Airbus Brazilian subsidiary Helibras recently held its second “Operational Safety Days,” filling São Paulo’s Anhembi Morumbi University auditorium to its 300-seat capacity. “We’ll need a bigger place next year,” Helibras safety manager Antonio Modesto told AIN, describing the helicopter safety event as “the realization of a personal dream” with full company support.

At the seminar, accident investigator and check pilot Major Felipe Koeller urged better helicopter autorotation training, saying, “In Brazil, we’re training to reach the accident location, not the landing location.” While all single-engine helicopters are certified for autorotation, he noted that “every autorotation in Brazil currently winds up as an accident or a major incident.” The highlight of the second evening was a presentation about the Appareo Vision 1000 cockpit-image recorder system, given by Gilles Bruniaux, fleet safety vice president of Airbus Helicopters. “When accidents aren’t understood, the blame is put on the pilot,” Bruniaux said, noting that the Vision 1000 system can help change this equation.

Other speakers covered legislation, technical support and maintenance quality and situational awareness.