Best of safety — USHST Efforts are Bearing Fruit and Focused on Eliminating Fatalities
The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (
www.USHST.org), a cooperative effort between industry and government, promotes safety and works to reduce civil helicopter accidents and fatalities nationwide. Formed in 2013 as a regional partner within the International Helicopter Safety Foundation (
www.IHSF.aero), the team has grown to nearly 300 safety experts and has become a leader in safety education and advocacy.
“Over the past two decades the U.S. helicopter fatal accident rate has been cut in half, from 1.32 fatal accidents per 100,000 flights to 0.60,” explains Wayne Fry, FAA division manager for GA Flight Standards and government co-chair for the USHST. “But we have hit a plateau during these last two years. To reduce the number of fatal accidents even more, the USHST has been working diligently on developing safety enhancements based on the accidents we have analyzed. Many of them are now ready to be advanced forward.”
• During 2019, the USHST promoted a white paper showing how UAS can supplement and support manned helicopters in high-risk operations and environments.
• The USHST is ready to release a best practices document offering guidelines for preflight inspections and final walk-arounds.
• A USHST team also is completing work on a proposed advisory circular regarding the use of simulation to rehearse at-risk scenarios and develop safe decision-making.
This list is just a portion of the safety enhancements being pursued by teams within the USHST. There are 16 active safety enhancements that USHST experts in the industry and government are focusing on.
“All of work during 2019 is coming to fruition as part of our crucial list of safety actions,” adds Fry. “It’s time for pilots to make safety their first priority and their first mission. We want a fatal accident to become a very, very rare occurrence in the helicopter community. Working together, I think that can be accomplished.”
• Another team is completing research papers providing extensive safety information for pilots about enhanced vision systems and stability augmentation systems.
• The USHST is collaborating with the General Aviation Joint Steering Committee to promote a new reference tool for pilots about the impairment that can be caused by certain over-the-counter medications.
• In order to reinforce a culture of safety among pilots within the helicopter community, the USHST is working with the FAASTeam to present a nationwide series of “Go Local” workshops. The two-hour session dives deeply into one specific helicopter accident, discusses the tragedy of lost lives, and helps pilots see that many operational decisions are not black and white choices.
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