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The status of the HAC Template Policy Document Project
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The status of the Labour Canada - Hours of Work Project (see the article on the HAC site)
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The form and content for the new Newsletter format with Vertical Magazine
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The status of the prospective HAC Group Health Plan Project
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The status of HAC's Operator-recruitment drive in BC and recent visits with BC-based members and Associates
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The status of HAC's efforts to orchestrate static display aircraft on the floor in Vancouver of 2013
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The Terms of Reference for a Governance Committee of the Board to review prospective changes to HAC's By-Laws and Letters Patent, scheduled for presentation and discussion at the November 2013 AGM in Vancouver
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In response to questions from members, the Board reviewed a draft article for the Newsletter and website to clarify HAC's Policy on the use of helmets for flight crews at it relates to exceptions to its strong recommendation for their use "when operation circumstances permit" (see the article on the HAC site)
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Recent use by Transport Canada of the "continuing offence provisions" whereby Transport Canada can enforce against an operator for multiple flights following-on a single act or omission on the part of the AOC holder
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A review of the February 2013 HAC Monthly Financial Statements and a report from the Audit & Finance Committee of the Board
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A review of the first DRAFT Program for the Vancouver 2013 Convention and a discussion of the After-Hours Event Concept under consideration
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Consideration for the prospective dates for the 2014 Convention in Montreal
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Board Committee Liaisons provided up-dates on the activity of their committee
HAC News
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HAC's By-Laws Under Review – Again
For the third time in the last four years, HAC's Board has undertaken a review of its By-Laws. The new Canadian Not-for-Profit Corporations Act (CNFPCA) is calling for a variety of mandatory revisions to our By-Laws, but the HAC Board has taken the opportunity to discuss a list of other issues that have arisen over the last couple of years – as part of a Corporate Housekeeping process.
Some of the issues under discussion include Term Limits for Board Members; the process of engaging with Associates to identify Associate Board members; a review of our Letters Patent to bring them up-to-date if necessary; Director's term-lengths; Qualifications of Board members; a review of the different types of Operator-members and Associates vis-a-vis their rights and obligations in HAC and eligibility for Board service; a review of Associate Board member term limits; the status of the President & CEO as a member of the Board in light of the new CNFPCA requirements; proxy voting in the electronic-age, to name only a few.
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HAC's First Spring Reception in Montreal a Smash – Old Montreal Will Never be the Same
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Roughly 70 Members and Associates turned-out for HAC's first Spring-format reception in Old Montreal on March 27, graciously sponsored by AgustaWestland. The HAC Board met on March 27 all-day, to discuss association business.
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The reception coincided with two one-day courses sponsored by GE Capital and the Canadian Council for Aviation and Aerospace (CCAA). Both courses were well-received and HAC would like to thank GE and CCAA for their support. We would also like to thank HELICOPTERS Magazine for sponsoring the coffee breaks. Last, but certainly not-least, HAC would like to thank Bell Helicopters for sponsoring a tour of their Mirabel facilities for about 45 people in the morning of March 28th, although some members of the tour required the "tinted" safety glasses. Bell was good enough to provide the tour and the bus transportation for the event. Operators and Associates had some very complementary remarks about the tour, the courses, and the reception.
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Photos of Reception
Click on image to enlarge
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“When Operational Circumstances Permit”
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In response to a recommendation from the HAC Safety Committee passed at the HAC Convention in the Spring of 2011, the HAC Board approved a resolution on the use of helmets by helicopter flight crews.
The issue was brought sharply in to focus when the Transportation Safety Board issued a Safety Advisory in the Fall of 2009. The Advisory encouraged HAC to develop an advocacy program aimed at increasing the use of helmets by helicopter flight crews. The Advisory cited a number of helicopter accidents where injuries to the flight crew were reduced, or could have been reduced through the use of a helmet.
Canadian Civil Helicopter Hours: On the Rise
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For those of you that have some doubts that our industry is recovering, HAC recently obtained the total hours for Canadian Civil Registered Helicopters by-Year. The bad news is, we haven't reached the 2007-peak, yet….
The data was obtained through Transport Canada and was collected using information provided by Canadian operators in the Annual Airworthiness Information Reporting (AAIR) system.
39 Companies Respond to HAC's Survey on a Prospective HAC Group Benefits Plan
Read the survey results and an Executive Summary
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Canadian Commercial VFR Helicopter Pilots Respond to the Flight & Duty Time Working Group Report
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You may recall, at the HAC Convention in Calgary last Fall, Martin Eley, Transport Canada's Director General Civil Aviation appeared on a panel with HAC's President & CEO. Roughly 60 Operators were in attendance a the session, and Mr. Eley took some flack over the recommendations contained in the Fatigue Risk Management Working Group Report [the full Working Group Report and HAC's written dissent with eight other associations, can be found below, in the "HAC Joins Forces…" article on this site]. In that forum Mr. Eley claimed that Transport Canada would be "representing the views of Canadian helicopter pilots". He claimed that while airline pilots were represented by the Airline Pilot's Association International (ALPA-I) and the Air Canada Pilot's Association (ACPA), and the West Jet Pilot's Association (WJPA), there was no representation from helicopter pilots on the Working Group – notwithstanding that HAC's President & CEO and HAC's technical advisors were commercial helicopter pilots.
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Shortly after the Convention, three pilots approached HAC and indicated that they were planning to prepare a survey of Canada's VFR helicopter pilot community to directly obtain their views on the Working Group Report's recommendations. They also indicated that they were preparing to circulate a petition on the subject, to see if others shared their opinion of the report. They asked if HAC would be prepared to fund the analysis of the survey results, which would be administered by a Mount Royal University Professor. HAC agreed. The survey and the petition were both drafted by-pilots-for-pilots. HAC did not write the survey questions; had no involvement in the analysis of the results or the creation of the petition; and did not view the the narrative that accompanied the results delivered to Transport Canada - until after the submission had been made. HELICOPTERS and Vertical Magazines were good enough to post a link to the survey and petition on their websites. Almost 700 Canadian Commercial VFR Helicopter pilots took the time to complete the survey – roughly 650 endorsed the petition and provided their names and licence numbers. The names and licence numbers of the pilots that endorsed the petition were delivered to Transport Canada, but otherwise remain protected and in the possession of the survey analyst.
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HAC invites you to draw your own conclusions on the views of Canada's VFR helicopter pilots. [read the survey results here]
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HAC Adopts Two NEW Best Practices and Amends the Pilot Competencies for Helicopter Wildfire Operations
HAC would like to recognize the outstanding work of our Air Taxi, Utility Flight Operations and Oil & Gas Committee members. Fred Jones, HAC's President & CEO commented "These new Best Practice documents represent the culmination of years of hard work by these HAC committees. To their credit, these Best Practices will help "
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These documents represent the collaborative efforts of HAC operators and their major customers. HAC operators have been driving this process for years in an effort to articulate the for prudent operators in our industry.
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Pilot Competencies for Helicopter Wildfire Operations Amendment 1
Helicopter Guidelines for Canadian Onshore Seismic Operations
Utility Flight Operations Best Practices and Safety Guide for Helicopter Operations
Eurocopter Canada Accepting Nominations for ‘Innovation in Safety Award’
Award recognizes outstanding achievement in Canadian rotary wing safe flying operations.
Eurocopter Canada Limited (ECL) will recognize outstanding achievement with its presentation of the 2nd Annual ‘Innovation in Safety Award’. This award was established as a benchmark in which to measure the advanced achievements accomplished by groups, companies, organizations or agencies in maintaining Canadian rotary wing safe flying operations, while employing an exceptional or groundbreaking approach.
read more
Two NEW DRAFT Best Practices available for Comment on the HAC Website
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HAC's Air Taxi Committee recently overhauled two of HAC's most long-standing Best Practices, and released them for comment on the HAC website. The committee recently published the DRAFT Heli-Ski Training Best Practices [read the document] and DRAFT Mountain Flying Best Practice [read the document]. Members and others with comments on these new documents are encouraged to contact the Chair of the Air Taxi Committee, Jen Norie.
HAC Welcomes New Members
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New HAC Associates:
Ramco Systems
www.ramco.com/industries/aviation/heli-operators.aspx
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Whitelaw Twining Law Corporation
Vancouver, BC
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New Operator Members:
Capitale Hélicoptère
Québec, QC
Hélicoptères Hélicarrier inc.
Québec, QC
SunWest Helicopters Ltd.
Qualicum, BC
Regulatory Affairs
Bear Spray, Bear Bangers & Batteries
May 10, 2013
Transport Canada replaces HAC's TDG Permit Ren 7720(7) with 7720(8)
Link to Permit
HAC Weighs-In on Temporary Foreign Worker Permits in Canada
May 9, 2013
In the wake of the RBC Temporary Foreign Workers debate, HAC has urged Diane Finley, the Minister of Human Resources and the Immigration Minister, Jason Kenny to avoid any hasty decisions that could affect access by Canadian helicopter operators to temporary foreign workers during periods of peak demand – most notably, during the summer months. The letter to Minister Kenny is attached, but an identical letter was also delivered to Minister Finley.
read the letter to Minister Kenny
HAC Challenges Transport Canada on the Evaluation of Low-Flying Permits
May 9, 2013
HAC has received a number of calls from members recently about the process being used by Transport Canada to evaluate Low Flying Permit applications. It is HAC's view that these permits should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, but using the backdrop of consistent National policy. If Transport Canada really believes in SMS, and they are inviting operators to manage their own risks through the application of a risk assessment process, then they should be prepared to give serious consideration to them, and they should be engaging in a meaningful way with the operator to mitigate risk. If there are certain areas of the proposed route where there are no suitable emergency landing areas for a single-engine aircraft for example, then perhaps in a worst-case scenario, that specific part of the route should be avoided or traversed at a higher altitude, but the denial of a permit for an entire route because the risk in one area cannot be adequately mitigated at low altitude, is simply unacceptable.
[Read an excerpt from HAC's correspondence with Transport Canada on this subject]
Flight & Duty Time Up-Date
April 25, 2013
The Canadian Aviation Regulatory Committee (CARC) will be considering the Report of the Fatigue Risk Management Working Group and all of the dissents thereto, in May. HAC will be meeting with Transport Canada's Director General and other senior Public Servants and politicians to emphasis the importance of this issue to the Canadian helicopter community.
The report, if implemented in its current form, HAC believes would have absolutely no effect on safety, but it would cripple our industry. HAC has maintained that this is the single most important issue facing the helicopter community in Canada, and we may be calling upon members to engage with their local Members of Parliament and the Minister of Transport to oppose the recommendations contained in the report if Transport Canada continues to move forward with the changes called for in the Working Group report.
HAC will continue to vocally articulate the opposition of our members to the recommendations in the report to all levels of government, and to work with other like-minded aviation Associations to oppose the recommendations, which are more suited to the CAR 705 Fixed-wing airline community and their unions.
HAC and ATAC Make a Joint submission to Citizenship & Immigration Canada on Training Foreign Students in Canada
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HAC and the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC) recently made a joint submission to Citizenship & Immigration Canada in response to new draft regulations recently published in Gazette I. If the new regulations were to come in to force in their current form, only flight training taking place at Publicly-funded or a Provincially-designated (by the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA) in BC, for example) Flight Training institutions. HAC's President said, "Training foreign students is a lucrative and growing source of revenue for Canadian Flight Training operators, and one that would dry up for many FTUs on January 1 2014 if the proposed new regulations were to come in to force. Canadian helicopter flight training and licensing standards are recognized and respected around the world."
Read the HAC/ATAC joint submission
HAC Joins Forces with ATAC AQTA AA BCAC CBAA MAC NATA SAC to Reject the Recommendations of the FRM Working Group
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Nine Associations including the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC), Association québécoise du transport aérien (AQTA), Aviation Alberta (AA), British Columbia Aviation Council (BCAC), Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA), Manitoba Aviation Council (MAC), Northern Air Transport Association (NATA), and the Saskatchewan Aviation Council (SAC), and the Helicopter Association of Canada (HAC), joined forces to reject the Recommendations contained in the Fatigue Risk Management Working Group Report, currently being promoted inside Transport Canada [read the dissent].
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In an unprecedented show of solidarity, with the exception of the National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC), all the national and regional associations in Canada representing the interests of Commercial and Business Aviation joined forces in opposition to the Recommendations contained in the Fatigue Risk Management Working Group Report [read the Working Group Report]
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HAC's President said, "Canada's National and Regional Aviation Associations, with the exception of the NACC, have come together with one voice to reject the one-size-fits-all recommendations contained in the report. If the recommendations were to proceed to implementation, they would devastate smaller Commercial and Business aviation operators in Canada, and particularly Canadian helicopter operators. HAC believes that the recommendations contained in the Working Group are more suited to the needs of the airline pilot's unions and the operator-members of the National Airlines Council of Canada - but ill-suited to other industry segments. The commercial helicopter community is furious."
HAC's Members Identify "Regulatory Irritants"
In response to an invitation from Minister of State for Transport, Stephen Fletcher, HAC invited its members to comment on regulations “that may be out of date, unnecessarily burdensome, or simply no longer needed” and to comment on “specific irritants and issues”.
They were also invited to comment on “regulations that require strengthening or realignment to accomplish their policy goals.” HAC recently consolidated your responses in an association submission to Minister Fletcher
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Transport Canada Extends MD500 Blade Torque Event Exemption
On January 30 2013, at HAC's request [read our letter], Transport Canada delivered a letter to the association [read the response from Transport Canada] indicating that the current exemption will be extended while a Risk Assessment is conducted. The letter received from Transport Canada will serve to extend the current exemption which expires on January 31 2013, until the new one is issued.
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Our latest information is that the new exemption will likely be issued for a new term of three years to allow the Risk Assesment to be conducted.
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For any other information, please contact fred.jones@h-a-c.ca.
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Alpine Helicopters Brings itself in to Compliance with the Canadian Ownership Requirements
In a decision dated January 18 2013, the CTA issued a Domestic Licence to Alpine Helicopters. The decision is the final phase in a lengthy process leading up to the company's restructuring.
HAC Delivers its Submission to the CTA on the Definition of "Publicly Available"
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You will recall, in the Fall of 2012, the CTA approached HAC to obtain our views on the definition of "publicly available". You will recall that the CTA had circulated a DRAFT Interpretation Note on this subject, and HAC invited its members to comment. A copy of our final submission can be accessed Here . HAC would like to thank the members that took the time to send their comments to the association on this important issue.
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The issue is important because the "publicly available" definition will help the CTA determine which operations will require a Commercial AOC, and which operations will be able to conduct passenger-carrying operations without it.
HAC Embarks on Labour Canada Hours-of-Work Project
There have been a few recent Labour Canada Orders against operators relating to Hours of Work. Owing to generally long seasonal hours of work in the helicopter industry, operators can be particularly vulnerable to scrutiny from Labour Canada.
HAC is embarking on a project to help mitigate the risk of scrutiny from Labour Canada in the following ways:
1. With legal counsel, to provide recommendations to members on means to structure their relationship with contractors (pilots and engineers)to maximize the potential that the relationship will be viewed favourably by Labour Canada;
2. Develop the core elements of a contract and offers of contract employment that will help mitigate the risk that contractors will be deemed to beemployees by Labour Canada after-the-fact;
3. Develop template Averaging Agreements.
HAC is forming up a small group of operator-representatives in diverse areas of the industry, with a view to developing scenarios and recommendations that will capture the broadest range of operational circumstances, and to consider the advisability of the recommendations flowing from our prospective discussions with Labour Canada.
We are looking for six operator-representatives to participate by teleconference to help us develop these products. We already have three operators volunteer who conduct General Charter Operations, Heli-Logging, and Sightseeing operations. Other operators, conducting operations principally in different industry segments (I.e. Oil & Gas or IFR or HEMS for example.) who would be willing to dedicate some time to the project are asked to contact HAC's President & CEO at fred.jones@h-a-c.ca
Operating in the US under NAFTA – Getting Started
HAC has been receiving a number of calls recently from Canadian Operators interested in operating in the USA under NAFTA's Specialty Air Service provisions. Set out below are a few helpful links to get Canadian operators started:
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Ops Spec 56
For North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) Policy and Procedures, Authorization and Registrations, contact:
General Aviation and Commercial
Division, AFS-800
800 Independence Avenue, SW.
Washington, DC 20591
Phone: 202-267-8212
Fax: 202-267-5094
Email: NAFTA@faa.gov
United States of America Drug and Alcohol Program Office
Program Administration Branch,
AAM-810
800 Independence Avenue, SW.
Washington, DC 20591
Phone: 202-267-8442
Fax: 202-267-5200
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