FAA Clears Bristow for FOQA Program

Bristow Group has won FAA approval to begin a flight operations quality assurance (FOQA) program. It becomes only the second U.S. helicopter operator, after Era Helicopters, approved for such a program and the first approved for one involving light, single-engine aircraft. Bristow’s program relies on the low-cost, lightweight, integrated Aircraft Logging and Event Recording for Training and Safety (ALERTS) flight-monitoring system that its Air Logistics unit developed with Appareo Systems.  ALERTS combines flight data recording, monitoring and 3D flight recreation. Bristow’s FOQA program currently includes 58 Bell Helicopter 206 and 407 models; the company plans to soon add the remaining 66 helicopters in its Gulf of Mexico fleet. For related news