The United States Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) invites the entire vertical aviation community to attend its all-hands meeting at the HAI HELI-EXPO 2023 to discuss the USHST’s five new safety enhancements.

The USHST meeting will take place from 2:30-4 p.m., March 6, at Room B303 in the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The USHST is a volunteer team of U.S. government and industry stakeholders formed to improve the safety of civil helicopter operations in the National Airspace System.

HAI HELI-EXPO, meanwhile, is the world’s largest trade show dedicated to the helicopter industry, with more than 600 exhibitors and an expected attendance of more than 14,000 rotorcraft professionals.

The USHST released its first safety enhancements in 2017 after analyzing more than 100 fatal helicopter accidents. The 16 enhancements range from recommended pre-flight inspections to understanding basic helicopter aerodynamics and safety culture and professionalism.

The five new enhancements are:

• Promote conservative go/no-go decision-making (including performance planning) before and during flights.
• Educate about the hazards of low-level operations (includes consideration of wire strike protection devices, hazard detection capability, and emerging technology). Utility wire strikes, tower strikes and other obstacle strikes are a major cause of helicopter accidents.
• Improve risk management of night operations, including factors unique to “dark” night operations. Flying at night increases risks particularly in areas that experience the most accidents, such as loss of control.
• Improve fatigue awareness and promote schedules that allow for adequate rest to prevent fatigue.
• Training on the effects of adverse wind situations, particularly performance issues at low airspeeds.

If you want to help further develop these enhancements, your participation would be welcome. If you cannot attend the meeting, please email your contact information and expertise to safety@ushst.org.

More information about the USHST and its safety enhancements can be obtained at https://ushst.org/.