Transitional Lift

Presided over by industry stalwart Peter Crook the AHIA currently has around 170 company and individual members on its books. “People have been ‘sitting on the fence’ waiting to see what we were going to do and whether we were going to be any better than the previous organisation,” said Crook. “Since we have been out there negotiating with CASA on their proposed regulatory reform, people have seen that we are actually being involved for the good of the industry, and we’re not just another organisation set up to be‘just another organisation’. ” The association has seen a run of members signing up ahead of its Rotortech 2014 conference and exposition, the largest helicopter event seen in this country in recent years, due to be held on the Sunshine Coast between May 24-25. This is a strong sign the AHIA is on the right track as it engages with the industry and with the regulator.

“As the AHIA was in the process of establishing, the consensus of those involved was to make sure we got the regulator on board,” said Crook. “We also had to get the regulator and operators talking because for too long they were both standing on either side of the paddock hurling rocks at each other, and that never gets anything done. ” During a chance meeting with CASA’s Director of Aviation Safety, John McCormick, at the 2013 Avalon Airshow, Crook put forward a suggestion to have a dedicated helicopter representative from the regulator to liaise with directly with the industry. “John supported this suggestion and could see what it was we were setting out to do,” said Crook. “So he nominated a helicopter liaison officer to be a conduit between the AHIA and CASA. Our engagement with CASA has been fantastic and without such a good relationship now between the two organisations I doubt we would have got some of the changes to the proposed regulations through. ”

Statistics snapshot

Australia’s rotary-wing industry has seen an average annual growth in civil helicopter numbers of six per cent over the past decade. The strength and resilience of the industry is remarkable given the recent turmoils of the GFC and upsets in the beef export industry.

In coming years helicopter numbers are expected to grow further, particularly twin-turbinemachines, with the energy and mineral resource sectors anticipating to increase production and new government aero-medical retrieval contracts in Victoria, New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia.

When the AHIA formed 18 months ago, CASA’s Civil Aircraft Register listed 1,920 helicopters. At the time of writing, a snapshot of the register sees 2,089 helicopters listed, representing an 8. 5 per cent increase over the period.

Broken down, the makeup of the national fleet sees 236 twin-turbines (11 per cent), 543 single-turbine (26 per cent) and 1,310 single pistons (63 per cent) gracing our skies. The Robinson R22 family is still the most popular type flying in the country with 552 units. The R22’s bigger brother, the R44, comes in a close second with 498 machines with the Bell 206 series coming in third spot with 232.

“There has been a lot more twin-engine types coming into country now because the end-users are expecting the perceived safety benefit of a twin-engine helicopter,” said Crook. “And there has been quite a few used singles coming into the charter and private sectors. These numbers reflect the amount of ATPLs and pilots holding instrument ratings, whereas years ago there were very few rotary-wing pilots with instrument ratings. ” Earlier this year during a visit to Heli-Expo 2014 in Anaheim, California Crook was surprised to learn the Australian civil helicopter fleet is in fact the second largest in the western world behind the US. “We didn’t realise that we were that big to tell the truth,” confessed Crook. “Our fleet size is quite surprising really. Per capita, Australia has around one helicopter per 11,000 people, compared to the US with one helicopter for every 17,000 people. A lot of people stillthink that since we are an island nation of around 23 million people that we really can’t compete in a lot of areas as far as numbers are concerned. ” Not surprisingly the bulk of Australia’s fleet operate throughout Queensland where there are 762 machines. In addition, around 80 per cent of Army’s rotary-wing fleet is located in Queensland at the Oakey Army Aviation Centre and at Lavarack Barracks, Townsville. Following behind is NSW (433) and Western Australia (323). Helicopter numbers in Tasmania, South Australia and the ACT, combined, total fewer than 100.

“There is certainly a lot of helicopter activity in Queensland, and it is quite diverse too,” said Crook. “From cattle mustering, marine pilot transfers, training, aeromedical and tourism, and with a number of maintenance and other organisations making Brisbane, or close to Brisbane, their headquarters, southeast Queensland is becoming the centre of the Australian helicopter industry. ” On a helicopter licensing front, CASA’s 2102-13 annual report shows over the past five years issuance of ATPL(H) licences has increased by 22 per cent with currently 750 licenced pilots in that category. CPL(H) numbers are up 11 per cent (1,678) and PPL(H) holders have risen an impressive 46 per cent (to 822), with the latter reflecting the continuing growth in private helicopter ownership.

“Over the next few years, I think that if pilot numbers don’t continue to increase, and people don’t continue to go through pilot training, then we are going to have a real shortage of experienced pilots,” said Crook. “The average age of commercial [helicopter] pilots in Australia these days is over 50 years, and it’s not going to be too many more years beforethey will be approaching retirement age. So we’ve really got a job on our hands to try and make sure the young ones come through and to promote the helicopter industry as a worthwhile vocation. ” Crook said the situation is similar with experienced helicopter engineers, where a shortage could also be on the horizon as a limited number of younger engineers are coming through the training pipeline. “And they’re not coming through soon enough to give the senior people in the industry enough time to pass on their knowledge and experience. So in the next few years we could be in a real bind. ”

Regulatory reform

But the biggest issue the Australian helicopter industry currently faces is regulatory reform. From September 1 CASA is set to introduce a host of new category, performance and licensing regulations as part of its intensive regulatory reform process. It is anticipated seven of the new Civil Aviation Safety Regulations (CASR) will have a marked impact on helicopter operations.

Under review and consultation with the helicopter industry for almost a decade, CASR Parts 61, 91, 119, 141, 142, 133 and 138 have been promised by CASA to broaden the focus of helicopter safety while, in some cases, reducing red tape and costs.

During a May 2013 interview, CASA’s McCormick said Australia’s regulations need to reflect reality and he believed they did not. “The regulations have grown up organically. Nowadays, we need to get all those (regulations) internationally aligned, so we need to follow ICAO. The CASR Parts will align us with ICAO and will align us with interoperability with other countries around the world. Our system at the moment reliesheavily on exemptions and that becomes a case of ruling almost by exemption, which is not the best manner. Regulation reform puts us in a better place for the 21st century, making them simpler, allowing the industry to move forward in the new regime for equipment and avionics. ” However, McCormick believes a real issue was the industry’s ability to absorb change. “Some of the changes are quite minor and some are radically changed (for) the way people approach things. But in each case, we are trying to enable industry to move forward on a solid basis of knowing what the requirements are, and those requirements we are trying to make no more onerous than any other country that we would benchmark ourselves against. ” CASA says the new simplified regulations will reduce costs for about 300 flying training schools across Australia. “I am very pleased the new regulations in Part 141 [flight training] can be simplified and made less costly, while at the same time maintaining high safety outcomes,” said McCormick. “Naturally, safety can never be jeopardised in the pursuit of simpler regulations, but with hard work the two outcomes can be achieved. CASA has listened to the views of people in the flying training sector and responded to their concerns with positive action. ” While the new regulations are designed to increase safety and more closely align Australia’s regulatory system with that of Europe’s, Crook stated some operators are concerned that introducing up to seven new CASRs might be too much for the industry to handle. “Some of the proposed new regulations were completely unworkable for the Australian environment. We did have a lot of correspondence, negotiations and engagement with CASA to make them more user-friendly and practical for the Australian environment. ”

We’ve really got a job on our hands to try and make sure the young ones come THROUGH. PETER CROOK

An example of the AHIA’s positive influence is changes to the proposed regulation surrounding recency experience. It was originally proposed that a pilot with three helicopter type endorsements who had low flying, external cargo and night VFR ratings would have had to demonstrate efficiency, annually, in each three types for all three ratings. “This has now been relaxed where you only have to demonstrate your rating on one type,” explained Crook. “Obviously we need to protect people in the aircraft and protect people on the ground, but people still need to be able to operate. Some of the proposed requirements were so restrictive that you would need something like a Chinook to carry two people. ” The AHIA continues to work closely with CASA to moreaccurately define the Airwork categories. “We’re currently working through Parts 133 and 138,” said Crook. “With Part 138 we have to make sure the classifications are correct so that additional costs are not imposed on the operator and/or the pilot. The negotiations and the engagement that we’ve had with CASA on these two proposed new rules have been some of the best consultative processes that we have seen. ”

Future navigational surveillance

Added to the imposts of the new regulatory regime, the transition to satellite-based navigation and surveillance is also likely to have an impact on parts of the helicopter industry in the short term with ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast) and GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System)equipment mandates soon to come into effect.

From February 4 2016, CASA has mandated that all IFR aircraft, including IFR helicopters, are to be equipped with GNSS avionics for flight in controlled airspace. This requirement is to improve safety and efficiency as well as avoiding the replacement of a number of NDB and VOR navaids and some secondary surveillance radars.

Also from February 2016, all IFR aircraft flying within 500nm north and east of Perth Airport must be equipped with ADS-B OUT, while all aircraft operating to the major capital city airports at Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, which includes VFR helicopters, must be equipped with a Mode S transponder to support surface movement surveillance by air traffic control. Then from February 2 2017, CASA requires all IFR aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B OUT. This raises concerns on whether the industry will be fitted-out in time. At the time of writing, of the 196 Australian registered helicopters which had filed an IFR flightplan since January 1 this year, only 14 machines (seven per cent) are currently equipped with ADS-B OUT.

Fighting fires

If statistics from the 2012-13 bushfire season are anything to go by, it is easy to see how aerial firefighting operations contribute significantly to the health of the industry. From October 2012 until the end of March 2013, the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC) recorded 913 helicopter activations nationally, performing 24,847 air drops, to deliver 47,007,943 litres of suppressant or retardant.

While another “above average” bushfire season has just wrapped up for 2013-14, plans are already underway for the new season ahead. “We’re now essentially a year-round operation,” said NAFC general manager Richard Alder. “From a rotary-wing perspective we had our first helicopter start on contract in August 2013 in Queensland, with some contracts winding up as late as mid-April 2014. Nationally, I would categorise the season we’ve just finished as above average with areas in all states and territories being affected by serious bushfires. ” Now working towards its 12th firefighting season since inception, NAFC is noticing the seasons are getting longer. “The 2014-15 season will see the first aircraft, a fixed-wing, probably kick the season off as early as June in the Northern Territory,” said Alder. “Northern Australia and Queensland have always had a winter-spring fire season that bleeds off as themonsoons come in and the season moves south affecting the southern states from November through to March, or April, depending on where you are. ” The number of helicopters on contract has remained steady in recent years, but Alder said NAFC has made a shift towards higher total capacity aircraft. “Our objective is to deliver the maximum amount of water or retardant, per unit of time, as rapidly as possible while still getting best value for money. We still have the same number of Type 1, high volume aircraft, essentially the six Erickson Air-Cranes, but we’ve tended to shift from the Type 3 (light) and smaller Type 2 (medium) towards more of the higher capacity aircraft – the Bell 214Bs operated by McDermott as an example. ” On the topic of CASA’s regulatory reform, NAFC too is interested in making sure the new regulations achieve progress. “We’re certainly interested in contributing to the implementation of Part 61 [flightcrew licensing] to make sure that the competency-based training requirements properly reflect the services that we need delivered,” said Alder. “Of course, we see the provision of suitably trained, competent and certified flightcrew as a responsibility of the contractor, but we’ve still got a vital interest in contributing towards that process and defining the competencies that we think are required to deliver safe and effective firefighting services. ”

Drone journalism

The dawn of the remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) and unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) era is well and truly transitioning towards integration within the global aviation landscape. In the world of television, some news outlets and production companies are beginningto use ‘drones’ for getting more intimate and closer to the action than conventional helicopters can.

Most notably, RPAs were used extensively, and quite effectively too, during February’s Winter Olympics at Sochi, Russia. Here at home, the latest production of the hit TV series The Block saw RPAs in use to offer producers unique external fly-overs of the property in suburban Melbourne.

However, the regular use of RPA equipment for electronic news gathering (ENG) operations may still be a little way off yet. Sydney station manager for Nine Network Australia, Scott Soutar, said using RPAs to supersede helicopter operations is not planned. “I can safely say, from the Nine Network’s perspective, that this will not happen, nor is it being contemplated. We see RPAs being used more from a supplementary perspective to add value to what we are already doing in the air with our helicopter. ” RPAs are a rapidly growing part of aviation in Australia, and Soutar said that Nine is very excited about what RPAs can do. “But you have to temper that with the respect and safety concerns that go hand-in-hand with this kind of equipment. If and when we choose to use RPAs we would only seek to use them in very controlled and specialised areas. However, I think the most significant matter that all broadcasters and operators are grappling with is the growing regulatory regime ensuring compliance with CASA’s guidelines, certification and licensing requirements. ” Because of the highly specialised nature of RPA operations, Nine has no intention of owning any RPAs, and instead would utilise the services of one of more than 90 UAS operators currently CASA-certified, when required.

Out on the pad

The helicopter landscape in Australia will soon see some brand new civil and military types, not to mention more twin-engine machines, out on the pad.

On the military side, the Army’s first of seven CH-47F Chinooks is currently on the production line at Boeing’s Rotorcraft Systems facility in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania. The first ‘Foxtrot’ is anticipated to arrive in Townsville in early 2015. For Navy, its first four of 24 MH-60R Seahawk Romeos are currently flying with NUSQN 725 alongside US Navy units from NAS Jacksonville in Florida as crews train on the new machines. The first Romeos will arrive at Nowra late this year.

Also anticipated to be coming to Nowra soon will be a squadron of Airbus Helicopters EC135s after Defence earlier this year confirmedBoeing Defence Australia had been chosen as the preferred tenderer for the ADF’s AIR 9000 Phase 7 Helicopter Aircrew Training System (HATS) project, to deliver a rotary-wing training system for Army and Navy.

Having completed the delivery of 22 Tiger ARHs to the Army in late 2011, Australian Aerospace is more than half way through delivering the 47 MRH 90 Taipans on order for the Army and Navy to replace their Black Hawks and retired Sea Kings, respectively. To date, Australian Aerospace has delivered 27 MRHs to the ADF.

Out on civvy street, Australia’s Bell Helicopter distributor, Hawker Pacific, announced last November the sale of the country’s first Bell 412EPi, to the NSW Police’s Aviation Support Branch (PASB), with delivery expected during the second half of this year. Also from Bell’s catalogue, Hawker Pacificrecently delivered the country’s first Bell 407GX, featuring the Garmin G1000H avionics suite, following a successful demonstration tour around the country in August last year.

From the Italian stables, AgustaWestland continues to strengthen its market penetration in Australia with 44 of its AW109/119/139 models now on the register. While the AW109 family is the most popular of the line, with 24 in country, it’s bigger brother, the AW139, is not too far behind and is closing.

John Skeen, from Bankstown Airport-based Heliflite, Australia’s AgustaWestland distributor and one of the country’s Robinson dealers, said the higher end private and corporate sectors appear to be taking a break from the activity of three to five years ago. “Three new AW109SP GrandNew helicopters have been delivered to Australiancustomers in the past two years and the first of the new AW119Kx Koala is due for delivery later this year.

Our inquiries and presentations to prospective customers of mediumsize twin-engine IFR helicopters remains strong, due mainly to an unprecedented number of state government tenders being issued for the provision of new HEMS and SAR medium-size helicopters this year. ” The Western Australian, South Australian and NSW governmentshave all issued aeromedical retrieval tenders to prospective helicopter operators. In NSW, the new-look retrieval network is said to need up to 15 medium-sized IFR twin-engine helicopters. While a decision on the successful NSW aeromedical tender is expected to be announced in December, Victoria recently awarded a new Air Ambulance contract to Australian Helicopters for six AW139’s (see Rotor Torque this issue for details). Having received significant interest in the new medium/large twin-engine AW189 from global resources companies operating in northern Australia, Heliflite confirms it has received a number of orders placed in Australia for the soon-to-be certified AW169 medium twin, including for aeromedical operations.

“Operators are now more willing to make commitments to new or late model helicopters rather than relying on older aircraft,” said Skeen. “Some agencies and companies are tending to offer more lucrative longer-term contracts in return for a better quality service using new or later model helicopters. ” Heliflite has also been appointed as exclusive Australasian distributor for the new Marenco Swisshelicopter SKYe SH09, a composite fuselage, five-bladed, single-engine turbine. “We are receiving a lot of interest in the helicopter already,” said Skeen.

“Now that the first flight of the SH09 is imminent, once this milestone is achieved, we’ll be embarking on a marketing campaign to sell the first new generation single-engine turbine helicopter in almost two decades with anticipated first deliveries in first quarter 2016. ” Another new type creating local interest is Airbus Helicopter’s new EC145 T2. The Fenestron tailrotor version of the EC145 was granted European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification in April, clearing the way for customer deliveries to commence later this year. An upgraded development of the EC145 (or the BK117D2), the T2 features a composite tail boom, the new Helionix digital avionics suite with four-axis autopilot, more powerful Arriel 2 dual FADEC engines and an upgraded main gearbox.

Inquiries from prospective customers of medium-size twin-engine IFR helicopters remains strong. JOHN SKEEN

Slow start to a positive future

With the strongest relationship between the industry and its regulator in a long while, the Australian helicopter industry is probably in its healthiest state in a decade. Aside from concerns over the complexities of CASA’s forthcoming regulatory reform, the general mood from across the industry seems positive.

According to Crook, the industry is not rocketing ahead like it did back towards the end of the last decade, where customers had to wait a couple of years for their helicopter to be delivered, and it has been a slow past 12 months. But he believes Australian helicopter operations across the board are certainly heading in the right direction.

“I think the close working relationship we now have with CASA will be reflected during the joint presentations we’ll have during the Rotortech conference,” said Crook. “This industry had been without a voice for several years and it certainly wasn’t too late for the AHIA to be formed and start to get involved and engage with CASA for the industry. If it had gone on too much longer without an industry body, who knows what the results would have been. ”