More than 50 aviation safety leaders from industry and government will gather from Feb. 16 to 17 in Washington, D.C., for the 2017 USHST Infrastructure Summit. The conference, which was initially launched last year, focuses on discussions about the future of helicopter infrastructure within the realm of the low altitude environment of the National Airspace System.
The Summit is designed as an industry and government collaborative effort comprised of groups that are involved with; impacted by; have federal, state or local regulatory oversight, jurisdiction and/or enforcement of; or provide general advisory/council on:
- Heliport safety, standardization, education and oversight;
- Low altitude instrument flight rules (IFR) infrastructure design and integration; and
- Aviation weather gathering, dissemination and reporting.
“A well-designed infrastructure will play a key role in helping the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (www.USHST.org) achieve its goal of reducing fatal helicopter accidents,” said Rex Alexander, co-founder of HeliExperts Intl LLC and one of the coordinators for the summit. “The top three fatal accident categories — Loss of control, unintended IMC [instrument meteorological conditions] and low-altitude flight — are all elements that can be majorly impacted by a well-designed infrastructure. A robust and well thought out infrastructure can be depended upon when pilots experience UIMC and are key pieces to preventing loss of control and CFIT [controlled flight into terrain] accidents.”
Also spearheading this infrastructure effort for the USHST are Tom Judge of LifeFlight of Maine and USHST member Rachel Tester.
Discussion topics for the gathering, which takes place at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Washington, D.C., include database integrity standards, accident investigation check list for infrastructure, infrared lighting standards for night vision goggles, and night vision imaging system operations, single engine IFR aircraft certification, low level IFR routing criteria and implementation, helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) weather tools, real-time mesoscale analysis and in-cockpit weather improvements.
Participants are expected from the following organizations: AgustaWestland, Air Medical Operators Association, Airbus Helicopters, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Association of Air Medical Services, Bell Helicopter, Boeing Company, Boston MedFlight, and many more.
