Premium on Safety - Issue 38, 2020 - 3

SAFETY SPOTLIGHT

The Eurocopter EC 135 is a popular twin-turbine helicopter air ambulance that carries a crew of three.
Photo Credit: Air Methods

Specifically trained for the position, OCSs are connected to
"aviation weather and other tools that keep track of conditions" at
each HAA base. Part of their preflight participation is approving,
concurring, or rejecting the preflight risk analysis. Once the flight
commences, it is talking to the communication center and has a
satellite connection to the OCC, which tracks its real-time location.
The preflight risk analysis has four steps: Identification, Mitigation,
Calculation of Residual Risks (risk remaining after mitigation), and
Management Review, to make sure all the individuals involved
concur on the analysis's conclusion. It quantifies the risks in four
areas. Patient condition is not one of them. Speaking for all HAA
operations, the AC says, all "are dedicated to making every flight
requested, providing the level of risk is acceptable."
Not briefing pilots of the patient's condition removes any
unconscious consideration of it during the risk analysis that
focuses on aircraft capabilities, human factors, flight route,
and landing zone (LZ) considerations. It encompasses required
performance, fuel, and useful load, environmental factors such as
terrain and obstacles. Human factors evaluate the crew's health,
fatigue, "potentially distracting life events," time of day, and flight
difficulty and complexity.
The last step determines whether another HAA has declined
the requested flight now being analyzed-and why the operator
declined it. They can disregard reasons such as maintenance or
pilot availability, but if it's another factor, such as weather, the
ongoing analysis must factor in this risk.
Each 24/7 HAA typically has four instrument-rated commercial
helicopter (or better) pilots that rotate through 12-hour shifts.
While a full-time technician keeps the helicopter ready to fly, the
pilots monitor the current and forecast weather, including ceiling,
visibility, wind, precipitation, and the potential for ground fog,
especially in their local flying area (LFA), which may not extend
more than 50 nautical miles from their HAA base.

Operators annually test pilots on their knowledge of the
landmarks, prominent obstructions, minimum safe altitudes,
weather producers such as industrial areas, heliports, airports, fuel
sources, radar and communication coverage, available instrument
approaches, and areas prone to ground fog in their LFA. Pilots
can qualify in more than one LFA, with the two connected by
a predetermined route. This is often the case for HAAs that
transport patients between hospitals in different areas.
Standard weather and cross-county minimums apply when flying
between LFAs. When flying within their LFA, pilots may use lower
weather minimums in Class G airspace. During daylight VMC that
is an 800-foot ceiling and 2 statute-miles visibility, with the same
visibility and a 1,000-foot ceiling in a mountainous LFA. At night,
the ceilings increase to 1,000 feet and 1,500 feet with 3 miles
visibility. With night vision goggles (NVG) it's 800 feet and 3 miles
and 1,000 feet and 3 miles in mountainous LFAs.
Darkness and inadvertent IMC have been prominent factors in HAA
mishaps. NVG operations addressed the darkness, said Helweg.
Operators train all members of the crew in their use, and at least
two crew members must use them to descend below 300 feet.
Air Methods has addressed inadvertent IMC by doing 90 percent
of its training in Level D simulators, "where we can put pilots in the
clouds," said Helweg. This annual training "is not checking the box,
it is enhancing their skills," which is the goal for each front-line risk
manager on a helicopter air ambulance crew.
- Scott M. Spangler fell in love with aviation at age 5, when he
found his father's World War II U.S. Navy aircraft identification
manuals. A pilot since 1976, he was the founding editor of Flight
Training magazine. He is a contributing editor at JetWhine.com,
Aviation for Women, and Kitplanes.

http://www.JetWhine.com

Premium on Safety - Issue 38, 2020

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