Flight safety is now the number one priority for most helicopter operators, and the international community has taken notice.

In September 2005, the North American helicopter community organized a symposium in Montreal dedicated to flight safety.
Industrial leaders, equipment manufacturers, operators and government agencies all took part. During this event, a major objective was fixed: to reduce helicopter fatality rates by 80% over ten years.
To achieve this goal, an initial measure was adopted: the creation of an International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) in the United States. Since 2006, a working group of the IHST has been assembled and tasked with analyzing the helicopter accidents that occurred on US soil, classifying them, and suggesting recommendations.

This working group meets one week per month, and Eurocopter takes part via its American Eurocopter representative.
Next April, this group will officially deliver its first recommendations to the United States IHST.
In Europe, EASA, the European Aviation Safety Agency, has decided to take up the challenge: in March 2006, a European IHST was created under its stewardship, and analysis work on accidents in Europe began in January 2007.

One of the Eurocopter representatives is Gilles Bruniaux, who has been responsible since September 2006 for finding improvements in flight safety management for the entire Eurocopter fleet.
Gilles will present his organizational project to the Executive Committee in March 2007, and it could be implemented in the spring and be fully operational by September 2007.
As Gilles explains: “My proposal is that we implement an organization offering strong leadership for the improved coordination of all the actions conducted by the different Eurocopter directorates to improve flight safety.
The end goal is to significantly reduce the fatality rate over time for the Eurocopter fleet.”