5BESTPRACTICES
5 Best Practices for Minimizing Your Helicopter’s Noise
1
During level flight, accelerations are quieter than decelerations, and straight flight is quieter than turn-
ing flight. These proven techniques for operating your air- craft enable pilots to fly more quietly and reduce annoyance from noise. The continued growth of helicopter aviation requires the acceptance and support of people who live and work in your communities and who are affected by helicop- ter noise.
2 3
If turning, remember that turning away from the advancing blade (especially when decelerating) is quieter than turning into the advancing blade, and level turns are quieter than descending turns. Make a daily effort to lessen the noise impact of your aircraft on the neighbor- hoods below your flight path. The helicopter industry’s future financial prosperity depends on your ability to fly neighborly and minimize helicopter noise impacts. Helicopter noise, and the opposition to helicopter operations it often creates, is slowing the growth of the industry.
During a descent, straight-in flight is quieter than turning flight, and steeper approaches are quieter
than shallow approaches. Don’t give people living in noise-affected areas more reasons to oppose helicopter oper- ations, and don’t provide the noise-affected population with justification to restrict your ability to provide important ser- vices to the communities you serve and to impact your liveli- hood as an aviation professional.
decelerations. Fly neighborly every day, always mindful of how you can reduce the noise you are creating. The public is watching and will hold you accountable for the way you operate your aircraft. Because of social media, it’s easy for noise-affected groups to circulate audio and video of your activities—and reach millions.
4
The Fly Neighborly program was officially launched by HAI in February 1982 and has since gained US and international acceptance. Fly Neighborly training was developed by HAI’s Fly Neighborly / Environmental Committee (now Working Group) and provides helicopter operators with noise abatement proce- dures and situational awareness tools that can be used to significantly enhance operations. Fly Neighborly training is available on the FAA Safety Team website at
https://go.usa.gov/xQPCW.
If decelerating, remember that level-flight decelera- tions are quieter than descending or turning-flight
neighborly and represent your industry responsibly. One careless pilot makes us all look bad. To a noise-affected com- munity, one unnecessarily low-flying helicopter can repre- sent all of us. How you operate your aircraft reflects on all who fly helicopters.
5
While maneuvering, smooth and gentle control inputs are quieter than rapid control inputs. Fly
The external sound produced by a helicopter is made up of acoustical sources from the main rotor, the tail rotor, the engine(s), and drive systems. While this may sound like music to the ears of someone in the helicopter industry, it can be, and often is, extremely annoying to the general public. HAI suggests you incorporate established Fly Neighborly protocols into your flight operations each and every day. At left are five best practices for minimizing your helicopter’s noise footprint.
24 ROTOR WINTER 2020
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84
