Simulators Save Lives
By Gene Trainor, FAA Aircraft Certification Service
Since people began flying helicopters, weather has played a large role in accidents. Unintended flight into instrument meteorological conditions (UIMC) is among the most dangerous situations that can contribute to an accident.
For the layman, UIMC occurs when pilots unintentionally fly into weather where visibility is so limited that all they can see are clouds and/or precipitation. It also can occur over unlit terrain or a large body of water on moonless nights when a visual horizon is not visible.
If pilots fly lower in an attempt to maintain visual contact with the ground, they risk hitting towers, wires, terrain, or other obstacles. If they continue at their present altitude or higher, they risk UIMC. This can result in spatial disorientation, which occurs when pilots cannot determine a helicopter’s position, motion, and altitude relative to the earth or their surroundings. Pilots will then need to rely on their helicopters’ instruments to maintain aircraft control, turn around before entering these conditions, or just land. Without adequate training, this can be a terrifying and dangerous situation.
Consider Simulators
Simulators allow pilots to experience hazardous situations as if they were in an aircraft but in a safe environment. The FAA urges pilots to use simulators to practice how to recover from UIMC. Pilots also can assess the risks of continuing with a flight.
The United States Helicopter Safety Team (USHST), a government-industry safety advocacy group, issued a helicopter safety enhancement (H-SE) in 2018, calling on the helicopter community to increase simulator training. Not only do simulators help pilots navigate UIMC, spatial disorientation, and other risky weather-related conditions, they can also help with better decision-making; loss of control; loss of tail rotor effectiveness; and vortex ring state conditions. Several of these situations occur simultaneously.
We recognize that some pilots may lack access to simulators. Properly trained instructors using view-limiting devices in flight represent a good alternative and provide real-world conditions conducive to spatial disorientation training.
Simulator Training Matters
The Rotorcraft Collective, a government-industry group, recently published a video that retells the time flight instructor Terry Palmer met some pilots waiting for their helicopter to be serviced in Shreveport, La. While they waited, she offered UIMC instruction in her flight simulator. The pilots crashed in every scenario.
These pilots had traveled to Shreveport under visual flight rules. Clouds were minimal, and the pilots could see obstacles and terrain several miles ahead of their helicopter’s flight path. After their UIMC training, the pilots were en route back to Boston when they encountered weather outside New York City. They landed their helicopter. They knew they lacked the expertise to push through thanks to the simulator training. One of the pilots called Palmer to tell her that she saved their lives. According to Palmer, they scheduled additional simulator training to improve their instrument proficiency. Watch the video at bit.ly/3xsHFFp.
The USHST Safety Analysis Team (SAT), the group that developed the simulator H-SE, among others, studied 104 fatal helicopter accidents from 2009 to 2013 and determined that 52 accidents fell into three occurrence categories: UIMC, loss of control, and low-altitude operations. Of these 52 fatal accidents, the team determined that 21 could have been avoided through simulator training. More than half (12) were UIMC.
“This H-SE targets greater use of simulation at all levels … initial professional helicopter training and during recurrent training sessions,” the SAT’s report states. “This will allow pilots to learn from their mistakes in a safe environment and will make them less likely to repeat the error during actual flight.”
UIMC is a risk every pilot faces. Be prepared. Train in a simulator.
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Gene Trainor is a technical writer/editor in the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service.
