Global Helicopter Safety Association Appoints Francois Lassale as Operations Director

Francois Lassale Appointed as Operations Director of HeliOffshoreHeliOffshore, the global association for safety in the offshore helicopter industry, has appointed Mr. Francois Lassale in the new role of operations director.

Mr. Lassale joins from Vortex, a company providing turnkey aviation solutions, where he was Managing Director. Prior to this, he was director of safety and strategic development for the Presidential Flight, United Arab Emirates.

Mr. Lassale, who has been a pilot in rotary‐ and fixed‐wing operations, brings extensive experience in safety management.

HeliOffshore’s chief executive officer, Mrs. Gretchen Haskins, recognizes the significant contribution made by Mr. Lassale to improving aviation safety standards. “For many years, Francois has contributed to industry‐wide collaboration to improve safety in aviation," says Haskins. "HeliOffshore members will benefit from his frontline and leadership experience as he draws on his extensive knowledge and network. Francois’ immediate focus is to support our members to fully implement HeliOffshore’s Health and Usage Monitoring System best practice guidance, which will be issued shortly, while continuing to drive the work of all six safety priorities identified by HeliOffshore.”

“In the year since its formation, HeliOffshore has attracted over 70 member organizations

from the offshore helicopter industry," says Lassale. "With the might of the industry’s senior leaders behind us, we will continue to achieve significant safety improvements. We are focused on those areas that will deliver greatest safety benefit to the maintainers, crew and passengers of the rotary‐wing industry operating offshore.”

As well as being a trained type rated examiner and instructor, Lassale has expertise in implementing Flight Data Monitoring Systems. He has served in the Royal Air Force as a rotary‐ and fixed‐wing pilot and in the South African Defence Force as an officer, and as acommercial aviation pilot.

For more than a decade, Mr. Lassale has served as a Board member in a number of safety organizations, including on the Business Advisory Committee of the Flight Safety Foundation in the United States and as Vice Chair of the International Association of Aeronautical Flight Auditors.

Lassale has recently completed a Masters, M.Sc. in Aviation Transport Management at the City University London, which included a thesis on “The Management of Differing National Cultures in an Aviation Organization.”

For more information, visit www.helioffshore.org.