The Toll Rescue Helicopter Service has partnered with Truth Data Insights of Forth Worth, Texas to provide flight data monitoring (FDM) of its fleet of eight Leonardo AW139s based in Sydney, Wollongong, Orange and Canberra to help identify operational risks and manage human errors.
At the completion of each mission, flight data is wirelessly transmitted to cloud-based data storage for processing and analysis by Truth Data for any exceedances of 40 pre-determined parameters such as high descent rate below 300ft on approach, high bank angle below 300ft on approach and fuel contents low.
The analysis also looks for situations and emerging trends that may present an increased risk to the helicopter and its occupants.
Establishing the limiting values on the events – the numbers at which exceedances are triggered – was critical in the initial set-up of the FDM program and was the result of a collaborative approach between Truth Data and Toll Rescue Helicopter pilots.
“To have dynamic data captured and used in near real-time ultimately leads to safer operations with this system, representing world’s best practice for lead data and proactive risk and safety management,” Toll Helicopters general manager Mark Delany said.
During the first four months of operations, Truth Data has been able to address specific mission related questions within hours of an event occurring.
Its analysis has provided dynamic information for Toll that has directly resulted in improvements to training and safety procedures.
As data accumulates in the coming months, broader trend analyses across the Toll fleet is expected to inform additional improvements.
