Bristow Flies Super Puma with TCAS 2

PRODUCTS | AVIONICS

Bristow Group’s Eastern Hemisphere unit last month began operating a Eurocopter Super Puma fitted with an operational Rockwell Collins’ Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System 2 (TCAS 2). The aircraft is serving Royal Dutch/Shell installations in the North Sea’s East Shetland Basin from Scotland’s Aberdeen Airport.

The companies claimed the operation marks the first time that a helicopter has gained operational approval for use of TCAS 2 equipment to provide the same level of enhanced safety that TCAS 2 normally provides to fixed-wing aircraft.

Rockwell Collins worked with the Aberdeen-based Bristow Eastern Hemisphere with the assistance of Shell Aircraft to install, test and certify the TCAS 2 system on the aircraft. The group was able to use Rockwell Collins’ existing TCAS-4000 for fixed-wing aircraft without making any modifications to the system, they said, and apply it to the helicopter. Bristow Eastern Hemisphere received a European Aviation Safety Agency supplemental type certificate for the installation.