A meeting was held at Flight Safety Standards Department (FSSD), Sinamangal Kathmandu among all the helicopter operators of Nepal including flight safety chief, operational directors, chief pilots and safety directors.
FSSD Chief Mr. Raju Shrestha highlighted safety enhancement in context of Nepalese helicopter operation. Captain GM Lama discussed the requirement of Ground Safety such as passenger disembarkation briefing and operations manual procedure implementations.
The meeting also focused on the recruitment of trained ground staff and the EU technical visit to Nepal in September.
Captain DJ Sherpa highlighted the requirement of fencing at helicopter landing area and passenger movement only after proper confirmation of safety.
The decisions were made at the meeting which required every safety department of respective helicopter operators to proactively work for the critical safety areas of operation. Trained ground staff must be positioned at all landing spots especially Hilsa, Lukla, Simikot and other areas of frequent flights with immediate effect. Single pilot helicopter operation shall only be permitted if the trained ground staff are positioned.
Helicopter operators are required to train the ground staffs within 3 days and issue certificate and only the certified staffs should be deployed in ground duty. The case would be serious if other staffs rather than certified are being positioned.
Furthermore, the operation of helicopter parking space at Lukla Airport within the next season was also discussed.
FSSD formerly known as Aviation Safety Department (ASD) was established to improve the aviation standard in the country. The department contains five divisions which are the Airworthiness Inspection Division, Flight Operations Section, Flight Safety Licensing Division, Air Operator Certificate Section and Dangerous Goods Section.
