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Information Note DOCUMENT NUMBER
Marine Division
IMCA M 03/06 Safety, Environment & Legislation
IMCA SEL 03/06 Training, Certification & Personnel Competence
IMCA TCPC 03/06
March 2006
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UK Sector Offshore Helicopter Operations Members were advised by information note IMCA M 27/04 (July 2004) of anticipated changes to helideck lighting for for operations in the UK sector. This noted that lighting trials were ongoing at that stage. Information note IMCA M 28/05 showing the proposed changes to CAP 437, including the lighting guidance. IMCA has now received a further letter from the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) advising of revised best practice for lighting, lighting, as attached. This letter gives advance warning of expected further changes to CAP 437 that relate to those parties described in the third paragraph of section 3 of the attached letter.
Safety Regulation Grou p Flight Ops Inspectorate (Helicopters)
Offshore Helicopter Operators Chief Executive UK Offshore Operators Association Helideck Certification Agency Health and Safety Executive Verification Agencies British Rig Owners Association International Maritime Contractors Association International Association of Drilling Contractors International Association of Geophysical Contractors
9 March 2006 Ref 10A/253/16/3Q Dear Sirs Helideck Lig hting - Further Guidance on Preferred Stage 1 Lighting Configuration s 1. Introduction I refer to our letter to industry dated 20 July 2004 reference 10A/253/16/3, which was subsequently reproduced in Appendix C of CAP 437 (5 th Edition) dated August 2005. This letter described the background to a series of dedicated CAA helideck lighting trials completed on the Dutch K14 Platform in 1998/9 (and reported in CAA Paper 2004/01) and at Longside airfield near Aberdeen in 2002 (and reported in CAA Paper 2005/01). At the time of publication of our letter, a third series of dedicated trials designed to improve, refine and characterise the helideck lighting systems developed during the early trials was in progress. These trials, completed at Norwich Airport during 2003/4, are being written up and will be published in a CAA Paper in the near future. One of the primary objectives of the Norwich trials was t o evaluate the effectiveness of different floodlighting configurations and technologies in both an elevated position in the Limited Obstacle sector (LOS), and at deck level around the helideck perimeter. The main purpose of CAA’s interim guidance letter of 20 July 2004 was to provide interim guidance on offshore helideck lighting standards in respect of implementing effective Stage 1 interim lighting solutions. Stage 1 comprises changing the colour of the perimeter lights from yellow to green with a revision of the associated iso-candela diagram, and the deletion of the existing deck level floodlighting, ideally replacing it with the improved systems described in detail in the July 2004 letter.
This letter is now presented to update the ‘current’ best practice guidance given in Section 4 of the previous letter dated 20 July 2004 and effectively reverses the preference for improved floodlighting systems for interim Stage 1 by placing the deck level floodlighting system, consisting of 4 deck level xenon floodlights equally
Civil Aviation Authority
Aviation House Gatwick Airport South West Sussex England RH6 0YR www.caa.co.uk Telephone 01293 573696
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spaced around the perimeter of the helideck, ahead of the combination system comprising a minimum of two high mounted halogen floodlights supplemented with two xenon floodlights mounted around the helideck perimeter at deck level opposite the LOS high mounted units. The reason for this reversal of preference is explained in the next section.
2. Stage 1 floodlighting evaluation on Exxonmobil Lancelot and Galahad Platforms – Friday 10th February 2006
Following the completion of dedicated lighting trials at Norwich Airport, the two main Stage 1 configurations were implemented on the Exxonmobil Galahad and Lancelot platforms in the southern North Sea. On Friday 10 th February 2006, CAA chartered a Bristow S76 helicopter flown by company pilots to evaluate the two preferred Stage 1 configurations located on the Galahad (a combination of two high halogen floodlights mounted in the LOS and two xenon floodlights mounted around the helideck perimeter at deck level opposite the LOS high mounted units and green perimeter lights) and Lancelot platform (4 deck level xenon floodlights equally spaced around the perimeter of the helideck and green perimeter lights). It was apparent to both Bristow pilots and CAA and HCA observers on board, that the visual cues provided by the deck level xenon system on the Lancelot were significantly better than those provided by the combination system on the Galahad platform employing two high mounted halogen floodlights in the LOS.
The evaluation/comparison of representative Stage 1 floodlighting systems on the Lancelot and Galahad will be reported as part of the CAA paper covering the Norwich Airport trials. In the meantime industry is advised that the preferred Stage 1interim floodlighting solution is a system comprising of 4 deck level xenon floodlights equally spaced around the perimeter of the helideck. The preferred system is explained in more detail in the next section.
3. Improved Floodlighting System For helidecks located on platforms with a sufficiently high level of illumination from cultural lighting, the need for an improved floodlighting system may be reviewed with the helicopter operator(s), i.e. in such circumstances it may be sufficient to just delete or disable the existing deck level floodlighting. This concession assumes that the level of illumination from cultural lighting is also sufficiently high to facilitate deck operations such as movement of passengers and refuelling (where applicable). It is a condition that prior to the removal of floodlights, extended trials of the ‘nofloodlight’ configuration be conducted and their subsequent removal will be subject to satisfactory reports from crews to indicate the acceptability of operating to the helideck with the re-configured lighting.
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In the absence of sufficient cultural lighting, CAA recommends that installation owners consider a deck level floodlighting system consisting of 4 deck level xenon floodlights equally spaced around the perimeter of the helideck. In considering this solution, installation owners must ensure that the deck level xenon units do not adversely effect the pilots’ judgment by ensuring that they do not present a source of glare or loss of pilots’ night vision on the helideck, and do not affect the ability of the pilots to determine the actual location of the helideck on the installation. It is therefore essential that all lights are maintained in correct alignment. It is also desirable to position the lights such that no light is pointing directly away from the prevailing wind. Floodlights located on the upwind (for the prevailing wind direction) side of the deck should ideally be mounted so that the centreline of the floodlight beam is at an angle of 45º to the reciprocal of the prevailing wind direction. This will minimise any glare or disruption to the pattern formed by the green perimeter lights for the majority of approaches. An example of an acceptable floodlighting arrangement is shown at Figure 1. Offshore duty holders who have already implemented improved Stage 1 floodlighting systems on their platforms by utilising a combination system comprising two or more halogen floodlights mounted in the LOS and two xenon floodlights mounted around the helideck perimeter at deck level opposite the LOS high mounted units, need take no further action. However, duty holders who are still considering improvements to existing floodlighting arrangements or are seeking best practice for new build installations should regard a system comprising of 4 deck level xenon floodlights equally spaced around the perimeter of the helideck, as the preferred Stage 1 solution.
Note: For some larger helidecks it may be necessary to consider fitting more than 4 deck level xenon floodlights, but this should be carefully considered in conjunction with the helicopter operator giving due regard to the issues of glare and loss of definition of the helideck perimeter before further deck level units are procured. The CAA does not recommend more than 5 or 6 units even on the largest helidecks.
4. Stage 2 lighting update
In our letter of 20 July 2004 we advised, with regard to Stage 2, that further trials were being completed to finalise the detail of the lighting and support the development of equipment suitable for installation on an offshore helideck. Stage 2 comprises (as an alternative to fully compliant floodlighting) the provision of a circle of yellow arrays of segmented point source lighting within the yellow painted aiming circle and a lit (green) heliport identification ‘H’ marking in the centre of the helideck aiming circle.
Trials at Norwich Airport in 2003/4 (to be reported in a CAA Paper) established the boundaries for the main design parameters for the illumination of the Touchdown Marking Circle and Heliport Identification Marking ‘H’. As a result of t he Norwich
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trials it was recommended that an equipment requirements specification should be drawn up for the Touchdown Marking Circle and Heliport Identification Marking ‘H’. This document, submitted to lighting manufacturers in July 2005, formed the basis of an invitation to tender (ITT) for the provision of prototype equipment to support offshore in-service trials of the preferred Stage 2 lighting configurations during the winter of 2006/7. In response to the ITT, two manufacturers have been selected to provide prototype systems for a manned fixed platform located in the southern North Sea and a further manned fixed platform located in the northern North Sea. Following these offshore trials of prototype systems it is anticipated that the next update of CAP 437 will define a minimum acceptable specification for this lighting and will remove the existing references to interim floodlighting arrangements. Yours faithfully
Kevin P Payne Flight Operations Inspectorate (Helicopters)
CC: International Association of Oil and Gas Producers Maritime and Coastguard Agency Offshore Contractors Association Cogent/ Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation Civil Aviation Authorities of Norway, Denmark, Ireland and Netherlands Helideck Lighting Manufacturers
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