Planning for Mass Evacuations
It is vital for companies operating in the less stable of overseas locations to have pre-arranged evacuation arrangements in place.
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Pilatus PC-24 Drops into EBACE
Pilatus PC-24 Drops into EBACE As the first prototype, P01, drops into the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva for a day, AW&ST report that: PC-24 Prototypes Are Keeping Busy: The first aircraft, P01, is appearing at the show before flying to Spain for high-speed testing, while P02 has flown to the U.S. There
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Heli-Expo 2016 Photo Report
Heli-Expo 2016 Photo Report News from HAI Heli-Expo 2016 in Louisville, Kentucky (1-3 March 2016): Airbus Helicopters H215 Airbus Helicopters had on show the newly designated H215, formerly the AS332C1e (i.e. an enhanced, short fuselage Super Puma) and AS332L1e (the long fuselage version), to be built in Romania and aimed at aerial work, disaster relief and other
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Back to the Future: Error Management
We look at some of the problems of error management and ask if we are still making the error management mistakes James Reason warned of in 1997 (spoiler: some organisations are). We also look at drift and how some have failed to grasp its more than poor compliance.
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PDG Helicopters Commence UK & Eire Lighthouse Support Contract
PDG Helicopters Commence UK & Eire Lighthouse Support Contract On 1 December 2015 PDG Helicopters commenced a £13mn helicopter support contract for the three UK and Eire General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs): The Commissioners of Northern Lighthouses, known as the Northern Lighthouse Board (Scotland and the Isle of Man) whose history goes back to 1768 The Corporation of Trinity House, known
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What the HEC?! – Human External Cargo
What the HEC?! – Human External Cargo Winching (or hoisting), used for Search & Rescue (SAR) or for personnel transfer to and from otherwise difficult to access locations, is the most widely known form of what is known as Human External Cargo. Some operators however transfer personnel by harnesses on long-lines. Here Southern California Edison
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When 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
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The 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
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James Reason’s 12 Principles of Error Management
James Reason’s 12 Principles of Error Management James Reason, Professor Emeritus, University of Manchester, set out 12 systemic human factors centric principles of error management in his book Managing Maintenance Error: A Practical Guide (co-written with Alan Hobbs and published in 2003). These principles are valid beyond aviation maintenance and are well worth re-visiting: Human error is both universal
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How To Develop Your Organisation’s Safety Culture
Safety culture is increasingly recognised as critical to safety performance. But how do you develop your organisation’s safety culture? Safety Leadership.
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How To Destroy Your Organisation’s Safety Culture
How To Destroy Your Organisation’s Safety Culture The term ‘safety culture’ was initially used in the report on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident. Building a strong, positive safety culture takes deliberate, concerted and continual effort. Destroying a safety culture is a lot easier… Bad Safety Leadership The following is the text of a real e-mail, spotted pinned to the wall of the
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PDG Helicopters Win UK & Eire Lighthouse Support Contract
PDG Helicopters Win UK & Eire Lighthouse Support Contract The three lighthouse authorities in the UK and Eire have joined together to award a contract for helicopter support. The three General Lighthouse Authorities (GLAs) awarded the £13mn contract to Inverness, Scotland based, PDG Helicopters. PDG will use two new Airbus Helicopters EC135s on the contract which runs from 1 December 2015
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Medevac Misadventure – Inquest in the Yukon
Medevac Misadventure – Inquest in the Yukon The Coroner for Canada’s Yukon Territory has recommended a review of procedures for medical evacuations (medevacs) following the death on board an air ambulance of a 31 year-old woman from Carmacks in November 2013, CBC has reported. In particular the wrong IV tubing was taken on the aircraft as different
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Catastrophe in the Congo – The Company That Lost its Board of Directors
Catastrophe in the Congo – The Company That Lost its Board of Directors When you charter aircraft for business purposes, any fatal air accident can leave a terrible scar on your company as well as on the friends and family of the people who die. In 2010 a small Australian mining company suffered a particularly catastrophic air accident,
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Keep Your Eyes on the Hook! Underslung External Load Safety
A video commissioned by Transport Canada highlights key lessons for working safely around helicopters and longline loads.
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Volcanic Ash…Déjà Vu All Over Again??
On 18 August 2014 the Icelandic Met Office (IMO) upgraded the aviation colour code for the Baroarbunga volcano to ‘Orange’ which means that, ‘The volcano shows heightened or escalating unrest with increased potential of eruption’. UPDATE: On 23 August 2014, the morning after this article was published, it was raised to ‘Red’ (‘Eruption is forecast to
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Embraer ERJ 170 FMS Error & Fatigue
An error programming the FMS on a flight to a zinc mine in the Northern Territory has been highlighted by the ATSB.
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Planning for Mass Evacuations
Planning for Mass Evacuations A wave of mass evacuations of foreign workers from Iraq is a timely reminder of the importance of having pre-arranged evacuation arrangements in place for companies operating in the less stable of overseas locations. Similar evacuations have occurred in a range of other countries in recent years, particularly in the Middle
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Flight Safety Foundation Wins Award for its Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) Program
The Flight Safety Foundation’s Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) initiative to improve aviation safety in the mining and resources sector has been recognised by Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM). The BARS Program was designed to evaluate aircraft operators competing for contracts to carry mining company personnel or undertake specialist aerial work. The aircraft supporting these
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Canadian Mining Air Accident (Cessna 208B Caravan)
Canadian Mining Air Accident (Cessna 208B Caravan) In May 2014 the Canadian Transportation Safety Board (TSB) issued their report into a Loss of Control Inflight (LOC-I) accident to a Cessna 208B Caravan on 18 November 2012. The aircraft was on charter to a local mining company to transport employees the 310nm between Snow Lake and
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Pilatus PC-24 Sell Out – But What Next?
Pilatus PC-24 Sell Out – But What Next? The sales team from Swiss aircraft manufacture Pilatus must be feeling pretty pleased with their performance at the European Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva last week, selling 3 years of production. In all, the company took non-refundable deposits for 84 aircraft. It was a deliberate decision only to
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