Like the distant lights of an offshore oil platform on a clear night, big data is appearing on the horizon of the worldwide offshore helicopter industry.

HeliOffshore, the safety-focused association of the offshore oil industry, and GE Aviation have agreed to develop and implement a global safety management system specifically for the offshore helicopter industry. GE is contributing its extensive data and analytics technology and expertise, while HeliOffshore will provide its expertise in safety analytics and analyses to provide insight into how operators, manufacturers and the oil and gas industry can improve the safety of offshore helicopter operations.

Under a program called InfoShare, HeliOffshore has already laid the groundwork for sharing data and information. Under this program, offshore helicopter operators exchange information about safety events and have begun to share data, including data from health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) and flight data monitoring. All of this data is rendered anonymous to protect participating individuals and companies.

 “The ability for multiple stakeholders to share safety data that helps target actions faster to enhance safety in the frontline is a huge step forward,” said Gretchen Haskins, CEO of HeliOffshore, about the agreement with GE. “GE’s track record of delivering in the fixed-wing sector will help us make this a practical reality for our industry.”

 “With the power of GE’s Predix behind the safety leadership of HeliOffshore, this team will have state-of-the-art tools to analyze helicopter operations and provide insight to help drive safer operations across the entire offshore rotorcraft space,” added Jim Daily, chief digital officer for GE Aviation.

And for those who might be skeptical about the benefits of tapping this growing trove of data, consider this quote from author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s fictional detective, the iconic Sherlock Holmes: “It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. Insensibly, one begins to twist the facts to suit theories, instead of theories to suit facts.”