Winter 2024 was a busy time for 33-year old West Coaster Brad MacLachlan.
In June, after almost three years of waiting, he received FAA approval for his Hughes 500 door latch STC.
Then in August, he won the Director’s (of Civil Aviation) Commendation, for his “distinguished service and ongoing commitment to safety” to the New Zealand aviation community.
At the Aviation Industry Association awards in Christchurch, Director of Civil Aviation Keith Manch said that Brad’s invention showed his dedication to safety went beyond his own organisation.
“And he embodies a daily commitment to safety, integrating it into everything he does.”
Keith told the awards audience that public trust in aviation was critical, He said that by maintaining an unwavering commitment to safety, passengers and clients were reassured they were in good hands, which supported the overall health of New Zealand’s aviation sector.
He said that Brad epitomised all of that, and more.
“It may as well be me”
Back in 2017, Brad started out on a journey to help make Hughes 500 pilots and their passengers safer.
The innovation makes sure that doors are closed correctly and stay closed during flight.
“There’d been several instances, when I was a pilot, of the doors on Hughes 500s not shutting properly,” says Brad, “but pilots had difficulty knowing that.
“I’m a bit of a problem solver. I tend to think about things that aren’t working very well and try to think up a way to make them work better. It’s something I’ve always kind of done.
“I just thought, ‘Well it’s a problem, and no-one’s done anything yet, so it may as well be me’.”
He’s received CAANZ and now, FAA approval of the STC, but is still waiting on approval from the UK CAA and EASA.
“I don’t really want to put it on the market until I’ve got maximum orders, because every order reduces the per unit cost.
“At the moment, the only aircraft in New Zealand using it is ZK-HOT, being flown by the Wallis family.”
In 2018, pilot Nick Wallis and his two passengers lost their lives when Nick’s Hughes 500D crashed just after takeoff near Wānaka Airport.
The crash occurred after the helicopter door opened and several items escaped, including overalls that became tangled in the tail rotor.
Although both TAIC and the CAA investigated the accident, the sequence of events leading up to the crash was unable to be exactly determined, and the cause of the door opening was also not fully established.
“I was only six months into developing the mechanism,” says Brad. “I was pretty gutted I hadn’t thought of it earlier. It might have helped Nick, although we can never know that for sure.”
Brad with his Director’s Commendation, for his “distinguished service and ongoing commitment to safety” to the New Zealand aviation community.
A “stickler for safety”
Brad has been safety manager for The Helicopter Line (THL) in Queenstown, since March 2023.
His boss, Mark Quickfall, says Brad is a “stickler for safety”.
“Every day, he’s challenging everyone to do things correctly and safely.”
Asked what he considers the most important part of his role, Brad thinks for a number of seconds.
“I’d say it’s being the sort of person who other people are comfortable approaching. It doesn’t even have to be when something’s gone wrong – it could be about anything.
“I think some people regard safety managers as ‘big and scary’ and you can’t, or shouldn’t, say too much to them. So I kind of work hard on making that not a problem here at THL.
“I want people to come to me about anything – even if they want to tell me about a better way they’ve thought of, to do things.”
Brad’s first recommendation to new safety managers is about developing those great relationships.
“It’s the most important thing you can do. You can personally focus, focus, focus on safety, but you can’t be everywhere. You rely on staff to look out for things, but if they’re not comfortable with you and don’t feel like they can come to you, then your big focus on ‘getting things safe’ is a bit of a waste.”
Brad says ‘knowing the business’ is also important.
“Because I was a pilot, when people are trying to describe something, I get it. They know I understand. That goes a long way with pilots and ground crew. You don’t want them thinking, ‘You don’t understand what I’m talking about’.”
For safety managers just starting out, and who do not have a flying or engineering background, Brad recommends helping out in different areas of the business. “That’ll help them really understand how staff work, what they do, and sometimes what their thoughts are on how that’s currently done.”
A life-changer
Back in 2015, Brad was an 800 hours helicopter pilot. He spent his days flying hunters into the valleys of the Franz-Fox area, and transporting tourists up the magnificent Franz Josef and Fox glaciers.
“I had an accident on take-off. The toe on the pilot-side skid hit tussock, which resulted in a ‘roly poly’ down the mountainside.”
The two passengers on board received minor injuries, but Brad has used a wheelchair since.
It never occurred to him to leave aviation however – a demonstration of his tenacity, which is just one of the things Mark Quickfall admires about Brad.
“We’re really fortunate to have him on our team,” Mark also says.
“Brad’s dedication to safety and compliance, and his investigation skills are so valuable to us. His experience and influence benefit all our operations – marine, and adventure, not just aviation.”
A new direction
“I came out of Burwood (Christchurch spinal injuries hospital) and came straight back to the West Coast,” says Brad. “I didn’t want to be anywhere else.”
After a time on ACC, he started back working a few hours a day, three days a week, with Fox Franz Heli Services, doing “operational admin – flight following, assigning pilots to various jobs, that sort of thing”.
As changes began to roll through the organisation, he got the opportunity to become its occurrence investigator, and then further down the track, safety manager.
“Until then, I didn’t really know much about the role but I did know the company – it was a good place to start.
“My accident made me really understand the whole ‘swiss cheese’ thing. I’ve learned to be really aware of that ‘first hole’. Then, if I go digging a bit, quite often, there it is – the ‘second hole’.
“That awareness is largely due to what I see in my own accident.”
Despite being “gutted” he could no longer fly as a pilot after his accident, he still occasionally manages to get in the air, as part of his work.
And he says that if he was still a pilot, he’d never have developed the door latch mechanism.
“I hope that what I’ve developed will keep people safer than they were before. I’ve sunk a lot of money into this and don’t even know how much return I’ll get – but it’s a buzz that it will hopefully contribute to people being safer.”