Heli-skiing Tips & Advice?

[sling]

So true, I always remember a quote from a great pilot who passed last Dec., Bruce Smith.

He said, the first thing that a good pilot thinks of immediately after taking off is, where is my next fuel stop going to be.

Wise words!

 

No GWK, in that case, the meaning was,MORE FUEL.....right ?

 

Or , "one less"........the guy!!!! :punk: haaaaannnn there we go!

cheers

[scubasteve]

So, Scubasteve,

 

You would recomend that a fellow who's only experience is in great visibility flying the prairies jump into a fully loaded 212, fly and land where where down drafts and snow clouds are common every day occurences? Sounds like a recipe for disaster to me.

 

Mark

 

 

Hhhhmmm...... I dont recall recommending anyone to go do anything as radical as you would assume. Obviously the question was to get some insight into a part of the industry that was not known much off. My response to your amazing response "Unless you have lots of mountain time and limited viz then dont do it" was merely to point out the fact that what's the point in responding with such closed mindedness. The purpose of all this is to offer help and tips and advice. I pity anyone who ever has to approach you on getting any help.

 

I guess if you have no offshore experience you should never fly offshore, right? If you have never done seismic, dont bother trying! Ever flown at night? No? then you should never try to!

 

The company you work for or hope to work for will make their own sound judgment as to whether you will be able to do certain ops, but just because I have never done something, and may be lacking in a whole load of experience doesnt mean that I wont apply for the job and hope to gain the valuable experience to help me progress in life to be a better pilot.

 

I spend everyday asking people's advice and tips on things, and trying to get multiple inputs on certain topics. I guess you feel that because your worldly advice is the best approach to helping pilots progress, and because I mocked your statement about lets never try to progress in our careers, you believe I feel I already know it all?? You might wanna re-check how that works! My point in backing up Curley to ask for help clearly proves I believe its good to keep asking for advice. With your mentality it sounds like because of what you know, there is no point in anyone else trying to learn new things. Good luck with that.

[sling]

Hhhhmmm...... I dont recall recommending anyone to go do anything as radical as you would assume. Obviously the question was to get some insight into a part of the industry that was not known much off. My response to your amazing response "Unless you have lots of mountain time and limited viz then dont do it" was merely to point out the fact that what's the point in responding with such closed mindedness. The purpose of all this is to offer help and tips and advice. I pity anyone who ever has to approach you on getting any help.

 

I guess if you have no offshore experience you should never fly offshore, right? If you have never done seismic, dont bother trying! Ever flown at night? No? then you should never try to!

 

The company you work for or hope to work for will make their own sound judgment as to whether you will be able to do certain ops, but just because I have never done something, and may be lacking in a whole load of experience doesnt mean that I wont apply for the job and hope to gain the valuable experience to help me progress in life to be a better pilot.

 

I spend everyday asking people's advice and tips on things, and trying to get multiple inputs on certain topics. I guess you feel that because your worldly advice is the best approach to helping pilots progress, and because I mocked your statement about lets never try to progress in our careers, you believe I feel I already know it all?? You might wanna re-check how that works! My point in backing up Curley to ask for help clearly proves I believe its good to keep asking for advice. With your mentality it sounds like because of what you know, there is no point in anyone else trying to learn new things. Good luck with that.

 

 

Pffffffffff! well said man!

 

He feakin got the "SCUBBA" well placed some where!!!

[Roo]

Great thread on Heli-skiing.

We are adamant that before we send anyone into Heli-skiing they have plenty mountain time, snow time and a good attitude with good judgment skills.

 

Here is something I put together out of necessity 4 years ago.

The flying part was covered nicely but this certainly is an important factor in Heli-skiing.

 

 

 

Today, we recognize that the pilot is entirely involved in 80% of all aviation occurrences. In another 10-20% of all occurrences, the pilot did or did not do something to make the outcome even worse.

 

Every aviation accident has a chain events (links) leading to the occurrence. These links can be in the form of poor weather, pressure, cultural factors, external stress and many more. If we can break just one of these links in the chain our likelihood of an accident is reduced significantly.

 

 

Poor Weather

Blackcomb Helicopters Operations Specification # 42 allows flight to no less than ½ mile visibility if certain conditions are met.

Section 4.9 of our Operations manual states that “No person shall conduct a take-off or continue a flight in an aircraft where icing conditions are reported” and “Flight in icing, thunderstorms, and whiteout conditions are prohibited”. These limits are set out for our own safety and for those onboard. Let’s abide by them.

Remember, operating in weather below these limits increases workload, increases pilot stress and decreases our margins of safety.

Flying in reduced visibility is one of the leading causes of aviation accidents.

 

If the customer, operator, and pilot can work in harmony,

the goals of each can be achieved without jeopardizing mission safety

 

 

Peer pressure

 

One of the most compelling influences on pilots is peer pressure. This comes in many forms, ranging from the desires to impress employers and clients to gaining acceptance from fellow pilots. Motives such as these appear to be a foolish basis for making judgments about flying safely. But the reality is that such motives figure prominently in a large proportion of accidents.

The most difficult situation occurs when your employer or client applies pressure for you to do something that you don’t think is safe, such as flying in marginal weather or flying while fatigued. The pilot that is unable to defend him or herself can quickly become the victim of the customer or operator.

The customers must be made aware of the limitations of the helicopter and the crew. They must accept the flight crew as competent and capable of analyzing difficult conditions and assessing potential hazards. Flight crews must have the final say on mission procedures.

Most importantly, management must display, to customer and pilot, their loyalty and backing of flight crew decisions made on the job. Blackcomb Helicopters will defend a pilot’s decision 110%.

Management and customer coercion has no place in the industry. Pilots must be able to perform their duties without fear of prosecution.

 

Peer pressure from social relationships

 

Another type of pressure comes from people with whom you have a social relationship. These can range from long-term friends to clients who often invite you to their home. You may fear losing their respect if you appear to be afraid to fly in difficult situations or refuse a certain task.

Peer pressure happens all the time and is often difficult to resist. Whenever you feel yourself under pressure, ask yourself if you are willing to deal with the consequences of a hazardous and possibly fatal flight.

Cultural Factors

 

When people successfully perform/observe a risky act on the job, they often change their view about the personal risk involved. They may discount the risk and come to believe that the activity is not risky, or they may develop a sense of their own invulnerability. The more often they are successful at the dangerous act, the more likely they are to believe that, although the practice may be dangerous in a general sense, nothing bad will happen to them. This behavior eventually leads to a vicious circle. Now the odds of an accident happening are actually increasing as the subjective evaluation of personal risk decreases.

This behavior can spread. The behavior becomes normal and accepted even though the practice is risky.

Pride in doing the job well can lead to taking unnecessary risks such as flying in poor weather. The desire to please should not interfere with mission safety. Self-management can be difficult enough without introducing customer and operator influences.

 

External stress

 

External stress is but one more link that could be the difference between success and failure. It can come in many forms ranging from problems at home, financial difficulties, personal ailments and more.

We must be diligent enough to recognize these and if in any way performance will be hindered it must be brought to a superior’s knowledge.

 

 

As pilots we are governed by rules that have been developed to protect not only ourselves but the passengers we fly. These rules are the outcome of nearly 100 years of global aviation experiences. We live and fly by these rules for good reason and we will not fly beyond the rules and regulations that govern us.

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[sling]

amen

[47B3]

amen

 

 

X 2 .

[Blackmac]

Great thread on Heli-skiing.

We are adamant that before we send anyone into Heli-skiing they have plenty mountain time, snow time and a good attitude with good judgment skills.

 

Here is something I put together out of necessity 4 years ago.

The flying part was covered nicely but this certainly is an important factor in Heli-skiing.

 

 

 

Today, we recognize that the pilot is entirely involved in 80% of all aviation occurrences. In another 10-20% of all occurrences, the pilot did or did not do something to make the outcome even worse.

 

Every aviation accident has a chain events (links) leading to the occurrence. These links can be in the form of poor weather, pressure, cultural factors, external stress and many more. If we can break just one of these links in the chain our likelihood of an accident is reduced significantly.

 

 

Poor Weather

Blackcomb Helicopters Operations Specification # 42 allows flight to no less than ½ mile visibility if certain conditions are met.

Section 4.9 of our Operations manual states that “No person shall conduct a take-off or continue a flight in an aircraft where icing conditions are reported” and “Flight in icing, thunderstorms, and whiteout conditions are prohibited”. These limits are set out for our own safety and for those onboard. Let’s abide by them.

Remember, operating in weather below these limits increases workload, increases pilot stress and decreases our margins of safety.

Flying in reduced visibility is one of the leading causes of aviation accidents.

 

If the customer, operator, and pilot can work in harmony,

the goals of each can be achieved without jeopardizing mission safety

 

 

Peer pressure

 

One of the most compelling influences on pilots is peer pressure. This comes in many forms, ranging from the desires to impress employers and clients to gaining acceptance from fellow pilots. Motives such as these appear to be a foolish basis for making judgments about flying safely. But the reality is that such motives figure prominently in a large proportion of accidents.

The most difficult situation occurs when your employer or client applies pressure for you to do something that you don’t think is safe, such as flying in marginal weather or flying while fatigued. The pilot that is unable to defend him or herself can quickly become the victim of the customer or operator.

The customers must be made aware of the limitations of the helicopter and the crew. They must accept the flight crew as competent and capable of analyzing difficult conditions and assessing potential hazards. Flight crews must have the final say on mission procedures.

Most importantly, management must display, to customer and pilot, their loyalty and backing of flight crew decisions made on the job. Blackcomb Helicopters will defend a pilot’s decision 110%.

Management and customer coercion has no place in the industry. Pilots must be able to perform their duties without fear of prosecution.

 

Peer pressure from social relationships

 

Another type of pressure comes from people with whom you have a social relationship. These can range from long-term friends to clients who often invite you to their home. You may fear losing their respect if you appear to be afraid to fly in difficult situations or refuse a certain task.

Peer pressure happens all the time and is often difficult to resist. Whenever you feel yourself under pressure, ask yourself if you are willing to deal with the consequences of a hazardous and possibly fatal flight.

Cultural Factors

 

When people successfully perform/observe a risky act on the job, they often change their view about the personal risk involved. They may discount the risk and come to believe that the activity is not risky, or they may develop a sense of their own invulnerability. The more often they are successful at the dangerous act, the more likely they are to believe that, although the practice may be dangerous in a general sense, nothing bad will happen to them. This behavior eventually leads to a vicious circle. Now the odds of an accident happening are actually increasing as the subjective evaluation of personal risk decreases.

This behavior can spread. The behavior becomes normal and accepted even though the practice is risky.

Pride in doing the job well can lead to taking unnecessary risks such as flying in poor weather. The desire to please should not interfere with mission safety. Self-management can be difficult enough without introducing customer and operator influences.

 

External stress

 

External stress is but one more link that could be the difference between success and failure. It can come in many forms ranging from problems at home, financial difficulties, personal ailments and more.

We must be diligent enough to recognize these and if in any way performance will be hindered it must be brought to a superior’s knowledge.

 

 

As pilots we are governed by rules that have been developed to protect not only ourselves but the passengers we fly. These rules are the outcome of nearly 100 years of global aviation experiences. We live and fly by these rules for good reason and we will not fly beyond the rules and regulations that govern us.

[/b][/font]

 

 

ROO:

 

The article written above says one heck of allot about your company and their outlook on safety. In all my years in this industry I have never read anything so well put together on paper and easy to understand, HATS OFF.

 

I would love to see your Safety Management System, give TC a few lessons.

 

Again, very well written.

 

Cheers, Don :punk: :punk:

 

[bellyhook]

The job of the professional pilot is to sit down for supper at the end of the day. Training yourself and the people you work with, other pilots and guides included, will help you accomplish this. Remove competition from the HeliSki environment, the only competition should be to make the next landing and take off better than the last. Fighting over who can get to the highest spot through the crappiest weather hauling the most fuel with the heaviest group is not the aim of the game. Removing these stressors and educating your guide ( this is a CRM environment remember) suddenly turns this into an enjoyable experience for everyone including the guests, who can sometimes be annoying but do, after all, pay the bills, we need them to come back which is tough to do if they are smeared all over the hillside because you were overloaded in crappy weather and trying to please them and the guide by getting to the best spot.

 

Make it fun

 

 

[old dog]

 

Very well done, my son!

[RonnyRotor]

Very well done, my son!

Ya. What was I thinking???? Dont worry bout the 172 OR the Navajo !!! Just go ahead and jump into that 747 and see what happens.