HMAS Canberra conducts FOCFT for Tigers

The Royal Australian Navy’s landing helicopter dock ship HMAS Canberra has conducted first of class flight trials (FOCFT) for the Tiger ARH helicopter, the navy announced on 22 October.

The trials were conducted by a team from the Aircraft Maintenance and Flight Trials Unit (AMAFTU) in a range of environmental conditions over seven weeks. HMAS Canberra conducted operations up and down the eastern seaboard, in Darwin Harbour, the Arufura Sea and in the Pacific Ocean on transit to and from Noumea.

The geographical variety permitted operations in high temperatures, calm seas and light winds along with higher winds and sea states to induce increased pitch and roll. This culminated in the validation of proposed wind envelopes in conditions up to sea state five at the end of the trial.

To further add to the complexity of the trial, Canberra was simultaneously engaged in a number of other tasks. After the initial period of the trial, a limited day-only operating limit was approved by the Fleet Aviation Officer for operational use. This was used by 1 Aviation Regiment, who had embarked two additional helicopters to conduct deck landing qualifications.

FOCFT is a critical process in enabling helicopters to operate to and from flight decks. Designed to define the safe environmental conditions for ongoing operations, a FOCFT includes aviation facilities assessments, equipment calibration and evaluation of the interface between a particular helicopter type and class of ship.

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