How New Technology to Help Pilots Fly Difficult Routes Is Creating New Jobs

The Future of Flying Is All About Eliminating Risk

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. Well, pilots running offshore flying gigs down in the gulf have had their needs met with a pretty incredible new invention that promises to make flying these tough routes easier and safer.

The Kansas City Star reports that new software developed by Sikorsky is an automated helicopter guidance system designed to help pilots even in inclement weather and shrouded in total darkness.

That had always been the toughest part of the job. You're basically a tiny metal dot trying to land on another relatively tiny metal dot in the middle of the vast and unforgiving ocean. Now imagine doing that with virtually no light and flying into weather that, despite a pilot's best efforts to mitigate the risk and not fly into a storm, can be unpredictable to say the least.

The software is called Rig Approach, and it promises not only to save lives, but increase job growth.

The software was developed for a Lafayette, LA based operator named PHI Inc. and was the result of a five year effort that began when PHI asked Sikorsky to develop pilot software that would assist pilots in a range of challenging flying conditions.

Sikorsky's own chief researcher and development pilot, Ron Doeppner thoroughly tested every facet of the software himself in both a simulator environment and in a real helicopter setting.

The software works based on satellite data, eliminating many of the problems that go along with a lack of ground support to make many of these landings. This data allows the pilot to use Rig Approach to fly the helicopter until it is half a mile away and 200 feet above the sea, and it knows how to put the pilot in the sweet spot for an ideal approach every single time.

The Rig Approach software takes a lot of pressure off of the pilot to allow him to evaluate real time input like what's going on on the radio as well as weather conditions.

This software is just the latest in a series of evolutions undertaken in terms of how pilots in the oil and gas industry have made safety a priority. Safety allows pilots to do their jobs more effectively. The assurance of safety will allow for a greater number of flights, which will lead to job growth.

By combining the right training with the latest technology, helicopter pilots are helping to forge a future that pilots from even just twenty years ago could not have anticipated.

Upper Limit Aviation believes that today's pilots must be agile and safety-minded. We help prepare you to excel in just about any flight career imaginable, and those possibilities are growing every day. Call 1-855-HELIEDU to learn more.