Aviation safety issues and actions
Operator’s training and assessing procedures for marine pilot transfer operations in degraded visual cueing environments
| Issue number: | AO-2018-022-SI-005 |
|---|---|
| Issue owner: | Heli-Aust Whitsundays Pty Limited |
| Transport function: | Aviation: Air transport |
| Background: | Investigation Report AO-2018-022 |
| Issue release date: | 16 June 2022 |
| Current issue status: | Closed – Adequately addressed |
|---|---|
| Issue status justification: | The ATSB is satisfied that the proactive safety action taken by the operator appropriately addresses this issue. |
Safety issue description
The operator's training and assessing procedures for marine pilot transfer operations did not provide assurance that pilot under supervision experience, helicopter instrumentation, and instructor capability were suitable for line training at night in a degraded visual cueing environment.
Proactive action
| Action number: | AO-2018-022-PSA-04 |
|---|---|
| Action organisation: | Heli-Aust Whitsundays Pty Limited |
| Action status: | Closed |
The operator advised that, since the time of the accident, it had proactively made changes to its training and checking procedures. Those changes include:
- additional instructors employed for the training and checking function.
- instructor/trainer/check pilots are required to complete a standardisation check from the left (non-command seat) and are checked from the left seat during completion of their recurrent base checks on type.
- graduated process for inducting newly recruited pilots for each of the operator’s bases, to qualify initially for day operations and complete a period of day consolidation before being transitioned to night operations.
- training pathways have been defined and are dependent on the skills and qualifications held by the training pilot.