Technical publications

Although bird strikes are an issue as old as aviation, its significance as a hazard has not been diminished. In recent years very few fatal accidents have been caused by this hazard and most of these appear to involve a particular aircraft type. However, the cost of bird strikes to the civil aviation industry is estimated to be more than one billion euros annually. It appears that the decreasing size of the general bird population is not necessarily a good guide to assess the bird strike hazard.

There are no bird strike related certification requirements for light non-commuter aeroplanes and light helicopters although this category of aircraft is most likely to operate continuously under 8,000ft amsl where almost all bird strikes occur. The high proportion of accidents involving slow moving aircraft (turboprop aeroplanes and helicopters) resulting in damage to the windshield may also justify a review of the bird strike requirements for light aircraft.

If any improvement is to be realised in better assessing, mitigating or controlling bird strike effects on aviation safety, then it is of outmost importance that reporting of such occurrences improves significantly.

Human factors in helicopter accidents

The European Helicopter Safety Team (EHEST) is the European branch of
the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) and the rotorcraft component of the European Strategic Safety Initiative (ESSI). In 2008, the European Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (EHSAT) of the EHEST has analysed 186 helicopter accidents reported by the Accident Investigation Boards (AIBs) within timeframe 2000-2005 and State of occurrence located in Europe. EHSAT analyses are based on a standard method adapted by the Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (JSAT), the analysis team of IHST, from the US Commercial Aviation Safety Team (CAST). The European team has included HFACS to enrich the analysis of human factors involved in the accidents. The paper presents this European helicopter safety initiative and focuses on human performance related analysis results. It concludes by presenting the benefits of using HFACS in addition to the Standard Problem Statements (SPS) analysis taxonomy by the JSAT.

Preliminary Results of Helicopter Accident Analysis

Under EHEST the analysis team is called the European Helicopter Safety Analysis Team (EHSAT). This working group of EHEST performs the first step in the process: the review of occurrences. So far, nine regional teams have been created to analyse helicopter accidents and derive recommendations for interventions.

It is estimated that the current nine EHSAT regional analysis teams cover more than 90% of the civil European helicopter fleet. The analysis results of the different regional teams are consolidated on a European level.

This initiative is unique in its efforts to prepare a European wide accident analysis of helicopter accidents.