The ATSB continues to acknowledge and support World Helicopter Day to help raise awareness of the valuable contributions helicopters make to society, and as an opportunity to share information to influence safety.
On this World Helicopter Day - as a pilot or an operator - have you the required knowledge and skills in place to manage the risk of an inadvertent entry into IMC?
Since the release of our final report into the fatal VFR into IMC, loss of control and collision with terrain accident involving an EC130 T2 near Mount Disappointment, Victoria in March 2022 we have been advocating for all VFR-rated helicopter pilots, particularly those undertaking Part 133 passenger carrying operations, to develop the knowledge and skills required to manage the risk of inadvertent entry into IMC.
While avoidance of IMC is important, it is not always assured. And to help mitigate against inadvertent entry into IMC, there are several available risk controls for VFR pilots to strongly consider.
Before flight, decision-making in marginal weather conditions can be supported with the use of a pre-flight risk assessment tool. And to increase the chances of safely recovering from an inadvertent entry, we highly encourage VFR pilots undertake recovery training and basic instrument flying competency checks during their operator proficiency checks or during other training.
At an organisational level, the risk of helicopter inadvertent IMC should be considered within the context of a company's operations. The effective management of this risk relies on multiple layers of controls to reduce the risk of single point-of-failure accidents. This includes training and procedures for both avoidance and recovery, which can be enhanced with equipment, such as autopilots to reduce the risk of loss of control, and terrain awareness and warning systems to reduce the risk of controlled flight into terrain.
The ATSB continues to monitor the intended safety action by CASA in response to our safety recommendation to further address the risk of inadvertent IMC events in Part 133 helicopter passenger operations.
