modern helicopter avionics enhance safety and situational awareness.whitepaperpdf.render

8/14/2019 Modern Helicopter Avionics Enhance Safety and Situational Awareness.whitepaperpdf.render

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EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

Modern helicopteravionics enhance safetyand situational awarenessControlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and

inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions

(IMC) continue to be costly for the rotorcraft

community. The effects of helicopter accidents

are far-reaching and long-lasting. Avionics

technology firms are proactively working with

industry organizations to enhance flight crew

situational awareness and increase safety.

Download this free, informative guide to learn

how helicopter operators, airframe manufacturers

(such as AgustaWestland, Korea Aerospace, and

Sikorsky), professional helicopter organizations

(such as IHST), and technology innovators

(including Sandel Avionics, Garmin, Honeywell,

and Rockwell Collins) are working together and

putting modern avionics into action to reduce

helicopter accidents and fatalities.

3 Enhancingpilot situationalawareness for

increased safety

18All collaborateon helicoptercrashtest

21 Avionics inaction 25 Spotlight onhelicoptersafety

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3/28Avionics Intelligence :: EXECUTIVE BRIEFING:: sponsored by

Enhancing pilot situational

awareness for increased safetyModern helicopter avionics technologies enhance

situational awareness to increase safety and

reduce common aviation accidents.

By COURTNEY E. HOWARD

AVIATION ACCIDENTS CAN have far-reaching effects and often

unforeseen consequences. Rather than recoiling in reaction to

helicopter-related fatalities, the rotorcraft community has banded

together and taken a proactive approachadvancing cockpit avionics

technologies to aid in reducing unfortunate aviation incidents, assisting pilots,

and bolstering safety.

Industry & government partner

Government regulators, aircraft and avionics manufacturers, and helicopter

operators came to a consensus in 2005 that the rate of worldwide helicopter

accidents was unacceptably high. By the end of the year, leaders from the

American Helicopter Society (AHS), Helicopter Association International

(HAI), manufacturers and other interested organizations, and the U.S. Federal

Aviation Administration (FAA) had joined together to establish the International


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Enhancing pilot situational awareness for increased safety

4

Avionics Intelligence :: EXECUTIVE BRIEFING:: sponsored by

Helicopter Safety Team (IHST). IHST is a global group of industry and government

professionals working in concert toward an aggressive goal: to reduce the

worldwide helicopter accident rate by 80 percent in 10 years (by 2016).

The IHST developed and implemented a data-driven, benefit-focused safety

program designed to continuously reduce the risk of helicopter accidents,

describes a representative. The IHST chartered a Joint Helicopter Safety Analysis

Team (JHSAT) to develop data-driven safety recommendations in pursuit of

the goal to reduce the accident rate and fatality risk. The JHSAT includes

key stakeholders in helicopter design, manufacture, operation, training, and

regulation. (Read more on IHST in Spotlight on helicopter safety, an interview

with Fred Brisbois, Co-chair, U.S. Safety Implementation Team, IHST ExecutiveCommittee.)

IHST professionals in the U.S., Canada, and Europe analyzed more than 800

helicopter accidents and issued four intervention recommendations: implement

safety management systems (SMS); improve training (including simulator/

flight training device utilization, and aeronautical decision-making); improve

maintenance practices; and leverage new technologies though new systems

and equipment. Avionics technology plays a major role throughout these safety

recommendations.

Accident statistics

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) named 2012 the safest year

in recent aviation history for fixed-wing commercial aviation; however, helicopter

safety is still a paramount concern, admits Trish Ververs, engineer fellow with

Honeywells Advanced Technology Group in Baltimore, Md. Her concerns are well

founded.

In 2012, HeliHub (http://helihub.com/) recorded a total of 133 fatal helicopter

accidents, involving the loss of 420 lives. Military helicopters accounted for 50

such events and 246 lives (4.9 per accident), while civil helicopters were involved

on 83 occasions with 174 lives lost (2.1 per accident).

Many factors likely contribute to a higher incidence of accidents and fatalities

compared to fixed-wing aircraft. Helicopter missions often operate close to


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challenging terrain and involve off-airport takeoffs and landings, notes a

spokesperson at Sandel Avionics in Vista, Calif. Helicopters routinely operate

below 500 feet above ground level (AGL); obstacles and especially power lines are

a threat to helicopter operations throughout the mission, not just at takeoff and

landing.

Curtailing causes

Controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) and inadvertent instrument meteorological

conditions (IMC) are associated with a great many helicopter accidents and,

therefore, the focus of many safety discussions. Both CFIT and inadvertent IMC

involve diminishing visibility and, in turn, a loss of situational awarenessor

knowledge of ones surroundings.

CFIT has been a major aviation safety issue for several decades, Robert O.

Phillips of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) admitted in his report, Investigation of Controlled Flight

into Terrain: Descriptions of Flight Paths for Selected Controlled Flight into

Terrain (CFIT) Aircraft Accidents, 1985-1997.


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6


A CFIT accident occurs when an airworthy aircraft, experiencing no contributory

systems or equipment problems, under the control of a certificated, fully qualified

flight crew no suffering from any impairment, is flown into terrain (or water or

obstacle) with no demonstrated prior awareness of the impending collision on

the part of the crew. Or, if the flight crew was aware of the impending collision,

they were unable to prevent it, Phillips wrote, referencing David Spiller of the

Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, Mass. (Spiller wrote:

Investigation of CFIT Accidents Involving Multi-Engine, Fixed-Wing Aircraft

Operating under Part 135 and the Potential Application of a Ground Proximity

Warning System in 1989.)

Most CFIT accidents have in common a chain of events leading to what humanfactors experts term lack of situational awareness on the part of the flight crew,

Phillips affirms. Conditions of limited visibility (due to darkness or weather or

both) are typically a major contributing factor.

A majority of such accidents involve high-speed impacts and, as a result,

typically have disastrous consequences. In fact, statistics from the U.S. National

Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in Washington indicate that 60 percent of

all CFIT accidents are fatal. For this and other reasons, CFIT accidents continue

to be a primary cause of fatalities and airframe losses in aviation, explained

Major Michael L. Moroze and Dr. Michael P. Snow, Air Force Research Laboratory

(AFRL), Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio, in their paper, Causes and

Remedies of Controlled Flight into Terrain in Military and Civil Aviation.

Over 50 percent of CFIT mishaps have situational awareness components listed

as contributing factors, Moroze and Snow wrote. Several authors suggest that

one of the most common attributes of CFIT accidents is pilot or crew lack of

situation awareness. Other authors investigating this issue more specificallyidentify this behavior as a lack of terrain situation awareness or terrain

awareness. In any case, it is the overall lack of the crews understanding of where

they are and where they are going in three-dimensional (3D) space that enable

CFIT to occur.

CFIT accident prevention has been the focus of considerable effort over the past

30 years on the part of government and industry, Phillips described. Preventing


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CFIT is, unfortunately, not an issue to be addressed solely by pilot training and

experience. Similarly, Moroze and Snow concluded in their 1999 paper that

systems are needed to improve flight crew situation awareness, especially terrain

awareness.

Tapping technology

CFIT remains the leading cause of aviation accidents worldwide, according

to a representative at FlightSafety International in Flushing, N.Y. Yet, new

developments in aircraft technology can increase a pilots awareness of terrain.

Sandel Avionics officials agree, noting: CFIT is a real and growing threat to

helicopters. As the accident rate rises, private and public entities must find asolution to address the issue in an efficient and cost-effective way.

Avionics technologies play a key role in reducing CFIT and inadvertent

Instrument Meteorological Conditions (IMC). Technology firms are increasingly

providing affordable, flexible, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology that

designed to deliver enhanced situational awareness in a number of ways, such as:

streamlining cockpit avionics interfaces, reducing pilot workload, providing 3D

synthetic views of obstacles, and helping flight crews recognize and avoid hazards

to prevent accidents.

Operator experience

A pilot can easily be task saturated and over stimulated by too many items in

the cockpit, recognizes Brett Harlow, military/government aviation business

development manager at Garmin International in Olathe, Kan. We have

shown improvement in pilot interface by making it a lot easier to learn. And by

condensing it into one to two simple screens, like Garmin has done, you also

minimize the heads down time and keep them looking outside longer.

Garmin officials have been working closely with the Defense Safety Oversight

Council (DSOC), which provides governance on U.S. Department of Defense

(DOD)-wide efforts to reduce preventable mishaps. Garmins objective is to add a

level of safety not seen before in the military environment, Harlow says. Garmins

COTS GNS/GTN navigators are designed to simplify installation and minimize

down time, for example. By adding a helicopter terrain awareness and warning


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8


system (HTAWS), in-flight weather, traffic, back-up radios, and communications,

we not only improve safety of flight, but make the pilots and crews life a lot

easier.

The Garmin GTN 750/650 features a helicopter-specific obstacle database with

nearly 30,000 low-altitude obstacles, as well as a navigation database with

heliports and high-resolution terrain. For added safety, optional HTAWS provides

five-color shading to show nearby terrain in proximity to your helicopter, and

provides voice callouts when descending below 500 feet, Harlow describes. The

GTN 750/650 is available with optional enhancements tailored to the demands

of helicopter missions, and is optionally compatible with night vision imaging

systems (NVIS) for use with a wide range of optics.

Whats even better is when you pair the GTN series with a G500H, Harlow adds.

Dual 6.5-inch LCD screens, mounted side-by-side in a single bezel, put primary

flight display (PFD) and multifunction display (MFD) capabilities right in front

of you for easy scanning and interpretation. The PFD screen shows attitude,

airspeed, altitude, climb rate, and course/heading information, while the left-

side MFD provides detailed moving-map graphics with the helicopters current

position in relation to ground features, chart data, navaids, and flight plan

routings.

Synthetic vision is another safety benefit, adding 3D obstacles, terrain, and traffic

right in front of the pilot, Harlow explains. With technology advancing quickly,

its key to exploit those advances and use them for the right reasons.

Synthetic vision

Low visibility is a leading cause of helicopter accidents, observes Ververs at

Honeywell. The IHST reports that loss of pilot control accounts for one out ofevery five fatal helicopter accidents, and visibility issues are a close second.

This has shown that while helicopter flight is ultimately safe, there need to be

improvements to help it reach the level of fixed-wing safety.

Honeywells Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) uses inputs

position, attitude, air speed, and glideslope, along with internal terrain, obstacles,

and airport databasesto predict a potential conflict between the aircrafts flight


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9


path and terrain or an obstacle that the pilot

might not see, such as radio towers or buildings.

As a result of EGPWS, the risk of controlled

flight into terrain is now 50 times less in Western

Europe and North America than it was in 1991,

making this one of the biggest success stories in

the history of aviation, Ververs says. Since the

introduction of EGPWS in 1996, Honeywell has

received reports of more than 30 incidents where

the EGPWS gave an alert and provided pilots with

timely awareness of terrain in flight situations.

Honeywell engineers have worked on integratingthe EGPWS with its SmartView Synthetic Vision

System (SVS) to provide an enhanced terrain and

obstacle awareness of threats.

Honeywell has showcased the benefits of

safety technology and advanced avionics, such

as the companys EGPWS and SVS, for fixed-

wing aircraft, and demonstrated how those

technologies can increase the safety of a fixed-

wing flight. With the continued growth of the helicopter industry and helicopters

being used in more adverse and varied environments compared with fixed-

wing platforms, Honeywell understands the immense safety benefits to bring

these technologies to the rotorcraft industry, Ververs explains. Honeywell is

focusing on helping the industry achieve the IHSTs bold goal to reduce helicopter

accidents by 80 percent by 2016, by working with OEMs and the industry

to provide advancements in safety technology, specifically for low-visibility

scenarios.

One way Honeywell is doing this by taking its Synthetic Vision System, which

provides pilots with a synthetic view of the outside world in low-visibility

situations, and bringing it to the helicopter industry, Ververs continues.

Helicopter pilots can use NextGen technologies, such as SmartView Synthetic

Vision System (SVS), to greatly decrease the chances of CFIT that happens as a

result of low visibility.


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Honeywell SmartView provides helicopter pilots with real-time views of thelocation of the aircraft in relation to surrounding terrain, and a 3D virtual

view outside the cockpit that is unencumbered by visual impediments, such as

fog, bad weather, or darkness, Ververs describes. SmartView is also a strategic

tool, offering guidance cues, terrain shading and other intuitive prompts to aid

helicopter pilots in critical decision-making ultimately improving pilots and

passengers overall safety, she says.

Rotorcraft & TAWS

The FAA is credited with having coined the term terrain awareness and warning

system (TAWS) to encompass a variety of current and future systems that meet the

requirements of FAA Proposed Technical Standard Order TSO-C151, Terrain Awareness

and Warning System, and TSO-C194, Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning

System. (Installation of HTAWS is defined in AC 27-1B, Certification of Normal

Category Rotorcraft, and AC 29-2C, Certification of Transport Category Rotorcraft.)

FAA on H-TAWSOn 27 June 2006, at the FAAs request, RTCAInc. established a Special Committee to develop

Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System

(H-TAWS) standards.These standards will be used

to develop FAA requirements for H-TAWS systems,

installation, and operations.


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1


To qualify as TAWS, the solution needs to include: a terrain display; terrain

awareness and alerting functions that use position information provided by

either a suitable internal position sensor or an on-board area navigational system

and an on-board terrain database; and ground proximity detection and alerting

functions (the traditional GPWS functions).

TAWS, because of these added capabilities, offers significant improvements over

traditional ground proximity warning systems (GPWS) equipment alert and alarm

times. The continuous terrain display feature of TAWS will greatly heighten flight

crew situational awareness in conditions of limited visibility, Phillips wrote in

Investigation of Controlled Flight into Terrain.

Warning times that were once measured in seconds, or were not generated at all

in non-precision approach situations, may now be measured in minutes. Rather

than just providing a last-ditch warning of imminent danger, this display will

enable crews to maneuver to avoid terrain well before it becomes an obstruction

to their flight path, Phillips added.

The FAA mandates the use of TAWS for certain fixed-wing aircraft, but not

helicopters. Regardless, helicopter operators continue to adopt helicopter-specific

TAWS (H-TAWS or HTAWS).

HTAWS in action

FAA-recommended best practices for air ambulance operators or helicopter

emergency medical services (HEMS) includes TAWS. Even in the absence of an

FAA requirement, helicopter operators are adopting HTAWS equipage.

Military helicopters bring with them a variety of

unique requirements and standards (MIL-STD), inaddition to those of the FAArequirements that

Sandel Avionics engineers set out to meet and

exceed with the companys HeliTAWS products.

FAA TSO-C194 for helicopter terrain awareness

only applies to operations above 500 feet AGL.

In reality, however, a great many real-world


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2


helicopter operations occur below this

level. Sandel Avionics ST3400H HeliTAWS

system not only is certified for operations

below 500 feet, but also exceeds TSO-C194

compliance, according to a company

spokesperson. At the same time, the

MIL-STD version, the ST3453H Sandel

HeliTAWS, is designed to meet military

demands.

The commercial ST3400H Sandel HeliTAWS

multihazard avoidance system forhelicopters protects against terrain, wires,

and obstacles, and is certified for nuisance-

free operation below en route altitudes.

Sandel HeliTAWS incorporate Sandel WireWatch onboard wire-strike avoidance

capability, TruAlert technology to eliminate nuisance alerts, and pilot-selectable

modes of operation. The ST3453H model adds MIL-STD-3009 NVIS, MIL-STD-810E

environmental qualification, and a built-in MIL-STD-1553B bus interface to the

commercial versions features.

Designed for such demanding missions as HEMS, oil rig operations, tactical

military support, airborne law enforcement, firefighting, and search & rescue,

Sandel HeliTAWS systems are automatic and do not require pilot management

of the phase of flight. HeliTAWS also boast an easy-to-interpret, color, high-

resolution display for 3D terrain, obstacles, flight plan, and traffic overlay, as well

as on-demand NVIS compatibility.


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Officials at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Stratford, Conn., selected this new MIL-

STD version of Sandels COTS wire and terrain alerting system for forward-fit

installation aboard the companys S-70i Black Hawk helicopter.

Sandel Avionics also has begun delivery of MIL-STD-810G-qualified Sandel

ST3453H HeliTAWS systems to Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) in South Korea.

Sandel is under a long-term supply agreement with KAI to provide the HeliTAWS

multihazard avoidance systems for factory installation on new KAI helicopters

manufactured in Korea, including KUH-1P models for the Korean National Police.

Having KAI include our HeliTAWS system is yet another example of the OEMs

dedication to helicopter safety and ensuring that its the number one priorityin helicopter operations, says Sandel President and CEO Gerry Block. We are

extremely proud to work with manufacturers like KAI to increase the availability

of technologies designed to make flying safer.

To start, KAI is equipping its KUH-1P model with HeliTAWS, enhancing the

capability of the Korean Utility Helicopter derivative designed specifically for

airborne law enforcement requirements.

Flexible functionality

Whether it is emergency medical services (EMS), law enforcement, search and

rescue, or any number of other demanding mission profiles, the very nature

of a typical helicopter mission means the aircrew must operate in potentially

dangerous environments, describes a spokesperson at Rockwell Collins in Cedar


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4


Eliminating visual clutterThe G5000H, Garmins latest and greatest integrated cockpit solution, is

currently being certified to fly on the Bell 525 Relentless, a medium-lift

helicopter by Bell Helicopter, a Textron company in Hurst, Texas.

With its touchscreen controls that work with most flight gloves, G5000H

eliminates visual clutter.

Mechanical knobs, buttons,

and selector switches have

been replaced with a series

of large, landscape-oriented,

high-resolution displays,explains Brett Harlow, military/

government aviation business

development manager at Garmin

International in Olathe, Kan.

Each display can function

independently as a primary flight display (PFD) or multifunction display (MFD),

and operate in multi-pane mode, enabling flight crew to two pages side-by-side

on a single display. You can choose to view your primary flight display, maps,

charts, checklists, synoptics, HTAWS, flight planning, weather, or video input

side-by-side on any of the displays.

The PFDs wide-screen aspect ratio provides a panoramic view of Garmins

Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology (HSVT), which enhances situational

awareness by creating a virtual reality depiction of ground and water

features, obstacles, and traffic in proximity to the aircraft, Harlow continues.

You get a realistic picture of what lies beyond the nose of your helicopter

even in solid IFR or nighttime VFR or low-visibility conditions.

An optional HTAWS in the G5000H predicts in advance where potentialhazards may lie and alerts the crew should they pose a threat, Harlow

describes. The five-color Terrain Proximity display makes it easy to see just

how close you are to a potential threat, while voice callouts announce the

helicopters height above terrain while descending below 500 feet. And ADS-B

enhanced traffic collision avoidance alerting allows you to see what ATC sees,

thus allowing you to steer clear of other aircraft.


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5


Rapids, Iowa. To increase situational awareness and boost safety, Rockwell Collins

launched its HeliSure product line at the Paris Air Show in June 2013.

Rockwell Collins engineers designed the HeliSure family of products to provide

helicopter pilots with unprecedented situational awareness to help them meet the

challenges of flying in increasingly congested and hazard-filled airspace. To that

end, HeliSure delivers sensor data in real time through an intuitive user interface

that features 3D visualization for information that pilots can easily, quickly, and

effectively process.

When Rockwell Collins set out to introduce an H-TAWS solution, company

officials were committed to providing a next-generation, FAA Technical StandardOrder (TSO), Class A, terrain awareness and warning system. Thats why we

chose Sandels HeliTAWS technology, says a company spokesperson. When

integrated with our large area displays (and in future Pro Line Fusion displays),

Sandels advanced, flight-proven algorithms combined with our high-integrity

databases give helicopter flight crews the best available graphical depiction of

terrain and obstacleseven in darkness and other low-visibility conditions.

Another advantage is that because the Sandel software is integrated directly into

our display hardware, there are no external processor boxes to install. That saves

weight and space.

AgustaWestland officials have already selected Rockwell Collins HeliSure devices

for the companys AW149, AW189, AW101 and AW169 platforms. To date, the

HeliSure family includes the Helicopter Synthetic Vision System (H-SVS) and

Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System (H-TAWS).

The HeliSure H-SVS matches the outside world and meets operator

requirements for improved situational awareness, particularly in degradedvisual environments, where an accurate understanding of the surrounding

terrain becomes critical, according to a company representative. Rockwell

Collins H-SVS features a high-resolution terrain and known obstacle database,

three-arc second resolution through all phases of flight for detailed synthetic

vision, and an integrated software application able to be ported to most current-

generation, large-format displays.


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The HeliSure H-TAWS product enhances mission safety by providing pilots with

advanced warning about dangers along their flight path. Able to graphically

depict terrain and known obstacles, HeliSure H-TAWS addresses the proposed

FAA mandate for the use of an H-TAWS system by helicopter EMS operators, says

the spokesperson.

Rockwell Collins also offers its Head-up Guidance System (HGS), a commercial

head-up display (HUD), for enhanced situational awareness and energy

management in visual flight rules (VFR) and instrument flight rules (IFR) flight

conditions. HGS is designed to eliminate the need for pilots to continually

transition from head-down instruments to head-up, out-the-window view during

critical phases of flight.

Future

The helicopter industry is continuing to grow, Ververs acknowledges, and

Honeywells recent helicopter forecast showed that deliveries and demand for

helicopters will grow well into 2017 and beyond.

Air travel is set to double during the next 20 years, Ververs adds. The higher

volumes of air traffic will require increased situational awareness for pilots to

safely navigate more crowded skies and airports and do so in a safe and timely

manner. To that end, industry and government entities are working together to

advance cockpit technologies and, ultimately, make flights ever more efficient,

environmentally friendly, affordable, and safe.

COURTNEY HOWARDis chief editor of Avionics Intelligence, executive editor of

Military & Aerospace Electronics, and conference director of Avionics International.

Originally published September 2, 2013


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8

NASA, FAA, U.S. Navy, U.S.

Army, and industry collaborateon helicopter crash test

by COURTNEY HOWARD

ENGINEERS AT NASAS Langley

Research Center in Hampton,

Va., dropped a former MarineCH-46E helicopter fuselage

filled with crash-test dummy occupants

and myriad electronics from a height of

roughly 30 feet to test improved seats

and seatbelts, as well as to gather data

related to helicopter crash survivability.

NASA engineers anticipate this rotary-

wing research will help make helicopters and other vertical take-off and landing

(VTOL) vehicles more serviceable (better able to carry more passengers and

cargo), quicker, quieter, safer, and greenerall lending to more extensive use in

the airspace system.

We designed this test to simulate a severe but survivable crash under both

civilian and military requirements, explains NASA lead test engineer Martin

Annett. It was amazingly complicated with all the dummies, cameras,

instrumentation and the collaborators, but it went well.

They used cables to hoist the helicopter fuselage with its mock passengers into

the air and swing it to the ground, much like a pendulum. It was traveling at 30

mph when pyrotechnic devices separated the cables and let the fuselage hit the

soil at Langleys Landing and Impact Research Facility.

The fuselage hit the ground hard, observes a NASA representative. Thirteen


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NASA, FAA, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and industry collaborate on helicopter crash test

9


instrumented crash-test dummies and two

uninstrumented mannequin had a rough ride, as

did the 40 cameras mounted inside and outside the

fuselage. Preliminary observations indicate good

data collection, which will take months to analyze.

Researchers used the cameras and

onboard computers, with data from 350

instrumentation points, to record every

move of the 10,300-pound aircraft andits contents. The helicopters unusual

black-and-white-speckled paint job,

related to a photographic technique

called full-field photogrammetry, aided

in the data collection effort.

High-speed cameras filming at 500 images per second tracked each black dot, so

after everything is over, we can plot exactly how the fuselage reacted structurally

throughout the test, explains NASA Test Engineer Justin Littell.

This event marked the first of two planned tests using Navy-provided CH-46E

Sea Knight fuselages. A similar helicopter equipped with additional technology,

including high-performance, lightweight, composite airframe retrofits, will be

used in a crash test next summer. Both

are part of the Rotary Wing Project in

NASAs Aeronautics Research Mission

Directorate.

NASA will use the results of both tests

to help improve rotorcraft performance

and efficiency. Researchers also want to

increase industry knowledge and create

more complete computer models that

can be used to design safer helicopters.


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NASA, FAA, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and industry collaborate on helicopter crash test

20


The U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and Federal Aviation

Administration (FAA) collaborated with NASA on

the crash test. For this test, Langley used six of its

own crash-test dummies. The Navy contributed the

fuselage, seats, crash-test dummies, a mannequin,

and other elements of the test. The Army provided a

mannequin

and a crash-

test dummy that simulated a patient

lying in a stretcher. The FAA provided a

side-facing specialized crash-test dummy

and part of the data-acquisition system.Cobham Life Support-St. Petersburg,

a division of CONAX Florida Corp.,

contributed an active restraint system for

the cockpit.



21

Avionics in action

Avionics Intelligence casts a spotlight on helicopter avionics

and their adoption to increase safety and reduce accidents.

U.S. Navy looks to L-3 Communications for over-

the-horizon situational awareness

U.S. Navy helicopter avionics experts needed a digital data link to enable

helicopters to share sensor information in real time with Navy and Coast Guard

surface ships. They found their solutionfrom L-3 Communications-West in Salt

Lake City.

Officials of the Naval Air Systems

Command at Patuxent River Naval Air

Station, Md., announced a $6.7 million

contract modification Tuesday to L-3

to provide four Common Data Link

Hawklink AN/SRQ-4 radio terminal sets

for the Navy and one for the U.S. Coast

Guard.

The AN/SRQ-4 is the shipboard element of a system that links the MH-60R

helicopter with surface warships in the area. It provides command and control

(C2), sensor data transfer, data link operation, and built-in-test.

The system provides real-time use of aircraft sensors to extend situationalawareness over the horizon by enabling surveillance helicopters to data-

link radar, video, networking, and acoustic data to Navy Arleigh Burke-class

destroyers, Ticonderoga-class cruisers, and Perry-class frigates. Its control

systems run on modern open-systems architectures, L-3 officials say.


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Avionics in action

22


The AN/SRQ-4 supports anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and anti-ship surveillance

and targeting (ASST) missions; receives and distributes full-motion video; is IP-

enabled and built to work with future network-centric applications; is compatible

with the SAU7000 digital messaging interface; and has ruggedized construction

and modules that are qualified to Navy shock and environmental standards.

Eurocopter selects Sandel Avionics for EC135

Helicopters Mid-Life Efficiency Package

Eurocopter engineers sought quality

displays for the companys Mid-life

Efficiency Package (MEP) for new

production EC135 model helicopters.They found their solution at Sandel

Avionics Inc., a global provider of

compact, integrated display systems

technologies in Vista, Calif.

SN4500 Primary Navigation Displays and

SA4550 Primary Attitude Displays from

Sandel Avionics are listed as optional equipment on Eurocopter EC135 helicopters

in the companys Blue Book.

The Eurocopter EC135 is a popular twin-engine helicopter platform for law-

enforcement, ambulance, search-and-rescue, and first-responder applications.

OEMs and aftermarket customers alike

continue to look to Sandel for avionics

that are proven and bring value for the

end-user, says Sandel President and CEOGerry Block.

Designed to ease pilot workload and make

flying safer, the Sandel SA4550 Primary

Attitude Display features LED-backlit

technology and provides pilots with ease

of use, intuitive pilot controls, single- or


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Avionics in action

23


dual-cue display options, and high

visibility, even in bright sunlight

conditions.

The Sandel SN4500 Primary

Navigation Display features the same

high-visibility display technology with

added functionality and enhanced

safety via traffic and datalink weather

interfaces.

U.S. Army selects UTC Aerospace to protect helicopters from anti-aircraftweapons using lasers

U.S. Army aviation experts needed a laser-detection system to help protect

helicopters from anti-aircraft weapons that use laser rangefinders, laser

designators, and blinding lasers. They found their solution from the UTC

Aerospace Systems ISR Systems segment in Danbury, Conn.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.,

announced a $208.5 million multi-year contract to UTC Aerospace Monday for

Army/Navy Piloted Aircraft/Visual and Visible Light/Receiving, Passive Detecting

(AN/AVR-2B) Laser Detecting Sets (LDS).

The AN/AVR-2 LDS helicopter avionics system is a passive laser warning system

that receives, processes, and displays threat information when the helicopter is

illuminated by lasers to enable the flight crew to take evasive action.

Short-range air-defense missiles

and anti-aircraft artillerytypically use laser guidance. The

LDS displays threat information

on the AN/APR-39A(V)1 radar

detecting set indicator in the

cockpit. The system has an

interface unit comparator and

four identical sensor units.


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Avionics in action

24


The helicopters that can carry the AN/AVR-2 LDS include the U.S. Marine Corps

AH-1F Cobra gunship, the Army AH-64 Apache attack helicopter, the Army MH-

60K and EH-60A Black Hawk helicopters, the MH-47E heavy-lift helicopter, and the

OH-58D Kiowa armed reconnaissance helicopter.

The AN/AVS-2B(V) version of the LDS was derived from technology developed

for the cancelled RAH-66 Comanche program. The system is reported to be 40

percent smaller, 45 percent lighter, and to use 45 percent less power than the

previous AN/AVR-2A(V) version.

The system provides increased capability for threat detection and data interface

and has demonstrated a 500 percent improvement in reliability. The model wasintroduced into service in 2004.




25

Spotlight on helicopter safety

Rotorcraft professionals are focusing a great deal of attention on tools that aid in

helicopter pilot situational awareness. Why is that the case?

An IHST analysis of accident investigations covering 523 helicopter accidents

over a three-year period identified pilot judgment and actions as the number one

problem, involved in 84 percent of the accidents.

In some cases, pilot actions are

due to a lack of proper situational

awareness. The same analysis

specifically identified situational

awareness as a problem in 31percent of the accidents.

Accidents are typically caused

by more than one specific event.

There is not a silver bullet or

single intervention to prevent

an accident, but improving

BIONAME:Fred Brisbois

TITLE: Co-chair, U.S. Safety

Implementation Team

CO.: International Helicopter

Safety Team (IHST) Executive

CommitteeROLE: Global industry/government

group focused on cutting accident

rates

CONTACT: www.ihst.org


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26


situational awareness is an intervention that affords an opportunity to improve

pilot decision making and reduces the probability of an improper decision that

may result in an accident.

Why are helicopter terrain avoidance systems (HTAWS) valuable?

HTAWS provide a multifarious

opportunity to prevent

accidents and save lives. The

most direct benefit is a warning

of impending collision with

terrain with sufficient time for

the pilot to correct his flightpath to avoid a collision. In

addition to terrain avoidance

warnings, some systems are

capable of providing warnings

to prevent wire strikes and

other manmade obstacles.

What is the requirement or recommendation in the U.S. for HTAWS or similar

situational awareness tools?

The installation of proximity detection systems is one of the top 20

recommendations of the U.S. International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST). In my

former position as Director of Aviation & Product Safety for Sikorsky Aircraft

Corp., we determined that the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System

(EGPWS) we developed

with Honeywell could

have prevented more

than one-third of theaccidents involving our

aircraft. The benefits

were so profound, that

we made EGPWS a

standard item on all our

S-76 and S-92 aircraft.


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27


What single piece of advice would you give engineers related to selecting an HTAWS

or other helicopter avionics related to safety and situational awareness?

Keep it simple. We dont need avionics systems that provide an output for

everything that technology is capable of producing. In the end, its the human

pilot who has to recognize the output, interpret it, and respond to it.

Focus technology on providing equipment with multiple uses. For example, an

HTAWS system that can digitally store data in a buffer that is easily downloaded

can be used by operators to manage a flight data monitoring program to improve

standardization and quality assurance of flight operations. We need reliable,

lightweight, affordable systems that can predict an impending impact with terrain

or obstacles and give adequate warning to the pilot as well recording flight data.



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28

Company DescriptionSandel Avionics Inc., the terrain avoidance leader, engineers and

manufactures advanced avionics for rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft

and provides embedded software for OEM applications. Sandel Avionics

compact integrated display systems for the military and commercial

markets include 3-ATI and 4-ATI retrofit primary displays, Class A & B

fixed-wing TAWS and HeliTAWSthe helicopter industrys only certified

panel-mount HTAWS that alerts against wires, terrain and obstacles.

Located in Vista, California, Sandel is managed by an independent boardof directors, with the stated business purpose of enhancing the capabilities

of pilots and their aircraft.

www.sandel.com

LINKS:

Getting Helicopter TAWS Right

Sandel HeliTAWS Selected by Sikorsky for S-70i Black Hawk Program

Vertical Magazine Maximizing Your Awareness

Avoiding Controlled Flight into Terrain White Paper

Sandel HeliTAWS ST3453H Product page
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