FAA to research lower helicopter minimums in New York City area

If all goes well with a new $250,000-per-year research program the FAA is launching next month, pilots flying specially equipped rotorcraft will be able to

By Kim Rosenlof

February 5, 2007

If all goes well with a new $250,000-per-year research program the FAA is launching next month, pilots flying specially equipped rotorcraft will be able to take advantage of lower IFR approach minimums and new flight corridors to Manhattan heliports within the next few years.

According to Ken Knopp, general aviation and vertical flight research and development (R&D) manager at the FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., Chelton Flight Systems is outfitting the center’s Sikorsky S-76 with its FlightLogic EFIS, which incorporates synthetic vision, GPS wide area augmentation system (WAAS), and highway-in-the-sky (HITS) technology to provide the pilot with a pictorial flight path around terrain and other obstacles. The aim of the research program is to determine what technology and pilot proficiency levels are required to allow the FAA to reduce IFR approach minimums for rotorcraft.

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