Rotorcraft Safety information

28 May 2020

Rotorcraft Together4Safety

Whether you are a pilot, crew member, engineer or do something else in the Helicopter industry we know how hard it is to mitigate and manage the risks you face in your day-to-day operations. Things are always changing, we will help you to keep up with the latest changes from EASA or the most recent developments in our exciting community. 

At Together4Safety the whole industry comes together to help each other. We are here to keep you up to date with all the latest news of interest to the Rotorcraft world. We will be raising awareness of important safety issues and then providing the tools and information to us all manage our risks and stay safe. We want to use this Community website to help us learn from the past, understand the present and anticipate the future to prevent future accidents. 

Make Rotorcraft Together4Safety your go to place!

A Resource to Help Us Get Through the Challenges of COVID-19?

Across the industry, the crisis of the COVID-19 epidemic is challenging all of us in ways we could never have imagined as we started 2020. As organisations there are lots of new risks to face and challenges to overcome. We aim for this website to provide practical information on a wide range of topics associated with dealing with the current situation and to help us as we prepare to return to flying. 

We also face many challenges at a personal level. Some of us are still working in aviation, putting ourselves in harms way while potentially doing new types of activities. There are amazing people who have adapted quickly to take on different roles supporting our society through this crisis. While others have taken over important roles at home as teachers, chefs and activities coordinators. 

Regardless of what you are doing today we have to work together to great through this and be prepared for a safe and effective return to operations when this is all over. Whatever role you normally perform in our aviation community we need to take care of own wellbeing and that of others if we going to make it through these tough times. We are one aviation community and it is important that we get through this crisis together. In the COVID-19 Section we have created an interactive guide to Wellbeing to provide some useful tips on how to get through this crisis. 

In these challenging times, remember to look after yourself and be excellent to each other. 

What Is Together4Safety?

Rotorcraft Together4Safety is a collaborative safety project involving the whole Rotorcraft community that is one of the founding pillars of the EASA Rotorcraft Roadmap. It is coordinated by EASA and involves a partnership with many different organisations through the European Safety Promotion Network – Rotorcraft (ESPN-R).  The collaboration includes Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo, the European Helicopter Association as well as operators and other organisations. This work is also the European part of the International Helicopter Safety Foundation (IHSF), whose website of safety information and resources is another great place for the helicopter community to find information.    

And of course, another vital member of this community is you. You can comment on all the articles that you will find to share your experiences to help others. You can also start discussions of your own in the Topics part of the website. 

What You Will Find on This Website?

The goal is to provide you with all the information that you need to understand what is changing in the Rotorcraft community and to help manage the risks we face in day-to-day operations. By using the navigation at the side of the page you can find lots of interesting things to help you every day, including:

  • Latest News.  Here you will find information about new rules, recently published accident reports, important safety issues and anything else that we think will be useful. 
  • Safety Challenges by Domain.  The helicopter community is extremely diverse, there are lots of different people performing many different types of operation. In this Section we provide more specific information all the different things you do. 
  • Safety Analysis, Accidents and Occurrences.  We learn a lot about safety from accidents and occurrences that have already happened. Here you will find information on the latest accident reports and other high-risk occurrences where there are lessons to be learned. You will also be able to find the EASA Helicopter Annual Safety Review.  
  • Priorities and Safety Actions.  All of the analysis and safety intelligence is useful but sometimes you just need to find out what are the main safety priorities and actions for our community. This part of the website will cut through all the data to inform you about the most important safety risks at European Level and then what strategic activities are taking place in the European Plan for Aviation Safety (EPAS) to help solve them.  If you want to know the status of a Rotorcraft action in the EPAS, this is the place to look. 
  • Operating Safely From Take-Off to Landing.  There are lots of different ways to think about safety. Perhaps the easiest is to think about the end to process from Take-Off to Landing. Through this section we will consider safety from end-to-end, in fact we go back before Take-Off to consider other aspects including maintenance and ground handling as well. 
  • Safety Topics A-Z. The most comprehensive part of the website will be the Safety Topic Resource library. Here you will find and A to Z of information and resources about all the different Safety Issues that are important to our community. The issues that are covered are mostly taken from the analysis in the Annual Safety Review and are driven by the EASA Rotorcraft Committee that is made up of the European Helicopter industry. 

The website also has the “Topics” area where you can start discussions of your own, assuming that you are happy to create a Login account. Finally there is an “Events” section where we will provide information of important events for the Helicopter Community.   

Finally, don’t forget to join us in person at the European Rotors event that will take place in Cologne, Germany on 10-12 November 2020.