[Peetwo]

AD-2022-001: Safety risks from rotor wash at hospital helicopter landing sites - Final report 



On Wednesday Dr (Lies, damn lies and statistics) Godlike, this week's attributable to DTS, issued this presser in relation to the release of AD-2022-001 data and analysis final report... :

ATSB issues safety advisory after series of rotor wash injuries at hospital helicopter landing sites



The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has issued a safety advisory after a number of occurrences in which pedestrians were injured by rotor wash around hospital helicopter landing sites.

The notice advises medical transport operators and hospital helicopter landing site operators to engage with one another and ensure local procedures are sufficient to mitigate the risk of rotor wash associated with larger helicopters, such as the Leonardo Helicopters (AgustaWestland) AW139.

It stems from an ATSB Aviation Data and Analysis Report analysis of a series of incidents over the last five years, which considered the common factors, existing regulatory guidelines, and ways to mitigate the effects of rotor wash.

“Of the 18 helicopter rotor wash incidents reported to the ATSB in the last five years, nine occurred at hospital landing sites,” ATSB Director Transport Safety Dr Stuart Godley said.

“Six of those nine occurrences resulted in injuries to pedestrians who were within approximately 30 m of the landing site, and flight crew were not aware of the presence of pedestrians in all cases.

“In fact, in most instances, flight crew were not aware any incident had occurred at the time.”

Significantly, there were no reported occurrences of rotor wash related injuries at hospital HLS prior to the notable increase in the utilisation of AW139 for medical transport operations from 2017.

If the recommended rotor wash exclusion area for the AW139 had been applied at each HLS, it would have reduced the risk of the pedestrians being injured.

The ATSB’s report notes a range of key factors contribute to the effects of rotor wash, including the weight and size of the helicopter, the main rotor size, disc loading, prevailing winds, and flightpath.
“The flightpath is the only element that can be managed by the pilot in accordance with the operator’s procedures,” Dr Godley said.

“But as these occurrences demonstrate, pilots may be unaware of the presence of pedestrians in the vicinity, and therefore be unable to adjust their flightpath accordingly.

“As such, hospital landing site owners and helicopter owners should ensure pedestrians are not affected by rotor wash, by implementing appropriate risk controls for their landing sites, in addition to the helicopter operating procedures.”

Risk controls may include physical barriers, warning devices such as sirens, lights, high visibility warning signs, painted lines on nearby public thoroughfare to alert pedestrians to the rotor wash danger area, an inspection schedule for the landing site facility and surrounding area, and establishing a closed-loop reporting system.

Read the Safety Advisory Notice: Safety at hospital helicopter landing sites

Read the Aviation Data and Analysis Report: Downwash incidents at helicopter landing sites

Publication Date
27/09/2023

Here is the safety advisory notice:



From pg 7 of the report:

Australia

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) does not regulate the design or operation of HLSs if
they are not an integral element of an aerodrome certified under Part 139 of the Civil Aviation
Safety Regulations (CASR) 1998. As hospital HLSs are not located at Part 139 certified
aerodromes, CASA does not regulate their design or operation...

I would suggest that even at a Part 139 certified aerodrome CASA's oversight is limited to providing advice only and not enforcing standards - reference Airport public self-serving safety risk mitigation obfuscation - Oz style?

And while PJ's crew have got the tools out on safety risk mitigation at hospital HLS, maybe they should extend their concern to potentially more serious issues in the grey area of design, planning, regulatory jurisdiction and safety oversight - remember this?? HOT OFF THE PRESS! via the EMAC (Evans Head Memorial Aerodrome Committee) 

..Well done class; all correct – now then, for Choc Frog; one last question. How would you like to be a patient flying in a helicopter to hospital, at low level <500' around about tea time or breakfast time through a 1.5 kilometre ‘launch zone for hundreds of flying foxes? For a bonus point, how many Fruit Bats to kill a Chopper?. Give up, can’t guess, well wait a while and the answer will become clear – the route to the emergency ward through the Fruit Bat launch zone is ‘approved’. Consequences? Wuzzat - Never heard of ‘em. The local airport development plan has - but 'what-the -hell'..

Still not sure why Popinjay's head crew feel the need to big note themselves in bogus media disengaged press releases?? However, all in all not a bad effort from the research boffins at Popinjay HQ...  

MTF...P2