Page 17 - World Airnews Magazine April 2021

ADVERTORIAL HELICOPTERS

FROM BLACK BOXES TO A TASTE OF RED PLANET AIR

SENSORS

The move is a big step toward Ingenuity's test flights, which

local airport. Their investigation found no SMS or FDM present –
two safety components that NTSB believes would have prevented could take place this month

DM has gradually increased in use across aviation. It’s a many of the incidents they have investigated over the last 20 years. By Mike Wall

Fnatural progression from the black boxes of the past, which With 70% of Part-135 accidents attributed to human error, risks

provided a way for aircraft operators to investigate accidents. may show up in operational data - if operators routinely took our first look at the helicopter. It's stowed future return to Earth.

As an investigative tool, though, it was often complex and tech- notice. sideways, folded up and locked in place, so The 28-mile-wide (45 kilometres) Jezero

nical. FDM of the past was a reactive approach to safety. Only after he little helicopter aboard NASA's there's some reverse origami to do before is a great place to do such work, mission

the black box was collected and the flight data downloaded could TURNING FLIGHT DATA INTO VISUAL DATA TPerseverance rover has gott en its I can set it down. First though, I'll be off team members have said.

operators infer why an incident took place. When Spidertracks launched their Virtual FDR (Flight Data first look at the Red Planet. to the designated 'helipad,' a couple days' Observations by Mars orbiters show that

Over the last 20 years, FDM, or Flight Operations Quality Assur- Recording) in 2019, operators in general aviation had access to The 4-lb. (1.8 kilogrammes) chopper, a drive from here," NASA officials wrote the crater hosted a big, deep lake and a

ance (FOQA) as it’s known in North America, has become the most real-time aircraft tracking that logged every 15 seconds and was technology demonstration named Ingenu- recently on the Rover’s Twitter account. river delta billions of years ago.

highly regarded and potentially effective safety initiative to reach transmitted every minute through a dedicated Iridium satellite ity, travelled to Mars attached to Persever- No rotorcraft has ever flown on a world Ingenuity is one of two technology

aviation in the last 20 years. channel. ance's belly. beyond Earth. NASA hopes Ingenuity demonstrations aboard Perseverance. The

The only problem was that the cost and complexity of FDM pro- Users could virtually watch an aircraft on its flight path, and no Over the weekend, Perseverance changes that, and in a big way: Successful other, an instrument called MOXIE ("Mars

grammes made it primarily accessible for top-tier airliners only. place was too remote. dropped the debris shield that protected sorties by the bantam helicopter could Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Exper-

Analysis of FDM shows its potential to act as a tremendous antic- Now, Spidertracks is extending their Virtual FDR technology Ingenuity during the rover's epic Feb. 18 open Mars to extensive aerial exploration iment"), is designed to generate oxygen

ipatory tool for investigating root causes and risks associated with with ‘Insights,’ a visual dashboard that collects a range of data, touchdown on the floor of Jezero Crater. in the future, NASA officials have said. from the thin, carbon dioxide-dominated

human behaviour. and advises operators on how their aircraft are flying. The data is The move helps pave the way for Ingenu- After Ingenuity's few flights are finished, Martian atmosphere.

Instead of an ad-hoc approach to monitoring flights for safety uploaded automatically and wirelessly upon landing. ity's test flights, which could take place as Perseverance will begin focusing in earnest Scaled-up versions of MOXIE could one

purposes, FDM gave airliners a systematic approach to measure ‘Insights’ enables aircraft operators to take on a proactive, rather soon as the first week of April. on its main tasks: hunting for signs of day help humanity set up shop on the Red

risk. than reactive, approach to safety, revolutionizing a sector that "Away goes the debris shield, and here's ancient Mars life and collecting samples for Planet, NASA officials have said. Q

The result? Commercial airliners continue to operate at the low- once relied on cumbersome, clunky, and expensive technology to

est rates of safety incidents in history. understand incidents only after they occurred.
Operators can access ‘Insights’ through the Spider X, a sleek
THE RISKS ARE IN THE DATA plug-and-play piece of hardware that is effortless to install in an

Despite advances in data-collecting technology, general aviation aircraft and simple to use. NEWS

has not yet had an entry point into the wealth of valuable insights With the ability to download and transfer information such as

that FDM can provide. roll, pitch, and yaw, operators can utilise ‘Insights’ to set filters

While FDM is a critical component of SMS in airliners, it is not a and parameters to measure this flight data. This can help mitigate

requirement for on-demand charters and commuter flights, known future risks, enhance pilot training, see overarching safety trends SIGNATURE OLYMPICS

as Part-135 certified flights. and improve operational efficiencies in their business.

Increases in accidents across Part-135 aviation operators in When risks are flagged and investigated before they become

recent years have caused the National Transportation Safety Board losses, it saves operators money by eliminating avoidable expens- AIRLIFT

(NTSB) to include ‘Improve the Safety of Part-135 Aircraft Flight es. At its essence, ‘Insights’ is enhancing safety by turning flight
Operations’ in their Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety data into visual data to reveal areas of improvement and areas that

Improvements for 2019-2020. NTSB’s decision to recommend the may require further training.
adoption of SMS and FDM programmes in At its core, the Spider X is an entry point for the General Aviation

general aviation, came after a 2015 accident of a chartered industry into FDM - a proactive safety measure so obvious that it supporting our communities by giving the In addition to aircraft, pilots, fuel and

business jet into an apartment complex while on the descent to a should be accessible for all. Q extron Aviation has launched the athletes the joy of a once-in-a-lifetime in-kind support are requested for the

airlift efforts. While the 2022 USA Games

Tcompany’s signature industry aviation experience.” are located in the Southeast, thousands

Since the first Special Olympics Airlift in

endeavour - the special Olympics airlift 1987, nearly 10,000 athletes and coaches of athletes and coaches will travel from all
(SOA) - and began its call for Cessna from across the United States have been over the U.S. as well as the Caribbean and

Citation, Beechcraft King Air, Beechcraft transported to Special Olympics World Puerto Rico to attend.
Premier, Beechjet and Hawker owners and Games and USA Games. “Traveling to Orlando for the 2022 Spe-

operators to help transport more than With this eighth SOA, Textron Aviation cial Olympics USA Games may be the first

4,000 athletes and coaches from across aims to recruit 228 aircraft owners by time some of our athletes ever leave their

the nation to the 2022 Special Olympics Feb. 28, 2022, to help transport a portion hometown, let alone fly on an airplane,”
USA Games in Orlando, Fla. of the over 4,000 athletes and coaches said Tony Wyllie, regional president, spe-
cial Olympics North America.

“Textron Aviation, along with our many invited to Orlando, Fla. on June 4, 2022,
generous customers and supporters, is and then return them to their home bases “The travel experience provided by

extremely excited to kick off the eighth on June 12, 2022. Textron Aviation and its customers will be

the ultimate bookends for one unforgetta-

Special Olympics Airlift in support of pro- Owners and operators in every state are

viding athletes and coaches transportation needed to donate the use of the following ble week.”

to the 2022 Special Olympics USA Games,” aircraft: For more information and/or to register

said Ron Draper, president and CEO, Tex- • Cessna Citation to be a part of this monumental nation-

tron Aviation. • Beechcraft King Air wide aviation event, visit www.txtav.com/

“This signature event is a unique oppor- • Beechcraft Premier airlift.

tunity that enables everyone, from our • Beechjet Learn more about the Games at https://
employees to our customers, to ignite our • Hawker www.2022specialolympicsusagames.org/.
shared passion for lifting others up and Q

World Airnews | April 2021
W orld Airne w s | April 2021 World Airnews | April 2021
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