Safety Enhancement thanks to Real Time Performance Indication

In the frame of avionics development, more and more effort is engaged by Airbus Helicopter to improve Fleet Safety. Part of the risks to be covered is the lack of pilot's awareness regarding the helicopter real time performance (Performance Situational Awareness). Flight manual performance charts, are used routinely during the mission preparation, require a high pilot workload to process in real-time, and therefore are often substituted with simple approximations. Recently, Personal Devices such as tablets have emerged allowing better access to these performances Despite the tablet providing an easier access to the performance charts, when the pilot is airborne he still doesn't have any real time calculation tools The performance display, consistent with the engaged manoeuver, appears as a key benefit for reducing workload and increasing performance situational awareness of the pilot. The pilot will know automatically the short term power available to perform the manoeuver. In particular, the knowledge of the aircraft actual weight and the engine health factor are important information to decrease pilot's workload during landing phases, which are the most critical. The displayed information allows the pilot to identify instantaneously the power required for the manoeuver he is engaging, in particular, during landing. This real time calculation tool is complementary to the First Limit Indication (FLI) which provides the engine margins compared to the present power used. The real time performance indication is then acting as a predictive FLI. Flight test phase took place on November 2014, in Donauworth Germany, thanks to a partnership between Howell Instrument Inc. and Airbus Helicopters. These tests, supported by the general Real Time Performance Innovation Program of Airbus Helicopters, allowed checking benefits of these additional information displayed on a flight test instrumentation provided by Howell Instrument Inc.