Apart from barriers, weather and other force majeure that can affect the rescue action and safety, the risk factors for helicopter hoist operations also include the insufficient practical experiences of and bad negotiation between crew members. Although continuous trainings and implementation of missions can accumulate personnel’s experiences and help them not to make mistakes, flying, itself, is inherently dangerous
In Austria close to the mountains of Bavaria, not only are mountain rescue missions done frequently, but also the working conditions are extremely dangerous. In Austria, the air rescue network is formed by the German Army Air Force, ADAC Air Rescue, DRF, and Federal and state police air rescue units. Despite being able to accumulate their experiences through the missions, every crew member still requires three years of training in average in order to reach maturity. Therefore, Austria has developed the helicopter hoist rescue simulation system to shorten the personnel’s training schedule.
The biggest investment benefit of this simulation system is that the system can simulate difficult rescue conditions, enabling personnel to practice helicopter rescue procedures while effectively reducing the flying costs and training risks. Besides, the trainings can be done at any time and are not affected by the weather. The dynamic hoist simulator has a number of advantages, including: crew members can implement an overall rescue training in a safe environment while building up their confidence and accumulating their experiences; hoist risks that exist in the reality can be reduced; general and unstable flying conditions can both be simulated; crew members can practice all types of rescue equipment and their hoisting (with or without loading) and helicopter approaching skills (mountain, roof, forest, cable car and so on), with or without the telecommunications, during a simulated flight.
The simulator further enables crew members to be familiar with normal and emergency procedures; accumulate experiences in transporting, loading and uploading ground personnel; carry out a complex training using different types of rescue equipment; and save time and the expensive flying costs.
Author: Chen Bing-Yi of NASC
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