Thanks for the hints, regarding the operators and SERA, just to make it clear, I didn’t argue against it! At IHST I couldn’t directly find figures, but there is an interesting paper (http://www.ihst.org/portals/54/Sing%20Eng%20IFR%20Helicopter%20Certification%20Proposal.pdf) explaining some more background regarding helicopters beeing IFR capable.
So thanks EuroGA!
But should anybody find numbers, please don’t hesitate to share them.
These people may have the stats you are looking for: http://www.ihst.org
It’s important to mention that helicopters are allowed to operate VFR in a much lower visibility than aeroplanes. SERA.5001 imposes a 5 km visibility requirement in class F and G airspace, but has the following note:
When so prescribed by the competent authority:
(a) flight visibilities reduced to not less than 1 500 m may be permitted for flights operating:
. (1) at speeds of 140 kts IAS or less to give adequate opportunity to observe other traffic or any obstacles in time to avoid collision; or
. (2) in circumstances in which the probability of encounters with other traffic would normally be low, e.g. in areas of low volume traffic and for aerial work at low levels;
(b) Helicopters may be permitted to operate in less than 1 500 m but not less than 800 m flight visibility, if manoeuvred at a speed that will give adequate opportunity to observe other traffic or any obstacles in time to avoid collision. Flight visibilities lower than 800 m may be permitted for special cases, such as medical flights, search and rescue operations and fire-fighting.
Regarding the last sentence (VIS < 800 m), for example, Czech Republic explicitly authorises air ambulance and police helicopters to operate in a lower visibility at pilot’s discretion.
Their operators might have the statistics.
Dear forum,
as discussed in another thread about VFR into IMC of a helicopter, helos are often only operated VFR. But is there any available statistics to prove this? I would take VFR/IFR equipped helo figures, operating statistics, pilot licenses, but couldn’t find a hard base for this. So if you can offer some paper, presentation or report, I would really appreciate it.