Author: Admin
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Jan
26
2026
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Posted by Admin
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About an hour’s drive southeast of Rome lies Frosinone Air Base. At first glance, the base appears to be a small location in a valley with only a grass strip. However, it is the training ground for Italy's military helicopter pilots and home to the 72nd Stormo (72nd Wing). The unit operates the small, reliable, and rugged TH-500B. Unit Commander Colonel Alessandro Fiorini briefed us on a unique mission: performing the very first aerial dances with the newest helicopter pilots of the Italian armed forces.
Colonel Fiorini’s path to Frosinone is as varied as it is impressive. After joining the Italian air force academy in 1996, he graduated as a military pilot in 2002 at the Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training (ENJJPT) program at Sheppard AFB in Texas. Fiorini said, “After the lead-in fighter training course, I served as a Panavia Tornado pilot and as an instructor at the Operational Conversion Unit (OCU). My instructor position at the OCU was followed by a temporary assignment at the ENJJPT program as a T-38C flight instructor.”
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Tags:
72nd Wing
Frosinone Air Base
Italy's military helicopter pilots training
TH-500B
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Jan
19
2026
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Posted by Admin
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Swelling rivers overflowed their banks and blustering winds fell trees as Hurricane Helene hit the Appalachian Mountains on Friday, 27 September 2024. The Category 4 hurricane approached the coast of Florida earlier in the week, beginning its ravaging course across the United States Southeast. In western North Carolina, the floodwaters and wind quickly destroyed roads and cut off communication for the communities nestled in the mountains.
Within 24 hours, while most of the country was still stunned by the rising fatality numbers, several groups began organizing and deploying their aviation assets. Among these aviation assets was a JAARS Robinson R66 helicopter, which took off from Jungle Aviation and Relay Service (JAARS) Townsend (N52), North Carolina, the morning of the 28th to survey the Avery County Airport (7A8) and its surrounding area.
Avery County Airport has a longstanding history with the JAARS aviation training department. JAARS, a mission aviation organization that covers the “last mile” of missions across global geographical barriers, has trained their pilots in the mountains and airstrips surrounding 7A8 for 50 years. With the JAARS base located south of Charlotte, North Carolina, the local Appalachian Mountains provide specific mountain flying opportunities that reflect similar terrain challenges around the world.
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Tags:
JAARS
Jungle Aviation and Relay Service
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Jan
12
2026
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
Rotor-wing chief pilot for Metro Aviation Inc.; it’s the best job in the company! I’m responsible for the hiring, training, currency, and qualification of approximately 600 pilots. I’m also a company instructor/check airman and still teach initial and recurrent flight training.
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Tags:
Chief Pilot Metro Aviation
Meet A Rotor Pro
Wells Cornette
Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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Jan
05
2026
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Posted by Admin
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The rotorcraft industry continued to amaze and astound us over the past 12 months. Here are the advances that caught our eyes and made Rotor Pro’s Best of 2025 list…
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Helicopter Sectors
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Dec
28
2025
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Posted by Admin
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Jeremy Bryck’s humor gets us chuckling before our interview. When told we will be looking for him “to say something outstanding,” he has a deadpan reply. “Well, we have high expectations for today.” The Bowen Island, Canada, native is Canada Dry.
His humble humor saves me from envying—actually jealously hating—his first 22 years spent on that little island off of West Vancouver: He grew up in a picturesque village in a home heated by the warmth of a crackling fire from wood his family gathered each crisp autumn. “We were a hard-working family that enjoyed country life.” That country-boy life involved boating and kayaking amongst whales or either skiing and snowboarding on the mainland. “You could see Cypress Mountain from our house,” he says. “Yeah, did all that stuff; it was gorgeous.”
Still, let me not be too quick to judge. Bryck chose to leave this Pacific Coast paradise upon graduating from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) with a two-year degree to begin his apprenticeship in aircraft maintenance engineering. He says, “I saw the writing on the wall and realized that if I wanted a career in aviation maintenance I’d have to relocate out of Vancouver.”
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Tags:
Rotor Pro Executive Watch
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Dec
22
2025
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Posted by Admin
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The year 2025 marked a pivotal moment in vertical flight that was characterized by the traditional helicopter sector experiencing booming demand against severe supply constraints, while the nascent electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) sector pushed aggressively toward commercialization while navigating crucial home-stretch regulatory hurdles. The two segments are not yet competitors, but are instead complementary forces driving the entire vertical-mobility ecosystem forward.
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Rotor Pro Editor's Letter
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
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Dec
15
2025
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Posted by Admin
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The Czech Republic's 243rd Helicopter Squadron successfully hosted the Galileo Search and Rescue (SAR) meet 2025 this past August at Prague-Kbely airbase (ICAO: LKKB), with the motto: "That Others May Live." This international event represented the continuation of the European Search and Rescue meeting following a two-year operational hiatus. The exercise was designed to enhance interoperability between European helicopter units while using the European Global Navigation Satellite System Galileo capabilities for improved operational effectiveness.
The five-day exercise was conducted at Kbely airbase, one of the Czech Republic's primary SAR operational centers. The exercise involved multiple European nations' helicopter crews, technical personnel, and rescue specialists in training scenarios designed to enhance operational effectiveness and crew resource management in real-world SAR situations. The event successfully demonstrated the continued commitment to multinational cooperation in emergency response capabilities while showcasing advanced precision flying techniques and Galileo technology integration.
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Tags:
Czech Republic's 243rd Helicopter Squadron
Categories:
Training
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Dec
08
2025
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Posted by Admin
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The Hohenfels Training Area is home to the Joint Multinational Readiness Center (JMRC). The Center has several Observer Coach Training teams, including the Falcon Team. This unit is equipped with eight UH-72A Lakotas and is led by Colonel Beau G. Rollie. The senior aviation trainer informed Rotor Pro about the diversity of assignments for his skilled unit.
The JMRC is the sole U.S. Army forward stationed Combat Training Center (CTC) and has an important objective: training leaders, staff and units to dominate in conducting global multidomain operations.
The JMRC has 12 observer, coach and trainer (OCT) teams. Each OCT team has a specialized task during large-scale exercises, also called rotations. The Falcon Team conducts five to 10 large-scale rotations annually. To perform their mission, the team operates eight UH-72A Lakotas. Four of the light utility helicopters (LUHs) are painted in the regular green color scheme. The other four are in a yellow-brown camouflage pattern that names them ‘Bruised Bananas’.
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Tags:
Bruised Bananas
Joint Multinational Readiness Center
UH-1 Iroquois
UH-72A Lakotas
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Dec
01
2025
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Posted by Admin
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The Digital Revolution is impacting rotorcraft maintenance. In addition to their wrenches and screwdrivers, rotorcraft maintainers are now using digital tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) to get the job done. “We’re embracing disruptive innovation in our processes, technology and tools to drive speed, agility and data-driven insights for our customers,” said Steve Schmidt, Sikorsky’s VP of Engineering & Technology.
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Tags:
AI-powered predictive maintenance software
Artificial Intelligence in Helicopters
Augmented Reality Training
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Nov
14
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
B206 L3 pilot for JAARS in Papua New Guinea (South Pacific/Oceania)
RPMN: Tell me about your first experience with helicopters.
My first experience in helicopters was at Cairns Army Airfield in Daleville, Alabama. I remember it being a hot, humid, and sweaty day. I was an Army flight school student (Warrant Officer) going out for my first flight during the “contact” phase of initial training. My instructor easily picked the orange and white TH-67 Creek (Bell Jet Ranger) up to a hover and nudged through ETL. Next thing I knew he said “you have the flight controls”, and I had them!
I had to work hard to keep the airspeed, altitude and heading anywhere close to the minimum standard on our way to our assigned heliport, but overall I thought, “This isn’t so hard! I think I’ll get the hang of this pretty quickly.”
I was immediately brought back to reality when I attempted my first “execute approach and terminate to a hover” sequence. I could feel the joy radiating out of my IP as we watched the helicopter easily put me and my proud self back in our rightful place. Hovering became a reality a few flight hours later, and it was very sweet indeed!
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Tags:
Greg Raychard JAARS
Meet A Rotor Pro
Categories:
Human Interest