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Ready for anything? Non-technical skills in helicopter operations

Prologue A seriously injured sailor lay crying in agony after falling down a deck hatch. Suffering from severe concussion, and multiple fractures, he lay awkwardly, deep inside his boat, wedged between engine and fishing machinery. It was the job of the helicopter rescue swimmer to work out how to remove him to a place ofContinueContinue reading “Ready for anything? Non-technical skills in helicopter operations”

What makes you good at what you do?

Lloyd Horgan Photography “Are you good at your job?” “What makes you good at what you do?” Presenting a briefing with the title “Are we good at what we do?,” I recently asked these questions to a group of around twenty-five professional aircrew. Of course almost all of us think we are good at whatContinueContinue reading “What makes you good at what you do?”

Hovering over the hill: are helicopter crews getting older?

Earlier this year I collected data from a survey of the global helicopter community as part of a study into non-technical skills in helicopter operations. The phenomenal response to this survey from over five hundred participants produced a rich dataset which includes a contemporary demographic snapshot of the helicopter industry worldwide. After just a cursoryContinueContinue reading “Hovering over the hill: are helicopter crews getting older?”

Towards E-VFR flight: The dawn of mixed reality in the rotary wing cockpit?

How progress in head-mounted display technology could revolutionise critical helicopter missions. Image from Viertler, F. X. (2017). Visual Augmentation for Rotorcraft Pilots in Degraded Visual Environment Envision a world in which emergency aircraft and their crews can launch in response to medical and other critical missions in almost any flight conditions imaginable. E-VFR (Electronic-VFR) speaksContinueContinue reading “Towards E-VFR flight: The dawn of mixed reality in the rotary wing cockpit? “

Processing information in flight: Understanding the limits of cognitive capacity in the cockpit.

Hands up if you have ever experienced a mental meltdown, ‘cognitive freeze’, or intense tunnel vision in flight or in training? Most of us will recognise these phenomena happening to us at some point or other. They are intimately related to levels of workload, stress, or perhaps the surprise and startle effect. In CRM trainingContinueContinue reading “Processing information in flight: Understanding the limits of cognitive capacity in the cockpit.”

Helicopter Hoisting and the Human in the system:

Applying the 3Hs to decision-making during helicopter hoist operations. On the 29 April 2020 at Biscarosse near Bordeaux in France, two crew members of a French Air Force H225 fell to their deaths when a hoist cable parted during a winch training exercise. (Summary report in English from Aerossurance.) The tragic outcome coupled with theContinueContinue reading “Helicopter Hoisting and the Human in the system:”