Safety Topics: Helicopter Technology Available to Purchase

ONE of the most significant influences of the past decade as far as rotating wing aircraft are concerned, was the 1984 report of the Helicopter Airworthiness Review Panel (HARP). The need for such a review arose out of concern over a number of accidents in the early 1980's and the report found that helicopters are five times less safe than public transport aircraft, compared on an hourly basis. When risks per flight are compared, this difference is about halved but even so, the accident rates are significantly worse than for modern jet transports. HARP found that the percentage of accidents due to air‐worthiness causes is higher on helicopters than on fixed wing aircraft, and also, that the percentage of accidents from airworthiness causes which prove fatal, is also appreciably higher on helicopters.