Analysis of Weather-Related Helicopter Accidents and Incidents in the United States

Ramee, Coline; Speirs, Andrew H.; Payan, Alexia P.; Mavris, Dimitri N.

Title:

Analysis of Weather-Related Helicopter Accidents and Incidents in the United States

dc.contributor.author	Ramee, Coline
dc.contributor.author	Speirs, Andrew H.
dc.contributor.author	Payan, Alexia P.
dc.contributor.author	Mavris, Dimitri N.
dc.contributor.corporatename	Georgia Institute of Technology. Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory	en_US
dc.contributor.corporatename	American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
dc.contributor.corporatename	Georgia Institute of Technology. Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory
dc.date.accessioned	2021-08-05T18:50:21Z
dc.date.available	2021-08-05T18:50:21Z
dc.date.issued	2021-08
dc.description	Presented at AIAA Aviation 2021 Forum	en_US
dc.description.abstract	Helicopters typically operate at lower altitudes than fixed-wing aircraft and can take-off and land away from airports. Thus, helicopter pilots have decreased access to weather information due to connectivity issues or sparsity of weather coverage in those areas and at those altitudes. Moreover, regulations allow most rotorcraft to operate in marginal weather conditions. Therefore, weather is a challenge to rotorcraft operations. In this study, rotorcraft events in the United States between 2008 and 2018 in which weather was determined to be a factor are analyzed using the National Transportation Safety Board aviation database. Results show that weather was a factor in 28% of rotorcraft fatal accidents. Wind was involved in most incidents but more rarely involved in fatalities. Bad visibility conditions due to a combination of low illumination and clouds were responsible for most fatal weather-related accidents. Personal flights had the highest accident and incident rates. Finally, the Helicopter Air Ambulance industry had the largest number of incidents and accidents related to visibility conditions out of all other industries. The authors recommend improving awareness of the conditions in which weather events occur and improving training to maintain control of the aircraft in windy conditions or during inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Ramee, Coline, et al. "Analysis of Weather-Related Helicopter Accidents and Incidents in the United States." AIAA AVIATION 2021 FORUM. 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-2954	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2021-2954	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/64916
dc.language.iso	en_US	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.publisher.original	American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
dc.relation.ispartofseries	ASDL;
dc.subject	Safety	en_US
dc.subject	Accidents	en_US
dc.subject	Weather	en_US
dc.subject	Helicopter	en_US
dc.subject	NTSB	en_US
dc.subject	Rotorcraft	en_US
dc.title	Analysis of Weather-Related Helicopter Accidents and Incidents in the United States	en_US
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Paper
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.author	Payan, Alexia P.
local.contributor.author	Mavris, Dimitri N.
local.contributor.corporatename	Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL)
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
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