Chris Hill, Author at Helicopter Association International https://rotor.org The global leader in leveraging, innovating, advocating, and expanding vertical flight Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:59:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.2.2 https://rotor.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/cropped-favicon-32x32.gif Chris Hill, Author at Helicopter Association International https://rotor.org 32 32 June Spotlight on Safety: Confront mission mentality and save lives https://rotor.org/june-spotlight-on-safety-confront-mission-mentality-and-save-lives/ Thu, 24 Jun 2021 10:00:55 +0000 https://rotor.org/?p=14788

In our profession, multitasking is out of the question.
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Image above: iStock/sesame In our profession, multitasking is out of the question. While many in the vertical flight industry claim multitasking as one of their many extraordinary skills, they, too, suffer from the same human vulnerability to distraction as the rest of us. So how do helicopter pilots routinely juggle a series of highly complex tasks that enable them to maintain a flawless instrument scan or a perfectly steady hover while lives hang in the balance? You practice, of course. Others might offer up lifesaving technical solutions like stability augmentation or autopilot. Training and technology advancements remain critical to our industry, but neither can replace disciplined risk management and aeronautical decision-making (ADM) when it comes to saving lives. Juggling Priorities When our brains switch between demanding tasks, how much cognitive ability remains for us to process new information, particularly if it disrupts our flight, or “important mission”? This is when we’re most vulnerable. The solution many in the industry have discovered is meticulous flight planning with an obsessive focus on risk management. We service our ADM “engine”—our brain—well before takeoff to automate many dynamic risk-based decisions. Then, when we’re necessarily focused on a complex flight task and we encounter a (more…)

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]]> Behind the Scenes of 56 Seconds to Live https://rotor.org/behind-the-scenes-of-56-seconds-to-live/ Fri, 11 Jun 2021 10:00:05 +0000 https://rotor.org/?p=13243

Giving thanks to the amazing team that produced 56 Seconds to Live. 
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Giving thanks to the amazing team that produced 56 Seconds to Live. Day One at Airbus Helicopters, Grand Prairie, Texas “Action!” On Sep. 21, 2020, videographer Sheldon Cohen of Cohen Pictures began filming the first take of 56 Seconds to Live, a short video depicting the fate of an errant helicopter pilot who continues VFR flight into poor weather. The US Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) based the film on the well-known 178 Seconds to Live video for airplane pilots. The intent was to dramatically illustrate how much more quickly a helicopter pilot can lose control than a fixed-wing pilot following unintended flight into instrument meteorological conditions (UIMC). Laurel Bowman, 56 Seconds Director “US accident statistics reveal that a helicopter pilot who unintentionally continues VFR flight into IMC will very likely lose control of their aircraft and be dead within a median time of 56 seconds,” says Nick Mayhew, USHST’s industry co-chair. “We must join industry stakeholders to do everything we can to reverse this alarming and unacceptable trend.” HAI answered the call. “When I learned about the 56 Seconds to Live concept, I was all in,” says HAI President and CEO Jim Viola.  “HAI, through its foundation, was pleased to (more…)

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