BIG

No.357 MARCH 2018 AU $13.95 NZ $14.50

BIRD
New hope or false dawn for the A380?
Print Post Approved 100007959
 MARCH 2018

Contents
‘The need for good
experienced pilots cannot be
met locally.’
NEVILLE HOWELL p26

20 Big commitments
A new hope or a false dawn for the
Airbus A380?

26 No train no gain
Pilot training in the spotlight as
government re-opens the door to
foreign pilots.

54 From the frontiers

Space tech is not just for rocket
scientists.

58 Ready for launch

Unmanned systems finally taking off
in ADF service.
A refurbished ex US Army Black
Hawk is fast proving to be a 66 Going for Gold
game changer in the world of Gold Coast Airport gears up for the
aerial firefighting p32 Commonwealth Games and beyond.

72 The need for speed

The US’s Future Vertical Lift
program could result in Australia’s
A rusty pilot flies next battlefield helicopter.
Diamond’s DA62, a 82 Flying the doctors
little gem p48 A team of skilled pilots is critical
to the success of the Royal Flying
Doctor Service.

86 From 789 to 10
Boeing’s 787-10 and the 787 at 10.

92 Looking for answers

Eye in the Sky GA black box born out
of personal heartbreak.

4 Locked On 105 Fire & Ag

10 Notam 106 Cabin Pressure
Our incredible front cover 12 Debrief 107 Right Hand Seat
image shows the wake
vortices created by an
18 Good kit 108 Contrails
Emirates A380 as it appears 96 Racer’s Edge 109 On Target
through a cloud bank on
approach to Brisbane Airport. RAAF Hawk training 98 Traffic 110 The Human Factor
michael marston is being enhanced 102 Warbirds 111 Flight Levels
BIG by aircraft
upgrades and new
104 Airports 112 Yesteryear
No.357 MARCH 2018 AU $13.95 NZ $14.50
BIRD
New hope or false dawn for the A380?
simulators p40 104 From the Regions 113 Asia Watch
Print Post Approved 100007959
105 Rotor Torque 114 Pinstripe

MARCH 2018 3
 FINDING ANSWERS
FINDING
ANSWERS Eye in the Sky GA black box
born out of heartbreak
WRITER: DENISE MCNABB
I
t comes as no surprise to Louisa
‘Choppy’ Patterson that preliminary
investigations have been unable to
fathom why a De Havilland Beaver
floatplane was off course and crashed
into the Hawkesbury River north of
Sydney, killing all six on board on New
Year’s Eve.
It’s yet another tragic aviation
accident that vindicates a decision by
the chief executive of Queenstown-
based luxury helicopter tour operator,
Over the Top, to invest tens of
thousands of dollars in a “black box”
audio and video flight data recorder
for general aviation aircraft.
Called Eye in the Sky, it will be
launched in the first half of this
year, initially in Australia and the
United States at a cost of around
$NZ4,400 (A$4,053) per unit,
though Patterson says there will be an
introductory offer.
She dearly wishes the device, that
is little bigger than her hand, wasn’t
a necessary evil but she is pragmatic
92 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
even if it was born out of personal
heartbreak.
If it hadn’t been for the death of
her 18 year-old son, James Patterson
Gardener and 42 year-old Wanaka
pilot, Stephen Combe when a
Robinson R44 helicopter broke up in
the Lochy River Basin, northwest of
Queenstown in February 2015, Eye in
the Sky might have been a pipe dream.
“It’s a little bit like putting the
ambulance at the bottom of the cliff,
but since we’ve developed it to give
answers on this particular aircraft
there is a lot more positive things that
have come out of it,” Patterson says.
She has been involved in flight
training for many years and believes
light aircraft and helicopters will
benefit greatly from the recording
system as it not only finds causes of
air accidents in small aircraft, but it is
also a valuable tool for aviation safety
and education.
“It can tell engineers, for instance,
about the noise they can hear in an
E ye in the Sky view of the
helicopter cockpit. over the top –
the helicopter company
aircraft on shutdown. If a pilot has a
warmer start than anticipated it would
be good to be able to have a picture of
it,” she says.
“The actual benefits are enhancing
aviation and raising the safety bar as
a whole.
“Once you have a breakup of a
helicopter our device will be able to
prove the reason why. That’s why we
put the benefit of the identifying cause
of accidents and reoccurrence at the
bottom of the list of benefits.
“If a pilot is aware he has a flight
data recorder in his aircraft it may
mean that he flies slightly higher or
adheres to the rules slightly more. It’s
a consideration he has to make if he
is going to fly low or possibly break a
rule.”
After her son’s accident New
Zealand’s 80 Robinson R44s were
grounded because a portion of the
blade was found a distance from the
aircraft. The ban was lifted a few days
later after blade disintegration was
deemed a consequence, not a cause of
the accident.
The New Zealand Transport
Accident Investigation Commission
(TAIC) concluded the crash was due to
mast bumping – where the inner part
of the blade bumps the mast, be it as
a result of turbulence, stalling or for
another reason.
There was no conclusive proof this
was the cause and Patterson is not
convinced.
“We are yet to establish that cause
in our own mind and we are having
some second tests done on the blade,”
she says.
“As an aviator of some 45 years
I believed that if an aircraft has a
problem and a pilot puts in a control
that will make it catastrophic and the
aircraft won’t return to normal flight
mode then it shouldn’t be certified to
fly.
“The implications are [from the
crash] that a control input was put
into the aircraft, which could have
resulted in this catastrophic failure.
“The bottom line is that aircraft
do not break up in flight and this
helicopter broke up in flight and they
continue to do so,” says Patterson,
citing 147 Robinson R44 aircraft
accidents since her son’s death with
around 23 having unexplained
breakups.
She says Robinson was positive
about Eye in the Sky and was talking
about developing its own version or
joining forces with her company.
“They are encouraging their use
but I am not sure about their theory as
they feel the accident was pilot input.
We will find out unfortunately.”
‘Our device Foundation
will be able On her wrist Patterson wears a blue
band inscribed in white in Ancient
to prove the Greek, which translated to English
says, “ever to excel”.
reason why.’ It is a daily and poignant reminder
of her son who was due to take up
LOUISA PATTERSON residence at St Andrew’s College at
the University of Sydney to study
engineering two days after that fateful
flight.
The phrase is also the motto of
the James PG Foundation Patterson
created in her son’s memory.
Profits from the sale of the Eye in
the Sky will go to the foundation to
enable youth with the potential to
excel in their chosen field to attend
University of Sydney as James had
intended.
The foundation was launched
recently with income from other areas
of the business.
Patterson says it will open doors
to young people of all levels who are
trying to reach their full potential,
whether it be working in the aviation
industry or where someone requires
endorsement or sponsorship in a
particular company.
“Through our contacts we will
assist youth whether it be financial,
philanthropic, or beneficial.”
MARCH 2018 93

Development
The TAIC report into the R44 accident
suggested it would be a good idea
for cameras to be installed in small
aircraft.
By the time that report came out
Patterson was well into developing
Eye in the Sky.
“Quite soon after James and Steve’s
death it became obvious that if we
had had an apparatus in the aircraft it
would have answered all the questions,
in particular being able to look at the
controls where the pilots’ inputs are,”
she says.
“We began working with the
authorities on how we were going to
make this work.”
The first consideration was getting
a supplementary type certificate (STC)
to allow the device to be fitted in
aircraft.
Over the Top’s pilot and product
developer, Brad Collier, says the STC
process is expensive and technical.
“We’ve employed a lot of help to
assist us getting this civil aviation (NZ
CAA) authorisation.”
It is now getting authorisation in
other countries.
Black boxes (actually aviation safety
orange), housed in the tail of large
aircraft record cockpit instruments
and conversations between the pilot
and co-pilot but they do not have
cameras.
Patterson describes Eye in the
Sky as a small, technically-advanced
version of the large black box in that it
has both audio and video components.
“In the past few years cameras have
become more prominent in one’s life
94 AUSTRALIAN AVIATION
Louisa ‘Choppy’ Patterson
with her Eye in the Sky flight
data recorder. over the top – the
helicopter company
One chap
with 80
aircraft
wanted them
for his entire
fleet.
LOUISA PATTERSON
The aviation orange Eye in
the Sky flight data recorder
positioned in the helicopter
cockpit. denise mcnabb
whether you are in a taxi or a lift or
anywhere really.”
“We’re taking this way beyond the
traditional idea of a black box.”
The device was originally black,
but following feedback from countries
such as Papua New Guinea about
regulatory colours for aviation it was
changed recently to orange.
Heli-Expo
Patterson and Collier introduced
Eye in the Sky to the industry at the
helicopter industry’s largest event, the
Hai Heli-Expo in Dallas last year.
“We went there to gauge interest
and promote the product and got a lot
of positive feedback that has helped
shape the final version that we have
today,” Patterson says.
“One chap with 80 aircraft on the
east coast of America wanted them for
his entire fleet. He told us a picture is
worth a thousand words, but a video is
priceless.”
Patterson and Collier will be back
at the heli-expo in Las Vegas in March,
followed by the Australian Helicopter
Industry Association’s Rotortech expo
on the Sunshine Coast in May.
“Potentially the first market is
helicopters, then planes, Patterson says.
“But there is potential for all sorts
of things from engineering to training
incidents and complaints.”
Legally speaking
Over the Top uses America’s Rugged
Video unit in its helicopters to
showcase customers inside and
outside the helicopter and at the end
of the trip they are given the footage
on a USB stick.
Patterson says Eye in the Sky is
not designed for that sort of output.
Secured high in the cockpit behind
the front two people it films in high
definition video the control panel
and the control inputs so it can’t take
footage of outside those parameters
that might threaten breaches of
privacy.
“You won’t even necessarily get a
view out the front of the helicopter,”
Collier says.
Because the STC designates
the unit as a flight data recorder it
would be available to air accident
investigators, but like the large black
box, not to the courts as evidence in a
prosecution.
“That in itself encourages people
to install it because it is there for
safety not for prosecution purposes,”
Patterson says.
But she says if there were a
situation where a company was
thought to be breaking some rules it
wouldn’t stop Civil Aviation looking
at the footage with the onus on the
operator to provide it, not the pilot.
 FINDING ANSWERS

Technicalities
Patterson has worked with New
Zealand, American and Chinese
companies and has visited China
and the US in her journey to get
the final product to assembly stage.
She declined to reveal who they are
because it was propriety information,
except to say they were in the high
definition video field, had expertise
for the required submersible
detection and metallurgic experts
helped with the case.
The battery runs off the
helicopter’s power when it is turned
on and goes off when the helicopter
engine is turned off.
In the event of electrical failure
the battery will run for a certain
period before it stops recording over
an SD card in the unit. Depending on
the size of the SD card it will run for
up to 60 hours.
“Eye in the Sky records ambient
audio as it has its own microphone
so it will pick up any noise from the
engine. It is also plumbed in directly
to the pilot’s aviation audio panel so
anything the pilot hears and says,
whether it be from the cockpit or
the radio call, is also captured on a
separate channel,” Collier says.
If, for example, there was an
incident involving air traffic control
it would pick up something a pilot
might be saying to another pilot and
what air traffic control might be
saying to that aircraft.
“This obviously has benefits in
post-incident analysis,” Patterson
says.
The casing is made of high grade
metal to a level where data could still To market T he Eye in the Sky flight data her tourism clients that because her
be taken off a card if the unit was Collier says while flight data recorders recorder in an Over the Top –The company has Eye in the Sky in its
involved in a fire. have been around for a long time they Helicopter Company helicopter helicopters they should mandate that
Patterson and Collier met with are expensive and bulky and it’s taken at Queenstown Airport. denise they be fitted to other aircraft they
representatives of a company recently a while for some of those ideas to filter mcnabb supply tourists to as well.
that says it can make a casing for the down to light aircraft. The final prototype came back
unit that will withstand very high He also suspects some people flying from the US recently after testing
temperatures. It will be incorporated helicopters and recreational aircraft revealed anomalies with two audio
into a later batch and provide an might not have liked the idea of being channels, but with these sorted the
option to have the fireproof casing go accountable for flying low on occasions green light is fast approaching.
around the present casing. when they shouldn’t have been. “If it takes off I think the
As part of the STC process “I think we are the only one doing it foundation would benefit immensely
the unit must also pass an audio cost-effectively,” Patterson says. and a lot of young people in New
interference analysis check, an “We will have them to market Zealand and Australia will reap the
electrical load analysis check within the first half of this year but benefit,” Patterson says.
and electronic engine control we’ll take orders earlier than that. We “I feel personally that if we sold
approval. are just waiting on some paperwork one unit and it was in the right
All of the mounts are load from various testing people.” aircraft then I would have done my
certified and tested. The mounting She won’t make a forecast on bit for aviation and particularly, in
and wiring for the aircraft comes potential sales. honour of my son.”
with the package and each unit is “It depends on where they go, Patterson says the foundation
part and serial numbered. It also what they put them in and what the is pretty much her long-term
comes with an SD card and a special authorities say.” project.
tool to remove the unit’s cover, Wearing a tourism hat she says
making it tamper-proof. can also say to the major suppliers of More details at: www.eyeinthesky.co.nz

MARCH 2018 95