Closing two mayor safety gaps in helicopter VFR flights

1. Closing two mayor safety gaps in helicopter VFR flights S. Scherbarth, K. Schulz, EADS Deutschland GmbH, 88039 Friedrichshafen, Germany Presentation title – file name – date

2. The wire and pole problem in VFR flights • The Visual Flight Regulations is based on the “see and avoid” concept for safe helicopter flight. • Close to ground there are hard to see obstacles like poles or masts and obstacles like wires not perceivable at all by itself. • Obviously, for these obstacles see and avoid does not work due to the deficits in the unaided human “see”. • This is clearly visible in the accident statistics: Presentation title – file name – date

3. The size of the safety gap • The in-flight collision with obstacles caused 15,7% of all U.S. civil rotorcraft accidents 1963-1997. This is the second largest cause of accidents just after loss of engine power (28.5%) (1) • In-flight collisions with wires and poles are the main cause of all in flight collisions with obstacles contributing to 53% of all these accidents (1) • Therefore, next after loss of engine power we talk about the largest single safety problem causing 8.3% of all accidents 1963-1997 (1) (1) NASA/TM-2000-209597, “ U.S.Civil Rotorcraft Accidents 1963 through 1997 “ Presentation title – file name – date

4. It is time to update the VFR definition Since the historic VFR definition, the situation has changed: • The density of poles (mobile antenna masts), windmills and wires has increased significantly and helicopter missions changed more to close to ground missions with landing in unknown terrain (EMS, SAR, Police, ..) • With active obstacle warning systems there are certified, technical means readily available to close the mayor safety gap caused by wire and pole collision. Presentation title – file name – date

5. Navigation System AHRS Navigation System IRS Video Display NVG/Night mode HELLAS – Active Obstacle Warning Product Family System architecture HELLAS-W HELLAS-A Acoustic alarm generator Caution display Communication Management Warning Management VideoDisplay EW System - Blanking NVG/Night mode Avionic bus FLIR Sensor- and Electronic unit HMS/DPLT&CPLT Control Panel Warning Indicator Control Panel DKU Collective Presentation title – file name – date

6. HELLAS – Product Family Performances HELLAS-W HELLAS-A Field of View Vertical: 32° Horizontal: 31.5° Line of Sight range EL: +10°/ -20° Field of Regard Vertical: 62° Horizontal: 31.5° Max. Range of Sensor: 1050 m Scan frequency: 2 Hz Weight: 27,4 kg Power consumption: < 160 VA Window Heating N/A Classification of Obstacles High Risk History function: 8 s Detection 10 mm wires up to 500 m @12km visib. Field of View Vertical: 42° Horizontal: 36° Line of Sight range AZ: 12° Field of Regard Vertical: 42° Horizontal: 60° Max. Range of Sensor: 1200 m Scan frequency: 3 Hz Weight: 21-24 kg Power consumption: < 280 VA Window Heating 50 VA Classification of Obstacles multiple Obstacles History function: multiple Obstacles Detection 5 mm wires up to 700 m @12km visib. Presentation title – file name – date

7. APPROACH OFF ON NORMAL OWS HELLAS – Product Family Command and Control HELLAS-A HELLAS-W MODE: OFF Power Off STBY/SN Standby/Snapshot SL Safety Line-Mode WR/PL Wire/Pole-Mode TREE Tree-Mode HMS/D-SYM: Control for symbology on the HMS/D’s DR/WR: Setting Display Range andWarning Range NORMALNormal Operating during Cruising Flight APPROACHOperation Take-off and Landing ONHELLAS Power ON OFFHELLAS Power OFF Presentation title – file name – date

8. Flight Vector Horizon Safety Line APCH HELLAS – Product Family Display HELLAS-W HELLAS-A Safety Line and Obstacles on HMS/D and MFD Safety Line Display on HMS/D Warning Indicator Indication whether there is an obstacle warning on the left, center or right field in front of the helicopter At present optional: Obstacle Display on MFD Presentation title – file name – date

9. HELLAS – Product Family • HELLAS W is available off the shelf. • More than 50 units sold in Europe, North America and Asia. • Operational since 2003 • EASA and CAA certified according LBA-NTS02 (August 21, 2003) • HELLAS A is in development for NH90, first flight 2006 Presentation title – file name – date

10. Conclusion On of the conclusions of the NASA Study on U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents 1963 through 1997 was: “The authors (2) recommend that: • Flying below 750 feet (above ground level) be discouraged by the industry and regulatory agencies. • A low-price proximity spherical sensor be developed and certified; a sensor sphere of some large radius should , in effect, cocoon the helicopter and provide the pilot with sufficient warning to avoid obstacles “ (2) Franklin D. Harris, Eugene F. Kasper, and Laura E. Iseler Presentation title – file name – date

11. Conclusion With our HELLAS products we have developed the proposed proximity sensor to effectively cocoon the helicopter. Therefore its now time to update the requirements for helicopters flying routinely missions below 750 feet. For these helicopters the installation of an appropriate active obstacle warning system should be mandatory. We believe its now overdue to close this mayor safety gap caused by in flight collisions with wires and poles. Presentation title – file name – date

12. The second safety issue to adress • Loss of visual reference by • Brownout (Sand) • Whiteout (Snow) Presentation title – file name – date

13. The size of the brown out / white out safety problem • Brown out has been a mayor problem in recent military helicopter operations. • It has been reported that “Brown-outs have claimed 28 US Army helicopters in Iraq” (3) • 15% of all Class A accidents of the US-Army in 2002 – 2003 has been caused by brown outs. (4) • Defense Helicopter, February / March 2004 • US Army Combat Readiness Center Presentation title – file name – date

14. The Risk – Degraded Visual Environment Typical Flight Scenario into Brownout Condition Presentation title – file name – date

15. Principle of the Solution with Hellas (3) Step 1 Close to and during low speed landing approach the HELLAS gets a brown-out/white-out free sight to the landing area and accumulates a high resolution tree dimensional image of that area. Step 2 In case of upcoming brown/whiteout condition, the HELLAS system has gathered enough three dimensional area scan data in the internal buffer to create a HELLAS natural synthetic vision video of the landing area. Step 3 This synthetic vision video presents to the pilots an artificial three dimensional representation of the outside view correlated to his current position and inertial reference. (3) U.S. Patent pending Presentation title – file name – date

16. Clear view to landing zone in brown-out Hellas brown-out support with HMSD Presentation title – file name – date

17. Conclusion HELLAS is capable to provide continuous visual reference for landing in brown-out or white-out conditions through a virtual view. This virtual view is generated from an high resolution 3-D image of the landing zone in same way as in a state of the art flight simulator. With this support no critical switching from visual reference to an abstract instrument reference is required when a brown-out condition occurs. Presentation title – file name – date