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The history behind this goes back to the 1990's, which is well before any of the current CASA Flight Crew Licencing examiners were in their current positions. In the late 1980's and very early 1990's there was no ATPL Licence. Instead a Senior Commercial Licence existed for two crew ops. There was increasing pressure from large companies contracting helicopters for offshore oilrig support to have 2 crew operations out to the rigs. To obtain the Senior Commercial Licence you simply held a CPLH and passed some long written exams that were individually hand marked by CAA examiners. They were very hard exams. There had been little need or interest in passing the exams until then, because no-one had really needed the licence. That changed when insurance became an issue for offshore operations that were single crew. At the same time there was pressure to follow overseas trends with the introduction of the ATPL for multi-crew ops. Aeroplane (Airline) ops were already well down this new path. CAA back then changed the system and the ATPL(H) replaced the Senior Commercial Licence. To obtain the ATPL(H) initially you passed the same theory exams as Senior Commerical. If you held a CPL(H) with more than 1500 hours you were issued an ATPL(H) First Class and if you held a CPL(H) with less than 1500 hours you were issued an ATPL(H) Second Class which was considered a Co-Pilot licence. No flight tests. The aircraft used for the written exams was a PUMA 330J and the exams were very detailed. The problem was no one was teaching the subjects and no one really knew what was required without direct contact with the CAA examiners. AFT's initial foundation was based on filling this gap for ATPL(H) pilots, with ATPL(A) coming soon after due to another major re-structure of the licence system by CAA. Over time the ATPL(H) exams became multi-choice format and extra subjects were added to match Aeroplane exams. It all sailed along quite smoothly until 1998. In fact the First Class and Second Class system was dropped and some low time CPLH who had passed the exams were actually issued full ATPL(H) when credit card type licences were introduced. CAA had become CASA and a large helicopter operator at the time (Lloyds) approached CASA with some awesome news. The brand new civilian Tilt Rotor was going to be launched world wide in 1999 via their company here in Australia. What licence would CASA require to fly the Tilt Rotor in Australia in 1999? Mmmmm... no one in CASA at the time knew much about Tilt Rotors, but they had a really good new Manager who was Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing ATPL (A recent AFT ATPL(H) student actually). He flew to the USA and had a fly of the Tilt Rotor sim. The call was made that the ATPL(H) was needed to fly a Tilt Rotor because it hovered and hovering was the most important skill needed. We all know anyone can fly straight and level! BUT - the Tilt Rotor was predicted to fly around FL250 and get along in the 250 kt speed bracket. That's almost fast enough to be a MACH number and way higher than any power line. As a result back in 1999 a whole new syllabus was produced for the ATPL(H) and it included everything they believed was needed to cover Tilt Rotor ops. Rather than re-invent the exams it was decided the ATPL(A) ANAV exam could be used to cover the new ATPL(H) syllabus. At the same time the aircraft used for AFPH and APLH was finally changed from the PUMA 330J to a made up version of the Sikorsky S76. It became too hard to write a completly new Systems exam so it was also decided that AASA covered what was needed for Tilt Rotor systems and AASH copied most of the aeroplane syllabus. That's the reason ATPL(H) students study from a B767 Manual. It was the easiest option at the time, because there was no time left until the Tilt Rotor arrived. Now in 2022 as this is written and beyond for a few more years for sure, we are still using that syllabus from 1999 and the irony is that with the current licence structure the Tilt Rotor now is a class of its own called Power Lift. An ATPL(H) never ended up being the licence needed to fly Tilt Rotors. And we still don't have Tilt Rotors flying out to our oilrigs 23 years after the changes were all rushed into place. So that's why you ATPL(H) pilots are studying MACH numbers and flying along doing ETP and PNR and FL280 and up to 400 kt. It makes perfect sense really. Doesn't it? When class is done and the exams have been passed, please feel free to drop back under the power lines where it feels safe because it isn't far to fall. You won't ever be at FL250 doing 380 kt out of class in your helicopter. That is for sure. Fly Safe Wazza PS In real world Helicopter ops this Aeroplane 1INOP stuff is called OEI (One Engine Inoperative), so remember that for Flight Planning later. Helicopter's usually only have 2 engines max, so going OEI means you are running out of options, unlike the dreaded seven engine approach in a B52 jet when they go 1INOP. |