Airbus : Safety Promotion Notice

No. 3632-P-56

SAFETY PROMOTION NOTICE

SUBJECT: WINDOWS

Bird Strike Risk Mitigation in Rotorcraft Operations, published by ESPN-R

ATA: 53

For the attention of

AIRCRAFT	Version(s)
CONCERNED	Civil		Military
EC120	B
AS350	B, BA, BB, B1, B2, B3, D		L1
AS550			A2, C2, C3, U2
AS355	E, F, F1, F2, N, NP
AS555			AF, AN, SN, UF, UN, AP
EC130	B4, T2
SA365 / AS365	C1, C2, C3, N, N1, N2, N3		F, Fs, Fi, K, K2
AS565			MA, MB, SA, SB, UB, MBe
SA366			GA
EC155	B, B1
SA330	J		Ba, L, Jm, S1, Sm
SA341	G		B, C, D, E, F, H
SA342	J		L, L1, M, M1, Ma
ALOUETTE II	313B, 3130, 318B, 318C, 3180
ALOUETTE III	316B, 316C, 3160, 319B
LAMA	315B
EC225	LP
EC725			AP
AS332	C, C1, L, L1, L2		B, B1, F1, M, M1
AS532			A2, U2, AC, AL, SC, UE, UL
EC175	B
H160	B
EC339			KUH/Surion
BO105	C (C23, CB, CB-4,CB-5), D (DB, DBS, DB-4,DBS-4,		CBS-5 KLH, E-4
DBS-5), S (CS, CBS, CBS-4,CBS-5), LS A-3
MBB-BK117	A-1,A-3,A-4,B-1,B-2,C-1,C-2,C-2e,D-2,D-2m,D-3,		D-2m,D-3m
D-3m
	T1, T2, T2+, T3, P1, P2, P2+, P3, EC635 T1, EC635 T2+,
EC135	EC635 T3, EC635 P2+, EC635 P3,
	T3H, P3H, EC635 T3H, EC635 P3H

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No. 3632-P-56

Airbus Helicopters would like to raise awareness about:

• The Safety Information Bulletin published by EASA (link)
• The article on Bird Strike Risk Mitigation in Rotorcraft Operations, published by ESPN-R. It is the document attached hereto, which contains active links to play videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMt462ZzOTY

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No. 3632-P-56

Keywords: Bird strike, safety, aircraft helicopter, low altitude, birds, collision, wildlife, airport, airfield,

habitat, migration, operation, mission, coastal line

Bird Strike Avoidance

Managing the Risk of Bird Strike

While bird strikes are not a new risk to helicopters, the reduction in flying activity in some areas of aviation have considerably increased the number of birds in certain locations where helicopters regularly operate. This article is based on and expands the EASA SIB EASA SIB Rotorcraft Operational Safety Procedures to Mitigate Bird Strike Riskof April 2021 and brings together a number of different resources from other sources to help helicopter operators, and others like heliport operators, understand and manage the risks involved. It is primarily intended for operators, Safety Managers, pilots including General Aviation pilots, instructors, engineers and inspectors and could be of interest for other personnel.

Bird strikes: an increased risk or just more visible?

Both EASA and the FAA have observed an increased reporting of bird strike occurrences on helicopters, thereby elevating the risk of potential serious injuries or fatalities to occupants and substantial damage to rotorcraft.

Unlike military helicopter designs, civil helicopters have very little ballistic protection and only 10% of the European Civilian helicopter fleet have been certified against the bird strike requirement in CS29.631. Most of the EU Civilian helicopters fleet is not designed to resist a bird strike.

SIB Rotorcraft Operational Safety Procedures to Mitigate Bird Strike Risk of April 19, 2021 based the FAA Report Rotorcraft Bird Strike WG Recommendations to ARAC of July 2, 2019

Based on this observation, in 2016, EASA participated in the Rotorcraft Bird Strike Working Group tasked by the FAA to provide recommendations to the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC). This work resulted in the SIB Rotorcraft Operational Safety Procedures to Mitigate Bird Strike Riskpublished on Apr 19, 2021 based on the FAA Report Rotorcraft Bird Strike WG Recommendations to ARAC,published on July 2, 2019.

What does this article give you?

This article complements the information and recommendations provided in this EASA SIB and brings in other material notably by AOPA, EGAST, TCCA, Airbus Helicopters and NGPT. See the References section.

Mitigation efforts on and by airports have proven to have shown significantly successful reduction of bird strike events and / or their consequences. You can access our free Wildlife Hazard Management Guide for Aerodromes on the Air Ops Community.

Bird Strike Definition

To get the formal part out of the way, a bird strike or bird ingestion for an engine, bird hit, or BASH (Bird Aircraft Strike Hazard) occurrence involves a collision between an aircraft and airborne birds or by extension, other species like bats or ground animals.

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No. 3632-P-56

Bird Strike in a Helicopter - Pilots View

Some facts and figures to help understand the hazard

• Most bird strikes occur near or on airports (90%, according to the ICAO) during take-off, landing and associated phases.
• Birds seek places where they can feed or find nutrition (e.g. bird and wildlife sanctuaries, garbage dumps).
• Bird strikes happen most often during take-off or landing, or during low altitude flight. Most bird strikes occur between 1000 and 2000 feet AGL. According to the FAA Wildlife Hazard Management Manual (ref. 2005), less than 8% of strikes occur above 3 000 feet and 61% occur at less than 100 feet. Flying above 5000 feet when practicable reduces the probability of bird strike. However, bird strikes have also been reported at high altitudes, some as high as 20 000 to 30 000 feet AGL.
• Bird strikes above 500 feet AGL are about 7 times more frequent at night than during the day during the spring and fall migration seasons.
• Most strikes and resulting damages occur on the front fuselage section, mainly on the windshield, than on the main rotor.
• Small rotorcraft are more likely to suffer from damage compared to large rotorcraft. The lack of requirement for CS-27 rotorcraft category is reflected in a higher rate of damage. Risk of occupant/crew injury on non-certified rotorcraft is a concern due to windshield vulnerability.

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No. 3632-P-56

What this means for helicopter operations:

Even in a part 29 certified helicopter, the design-related provisions might not fully protect you and the aircraft and prevent damage or penetration from a situation more demanding than what is covered by the regulation.

• The largest numbers of strikes happen during the spring and fall migrations. More than 2 billion birds migrate from their European breeding grounds to their residence areas in sub-Saharan
  Africa. The bird's behaviour and migratory pattern is shaped by the seasonal food availability en route and in the African residence areas, as well as by the short-term weather conditions. They migrate along three major routes: West via Gibraltar, South via Italy and East via Greece, Israel and Egypt.
• Migrating birds use varying altitudes between 300 feet and 9000 feet AGL depending on the wind direction. Birds use tailwind to their best advantage.
• Helicopters scare birds more than other types of aircraft. The reaction decreases significantly if the helicopter has a vertical and lateral distance of more than 1000 feet to the birds or their breeding grounds.
• Birds in open areas have stronger reactions to aircraft than inhabitants of dense vegetation.

Recommendations

Recommendations presented in this article are primarily intended for operators, Safety Managers, pilots including General Aviation pilots, instructors, engineers and inspectors and could be of interest for other personnel.

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