Airbus introduces data analytics to support helicopter safety

March 6, 2019 in Business, Foreign News by Editor

Airbus Helicopters has launched a new analytics service that supports operational safety of helicopters by analysing aircraft post-flight data to identify risks before they lead to incidents. The application, known as Flight Analyser helicopter flight data monitoring (HFDM), analyses the data generated by a number of on-board sources, including the ISEI Helicom system, the Appareo Vision 1000 flight data recorder, and the Outerlink IRIS data recorder, to automatically detect situations that could have been safer or could have potentially led to an incident or accident.

Data types analysed include altitude, ground speed, vertical speed, height and engine parameters, among others. The system then augments this data with weather data and environmental context, such as sky coverage and obstacles present at the time of the potential event, to provide the user with the most complete picture possible. It also performs a confidence check for each event, assessing the reliability of the data.

“What we’re doing is helping our customers uncover issues that would have been near impossible to see in the raw data,” says Gilles Bruniaux, Head of Aviation Safety at Airbus Helicopters. “Being able to make sense of this rich data and learn from it so as to fly in a more informed way the next time represents another step forward for safety.”

Flight Analyser users are given access to dashboards that are updated post-flight. The output can be used by an organisation’s safety management system to support future decision making. The service is available for all operator types, regardless of their size, safety management system maturity, and fleet composition. The self-service reports can be accessed via the customer’s personal space on Airbus’ Keycopter customer portal.