USHST to run two safety-focused events in September

The United States Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) is hosting two safety-focused events in September for members of the vertical lift industry.

The events are the COPTER IFR and Weather Camera Summit on 11 September and the USHST’s quarterly All Hands meeting on 12 September.

Both events are available for online or in-person attendance. They will be hosted at the Helicopter Association International (HAI) headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia. Registration is required for both in-person and online attendance.

“The purpose of the COPTER IFR and Weather Camera Summit is to provide a venue for operators and the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] to discuss challenges and identify opportunities to collaborate for improvement,” said Chris Baur, USHST Industry Co-Chair. “This COPTER IFR and Weather Camera Summit bring attention to the barriers involved in flight with COPTER IFR and to advocate for the much-needed improvements desired by operators.”

The summit will provide an opportunity to capture the challenges experienced by operators using COPTER instrument flight rules (IFR):

• Use of COPTER instrument approaches as both primary and alternate locations
• Repositioning helicopters between pads within the same aerodrome
• Inaccessibility and underutilization of IFR clearances for procedures and routes
• Exclusion of special instrument departures and airways from the National Airspace System Resource (NASR) for flight plan filing
• When combined with approved weather products, weather camera images become a powerful ‘go or no-go’ aviation flight decision tool.

Baur added: “The USHST is asking for additional support for the FAA weather camera network, and necessary resources for its complete expansion throughout the entire United States. The FAA has indicated an 85 per cent reduction in weather-related accidents and a 69 per cent reduction in weather-related flight interruptions from 2007-2014, based on pilot decision making related to the cameras.

“The USHST and HAI are soliciting your support and advocacy to expand the program and increase funding. Additionally, efficient alternative weather sources that can be used in IFR operations to support safe decision making. This is a great opportunity for operators with IFR programs to share their experiences, challenges and recommendations.”