Senior Helideck Certification Officer, Chris Wood, has stepped up to a new role at Safeguard Helideck Certification. He is now the Operations Manager for this growing business.
Chris has been part of the Safeguard team for 4 years and joined from the Royal Navy bringing 15 years of maritime aviation experience. Since joining Chris has travelled around the globe visiting some of the world’s most spectacular superyachts to provide independent assessment and certification of their helicopter landing area.
“I am passionate about aviation and especially maritime aviation, said Chris who had just returned from a job requiring a Helicopter Landing Area Certificate (HLAC) on a superyacht in Germany. “The move into the Operations Manager role is an exciting step for me as our reputation grows and the number of enquiries increases. We are working with some of the leading yacht manufacturers and have worked on the world’s largest superyachts advising on the safe design of helidecks and providing helideck consultancy and certification as an approved Aviation Inspection Body.”
Chris also presented a paper on “Design for Helideck Certification” at the Royal Institute of Naval Architects ‘Design & Construction of Super & Mega Yachts Conference’ in May of this year. This was to provide superyacht designers with some valuable guidance on the design of a helideck, such that it can be demonstrated to be “safe by design” as part of the design process.
As superyachts continue to grow in both size and complexity, with some boasting fore and aft helidecks, the need for specialist advice at the design stage is crucial and the Safeguard Helideck Certification team are the recognised experts in this field.
Steve Vickery, Director at Safeguard Helidecks commented, “Chris has the expertise and experience to step into this new role and we are looking forward to seeing him drive the business forward.”
If you would like to know more about our Helideck services please get in touch with Chris Wood: chris.wood@safeguardengineering.co.uk or call us on: 07779606589.
