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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. 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) speaks of this future thanks to electronically augmented visual flight which gives a sufficiently enhanced viewContinue 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 trainingContinue 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 theContinue reading “Helicopter Hoisting and the Human in the system:”