Dear Clients,
Corporate Helicopters lives by a safety culture from the top down. The management team, pilots and logistics staff all use the best business practices available to make the safety of passengers the priority. One of aviation’s foremost charter rating companies is ARG/US and our company has been audited and holds their gold rating.
Our company is guided by a custom designed Safety Management System that addresses policies, operating procedures, and the planning of every flight. Once a flight is requested it will go through a scheduling review process and an aircraft and pilot will be assigned. The pilot will complete an interactive risk assessment form and the form will be reviewed by the Chief Pilot or Director of Operations to discuss the flight parameters and the options to mitigate the risk factors. After this discussion, adjustments will be made to reduce the risk, and if the risk is deemed too high the flight will be postponed or cancelled. If a passenger is trying to get somewhere at a certain time, it can be quite a stressful situation for all involved, yet it is imperative to keep passenger safety as the priority.
Weather is a huge factor in flight planning and there are times we will not be able to fly due to wind, rain or fog. We will give our passengers as much notice as possible regarding the necessity to postpone or cancel the flight and we will recommend ground transportation instead. We realize this will be an inconvenience and yet because we truly take safety seriously, delayed flights or canceled flights will assure our passengers get to their destination safely.
VFR refers to flight under Visual Flight Rules. Flights will be flown only in good weather where the visibility is either clear or at minimum ceiling 1000 feet 3 miles visibility or in Special VFR where conditions are more limited but are improving. These are the FAA regulations and conditions with which we fly. When flying in Mexico some locations do not have weather reporting and we will not depart until assured conditions are safe for flight.
IFR refers to Instrument Flight Rules more like the airlines where the pilot, aircraft and operator must all be certified for IFR, and the flight will be routed by instruments and an autopilot that will guide the flight through foggy or cloudy weather. An IFR the flight plan must be filed from point to point where there is navigation equipment at the destination. Many of the locations that we travel, especially in Mexico are offsite and do not have the navigation equipment required for IFR flights. All of our charter helicopters are already equipped with radar altimeters and terrain awareness instruments.
Each year our pilots go through IIMC Training – Inadvertent Instrument Meteorlogical conditions, a course which teaches them how to avoid unsatisfactory visual conditions and how to use basic instruments to get out of the clouds safely if a situation is encountered inadvertently. We invest in our pilots training and each year pilots go through an annual check ride for every aircraft type they fly. We also make sure that our pilots do not have pressure from the company to push past an unacceptable level of risk.
To keep our helicopters and equipment in top condition, we are a FAA Certified Repair Station, Airbus, and Robinson service center. We have highly-trained mechanics onsite supporting our flight operations.
We are dedicated to keeping our passengers safe, want to keep an open and honest relationship with our clients. We believe that our Safety Management System with its checks and balances will go a long way towards creating the safety culture that will keep our clients safe. You have our commitment for safety.
Sincerely,
