Off-Site Landings - Part 1 - Planning and Preparation

Helicopter Off-Airfield Landing Site - Part 1 Planning and PreparationEASA has invited Mona Seeberger, helicopter pilot, instructor and technician, to make a new series of four videos on Helicopter Off-Airfield Landing Site Operations. This article presents the first video addressing Planning and Preparation. The video and article are mainly based on the EHEST Leaflet HE 3 Helicopter Off Airfield Landing Sites Operations | EASA (europa.eu).

Helicopters are versatile machines, they can land and take-off anywhere: from airfields and helipads, but also from off-airfield sites, including meadows, hotels, golf courses and other natural or artificial  confined areas. This is what helicopters are for, after all, and that’s one of their main advantages over fixed-wing aircraft.

Off-airfield landing operations come with additional risks, which must be known, detected and managed. 

Note: Of course, before you do an off-airfield landing, make sure that the regulations in your country allow you to do this in the first place. 

Planning and Preparation

Pre-flight preparation reduces workload and enables  risk management by identifying and analysing hazards and threats before the flight.

Flight preparation has been addressed in several articles previously published in the EASA Community Rotorcraft. Here are some tips: 

• Weather: Beware that weather can change or differ from what you initially expected at the intended landing site. Most of the time, there will be no METAR and TAF available for your landing site. They are normally only issued for aerodromes. 
• Landing area: Using navigation software like SkyDemon, Foreflight and even Google Maps (satellite) will help you getting a better understanding of the local area. Beware of people, animals, wires, obstructions, trees, and objects that may lead to Foreign Object Damage (FOD) when blown by rotor downwash. Besides, the surface of the landing area can be different than expected.
• Aircraft: Calculate your HIGE and HOGE performance correctly. Check aircraft performance and weight and balance. If you are flying passengers, keep in mind that they may show up with more luggage with them than you initially expected. You should also check for any limitations due to sloping ground or terrain.

The take-off and landing manoeuvres need to be considered. Using the right approach and departure for the landing site is essential for a safe landing, and take-off too. It depends on different factors like helicopter performance (single-engine helicopter or multi-engine helicopter), weather, terrain, wind direction and velocity, type of obstacles on the path, and size of the landing area. 

EASA and the ESPN-R have published various checklists and promoted three Safety Apps developed by Airbus, Leonardo, and Next Generation Flight Training (NGFT), designed to help pilots understand and mitigate the risks they might face during a flight. The objective is to reduce the number of accidents due to operational factors, which is a key goal in the EASA Rotorcraft Safety Roadmap. Safety analysis shows that approximatively 75% of all helicopter accidents involve operational factors, many of which could have been prevented with improved risk awareness and decision-making.

That’s the first decision gate: if everything OK and risks are properly mitigated at the flight planning and preparation stage, you may decide to perform the flight.The second video and article will address Approach and Landing procedures. 

References

EHEST Leaflet HE 3 Helicopter Off Airfield Landing Sites Operations | EASA (europa.eu).Helicopter Landing Guide Helicopter Landing Guide – Helipaddy, (30) Andrew Brandt | LinkedIn.

Uncertified Helipad Landing | EASA Community (europa.eu).

EASA video Helicopter Landings at Uncertified Helipads (youtube.com).

Threat and Error Management (TEM) for Helicopter Operations | EASA Community (europa.eu).

EHEST Leaflet HE 12 Helicopter Performance | EASA (europa.eu).

Flight Planning | EASA Community (europa.eu).

From Take-Off to Landing | EASA Community (europa.eu).

Helicopter Airmanship | EASA Community (europa.eu).

EHEST Pre-flight Planning Checklist.

EHEST Pre-departure Risk Assessment Checklist | EASA (europa.eu).

Safety Apps | EASA Community (europa.eu).

Spotlight on Safety: Best practices for confined-area operations - ROTOR Media.

HAI Spotlight on Safety: Confined Area Operations (youtube.com).