground speed is
zero. We’re in a hover!
Rocket science? Hardly. The maneuvers and demonstrations I’ve described
above should be done with the tailwind
coming from as close to the 180-degree
position as possible. How do you know
when the wind is directly behind you?
Simple: The slip indicator (ball) is just
about in the middle, and the pedals are
just about lined up. In other words, the
ship is almost perfectly level and very little pedal needs to be used to keep it that
way. (More on the importance of “ball in
the middle” in a future article.)
Summary: Keep the wind directly on the
17
PURELY ‘PETE’ CONTINUED
FROM PAGE 17.
tail as you perform these maneuvers.
And also, be sure you are very familiar
with your helicopter before you attempt
to “practice” what I’ve discussed above.
A good CFI should be more than familiar
enough with his aircraft to perform these
maneuvers.
Final thoughts: We seem to have this
mandate, in the training environment,
that we must always take off and land
into the wind, and we normally do not
expose students to other ways of making
takeoffs and landings. This works fine
for training students to pass PPL or CPL
check rides. But it certainly does not
prepare students for the challenges they
may face as they go on with their helicopter career, be it just for pleasure, or
for more advanced, commercial-grade
flying.
Worse yet, it does not give the student
practice in developing “wind awareness.”
They become so dependent on seeing
windsocks, flags, listening to the ATIS,
the control tower, other aircraft, etc., that
when faced with making an approach and
landing with zero information on wind
direction or velocity, they can’t handle it.
They don’t pick up on clues that an experienced pilot will get almost immediately.
All too often the result is a bent helicopter, with all the expense, red tape and
maybe band-aids that go with it. Am I
recommending routinely doing downwind landings? Of course not. Am I
advocating giving our students real
world, varied wind direction take-offs
and approaches during their training.
Yes, I am.
PHPA Opens New
Testing Center By Ron Arsenault
U.S military helicopter pilots can convert their military helicopter qualifications into an FAA Commercial license by
taking the Military Pilot Commercial
Competency Exam, a written test commensurate with the training received as a
new military pilot. To make this process
as easy and as affordable as possible to
new Ft. Rucker helicopter pilots, PHPA is
proud to announce their new Professional
Helicopter Pilots Test Center (PHPTC).
PHPTC is a full service FAA designated computer test center. Any and all
exams required by the FAA may be
administered here at PHPTC. PHPTC
has a special package for pilots who want
to take the Military Competency
Examination. This exam, given under
the authority of Part 91.73 of the Federal
Aviation Regulations, is essentially a
shortcut for military or former military
pilots to receive their Commercial Pilots
Certificate. This special package consists
of a 4.5 hour prep class prior to the
Pete Gillies
[email protected]
END
18
Photography: PHPA’s new office and testing center; Ron Arsenault serves as supervisor for the testing center; Butch Grafton
exam, the exam, the sign-off by an FAA
designee and a 1 year associate membership in the Professional Helicopter Pilots
Association (PHPA). This entire package
is only $99.00, a tremendous value, since
the test alone for the do-it-yourselfers is
$90.00.
Many, if not most of these new army
pilots will one day find themselves interested in a civilian helicopter pilot position. Obtaining that valued Commercial
License now, right after training is a great
thing to do to prepare for their future.
And, becoming a member of PHPA now
and remaining one throughout their military careers is, perhaps, an even more
important way to prepare the future, for
them.
For more information on PHPTC contact Ron
Arsenault, PHPTC Supervisor, at 354 S.
Daleville Ave, Suite B, Daleville, Al. 36322; 334598-1031.
END
www.autorotate.com
Introducing Virtual Flight Surgeons® Inc.
By W. Keith Martin, M.D.
The Professional Helicopter Pilot's
Association (PHPA) has recently reached
an agreement with Virtual Flight
Surgeons, Inc. (VFS) to provide members
with access and free yearly aeromedical
consultation with our staff and physicians. We are excited about this new
opportunity and believe it provides each
PHPA member an exceptional benefit.
The physicians of VFS have been providing confidential aeromedical certification information and assistance to pilots
for nearly 20 years. All of our physicians
are board certified in aerospace medicine
and have extensive experience in assisting pilots with medical conditions that
might impact their FAA medical certificate. Together, our physicians bring over
100 years of aeromedical experience to
the PHPA membership. (see insert)
VFS is located just outside Denver in
Aurora, Colorado. The VFS facilities are
unlike most medical offices pilots are
familiar with seeing. There are no examining rooms or tables, no blood pressure
cuffs or other "tools of the trade," no xray machines or laboratories and no
patients. We are a consulting, web-based
practice providing assistance through
telecommunications. Our physician contacts with pilots are via e-mail and telephone. Rather than wearing a white coat
and carrying a stethoscope, each of our
doctors is "armed" with a telephone
headset and networked computers. The
VFS staff does not provide any direct
medical care. Instead, VFS serves as a
liaison between the pilots, their treating
physicians and the FAA Aeromedical
Certification Division.
administrative staff obtains basic information pertinent to addressing aeromedical issues from pilot e-mail. The case is
assigned to a physician for an e-mail
response or a call back if preferable for
discussion of the medical problem or
question. Each PHPA member can contact us through our confidential questionnaire found on our website. This inquiry
is normally $39.95, however, as a PHPA
member in good standing this fee is
waived for one inquiry each year.
Providing basic contact information is
required along with the specifics of your
concerns. The questionnaire is then forwarded to our staff on our secure server.
Again, the inquiry is treated as confidential medical information.
PHPA members can access the VFS
website at www.AviationMedicine.com
to review comprehensive aeromedical
information and to access the
Confidential Questionnaire. Once there,
select "Confidential E-Mail Answers by
Aerospace Medicine Physicians-Click
Here" from the home page. Enter
"PHPA" in the "VFS Corporate Member
ID#" which is for members only. Enter
zeroes for the credit card number and
expiration date. Contact our office at 1800-AEROMED (237-6633) if you have
difficulty accessing the site or submitting
an inquiry.
Often the pilot’s question or concern
can be answered with the response to this
inquiry by our physician. Following this
communication, if further assistance is
required in providing interaction with the
FAA, the PHPA member receives a 5%
discount off our regular consultation/case
The VFS office protocol for handling
pilot inquiries is straightforward. The
Photography: Virtual Flight Surgeons; Ron Hohenhaus
19
fees. Fees vary depending on the medical problem and complexity of the case.
In many cases, information as it relates to
one's specific question or concern can be
found on our website. However, if a
member requires direct communication
with our staff, this is always available.
the FAA and serve as an advocate for the
pilot with a medical problem. The medical advice that VFS gives to the pilot is
consistent with good medical advice and
gives appropriate weight to the individual's health and ability to perform in the
aviation environment. Of course, the
guidance given to pilots is advisory in
nature only. It is the pilot's ultimate decision whether or not to follow the course
of action suggested by VFS.
Many of the difficulties pilots face
when their FAA medical certificate is
threatened can be alleviated or prevented
if the pilot contacts VFS promptly
instead of waiting until just prior to an
FAA examination or, worse yet, after a
certificate has been denied or revoked.
Frequently, the FAA delays a certification
decision because the pilot, acting on his
or her own, has furnished inadequate or
inaccurate medical information upon
which the agency cannot make a judgment. Most private physicians are not
Quay Snyder, MD, MSPH
President & CEO, co-Founder
W. Keith Martin, MD, MPH
Vice President, co-Founder
Dr. Snyder is a Distinguished Graduate
of the United States Air Force Academy
and Duke University School of Medicine.
He has completed medical residencies in
Family Practice and Aerospace Medicine.
He is board certified in both specialties,
as well as Occupational Medicine. Dr.
Snyder received his Master’s of Science
Degree in Public Health from the
University of Colorado Health Sciences
Center. He holds commercial pilot and
CFI ratings since 1975 and is a
Designated Pilot Examiner. He oversees
airline, ATC and business aeromedical
services. He has flying experience in
over 50 aircraft models and is a threetime Command Flight Surgeon of the
Year and USAF Academy Instructor Pilot
of the year.
Dr. Martin is a graduate of the Medical
College of Virginia School of Medicine.
He received his Master's Degree in
Public Health from the University of
California at Berkeley in 1984 and completed his residency in Aerospace
Medicine at the United States Air Force
School of Aerospace Medicine in 1985.
Dr. Martin is board certified in Aerospace
Medicine. Dr. Martin is a retired U.S.
Army and National Guard flight surgeon.
He has over 15 years experience in civilian aeromedical certification, consulting
with pilot groups and individuals. His
field of expertise is aeromedical policy.
Dr. Martin is a former U.S. Army
Aerospace Medicine Specialist of the
Year.
Phillip E. Parker, MD, MPH
Vice President, Military and General
Aviation Safety
Our staff can advise a pilot about how
best to prepare a case and the most expeditious way to have the case successfully
resolved. With the pilot's permission,
VFS staff can communicate directly with
20
Photography: Virtual Flight Surgeons
Dr. Parker is a graduate of Baylor
University and the University of Texas
Medical Branch (UTMB). He is board
certified in both Aerospace Medicine and
Occupational Medicine. He was a 1993
Honor Graduate of the Aerospace
Medicine Primary Course at the USAF
School of Aerospace Medicine. Dr.
Parker received his Master’s of Public
Health degree from the University of
Texas Health Science Center in San
Antonio, Texas. He had 12 years of
experience in the US Air Force before
joining the VFS staff. With over 100
combat flying hours, his expertise is
human performance enhancement. He
charted the first USAF F/A-22 Raptor
Aeromedical Working Group and currently serves as the Chief of Aerospace
Medicine in the Colorado Air National
Guard.
www.autorotate.com
familiar with FAA medical policies and
what evaluations may be necessary to
satisfy the FAA and help a professional
pilot keep his/her medical certificate.
The VFS physicians can bridge that gap
with knowledge and experience.
Medical reports from treating physicians are reviewed in our office and, with
the pilot's permission, we sometimes
speak with a pilot's personal physician.
The key to quick resolution of most
reporting requirements is obtaining complete documentation of the medical condition and its treatment from the pilot's
personal physician. Delays within the
FAA process are more often than not created when incomplete records are furnished for a review and determination.
Our review and assistance will usually
prevent this type of delay.
Pilots calling the FAA regarding the
status of their case will also cause delays
in processing as a pilot's file is removed
from the "queue" of pending cases at the
FAA and returned to a new stack after the
status inquiry is answered. Most cases
handled by VFS do not require the pilot's
FAA Aviation Medical Examiner's
(AME) direct involvement until after
VFS has obtained a medical eligibility
determination letter from Oklahoma City.
The pilot can deal directly with their personal AME, but VFS cannot effectively
monitor the status of cases sent to the
FAA from other sources. In other words,
allowing VFS to resolve your medical
situation with the FAA for you prior to
visiting your AME can save you substantial time and unnecessary grounding.
In addition to providing aeromedical
expertise, we may refer a pilot to medical
consultants who are known for their
expertise in a specific medical specialty
and are also usually acquainted with aviation medical principles. Each specific
referral is tailored to the needs of the
individual pilot and depends on the med-
ical problem, past history, FAA regulations and the availability of specialists.
Confidentiality and privacy is an integral part of the services we provide. As
part of our process, the VFS office maintains records of pilot interactions. These
notes are strictly for the physician's reference and are not released from the office.
As in any doctor's office, medical information from these communications and
medical records forwarded to our office
are kept strictly confidential. VFS values
our client's trust and complies with security and privacy standards in order to
safeguard personal health information.
Medical information is always protected
and is not divulged to anyone without the
pilot's specific consent.
Finally, a very important function of
VFS is to encourage pilots to practice
preventive medicine in its broadest
aspects through dissemination of information that the pilots can use to help
maintain their health (and secondarily,
their FAA medical certification). Much
of this information can be found on our
website. Also toward this end, VFS will
be providing occasional articles on aviation medicine-related topics of interest to
the general PHPA membership.
We look forward to a long-lasting relationship with the members of PHPA.
FAA medical certification issues are
often confusing and time consuming.
Our goal is to provide you accurate, concise information for sound decisions as
they relate to your health and the protection of your FAA medical certificate.
Health and safety are always the primary
objective. Assisting you and your physicians through the uncertainties of the
FAA process is our expertise. VFS is
proud to partner with PHPA as your one
source for aeromedical advice and FAA
medical certification waiver assistance.
We are ready to assist you when the need
arises.
Tell us who you are in
Autorotate’s Member
Profile
Autorotate would like to profile
YOU in one of our next issues. All
we need is a good photograph of
you and your helicopter; your
name, e-mail address, and PHPA
member ID; and a brief write up
about you, your location, and your
photo. Send the information via
e-mail to Tony Fonze, the editor at
[email protected].
Live and Learn—
More than just
entertaining reading
We can all learn from the experiences of each other. It is something
we can give back to our pilot community. Your story may even save a
life. With that in mind–
Get Off Your Butts and Send
Me Some Live and Learns!
They can be brief or long, rough
drafts or well crafted. Don’t worry
about your English or writing skills—
that’s why we’re here. Submit your
Live and Learn stories to Tony
Fonze, editor at
[email protected].
You’ll be glad you did, and so will we!
END
21
Test pilot
Editor’s Note: This issue’s questions relate to
the Bell 407—the feature article of our next
issue. Don’t know much about it? Well, here’s
your chance.
1. On a scale of 1-10, how much fun
is the Bell 407 to fly (1 being equivalent to the Mini-500, 10 being equivalent to the Space Shuttle)?
4. The Rolls Royce 250-C47B engine
produces
A. 674 SHP for T.O. and 630 SHP for max.
continuous operation
B. 813 SHP for T.O. and 750 SHP for max.
continuous operation
C. 650 SHP for T.O. and 600 SHP for max.
continuous operation
A. 3
B. 5
C. 9
5. The leading edge of the vertical
fin is canted outboard 9º to
A. Provide dihedral stability (anti-roll)
2. Vne for the Bell 407, below 3000’
Density Altitude is
A. 130 Kias
B. 140 Kias
C. 150 Kias
3. The application of FMS-28, which
increases the max gross weight
(internal) from 5,000 to 5,250 lbs,
involves the
A. Replacement of the existing fuel tank(s)
with a smaller one
B. Modification of the FADEC software and
different rotor blades
C. Replacement of performance data in the
flight manual with a modified set
B. Reduce the amount of tail rotor thrust
required during forward flight
C. Eliminate LTE
6. The ECU is the
A. External Compression Unifier, a small set
of fixed flaps along the air intake and is used
to enhance pre-compressor air flow
B. Emergency Collision Unit, an optional ELT
package that contains black box recording
capabilities
C. Electronic Control Unit, the logic processing portion of the FADEC
7. The compressor alone, will cause
the compacted air to reach a temperature of
A. 200 º F
B. 189 º F
C. 555 º F
8. When the FADEC faults to manual
mode, pressing the FADEC
(auto/manual) button causes the
A. FADEC warning horn to quiet and the
igniter to begin continually firing
B. FADEC system to go through an automatic
re-engagement test
C. Pilot to feel better, but has no affect on
the system whatsoever
9. The FRAHM damper can be found
A. Atop the main rotor head and is used to
dampen vibrations
B. Is found on the rocking beam above the
cross tubes and is used to prevent ground resonance
C. Inside the air intake housing and is used
to reduce water intake in the event of rain or
snow
10. The Bell 407 has
A. One standard fuel tank and one optional
auxiliary tank
B. One standard fuel tank and two optional
auxiliary tanks
C. Two standard fuel tanks and one optional
auxiliary tank
10. C (The standard configuration includes forward and aft fuel tanks, with fuel ‘automatically’
transferred from the forward to aft tank)
9. A
8. A
7. C
6. C
5. B (The auxiliary fins, mounted on the stabilizer
are canted outboard 5º to increase dihedral stability)
4. A (The engine actually produces 813 SHP but
is derated)
3. C
2. B
1. C (Actually, it is a 10, on par with the space
shuttle.)
Answers
22 Photography: Bell 407; Bell Helicopter Textron
It’s easy to join: Go to autorotate.org,
or call us toll free at 866-FOR-PHPA(367-7472)
Fax or mail your registration to; (334) 598-1032
PHPA, 354 S. Daleville Ave, Suite B, Daleville, AL 36322.