On Monday and Tuesday, November 17 and 18, HAI will host a two-day summit intended to outline a path forward for the IFR certification of single-engine helicopters under Part 27 of the federal aviation regulations (14 CFR 27). Invitations have been extended to all Western certificated airframe manufacturers.

Since 1999, installation and use of technically advanced avionics in helicopters has been partially guided by an FAA advisory circular (AC 27-1). At the time, digital autopilots and advanced avionics were only just arriving on the market and as a result, the tremendous safety benefits of these new tools were not fully accounted for. Additionally, this FAA Advisory Circular designates design assurance levels for helicopter avionics that are two orders of magnitude (100x) stricter than those required for fixed-wing aircraft of the same weight category and similar complexity. Fifteen years later, avionics capability and reliability have increased dramatically, but the AC guidance has not changed. As a consequence, it has become practically impossible to certify a single-engine helicopter for IFR.

The two-day summit that HAI is hosting will bring the airframe manufacturers together to discuss the state of modern avionics and the regulatory hindrances to getting those avionics certified for use in single-engine helicopter IFR operations. The intended output of the summit is a joint white paper that can act as a roadmap for the FAA to ease the certification process.

A follow-on meeting with FAA representatives is anticipated during HAI HELI-EXPO 2015, March 2-5, in Orlando, Fla.