F_I_2015_03_17_23

THIS WEEK

8 | Flight International | 17-23 March 2015 flightglobal.com

To access more of our coverage about the

global rotorcraft sector, go online to

flightglobal.com/helicopters

W

ith an ongoing upgrade of
the UK’s military helicop-
ter fleet around 50% complete,
discussions have begun within
the Ministry of Defence about its
rotorcraft requirements beyond
the middle of the next decade.
Launched in 2009, the tri-ser-
vice enhancement and rationalisa-
tion programme will eventually
see the armed forces concentrate
on five core types. Significant
capability improvement work has
also been carried out on the
AgustaWestland AW101 Merlin,
Airbus Helicopters Puma and
Boeing CH-47 Chinook, to bring
them to new operating standards.

Crown Copyright

Five types will provide the backbone for operations by the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and British Army, as Apache decision nears

“The task is to continue the de-

livery of all the upgrades to the

numbers contained in the strategy

we are halfway through,” says Air

Vice Marshal Julian Young, the

newly-appointed director, heli-

copters, at the Defence Equipment

& Support procurement body. But

at an event at the RAF’s Benson

base in Oxfordshire on 12 March,

he said the UK’s Joint Helicopter

Command has started to “study

future helicopter requirements”.

Over the past two months, ini-

tial operating capability has been

declared for the RAF’s new-build

Chinook HC6s and upgraded

Puma HC2s, plus the Royal Navy’s

AgustaWestland Lynx Wildcat

HMA1s. All but one of the air

force’s Pumas have been modified

to the new standard, and two from

a planned three have been de-

ployed to Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, AgustaWestland

has inducted the initial batch of

seven Merlin HC3/3As into its

Yeovil facility in Somerset for con-

version to the new HC4 standard

for use by the RN’s Commando

Helicopter Force. These will be

delivered in early 2016, with an

avionics upgrade to follow.

Manufacturers are also consid-

ering a request for information is-

sued by the MoD last November

covering the replacement or up-

grade of the British Army’s fleet of

Boeing/AgustaWestland AH-64D

Apache AH1 attack helicopters.

The process is intended to allow it

to field 50 aircraft configured to

the new E-model standard.

“We will support whatever

procurement policy [Defence

Equipment & Support] deem ap-

propriate,” says Nick Whitney,

director of business development

for Boeing UK’s defence business.

AgustaWestland is also keen to

offer a solution, but declines to

comment. A decision on the £

billion ($1.5 billion) programme

is expected in early 2016. ■

CAPABILITY DOMINIC PERRY RAF BENSON

UK studying future rotorcraft needs

Discussions ongoing around military helicopter requirements post-2025, as current fleet modernisation hits halfway point

F

rench aerospace engineering
school the Institut Supérieur
de l’Aéronautique et de l’Espace in
Toulouse is researching pilot phys-
iological and neurological stress
responses to recognise the signals
that precede potential errors.
Backed by the AXA Research
Fund, the ISAE wants to under-
stand pilots’ neurological activity
when they become confused, over-
loaded, or focused on non-critical
inputs instead of critical ones. This
can result in illogical activity, lead-
ing to accidents like the Air France
flight 447 loss of 2009.

ISAE tests focus on pilot stress due to workload

RESEARCH DAVID LEARMOUNT TOULOUSE

Rex Features

Brain activity was monitored

Tools used to monitor pilot re-

actions during flight simulator ex-

ercises and real flights include

eye-tracking, measurement of

pupil dilation, deep brain activity

via electro-encephalogram read-

ings and infrared sensors that can

show the level of activity in criti-

cal surface brain areas.

Prof Frederic Dehais, the AXA

chair of neuroergonomics for

flight safety at ISAE SUPAERO in

Toulouse, says even factors such

as “emotional bias” can be recog-

nised. This can be caused, for ex-

ample, by pilot perception of com-

mercial pressure to land when a

go-around would be wiser.

Tests intended to put high

workload stress on pilots show

progressive neurological reac-

tions, and neurologists can watch

as the rational part of the brain

deactivates. This is the state in

which pilots, for example, ignore

loud alert chimes.

This new understanding

promises to enable manufactur-

ers to eliminate alerts that do not

work, and develop completely

new systems for attracting the at-

tention of pilots whose cognitive

capacity has been swamped:

such as a window appearing on

the navigation display showing

an animation of a pilot carrying

out the required action. ■