The International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) will host its seventh worldwide helicopter symposium for safety professionals on Feb. 27-28, 2014, in Anaheim, Calif., immediately following the close of Heli-Expo 2014.
The symposium will focus on the importance of helicopter pilot self-discipline and personal responsibility. In addition to international aviation safety experts participating on panels during the event, keynote speakers will be U.S. National Transportation Safety Board member Robert L. Sumwalt and Robinson Helicopter Company CEO Kurt Robinson.
The free symposium is open to all aviation safety professionals and all within the worldwide helicopter community. It will kick off with a dinner event on Feb. 27 followed by a full day of panel reports and interactive audience discussions on Feb. 28. The panels and discussions will focus on new safety initiatives within the helicopter industry, developing a safety culture, building disciplined processes, and maintaining responsible attitudes within the helicopter pilot community.
The event will take place at the Anaheim Convention Center. Registration details and information on additional participants and panel members will be announced soon.
The IHST promotes safety and works to reduce civil helicopter accidents worldwide. The organization was formed in 2005 to lead a government and industry cooperative effort to address factors that were affecting an unacceptable helicopter accident rate. The group’s vision is an international civil helicopter community with zero accidents with a goal to reduce the international civil helicopter accident rate by 80 percent by 2016.
This cooperative effort is co-chaired by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Helicopter Association International. Major industry participants include AgustaWestland, the American Helicopter Society International, Bell Helicopter, The Boeing Company, Bristow Helicopter Ltd, CHC helicopter, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Eurocopter, the European Aviation Safety Agency, the Flight Safety Foundation, the Helicopter Association of Canada, Robinson Helicopters, Shell Aircraft, and Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation.
IHST members also establish international partnerships in countries with significant helicopter operations and work to encourage the overseas industries to carry out accident analysis and develop safety interventions. Worldwide partners now supporting the work of the IHST include government and industry participants from the United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Australia, India, Russia, and multiple countries in Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
More information about the IHST, its reports, safety tools, and presentations can be obtained at its web site at www.IHST.org and on the IHST Facebook page.
