Page 1 © EADS Presentation title – file name – date Defence Electronics department Closing two mayor safety gaps in helicopter VFR flights S. Scherbarth, K. Schulz, EADS Deutschland GmbH, Friedrichshafen, Germany

Page 2 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date The wire and pole problem in VFR flights  The Visual Flight Regulations is based on the “see and avoid” concept for safe helicopter flight.  Close to ground there are hard to see obstacles like poles or masts and obstacles like wires not perceivable at all by itself.  Obviously, for these obstacles see and avoid does not work due to the deficits in the unaided human “see”.  This is clearly visible in the accident statistics:

Page 3 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date The size of the safety gap  The in-flight collision with obstacles caused 15,7% of all U.S. civil rotorcraft accidents This is the second largest cause of accidents just after loss of engine power (28.5%) (1)  In-flight collisions with wires and poles are the main cause of all in flight collisions with obstacles contributing to 53% of all these accidents (1)  Therefore, next after loss of engine power we talk about the largest single safety problem causing 8.3% of all accidents (1) (1) NASA/TM , “ U.S.Civil Rotorcraft Accidents 1963 through 1997 “

Page 4 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date It is time to update the VFR definition Since the historic VFR definition, the situation has changed:  The density of poles (mobile antenna masts), windmills and wires has increased significantly and helicopter missions changed more to close to ground missions with landing in unknown terrain (EMS, SAR, Police,..)  With active obstacle warning systems there are certified, technical means readily available to close the mayor safety gap caused by wire and pole collision.

Page 5 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date HELLAS – Active Obstacle Warning Product Family FLIR Control Panel HELLAS-W HELLAS-A Sensor- and Electronic unit Warning Indicator Warning Management Caution display Video Display Acoustic alarm generator Communication Management EW System - Blanking Navigation System AHRS Navigation System IRS Collective NVG/Night mode Avionic bus Control Panel HMS/D PLT&CPLT DKU System architecture

Page 6 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date HELLAS – Product Family Performances Field of View Vertical:42° Horizontal:36° Line of Sight range AZ:  12° Field of Regard Vertical:42° Horizontal:60° Max. Range of Sensor:1200 m Scan frequency:3 Hz Weight:21-24 kg Power consumption:< 280 VA Window Heating 50 VA Classification of Obstaclesmultiple Obstacles History function:multiple Obstacles Detection 5 mm wires up to 700 visib. Field of View Vertical:32° Horizontal:31.5° Line of Sight range EL:+10°/ -20° Field of Regard Vertical:62° Horizontal:31.5° Max. Range of Sensor:1050 m Scan frequency:2 Hz Weight:27,4 kg Power consumption:< 160 VA Window HeatingN/A Classification of ObstaclesHigh Risk History function:8 s Detection 10 mm wires up to 500 visib. HELLAS-WHELLAS-A

Page 7 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date HELLAS – Product Family NORMAL Normal Operating during Cruising Flight APPROACH Operation Take-off and Landing ON HELLAS Power ON OFF HELLAS Power OFF MODE: OFFPower Off STBY/SNStandby/Snapshot SLSafety Line-Mode WR/PLWire/Pole-Mode TREETree-Mode HMS/D-SYM: Control for symbology on the HMS/D’s DR/WR: Setting Display Range and Warning Range HELLAS-W HELLAS-A NORMAL APPROACH OFF OWS ON Command and Control

Page 8 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date HELLAS – Product Family Display Warning Indicator Indication whether there is an obstacle warning on the left, center or right field in front of the helicopter Safety Line Display on HMS/D Safety Line and Obstacles on HMS/D and MFD Obstacle Display on MFD APCH Flight Vector Horizon Safety Line HELLAS-W HELLAS-A At present optional:

Page 9 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date HELLAS – Product Family HELLAS W is available off the shelf. More than 50 units sold in Europe, North America and Asia. Operational since 2003 EASA and CAA certified according LBA-NTS02 (August 21, 2003) HELLAS A is in development for NH90, first flight 2006

Page 10 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date Conclusion On of the conclusions of the NASA Study on U.S. Civil Rotorcraft Accidents 1963 through 1997 was: “The authors (2) recommend that:  Flying below 750 feet (above ground level) be discouraged by the industry and regulatory agencies.  A low-price proximity spherical sensor be developed and certified; a sensor sphere of some large radius should, in effect, cocoon the helicopter and provide the pilot with sufficient warning to avoid obstacles “ (2) Franklin D. Harris, Eugene F. Kasper, and Laura E. Iseler

Page 11 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date Conclusion With our HELLAS products we have developed the proposed proximity sensor to effectively cocoon the helicopter. Therefore its now time to update the requirements for helicopters flying routinely missions below 750 feet. For these helicopters the installation of an appropriate active obstacle warning system should be mandatory. We believe its now overdue to close this mayor safety gap caused by in flight collisions with wires and poles.

Page 12 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date The second safety issue to adress Loss of visual reference by Brownout (Sand) Whiteout (Snow)

Page 13 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date The size of the brown out / white out safety problem  Brown out has been a mayor problem in recent military helicopter operations.  It has been reported that “Brown-outs have claimed 28 US Army helicopters in Iraq” (3)  15% of all Class A accidents of the US-Army in 2002 – 2003 has been caused by brown outs. (4) (3) Defense Helicopter, February / March 2004 (4) US Army Combat Readiness Center

Page 14 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date The Risk – Degraded Visual Environment Typical Flight Scenario into Brownout Condition

Page 15 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date Principle of the Solution with Hellas (3) Step 1 Close to and during low speed landing approach the HELLAS gets a brown-out/white-out free sight to the landing area and accumulates a high resolution tree dimensional image of that area. Step 2 In case of upcoming brown/whiteout condition, the HELLAS system has gathered enough three dimensional area scan data in the internal buffer to create a HELLAS natural synthetic vision video of the landing area. Step 3 This synthetic vision video presents to the pilots an artificial three dimensional representation of the outside view correlated to his current position and inertial reference. (3) U.S. Patent pending

Page 16 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date Clear view to landing zone in brown-out Hellas brown-out support with HMSD

Page 17 © EADS Defence Electronics department Presentation title – file name – date Conclusion HELLAS is capable to provide continuous visual reference for landing in brown-out or white-out conditions through a virtual view. This virtual view is generated from an high resolution 3-D image of the landing zone in same way as in a state of the art flight simulator. With this support no critical switching from visual reference to an abstract instrument reference is required when a brown-out condition occurs.