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Helicopter PilotsRotorcraft performance and currency

Built for the Rotorcraft Pilot

You fly into confined areas, calculate hover performance in density altitude, and operate offshore where weather changes in minutes. You need tools that understand rotorcraft operations — not fixed-wing assumptions.

Helicopter operations demand weather intelligence that goes beyond ceiling and visibility. You need density altitude for hover performance, wind at the LZ, and micro-weather that changes between the helipad and the hospital.

AeroCopilot is built to serve rotorcraft pilots with the performance data, currency tracking, and weather tools that match how you actually fly — low, slow, and into places fixed-wing pilots never go.

  • Density altitude and hover performance calculations for current conditions
  • Wind at surface level — direction, speed, and gusts at your actual operating altitude
  • Helicopter-specific currency: NVG, overwater, autorotation practice, and instrument
  • Confined area and pinnacle approach weather and performance planning
  • Offshore weather monitoring with sea state, fog, and wind forecasts
  • Digital logbook with rotorcraft fields: hover time, NVG, external load, and EMS
Rotor tools

What a rotorcraft pilot actually needs. Performance and weather for how helicopters fly.

Hover performance
IGE and OGE hover ceiling calculated from current temperature, pressure altitude, and wind. Know before you pull pitch.
Density altitude alerts
Continuous DA monitoring with alerts when performance margins shrink. Critical for mountain and summer operations.
Confined area planning
Wind direction and speed at the LZ. Approach and departure path options based on obstacles and current conditions.
Offshore weather
Sea state, fog probability, wind forecast, and platform weather for offshore helicopter operations.
Rotorcraft currency
NVG currency, overwater qualification, instrument currency, and autorotation practice tracked per FAR requirements.
EMS and utility logging
Log HEMS, external load, utility, and tour flights with mission-specific fields and time categories.
Day in the life

An EMS shift with AeroCopilot. How the platform fits into rotorcraft operations.

0500 — Pre-shift brief
AeroCopilot pulls METAR + TAF for your base + likely scene clusters in your operating area. The forecast discussion is NWS public-domain text, displayed verbatim — no AI summary that could mistranslate.
0900 — Scramble call (data-source honest)
AeroCopilot displays the closest METAR/TAF for the scene lat/lon (interpolated from station data within 25 nm where available). Density altitude is shown for the closest reporting station elevation, with explicit warning "scene elevation may differ — verify". Obstacle data comes from FAA Digital Obstacle File (DOF) public-domain release with cycle date stamped on each query. Scene-elevation DA at the LZ lat/lon is Q4 2026 roadmap.
0905 — When data is incomplete
When data is unavailable for the scene coordinates, the UI says so — it does not interpolate or guess. Blanks stay blank.
1100 — Hospital handoff
AeroCopilot shows your destination heliport from FAA NASR. Pad elevation, lighting, surface, and known obstacle avoidance corridors are displayed where the FAA dataset includes them. Where it doesn't, the field is blank — not invented.
1800 — Log and currency
AeroCopilot tracks logbook entries against §61.57 currency (90-day takeoffs and landings in category, instrument approaches). NVG currency under §61.57(f) and Part 135.160 OpsSpec A025 requires recent experience verification AeroCopilot does NOT self-certify — your operator's training program records are the source of truth. AeroCopilot displays your last logged NVG event but cannot replace the ops manual recordkeeping required by §135.21.
HEMS / Part 135 Subpart L

HEMS Operations Awareness

If you fly helicopter air ambulance, your operation is governed by a tightly specified regulatory subpart. AeroCopilot does not replace your operational control center, your OpsSpec authorizations, or your PRiM — but we do surface the citations you reference daily.

14 CFR §135.601 – §135.621

HEMS subpart governing helicopter air ambulance operations end-to-end — qualifications, ops specs, risk analysis, and operational control.

§135.605 — HEMS pilot qualifications

Required experience, training, and currency for pilots flying helicopter air ambulance under Part 135.

§135.607 — OpsSpec A024 / A040

HEMS Operations Specifications A024 (HAA authorizations) and A040 (operational control program) issued by the FAA POI.

§135.609 — Pre-Departure Risk Assessment (PRiM)

Required pre-departure risk assessment matrix scoring weather, terrain, fatigue, mission urgency, and crew factors.

§135.617 — Operational Control Center

Operational control center (OCC) requirements for HAA certificate holders — flight following, dispatch, and risk concurrence.

AC 135-14B — Night Weather Procedures

Advisory Circular covering HAA night weather procedures, NVG considerations, and pilot weather decision support.

Scope statement. AeroCopilot does not provide HAA-compliant operational control, OCC dispatch, or pre-flight risk analysis services required under §135.617. Those functions remain with your certificate holder. We surface regulatory references and weather decision support — not operational control.

Chart status disclosure

Helicopter Route Charts (HRC)

The FAA has migrated standalone Helicopter Route Charts (NYC, DC SFRA, LA Basin, Boston, Chicago, Houston) into the NASR product set. AeroCopilot is building a self-tile pipeline ingest for the NYC and DC HRC corridors first, with a Q3 2026 target. Until then, helicopter route corridors are not overlaid on the moving map. Pilots flying in HRC airspace should continue to reference the official FAA chart products for corridor routing.

Airworthiness & special regs

Part-Specific Rotorcraft Certifications

Helicopter operators are reminded of additional certification requirements beyond Part 91 and Part 135 general operating rules.

Part 27 — Normal Category Rotorcraft
Airworthiness standards for normal-category rotorcraft under 7,000 lb maximum gross weight.
Part 29 — Transport Category Rotorcraft
Airworthiness standards for transport-category rotorcraft 7,000 lb and above — Category A and B performance.
Part 133 — External Load
Rotorcraft external load operations — Class A/B/C/D loads, congested area plans, and human external cargo (HEC).
SFAR 50-2 — Grand Canyon
Special Federal Aviation Regulation 50-2 — Grand Canyon route structure, altitude floors, and commercial tour requirements.
Roadmap — Q4 2026

Rotorcraft Weather & LZ — What We Do Not Yet Do

Current helicopter weather coverage in AeroCopilot is general METAR / TAF / SIGMET. The following rotorcraft-specific items are tracked as Q4 2026 roadmap and are not in the product today.

Density altitude at LZ
Per-LZ DA calculation tied to elevation, OAT, and pressure altitude — with hover-required vs hover-available delta. Q4 2026.
Hover power required vs available
Power-required curves cross-checked against engine torque available for current weight, DA, and wind. Q4 2026.
Transverse flow & VRS risk
Transverse-flow effect and vortex-ring-state hazard assessment based on rate of descent, airspeed, and wind. Q4 2026.
SVFR helicopter minima
Helicopter Special VFR ceiling and visibility logic distinct from fixed-wing SVFR rules. Q4 2026.

Honest about the gaps

AeroCopilot is honest about what it does and does not yet do for rotorcraft operators. We track the gaps publicly — HEMS operational control, HRC corridor overlays, density-altitude at LZ, hover power margins, transverse-flow and VRS assessment, SVFR helicopter minima, and Part 133 external load planning are all open work.

If you fly HEMS, Part 133 external load, or commercial tour operations and want to influence the rotorcraft roadmap, email rotor@aerocopilot.ai. We answer.

Helicopters are not small airplanes

You should not have to translate fixed-wing tools into rotorcraft reality. Hover performance, confined areas, density altitude margins — these are not edge cases for you, they are every flight.

AeroCopilot understands the difference and builds for it.

Fly rotorcraft with rotorcraft tools

Start free. Performance and currency for the vertical world.