Aerossurance Joins the British Helicopter Association
Aerossurance Joins the British Helicopter Association Aerossurance is pleased to have been accepted as a member of the British Helicopter Association by the BHA Council. The BHA is the non-profit trade organisation that represents the UK’s civil helicopter industry to the Civil Aviation Authority, government departments and international bodies. Its main aim it is to: …promote the safe, efficient and environmentally responsible operation of rotorcraft throughout the UK. The BHA represents UK industry in Europe through its membership of and support for the European Helicopter Association (EHA). From its foundation in 1969, until 2008, the body was known as the British Helicopter Advisory Board (BHAB). Aerossurance is an Aberdeen based aviation consultancy, with extensive experience of helicopter regulation, safety, design, airworthiness and operational matters. Contact us at: enquiries@aerossurance.com ...
read moreDramatic Malaysian S-76C 2013 Ditching Video
Dramatic Malaysian S-76C 2013 Ditching Video Dramatic passenger-shot video footage of a helicopter ditching and rescue off Malaysia has emerged: The Sikorsky S-76C 9M-STE (MSN 760398) of MHS Aviation, chartered by Malaysian oil and gas company Petronas, was on approach to a 3D seismic ship in the South China Sea on 12 December 2013. The 105m long, 9800GRT vessel has a 22m bow mounted helideck, approximately 20m above sea level. She is capable of towing seismic ‘streamers’ of up to 9km in length. The vessel was 86 nm offshore Bintulu, Malaysia. The video footage indicates that the vessel was underway with streamers deployed in light rain and ~1m waves. The helicopter makes a slow approach to the deck into wind and just as it positions ahead of the vessel, with the helideck to the left hand side, the audio indicates an engine power loss. At this point the passenger braces and video is temporarily lost as the aircraft ditches. The soundtrack indicates that water was entering the cabin about 15 seconds after the engine rundown, and the passenger’s submerged lifejacket is briefly glimpsed. The helicopter had 8 people on board (2 crew and 6 passengers). All exited the aircraft. The aircraft floatation system does not seem to have been deployed, and the aircraft appears to be floating, almost submerged on its left hand side. It is understood to have subsequently sunk. While one aircraft liferaft seems to have deployed, it appears all occupants were promptly rescued from the water by fast rescue craft from the ship, which steamed on. Petronas issued a press release that day. The status of the Malaysian accident investigation is not known (see Ministry of Transport website). However, it is known that the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) was requested to provide assistance in the download of the helicopter’s cockpit voice recorder (CVR). In late 2014 ATSB reported that the estimated completion date would be July 2015. UPDATE 4 September 2015: The ATSB website revised that forecast to December 2015. UPDATE 31 December 2015: This was our most popular article in 2015. UPDATE 10 May 2016: The ATSB now forecast July 2016. UPDATE 1 December 2016: The accident report is still awaited and the ATSB now forecast this month (the 3rd anniversary of the accident). UPDATE 30 December 2016: This was our 2nd most popular article in 2016. UPDATE 1 February 2017: The ATSB forecast for issue of the report has slipped to April 2017. UPDATE 13 April 2017: The ATSB say the Malaysian final report has been issued, though it is yet to appear on the Ministry of Transport website. We will monitor for its publication. UPDATE 13 December 2017: Information received by Aerossurance is that disappointingly the ICAO Annex 13 report will not be made public. Safety Resources The European Safety Promotion Network Rotorcraft (ESPN-R) has a helicopter safety discussion group on LinkedIn. You may also find these Aerossurance articles of interest: Helicopter Ditching – EASA Rule Making Team RMT.0120 Update NTSB Report on Bizarre 2012 US S-76B Ditching Newfoundland S-92A Accident US BSEE Helideck A-NPR / Bell 430 Tail Strike NTSB Recommendations on Offshore Gas Venting Helicopter Ditching Limitations Gulf of Mexico Fatal Helicopter Accident (11 Jun 14) Offshore Helicopter Confidence Building – Oil & Gas UK’s 2014 Aviation Seminar Offshore Helicopter Accident Ghana 8 May 2014 & The Importance of Emergency Response UPDATE 24 January 2016: CAP1145 Helicopter Water Impact Survivability Statistics – A Critique UPDATE 20 April 2017: Taiwan AS365N3 Tail Rotor Pitch Control Loss During Hoisting UPDATE 6 August 2018: In-Flight Flying Control...
read moreNew Helicopter Survival Suits in Canada
New Helicopter Survival Suits in Canada Survitec Group design engineer Alice Cannon presented to SAFE Europe symposium in Bristol in March 2014 on the company’s development of a new helicopter passenger survival suit for use in Canada. In November 2014, Gaelle Halliday of oil company Husky Energy presented more information at the first safety conference of the Canada-Newfoundland Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board (C-NLOPB). A competitive tender was initiated in 2012 to replace the previous Nautilus HTS-1 design. That follows an accident to a Cougar Sikorsky S-92A on contract to Husky Energy, off Newfoundland, Canada on 12 March 2009. Of the 18 on-board, 17 people died, although one passenger, Robert Decker, survived. Decker’s core temperature had however dropped to just 28°C when admitted to helicopter 2 hours after. At that temperature unconsciousness and an irregular heart beat, which can result in death, are to be expected. The Canadian Transport Safety Board (TSB) reported on that accident in 2011 and Aerossurance has previously discussed the airworthiness aspects of that accident. The winning Survitec suit features several improvement over the HTS-1. The one major improvement is the use of a permanent neck seal with a hood featuring a secondary face seal. The earlier suit featured only the face seal, and passengers only zipped up for take-off, landings and announced emergencies. This left them vulnerable to sudden emergencies. The upper part of the suit has been changed to yellow for better visibility (yellow is also a less common colour for marine debris than orange). The suit features a light-weight Gore-Tex material used previously of Survitec’s 1000-series suits (launched in 2010). Rather than a separate lifejacket, the suit has a integrated inflatable buoyancy ‘element’. The suit has boots with a ‘less aggressive’ tread and attached gloves. The suit incorporates a compressed air – emergency breathing system (CA-EBS), known as HUEBA (Helicopter Underwater Emergency Breathing Apparatus), introduced after a long gestation after the 2009 S-92A accident. While this was mounted on the right hand side on the first prototypes, this has been moved to the left hand side on productions suits. A Marine Rescue Technologies AU10-HT Personal Locator Beacon (PLB) is also incorporated. As well as transmitting a 121.5 MHz homing signal it broadcasts GPS position to maritime AIS receivers. These suits comply with Canadian Standard CAN/CGSB-65.17-2012 for Helicopter Passenger Transportation Suit Systems. The suits will be rolled out in Nova Scotia in March 2015 and Newfoundland the following month. To support the provision of suits in St Johns, Survitec acquired Newfoundland Marine Safety Systems in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. Aerossurance has previously reported on: Helicopter Ditching – EASA Rule Making Team RMT.0120 Update UPDATE 17 December 2015: Canadian Coast Guard Helicopter Accident: CFIT, Survivability and More UPDATE 24 January 2016: CAP1145 Helicopter Water Impact Survivability Statistics – A Critique Aerossurance is an Aberdeen based aviation consultancy. For expert advice on helicopter safety, equipment certification / selection and survivability matters, contact: enquiries@aerossurance.com Follow us on LinkedIn for our latest updates....
read moreWhen Habits Kill – Canadian MD500 Accident
When Habits Kill – Canadian Hughes 500 Helicopter Accident Establishing habits can be effective ways to achieve safe outcomes, by sub-consciously completing routine actions. Examples include automatically fastening harnesses and seat belts or routinely scanning for other traffic. However, sometimes habits can be dangerous, for example when circumstances or equipment change. Just such a case occurred in Canada to an operator supporting the mining industry. The Helicopter Accident The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) report that on 6 August 2008: The MD Helicopter 369D [aka MD500] (serial number 500715D, registration C-GZIO), operated by Prism Helicopters, was involved in support operations for mining exploration near Alice Arm, British Columbia. The helicopter took off at about 0709 Pacific daylight time for the first flight of the day to a drill site up the Kitsault River valley with one pilot and three passengers on board. As the helicopter departed in a shallow left-climbing turn, it emitted an unusual sound. It reached about 150 feet above ground level, then suddenly banked 90º to the right, and fell to the ground. It broke up on impact with a fallen tree and the main section, with the occupants, fell into the Kitsault River and remained mostly submerged just below the surface. All the occupants suffered fatal injuries on impact. The emergency locator transmitter operated until it was turned off by first responders. There was a small post-crash fire on the river bank that extinguished on its own. Tree damage was consistent with a vertical descent and minimal rotor rpm. The TSB found heavy fabric cover wrapped tightly around the main rotor swashplate and broken pitch change rods). Rotor blade damage was consistent with low rpm at impact. The TSB go on that: The pilot had 38 years of flying experience and had accumulated over 11 000 hours of flight time, with a substantial amount in similar operations. There was an apprentice aircraft maintenance engineer on-site to help with elementary tasks on the helicopter. He would normally look over the helicopter at the end of the day and secure it for the night. This included installing a synthetic heavy material cover (doghouse cover) over the engine intake and around the main rotor control system and tying the main rotor down. He would normally get up in the morning to remove the cover and untie the rotor, among other things. A couple of days before the accident, the pilot suggested that the apprentice need not get up early and that he would prepare the helicopter for the day’s flying. On the last two nights, the apprentice did not tie the rotor down but he installed the cover. TSB explain that: The cover does not have any straps or physical barriers that fall at or below human eye level. Once the pilot gets into the helicopter, there are no visual cues of the cover’s installation. On the morning of the accident, the pilot got up at the usual time, but stayed at the lodge a little longer and arrived at the helipad later than normal. Two of his passengers arrived before him. The pilot was loading their equipment when the third passenger arrived at the helipad. They loaded some more equipment, embarked the helicopter, and departed immediately after. One piece of equipment was left behind. The TSB concluded that the cover was left in place during pre-flight preparations. Consequently the cover damaged the main rotor...
read moreEASA & FAA HUMS / VHM Developments
EASA & FAA HUMS / VHM Developments More information has emerged on European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) / Vibration Health Monitoring (VHM) initiatives. EASA HUMS / VHM Research There was more detail on HUMS/VHM research that Aerossurance has previously reported on when Cranfield University’s Matt Greaves presented the results of research project EASA.2012.OP.13 VHM at EASA’s 8th Rotorcraft Symposium last month in Cologne. The research included fault tree analysis (FTA) on 12 carefully selected accident case studies: SA330J 9M-SSC in 1980 (Main Gear Box [MGB] epicyclic failure) S-61N G-ASNL in 1983 (MGB failure) AS332L1 LN-OPG in 1997 (High Speed Shaft Failure) S-76A+ G-BJVX in 2001 (Main Rotor Blade [MRB] failure) S-61N G-BBHM in 2002 (Engine Oil Fire/Structural Failure) S-61N C-FHHD in 2002 (MGB failure after oil loss and fire) AS332L2 G-JSAR in 2003 (Accessory Gear Box [AGB] failure) AS332L G-PUMI in 2006 (Main Rotor Spindle crack) AS332L2 G-CHCF in 2007 (Freewheel Unit [FWU] failure) S-92A C-GZCH in 2009 (MGB failure after oil loss) AS332L2 G-REDL in 2009 (MGB epicyclic failure) EC225s G-REDW/G-CHCN in 2012 (MGB shaft failure) The focus then turned to one of the most demanding locations to place a sensor, an MGB epicyclic module. This drove the use of high frequency stress wave sensors, known by the slightly misleading title of ‘Acoustic Emission’ (AE) sensors. These were coupled with wireless transmission of data from within the epicyclic casing and tested on a test rig at Cranfield and full scale on an ex-Royal Air Force SA330 Puma HC1 gearbox at an Airbus Helicopters’ test facility. Greaves’ presentation is downloadable as part of a large zip file for the whole symposium or directly here 2.2._Greaves_Results from EASA project 2012.OP.13 – VHM. An earlier paper presented to the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI) annual conference was discussed in detail by Aerossurance in October. The full research report is due out early in 2015. Late in 2014 EASA has also issued a call for tender for a follow on project EASA.2014.OP.15, Helicopter main gearbox health (MGH), discussed further by Aerossurance here. EASA has already launched a programme of gearbox lubrication rule making, previously discussed by Aerossurance and influenced by the S-92A C-GZCH accident offshore Canada in 2009. UPDATE 9 May 2017: The Cranfield University report on EASA research project EASA.2012.OP.13 VHM which followed G-REDL is now available at: EASA_REP_RESEA_2012_6 Vibration Health Monitoring or Alternative Techniques for Helicopters EASA Certification Memo on the Prioritisation of Maintenance Alerts Just before Christmas EASA issued a draft Certification Memo (Proposed CM-DASA-001 Issue 01) for consultation. The document would provide non-binding guidance on the Prioritisation of Maintenance Alerts from HUMS / VHM systems and supplements EASA CS-29 requirement CS-29.1465. Here an ‘Alert’ is a VHM indication that requires further investigation to determine if corrective maintenance action is necessary and an ‘Alarm’ is a alert that did indeed need corrective maintenance action. CS-29.1465 is the certification requirement for the approval of HUMS / VHM systems either when requested by the applicant, meet an operational requirement or as a ‘compensating provision’ as a result of a 29.917(b)/29.547(b) design assessment. It was developed by an EASA/FAA/Industry Rotorcraft VHM Working Group (RVHMWG), picking up work that had been started by the UK CAA’s Helicopter Health Monitoring Working Group (HHMAG). Following the issue of NPA2010/12, this requirement was introduced into CS-29 at Amendment 3 in late 2012. It is unique to CS-29 and does not feature in the FAA’s FAR-29. In...
read moreThe Power of Safety Leadership: Paul O’Neill, Safety and Alcoa
The Power of Safety Leadership: Paul O’Neill, Safety and Alcoa In his book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change, Charles Duhigg, described the reaction to Paul O’Neill’s first presentation as the new CEO of the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) in 1987: A few minutes before noon, the new chief executive, Paul O’Neill, took the stage. He looked dignified, solid, confident. Like a chief executive. Then he opened his mouth. After his presentation: The investors in the room almost stampeded out the doors when the presentation ended. One jogged to the lobby, found a pay phone, and called his 20 largest clients. “I said, ‘The board put a crazy hippie in charge and he’s going to kill the company,'” that investor told me. “I ordered them to sell their stock immediately, before everyone else in the room started calling their clients and telling them the same thing. However, that investor admitted that in the long run he recognised that: “It was literally the worst piece of advice I gave in my entire career.” Why the stampede? What did O’Neill say?: “I want to talk to you about worker safety,” he said. “Every year, numerous Alcoa workers are injured so badly that they miss a day of work. “I intend to make Alcoa the safest company in America. I intend to go for zero injuries.” The audience was confused…O’Neill hadn’t said anything about profits. He didn’t mention any business buzzwords. Eventually, someone raised a hand and asked about inventories in the aerospace division. Another asked about the company’s capital ratios. “I’m not certain you heard me,” O’Neill said. “If you want to understand how Alcoa is doing, you need to look at our workplace safety figures.” Profits, he said, didn’t matter as much as safety. Safety Leadership, Safety Vision O’Neill had a clear vision and wanted to focus on safety to develop continuous improvement across the company: “I knew I had to transform Alcoa,” O’Neill told me. “But you can’t order people to change.” “That’s not how the brain works. So I decided I was going to start by focusing on one thing. If I could start disrupting the habits around one thing, it would spread throughout the entire company.” O’Neill stated that when hazards are identified he wanted them fixed, he didn’t want safety to be ‘budgeted’. Safety Leadership Challenged Six months into his tenure a new employee died: …a piece of machinery had stopped operating and one of the workers — a young man who had joined the company a few weeks earlier… — had tried a repair. He had jumped over a yellow safety wall surrounding the press and walked across the pit. There was a piece of aluminum jammed into the hinge on a swinging six-foot arm. The young man pulled on the aluminum scrap, removing it. The machine was fixed. Behind him, the arm restarted its arc, swinging toward his head. When it hit, the arm crushed his skull. He was killed instantly. Fourteen hours later, O’Neill ordered all the plant’s executives into an emergency meeting. For much of the day, they painstakingly re-created the accident with diagrams and by watching videotapes again and again. They identified dozens of errors that had contributed to the death, including two managers...
read moreNTSB Report on Bizarre 2012 US S-76B Ditching
NTSB Report on Bizarre 2012 US S-76B Ditching (N56RD) The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has reported on an unusual 2012 offshore accident where a Sikorsky S-76B ditched while attempting to land on a drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. This accident raises a wide range of questions… History of the Flight According to the NTSB: On April 17, 2012, about 1155 central daylight time, a Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, N56RD, was substantially damaged during a forced landing in the Gulf of Mexico near the Joe Douglas oil drilling rig ([in block] Vermilion VR376A [117 nautical miles south of the refuelling point at Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA), New Iberia]). The pilot, the airplane pilot-rated passenger in the copilot seat, and the five passengers seated in the cabin were not injured. The pilot reported that he made a visual approach on a 190 degree heading to the landing platform. He reported that the wind was from 220 degrees at 5 to 6 knots, according to the Garmin 500 GPS that was installed in the helicopter. He was flying directly towards the platform while decelerating from 60 to 45 knots while maintaining a 12 degree approach angle. The helicopter was about 60 feet from the landing pad and about 15 to 20 feet higher than the landing pad with a nose high attitude in the flare when a loss of engine power occurred. The pilot was unsure which engine had the loss of power. With the loss of power, the pilot reported that the trajectory of the helicopter would place it short of the landing pad. The pilot reported that the helicopter was going to hit the platform, so he pulled collective pitch, banked aft and to the left to avoid contact with the platform. Once clear of the platform, he attempted to lower the collective and gain airspeed, but the helicopter was in a high rate of descent with low airspeed. He pulled collective pitch and flared the helicopter before water impact. The pilot reported about 3 to 4 seconds transpired from the time he tried to avoid hitting the platform to when the helicopter impacted the water. Inexplicably, rather than shut down and evacuate the aircraft, the pilot kept power on and after inflating the floats [emphasis added]: …attempted to water taxi toward the oil platform, but there was no directional control since the tailboom was partially separated from the fuselage. The pilot continued to keep engine power on the helicopter as a rescue pod [presumably a Billy Pugh style transfer basket] from the Joe Douglas was lowered to the water. The passengers in the cabin were preparing to deploy the life rafts as the rescue pod was being launched. When the rescue pod was near the helicopter, the pilot shut down the engines. The passengers deployed the life rafts as the helicopter began to list to the left. All six passengers and the pilot got into the rafts, and then transferred into the rescue pod, which was then winched back up to the deck of the platform. None of the occupants reported any injuries. Sometime after the occupants egressed, the helicopter inverted in the water with the four floatation bags keeping it from sinking. However, the bags were compromised during the initial recovery effort and the helicopter later sank in about 310 feet of water. NTSB...
read moreFirst A350XWB Delivered to Qatar Airways
First A350XWB Delivered to Qatar Airways Launch customer Qatar Airways has taken delivery of the first Airbus A350XWB, an A350-900, A7-ALA (MSN06), in Toulouse. The A350XWB family features three versions: A350-800, A350-900 and A350-1000. In a typical two-class configuration, the A350-800 will accommodate 276 passengers, while the A350-900 and the A350-1000 will seat 315 and 369 passengers, respectively. Composite materials make up more than 50 per cent of the A350 – the most to date for an Airbus aircraft: ADS has produced this graphic that highlights the range of UK suppliers to the A350, including Airbus’ wing manufacturing facility at Broughton and Rolls-Royce in Derby who provide the Trent XWB, the sole engine available on the A350. Rolls-Royce are ramping up development of higher thrust versions of the Trent XWB. The final assembly in Toulouse is shown here: The layout of first prototype, MSN01 is here: The Velocity Minimum Unstick (VMU) testing at Istres: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EXYPcEVSjjo The high risk flight flutter testing is described here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLY2mLlka-s However, it is the passenger experience that is one key selling point for the XWB: UPDATE See also: Qatar Airways reveals A350 cabin Qatar Airways CEO says first A350 is just right. This article identifies the slight delay in handover was due to Buyer Furnished Equipment (BFE). Aerossurance has previously commented on the raid growth and related challenges facing the cabin furnishing sector. As is usual, the aircraft has been flown on route proving flights. The first was a polar flight to Iqaluit Airport in Northern Canada: To date the A350XWB has won 780 orders from over 40 customers worldwide. Fabrice Brégier, President and CEO of Airbus was interviewed by CNBC today. UPDATE: Airbus are planning to ramp up to 10 aircraft per month by 2018. UPDATE: Flying On The Qatar Airways A350 On The First Commercial Service, As Newest Airbus Debuts Aerossurance has extensive air safety, aircraft certification, airworthiness and aircraft introduction to service experience. For practical aviation advice you can trust, contact us at: enquiries@aerossurance.com Follow us on LinkedIn and on Twitter @Aerossurance for our latest...
read moreEC175 / H175 Enters Service with NHV
EC175 (now H175) Enters Service with NHV Following the handover of the first two 7.5t, 16 passenger Airbus Helicopters EC175s to Belgian operator NHV on 11 December 2014, the type entered service just days later on contract to German oil and gas company Wintershall. The aircraft are on the Dutch register and based at Den Helder in the Netherlands (the main base for offshore helicopters in the Netherlands). The EC175 is the second ‘super-medium’ type to enter service this year, following the AgustaWestland AW189, introduced by Bristow in Norwich for GDF Suez E&P UK. The EC175 entry into service is approximately 2 years later than originally expected, in part due to the complexity of certifying the Helionix avionics (especially with just two prototypes) and partly because of the engineering effort diverted to the EC225 in 2012 and 2013. NHV have ordered 16 EC175s, with 6 more due for delivery in 2015. The next customer to receive the type is expected to Russian operator UTAir who have placed 15 orders and 15 options, and may receive MSN 5003 shortly (though Russian certification is still awaited). They will be followed in the new year by Heli-Union, the French oil and gas operator, who has extensive operations in Africa. AINonline reports that NHV have: …so far has put 20 pilots through ground training, Level-D full-flight simulation and actual flight instruction. NHV pilots each flew 40 hours in the sim and four hours in the helicopter, two hours of which were the check ride leading to qualification. Thirty technicians have received EC175 maintenance type rating training, and they have access to the web-based interactive technical publications. NHV will also benefit from a tailored support program that provides one mechanic and one avionics specialist on site. Airbus Helicopters has invested much effort in spare parts… with more than 1,000 items already placed in NHV’s inventories, according to Dominique Maudet, executive vice president for global business and services for Airbus Helicopters. The Level D full-flight simulator is at the Helisim Training Academy, adjacent to Airbus Helicopters’ Marignane facility. The simulator, certified by EASA in July 2014, incorporates a state-of-the-art visual projection system with a 210°x80° continuous field of view. Flight International reports interest in the type for Search & Rescue (SAR) missions (with the Hong Kong Government Flying Service, who have recently started a tender process for 7 helicopters in two batches, mentioned as one sales target): Early design activities for the SAR model are already under way, with an initial prototype to fly in early 2016. However, Airbus Helicopters says development of the variant will be progressive as customer-mandated mission systems and equipment are integrated onto the baseline oil and gas model. Deliveries would commence in the 2017 timeframe… Flight International also reports the potential availability of the type with the Turbomeca Ardiden 3C engine in addition to the current Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6C-67E. An engine change to a lighter, more efficient engine would be of particular value in enhancing the EC175’s performance against its larger 8.3t competitor, the AW189 and the forthcoming EC. The left hand engine can operate in ‘hotel mode’ i.e. as an APU. The aircraft has 2 independent air conditioning systems. The EC175 is the first Part 29 rotorcraft designed to MSG3 principles with a Maintenance Review Board (MRB). Currently 18 EC175s are on the production line. Flight International also reports that: Presently each helicopter takes around 12 months...
read moreGrob 120TP Glass Cockpit Certified
Grob 120TP Glass Cockpit Certified The European Aviation Safety Agency has certified the glass cockpit version of the Grob Aircraft G120TP turboprop trainer (Type Certificate Data Sheet EASA.A.565 Issue 2 includes major change optional change note OÄM 565-17). The addition of the glass cockpit also results in an additional Special Condition onto the CS-23 Amendment 1 based Type Certification Basis (namely CRI B-52 Human Factors – Integrated Avionics Systems). For more insight into the G120TP see this video, introduced by test pilot Pete Collins: See also this earlier Flight International report. One nation now expected to introduced the G120TP is the UK. UK Military Flying Training System (UKMFTS) prime contractor is Ascent Flight Training (a Lockheed Martin / Babcock joint venture), who were selected at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Training Service Partner in 2008. Ascent recently confirmed that the preferred bidder for aircraft provision and through life support (until 2033) for the fixed wing element of UKMFTS is Affinity (an Elbit / KBR joint venture). That programme will consist of: Elementary Flying Training at RAF Barkston Heath & RAF Cranwell on the Grob 120TP (replacing Grob 115E Tutors) Multi-Engine Training at RAF Cranwell on the Embraer Phenom 100 (replacing Beechcraft King Air 200s) Basic Flying Training at RAF Valley on the Beechcraft T-6C (replacing Shorts Tucanos) UPDATE 2 February 2016: UKMFTS Fixed Wing Aircraft Service Provision Contract Awarded UPDATE 25 May 2016: The first two of six G120TPs have been delivered to CAE for their contract to train US Army Beechcraft C-12 pilots at Dothan Regional Airport, Alabama. One reason for their selection is they can conduct upset prevention training (the former contract, held by Flight Safety Inc, used a mix of non-aerobatic Cessna 182s supplemented by aerobatic Zlin 242L Gurus) rior to the transition to glass-cockpit C-12s. UPDATE 28 June 2016: See also this article by Dave Unwin: Flight Test: Grob G120TP – The twenty first century trainer UPDATE 19 July 2016: It is reported that the Grob production line is producing 36 G120TPs per annum, with an order backlog to the end of 2018. However, Grob say the tooling is in place to double the rate if extra staff are recruited. The first two examples for UKMFTS are in production and due for delivery in September/October 2016. UPDATE 19 September 2016: Grob / Affinity release photos of G120TPs in UK military colours: UPDATE 19 April 2018: The first student training has commenced at RAF Cranwell. Aerossurance is an Aberdeen based aviation consultancy. For expert advice on aircraft design and selection, air safety, military type certification, MRCOA/Leaflet B-40/civil oversight and aircraft service contracting, contact: enquiries@aerossurance.com Follow us on LinkedIn and on Twitter @Aerossurance for our latest updates....
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