Emergency Flotation System

Airworthiness Authorities around the world mandate that a helicopter Emergency Flotation System has to be powered from the aircraft’s Emergency / Critical bus or directly from the aircraft main battery.

In 2004 a helicopter crash landed in water and, due to the flotation system failing to activate, the helicopter sank. 

The crash investigation determined that whilst the pyrotechnic devices for firing the air bottles to inflate the flotation bags were both intact and operational, they had not activated due to a power failure from the emergency bus to the device. In this instance it was determined that the power failure was due to the severance of a wiring loom by a rotor blade which itself had suffered damage on impact. 

Any power failure to the flotation system firing mechanism will result in the air-bags not being inflated; this could be as a result of a damaged or unserviceable battery or damage to the power supply wiring to the pyrotechnic device either prior to, or on, impact (short circuit, fire, severance).

As a result of the investigation, Ferranti Technologies was commissioned to design an independent power supply to activate the flotation system in the event of a crash landing on water; this device, EFIPS (Emergency Flotation Independent Power Supply) has been designed and certified to compliment, not replace, the current system.

The EFIPS is a small, low mass, low cost device that is designed to be installed adjacent (as close as possible) to the pyrotechnic firing mechanism for the flotation system air bottles, thus severely limiting the potential for power loss due to wiring harness damage. The purpose is for emergency activation of the flotation system, is totally independent of the aircraft’s other power sources and is automatically activated on heavy impact or water ingress; it can also be integrated with the main flotation activation for manual operation by aircrew in the cockpit.

The EFIPS is charged from the aircraft’s 28V dc power on power up and is fully charged in approximately 30 seconds and will on the loss (disconnection) of the aircraft power maintain sufficient charge to fire the air bottles for a duration of up to 10 minutes. This duration can be tailored to customer requirement.  The EFIPS is activated as a result of an impact in excess of a (customer) specified G level through internal accelerometers or entry to water through an internal water sensor switch, the sensitivity of which can also be customer specific. A single EFIPS unit can fire multiple bottles dependent upon power requirement and location in the aircraft.

Ferranti Technologies excels in the bespoke, custom design of complex electronic, electrical and mechanical solutions in the fields of power supplies, power conversion and electronic and motor control to the aerospace and defence industry.  Our multi-disciplined engineering team is able to transform the most difficult technical requirements into qualified, production designs.

Essential back-up power for all rotary winged aircraft with potential to operate over water, typical  applications for Military (Naval, Air Force, Army) Coast Guard, Air Sea Rescue, Police, Air Ambulance (Medivac), Civil Transport (Off-shore Oil, Naval Vessel crew transfer), VIP / Corporate.

EFIPS Specification