Helicopter and Ship Integration: Standardization of the Process leading to the Qualification and Certification of Helicopter Shipboard Operations

This Master’s Thesis Work has been developed at Leonardo Helicopters Division’s site of Cascina Costa, in the AW139 Chief Project Engineering office, in collaboration with the company tutor Eng. Vincenzo Barraco and other experienced Project Engineers. Aircraft System Integration Department, in the figure or Eng. Enrico Bellussi, and Departments specialized in other lines, have been crucial in the development of this project. The aim of the Internship at Leonardo Helicopters was the creation of standard guidelines for the Certification and Qualification of Shipboard Operations. Leonardo has huge experience of naval operations with their helicopters, but few times an Homologation Process has been followed leading to the Certification and Qualification of such operations. This is a consequence of the fact that Civil Regulation does not mention naval operations, leaving each National Military Aviation Authority the freedom to act independently. Given the variety of procedures adopted over the years for different platforms and the expertise acquired through programmes such as EH101, AW139, AW109 and NH90, the first step was the definition of what had been done in the past for each case, trying to find points which could be included in a standardized procedure and excluding activities strictly related to the specificity of the helicopter considered. Following an analysis of what could be included, the procedure was elaborated and steps to be taken in order to qualify the activities were expressed through Requirements and methods of compliance. Following the trend of simulation tools (Digital Twin) and the always more frequent demand to certify and qualify helicopters for naval operations, this work could be expanded with the intent of including future methods and technologies. The complete work developed at AW139 CPE Department is Company Restricted, while in this document some names, models and procedures have been omitted.