The United States Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) has developed a Peer Pilot Program as the aviation community steps up efforts to assist professionals with mental health issues.

On the schedule for discussion during USHST’s all-hands meeting (to be held on the eve of Heli-Expo 2024), the program is designed to have volunteer pilots and others offer a confidential and safe place to other pilots in need of support. Pilots would connect with volunteer peers through USHST.

“The USHST in collaboration with Helicopter Association International identified the need for a Peer Pilot program, providing assistance to pilots who may have encountered turbulence in their lives,” said USHST industry co-chair Chris Baur of Hughes Aerospace. “We all need and want to do more for our fellow pilots, and address things that we can before they have an opportunity to manifest as an accident or incident.”

Mental health issues have gained increasing attention in the wake of the October incident in which an off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot, allegedly self-medicating, attempted to cut off the engines of a Horizon Air flight. Also raising alarms on the issues was the 2015 incident in which a Germanwings pilot intentionally crashed an airliner into the French Alps.

USHST stresses that the FAA encourages pilots to seek help when they need it and that most conditions do not disqualify pilots from flying. In addition to rolling out the Peer Pilot project, the safety group is sponsoring other FAA presentations during Heli-Expo to further explore pilot mental health and reporting culture.

Penny Giovanetti of the FAA Office of Aerospace Medicine will address the issue at 11 a.m. on February 27 in the RSC Classroom at Heli-Expo and an “Ask a Doc: Aviation Medical Issues” session will follow from 2:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the HAI Connect Booth.

Along with mental health issues, during the all-hands meeting on February 26, USHST is planning to provide an update on its helicopter safety enhancements, or H-SEs, which are targeted efforts to reduce accidents and safety risks. USHST released the first such H-SE in 2017 after analyzing more than 100 fatal helicopter accidents, and the team has completed the first 16 addressing issues such as safety culture, managing risk, spatial disorientation, and helicopter aerodynamics.

USHST has chosen five more topics this year: Promote conservative go/no-go decision-making before and during flights; educate about the hazards of low-level operations; improve risk management of night operations; improve fatigue awareness and promote schedules that allow for adequate rest; and train on the effects of adverse wind situations.