Rotorcraft Update: NTSB wants certain helo pilots to be IFR proficient

Helicopter pilots who conduct commercial passenger-carrying flights in areas where whiteout conditions routinely occur should be required to have a helicopter-specific instrument rating and demonstrate their instrument competency in accordance with Part 135 instrument check flights, according to a recent NTSB recommend- ation sent to the FAA. The Safety Board has also asked the FAA to require radar altimeters on all helicopters conducting those flights. The recommendations stem from the NTSB’s investigations into several accidents since 1999 involving air-taxi and sightseeing helicopter flights in Alaska. Three of the accidents involved one helicopter that crashed, followed by the crash of a second helicopter sent out to search for the first one and then the crash of a third helicopter dispatched to find the first two.