Churchill Fellowship for Townsend’s Helo’s CFI

The essential point to emerge during that interview was his concern to ensure that the student just didn’t complete the course as a competent stick and lever handler, who had managed to pass the necessary tests, but that through Townsend’s training methods he or she had developed a rounded, disciplined attitude and approach to flying a helicopter.

He has long held the view that the only way to improve helicopter safety is to develop a standard helicopter instructor course model, together with a standardisation monitoring programme. He sees a need to go beyond just training instructors to instruct in accordance with the course syllabus, there is a need to imbue them with the motivation to adopt the right approach to the serious business of flying training.

For those who would say there is no need, the abysmal accident record would attest that there is! For every 100,000 hours of helicopter flying, Australia experiences 25 accidents, two of which will be fatal, as against the US record of nine accidents and 1.1 fatalities for the same flying rate. This is bad enough but when weather and terrain are taken into account the result is nothing short of terrible.

In addition to tackling the problem from the instructor angle, Chris Townsend also strongly believes in the need for universal safety seminars, set to an international standard, to be conducted on an ongoing basis nationwide. In his application for the Fellowship he pointed out that there are presently over 1000 helicopter pilots in Australia, mostly civilian trained, of which only some 300 are covered by formal check and training procedures. Whilst many of the remainder will develop their skills with on the job training, those who are “accidents waiting to happen” will essentially remain frozen at the level of training they received on gaining their licence.

The problem is that practicing handling emergencies in a helicopter, especially for the unsupervised and inexperienced can often at times lead to an accident itself. Knowing this, many avoid the problem by not venturing into practice emergency situations, limiting their flying to take off, cruise and landing. Unlike fixed wing, when things go wrong in a helicopter, they require procedures not encountered in normal flight, eg autorotation.

Accordingly, there is a greater need for continuation training than in fixed wing, in particular, supervised practice emergencies.

Returning to the specifics of his overseas study tour, Chris Townsend will first visit the Robinson, Bell and American Eurocopter companies where he will undertake their respective safety courses on the Robinson R22/R44, Bell 206/206L, and AS350/355 helicopters. Whilst in the US he will also attend a number of other safety courses and pay a visit to the FAA. The North American segment of his study tour will also include Air Transport Canada, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, and a number of Canadian operators.

European visits and courses will include the 7th Annual European Corporate and Regional Aircraft Operators Safety Seminar, the UK Civil Aviation Authority, Bristow Helicopters and Aviation Insurance Underwriters. Bristow, as one of the largest helicopter operators in the world, should prove to be a fruitful source of safety related operating procedures.

On return Chris will determine how best to put the knowledge gained into practice, but at this stage envisages some form of sponsorship for his concept of nationwide universal helicopter safety seminars (not type specific). He is hopeful that the CAA will see merit in what he will be trying to achieve and will provide active support.

On the question of instructor standardisation, he is mindful of the commercial (ie, competition within the industry) implications of what he will be attempting to achieve but nevertheless is hopeful that the industry will see the benefit as being in the common good.

We wish him well in his venture and look forward to reporting on the substance of his findings, and how he intends putting the lessons learned into practice on his return.