 The Helideck Certification Agency (HCA) is the world's leading authority on all matters relating to the safe and compliant operation of helicopter landing areas - onshore, offshore and afloat. We have a global network of clients who use our expertise to ensure that their helidecks meet the standards required. We conduct surveys of helicopter landing sites to ensure full compliance with international regulations, applying operational limitations or restrictions where appropriate. Headquartered in Aberdeen, Scotland, we also have bases in Norwich, England and Bergen and Stavanger in Norway, and our staff operate around the world on behalf of clients in all our key sectors. Our portfolio already encompasses many commercial yacht operators who recognise the importance of a safe helicopter operating environment - and the key role we can play in helping them maintain that. If we have certified your helideck, you can be assured that it is operationally safe. No-one is better placed than us to serve as the inspection and certification body for all helicopter landing areas. Our people are unrivalled in their knowledge of our sector - all have extensive track records in helicopter operations. We liaise on a regular basis with national civilian aviation authorities throughout Europe, with shipping registries and with international helicopter companies. We act in an advisory capacity for international clients, drawing upon our technical know-how and experience to offer consultation and training services. Landing a helicopter on the helideck of a large yacht presents special challenges - and particular risks. That is why standards have been set, and why we are routinely assigned to ensure that those standards are met. To explain the regulatory context: the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency's Large Commercial Yacht Code (LY2) has been carefully amended to set out strict guidelines for key elements of the design and operation of on-board helicopter landing areas. These standards have been formulated to ensure the safest possible take-off and landing conditions, and to minimise the likelihood of an accident or injury. As the formally appointed 'aviation inspection body' for the Agency, our job is to inspect and certify helicopter landing areas in line with the code and to help you meet its terms and give you the confidence that your helideck operations are safe. The key safety concerns on any helideck are landing area size and obstructions. However, the range of issues that require attention also include training, turbulence criteria and helideck marking. Our key areas of inspection are:
Our checklist is comprehensive, our approach thorough, our expertise assured. After we have completed a satisfactory inspection, we will issue a Helicopter Landing Area Inspection Report (HLAIR) and a Helicopter Landing Area Certificate (HLAC) - the latter recognised by the majority of regulatory authorities and helicopter companies around the world Any commercial yacht operator that has worked with us through the inspection and certification process can be confident of one thing: they have a safe helicopter operating environment. |
