I have been involved in aviation safety since I acquired my UK CAA Private Pilot’s License (fixed wing) at the age of 17 before I passed my UK driving test. I joined the Royal Navy as a pilot at the age of 18 and safety was always at the forefront of my mind during my 28 years flying anti-submarine (ASW) and search and rescue (SAR) Sea King helicopters even when I was not the nominated Flight Safety Officer. I brought that safety culture with me when I joined Bristow Academy in Florida as the General Manager now operating the much smaller Hu269 and Bell 206 helicopters flying over 3,500 hours a month. I find it interesting that today when speaking at events and I ask how many pilots are in the audience a few hands go up, and how many mechanics/engineers or insurance brokers and a few more hands go up, but when I ask how many people are involved in safety…very few hands go up…. when everybody’s hand should be up…right? Not just those of the designated safety officers! We are all responsible for flight safety whatever our role.

When I was elected as the Industry Co-Chair of the US Helicopter Safety Team back in 2020, I was asked what I thought was the greatest risk to helicopter accidents? In my opinion it was and still is a variable level of safety culture. As a community, we are slowly getting better but there still seems to be aviators out there who are willing to cut corners and never say no! There are still operators who exist in a blame culture where pilots are scared to say “no” for fear of reprisal. Operators who have overcome this and operate under a just culture are normally led by bosses who set the right example and always do the right thing even if they think nobody is watching. They also probably work under a fully developed Safety Management System (SMS)…. which incidentally is not the document! The SMS is the set of implemented and ingrained procedures, system of feedback and developed culture owned by all, that an operation works under…. guided by the book! Strong and appropriate leadership is key in fostering a just culture and promoting safety within aviation operations.

In the US there are 12,000 + helicopters, 32,000 + helicopter pilots and over 292,000 aircraft mechanics! The good news is that the US helicopter industry is getting safer. Currently with about 12-15 fatal accidents each year and just under 100 non-fatal accidents annually that means that there are thousands of accident-free aviators each year who continually “keep it in the green”. The most recent data released in Dec 2024 shows that the average number of days between US civil fatal accidents is increasing. Back in 2020 there were an average of 18 days between fatal accidents. Today we have stretched it to 25 days. Still nothing to write home about as it needs to be 365 days plus…. but we are making progress. The longest we have gone without a fatal accident in the last 5 years is 107 days back in 2020. Proof that we can achieve zero fatal accidents. “Believe it to achieve it!” We need to exceed this number each year!

Each year the U.S. helicopter industry safely flies approx. 3 million flight hours and every second of every flight must be handled with professionalism. The USHST has a vision of a civil US registered helicopter community with zero fatal accidents and through data-driven accident and flight safety data analyses, a mission to understand the US helicopter community’s safety issues and use that understanding to promote the development and implementation of voluntary, consensus- based risk mitigations. We initially worked 16 data-driven helicopter safety enhancements (H-SEs) aimed at reducing fatal accidents and the team now have another 6 H-SE’s open to address current issues. These initiatives are only effective if we truly collaborate across the whole industry and reach into all sectors of the community, including our private pilot cadre who are the hardest to reach. Both regulators are operators need to be on the same page promoting a transparent safety culture. Collaboration is the key to ensure the entire aviation industry implement voluntary, consensus-based risk mitigations to enhance flight safety. Only by including all members of the community will you be able to transmit the right message to the right people. As an example, I led H-SE 123 – Simulation/Education to improve safe Decision Making (ADM). I recruited a team of about 12 people from the FAA, most of the OEM’s, simulator manufacturers, flight schools, universities and operators. There are many ways to communicate, and it is important to find the right medium for the right message. We spoke at conferences, issued short guidance videos and a “best practice” document that contained scenario-based training (SBT) lesson plans for all to use. It promoted the concept that you should “learn from your mistakes” in a simulated and therefore safe environment before climbing into the real aircraft. This material also attracted much interest and demand from international operators (both civil and military). The detail of completed H-SE’s can be found at www.ushst.org but they include H-SE 13A: Utilities and Construction Practice Guide, H-SE 19a: Safety Culture and Professionalism, H-SE 22a: Detection and Management of Risk Level Changes During Flight, H-SE 28: The Final Walk Around, H-SE 30: Development of Airman Certification Series for Rotorcraft, H-SE 70: Stability Augmentation System/Autopilot, H-SE 81: Simulators and Outside-the Envelope Flight Conditions, H-SE 82: Helicopter Flight Data Monitoring, H-SE 90: UAS in High Risk Environments, H-SE 91: Enhanced Helicopter Vision Systems, H-SE 116: Make & Model Transition Training, H-SE 124: Understanding of Basic Helicopter Aerodynamics, H-SE 125: Pre-Flight Risk Assessment for Student Pilots, H-SE 127a: Recognition & Recovery of Spatial Disorientation and H-SE 130: Hazards of Over-the-Counter Medication.

Lastly, we know that flight instructors are at the very heart of the solution to improve our safety culture and should set the perfect example from the very start. If student pilots can walk away with their private certificates knowing that they should not cut corners, are allowed to say “no”, admit that “it can happen to me”, are always considered and never do anything impulsive or quickly in a helicopter, always follow the rules, abide by their minimums, own the outcome, will always speak up and never say “hey watch this”! They will then take this culture to their commercial and instrument training and subsequently out into the industry to influence the safety culture and promote the ability of every pilot to “keep it in the green”.