Helicopter cabin and seat designs to limit pilot and passenger fatalities are being analysed by the UK’s Coventry University, in preparation for sled tests next year as part of the €4.8 million ($5.8 million) three-year European Union Sixth Framework project, Helisafe.
The research, which began in March last year and ends in February 2007, aims to provide new harness and restraint technology to improve survivability. Flying fatalities are 10 times more likely in civil helicopters than fixed-wing aircraft. Researchers have concluded this is due to inadequate protection and not inherent dangers in a crash scenario.
Airbags may also feature for greater safety. “Because helicopters fly close to the ground, the impact in a typical crash scenario is actually less than in a motorway car smash,” says Coventry University faculty of engineering and computing’s senior lecturer Michael Blundell. “The problem is that current seats, harnesses and other crash safety devices don’t offer enough protection,” he adds. The new harness could be a four- or five-point design and could be inflatable in certain sections.
Last year a full-scale civil helicopter crash test was conducted at Italy’s CIRCA research centre in Capua, to better understand collision conditions. Next year’s sled tests will be carried out in Spain at the automotive test organisation, INTEA. The research has 11 partner organisations, including the University of Delft, Eurocopter, Polish company PZL Swidnik, and German aerospace centre DLR. The project is co-ordinated by Hamburg-based Autoflug.
ROB COPPINGER/LONDON
Source: Flight International
