Bristow Helicopters has begun operations using TCAS2 (traffic collision avoidance system) for the newer additions to its helicopter fleet. The system has just received European Aviation Safety Agency approval.
One of the company's Sikorsky S-92s has just used TCAS2 for the first time on a flight to an offshore installation from Scatsta, Shetland. All seven of its UK-based S-92s are to have TCAS2 installed by the end of September.
Bristow said it will achieve "another industry first", when one of its Sikorsky S-76C++ helicopters fitted with TCAS2 takes to the skies later this year.
Mike Imlach, Bristow's director of European operations, compared TCAS2 with the similar system that has been in use on commercial airliners for a number of years.
He said: "The applicability of the commercial airline collision avoidance system to slower moving helicopters was questionable.
"Bristow developed the first TCAS2 system a number of years ago specifically for rotary wing aircraft, and since then has been developing TCAS2 solutions for its entire fleet to improve flight safety."
The rotary wing TCAS operates the same way as the fixed wing one does, and the avoidance manoeuvres are essentially the same as well: resolution advisories direct the pilots to manoeuvre vertically for avoidance,
There was no essential problem in using the system for helicopters, said Bristow's area manager for the northern North Sea, Duncan Moore, but a proof of concept was required to see if helicopters had sufficient manoeuvring capacity to respond effectively to a conflict with a fixed wing aircraft at a high closing rate.
That, he said, was resolved by closure trials with a BAe 146 aircraft observed by the UK Civil Aviation Authority.
Moore says the company's Eurocopter EC332 fleet will be delivered with TCAS2, with the traffic alert and resolution advisory information integrated into the primary flight display.
Source: Flight International
