Airbus recently presented the “Civil Helicopter – Innovation in Rotary-wing Aviation Safety Award” to the inaugural recipient, Eye in the Sky, at the annual Rotortech exposition in Brisbane, Australia. The New Zealand-based aviation company was recognised for their significant contributions in improving aviation safety performance, and making a tangible difference to safety in the rotary-wing industry.
Eye in the Sky designed and manufactured a video-based flight data recorder that is lightweight, compact and affordable for the aviation industry, with all proceeds going to aviation related scholarships through the James PG Foundation. The Eye in the Sky is certified for a range of helicopters and is able to provide vital answers in the event of incidents or crashes.
Founder and developer of Eye in the Sky, Louisa (Choppy) Patterson said, “We are extremely proud to be the 2021 recipient of the Airbus Safety Award. Our team has been passionate about developing this cockpit video, audio and flight data recorder to allow the aviation industry to enhance the safety of their operations. I would like to thank my crew, our certifying engineers, software developers and the aviation authorities for embracing this project with the realisation that their commitment to this small powerful device will make a difference, and will save lives.”
Not only does Eye in the Sky device provide critical answers in the event of an air incident, the high definition video, audio and data and user-friendly playback software is also used to review close occurrences, solve maintenance anomalies, review training flights and route checks, and raise the safety bar.
The Airbus “Civil Helicopter – Innovation in Rotary Aviation Safety Award” was first launched at Rotortech 2021, with the aim to actively promote and celebrate efforts to enhance safety performance. All submissions from across Australia and New Zealand highlighted a high level of innovation across the Australian rotary wing sector, with a focus on continuously improving safety outcomes. The annual award programme for 2022 submissions will open on 1 September. To be eligible, nominees must be a Pacific-based rotary wing organisation, group, company or agency, and submit the Call for Nominations Form to enter.
First helicopter flight powered by SAF
An Airbus H225 has performed the first helicopter flight with 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) powering both Safran’s Makila 2 engines. This flight, which follows the flight of an H225 with one SAF-powered Makila 2 engine in November 2021, is part of the flight campaign aimed at understanding the impact of SAF use on the helicopter’s systems. Tests are expected to continue on other types of helicopters with different fuel and engine architectures with a view to certify the use of 100 percent SAF by 2030. The use of SAF is one of Airbus Helicopters’ levers to achieve its ambition of reducing CO2 emissions from its helicopters by 50 percent by 2030. One of the main benefits of using this new fuel is that it allows the aircraft to minimise its carbon footprint while maintaining the same flight performance.
According to the Waypoint 2050 report, the use of SAF in aviation could account for 50-75 percent of the CO2 reduction needed to reach net carbon emissions by 2050 in the air transport industry. While SAF production currently accounts for only 0.1 percent of total aviation fuel production, this figure is expected to increase dramatically in the coming years to meet both growing demand from operators and upcoming SAF usage mandates. In June 2021, Airbus Helicopters launched the SAF User Group with the intention of bringing all stakeholders together to work on ways to accelerate the use of blended SAF kerosene and to pave the way toward 100 percent SAF flights for future fleets. All Airbus commercial aircraft and helicopters are certified to fly with up to a 50 percent blend of SAF.
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