RWS 105 – Enroute Decision Point with Miles Dunagan

Rotary Wing Show - Interviews from the Helicopter Industry

Miles Dunagan is the President of the National EMS Pilots Association (USA) with a goal of promoting safety in the industry.

Chatter in the cabin starts to die down, you have reduced power and started to bleed back the airspeed. Outside your world is starting to shrink as the conditions start to deteriorate. You lean forward in your seat to try and see a little further ahead. The VSI is showing a descent as you keep visual contact with the ground. What do you do next?

Enroute Decision Point is a tool that you can use to shift your mindset into a deliberate decision making mode when you find yourself in deteriorating conditions. It aims to avoid the situation where the helicopter gradually gets into a worse and worse situation before a decision is forced upon us and risk has greatly increased.

Miles Dunagan is the President of the National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA) in the US. In this episode Miles talks about the history of the organisation and the origins of Enroute Decision Point as a safety tool.

Different from Point-of-no-return (PNR) or Equal Time point (EPT) which are calculated using a formula to define a point on the route leg – Enroute Decision Point is more a trigger to make a flight decision that could occur anywhere on the flight.

“Down by 30” – the first aspect relates to airspeed. If you have slowed down by 30kts or more from your cruise speed due to conditions.

Minimum enroute height – If you have already descended to the minimum enroute height for that leg. (May depend on the area you fly)

If either of these occur then it triggers an Enroute Decision Point. You can turn around to better conditions, land or transition to IFR recovery at a suitable airfield.

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Links from this week’s episode:
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National EMS Pilots Association – striving to help the Air Medical Transport industry prosper safely and enhance the delivery of pre-hospital health care

Outback Mike (Facebook page) – Past guest Mike Atkinson is on a solo survival expedition through the Great Barrier Reef dugout canoe.

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