Last month over 40 members of the UK onshore helicopter industry got together at the buildings of the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) in Farnborough in order to promote better safety standards. Senior members of many AOC operators and maintenance organisations, along with Airbus Helicopters UK, Finmeccanica UK and Turbomeca UK all contributed to the event, which was organised by Starspeed director Simon Mitchell.

“This initiative, the Corporate Aviation Safety Executive (CASE), was originally set up by the fixed wing operators at Farnborough, and it is now UK-based,” he says. “We share information on safety matters and come together to share airport and aircraft data.

“In January 2013 there was the Vauxhall Bridge accident and in October 2012 there was the serious incident in Peasmarsh. There were some questions being asked, quite legitimately, about how we were running the helicopter industry. We are all tightly coupled; if someone at the other end of the country is not flying helicopters very well, it still affects the perception of how helicopters are being flown.”

He says that rotorcraft are still viewed as dangerous by many members of the public, and the industry must address this worry. “There is obviously nothing dangerous about helicopters as such, it is just that the environment that we are operating in is that much more challenging, because we are generally operating off airfield, and therefore it does require a high standard of operation.”

Mitchell continues: “The analogy is cars and motorbikes, where the fixed wing industry is seen as safe cars and helicopters as risky motorbikes. Helicopters have moved on a lot technologically over the last few years, and we are just about to get some very capable new machines coming on to the market with new automation. There is a need once more to prepare for these changes.”