News Briefs  

The IHST will have a major presence at HELI-EXPO 2011, at the Orange County Convention Center, with a public briefing (IHST Update) on its international progress in Room S.330A/B, Sunday, March 6, at 1 – 3 pm. Workshops to address how to effectively use JHSIT toolkits are scheduled as follow: Safety Management Systems (SMS) Workshop, Sunday, March 6, 1 – 5 pm in Room S.330D; Flight Data Monitoring Workshop, Monday, March 7, 8 am – 5 pm in Room S.320A/B; and Training Workshop, Monday, March 7, 8 am – 12 pm in Room S.321. Don’t miss the US JHSIT Infastructure Workshop - Creating a safer operating environment —helipads, an improved and available weather grid, instrument flight, and communications, on Tuesday, March 8, 8 am to 12 pm in Room S.230A/B.

     Further information about the International Helicopter Safety Team, including access to its free, downloadable reports and toolkits, can be found on its website, www.ihst.org.

Six senior executives from offshore helicopter operators gathered today in the course of the International Helicopter Safety Symposium (IHSS) 2010 in Cascais, Portugal to sign a Letter of Commitment entitled “A Call to Action by and for Offshore Helicopter Operators”. An additional four operators also committed to the initiative through a virtual signing. The commitment symbolises an outstanding collective effort to further enhance the safety record of all helicopter operators and is a clear sign of their dedication to the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) safety programme.

Portland, ME (September 14, 2010) - On August 30-31, 2010, the Infrastructure Work Group (IWG) of the Joint Helicopter Safety Implementation Team (JHSIT) met in Portland, Maine. The IWG was joined by a number of FAA, suppliers, contractors, vendors, and Part 135 Operators to discuss improving aviation infrastructure including weather reporting, helipads, low level instrument flight systems, and the recommendations identified through two years of work addressing low level infrastructure.