Author: Admin
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May
12
2025
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Posted by Admin
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We catch Gretchen Johnson in a rare hour of relatively free time. She was in Orlando, having headed south from her metro-Atlanta home, when she said in a cultured, soft Southern accent that would make Scarlett O’Hara sit up and take notice, “Thank you so much for choosing to spend an hour with me; I’m flattered. Hopefully, something I say will be worth repeating. It’s wonderful being down here in Florida because now Miss Georgia can’t decide whether she’s winter or spring.”
Make up your cotton-pickin’ mind, Miss Georgia!
It would be wrong to base an assumption on Johnson’s accent and Southern manners that she’s some antebellum belle. The CEO and founder of DaVinciSKY was in Orlando for a “Women in Power” symposium—and that could be a clever pun because Johnson’s flagship company and its subsidiaries feature helicopters in power-line construction, inspection, and maintenance.
[Read More...]
Tags:
DaVinciSKY
power line patrol helicopter
Utility Helicopter
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Human Interest
Company Profiles
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May
05
2025
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Posted by Admin
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On the personnel supply side of the equation, most every operator is working hard to recruit and retain experienced pilots.
There are still many external forces impacting the supply of working helicopter pilots. These forces are not only keeping the supply lines short of personnel, but stifling the growth of the base pilot pool as well.
As published in previous salary survey reports, the factors impacting operators stem from many issues to include; aging pilots retiring en-mass, aggressive airline recruitment of helicopter pilots, and the retraction of pilot training pipelines from traditional sources like civilian academies and the U.S. Military.
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Categories:
Career Development
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Apr
28
2025
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Posted by Admin
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The helicopter industry is continuing to face a pilot shortage that threatens to impact operations across sectors, such as emergency medical services (EMS), firefighting, law enforcement, offshore transport, and tourism. As seasoned pilots retire and fewer new aviators enter the workforce, companies are struggling to maintain flight schedules and meet increasing demands for aerial services.
Several factors contribute to this shortage. One of the primary challenges is the high cost and long duration of helicopter pilot training, which can exceed $100,000 and take several years to complete. Unlike fixed-wing aviation, which often benefits from more direct career pathways and funding opportunities, the vertical-lift industry lacks sufficient structured programs to attract and retain new talent.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Helicopter Pilot Shortage
Categories:
Career Development
Opinion-Editorial
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Apr
21
2025
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Posted by Admin
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In the mid-1980s, during my first tour as a young and inexperienced U.S. Army AH-1F Cobra pilot in Germany, I went through a near-catastrophic event that forever changed my approach to cockpit safety. It happened during a routine but fun training mission where I was performing low-level flight maneuvers in a loose trail formation with several other Cobras. I was at the controls in the back seat, flying in the trail position, focused on terrain using the peaks and valleys to try to remain clear of a notional surface-to-air missile threat. It didn’t get much better than this for an easy day of flying.
I aggressively banked left and descended into an approaching valley. As I reached my desired heading, I attempted to return to wings-level. Nothing happened. Uh-oh. Despite my maximum effort to apply right-aft cyclic, the aircraft stubbornly continued a left roll and descent. I blurted out my problem to my front-seat copilot. No response. He had problems of his own.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Safety Sitrep
Securing the cockpit
Categories:
Safety
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Apr
14
2025
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Posted by Admin
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Whether through fighting fires directly or aiding those who do, drones are making serious progress in saving lives and property. Here is a brief rundown of some of the amazing things that drone technology is doing for firefighting today.
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Tags:
Ascent Aerosystems_RotorPro
Skydio_RotorPro
UAV Navigation-Grupo Oesía
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Apr
07
2025
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Posted by Admin
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Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly transforming the design and operation of helicopters, ushering in a new era of innovation and efficiency. By leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms and data analytics, AI enables more autonomous flight capabilities, improves predictive maintenance, optimizes flight paths, and enhances safety measures.
From revolutionizing helicopter design and testing to supporting real-time decision-making in complex operational environments, AI is pivotal in reshaping the future of rotary-wing aviation. This integration of cutting-edge technology promises to streamline operations, reduce costs, and enhance the overall performance of helicopter fleets worldwide.
For Leonardo Helicopters, AI is integral to achieving its mission to its customers. Leonardo's primary objective is to guarantee in-flight safety by delivering helicopters featuring the highest safety levels. This approach to safety is at the heart of all activities, from design and production to customer services, ensuring that all aircraft meet the most rigorous safety standards.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Leonardo Helicopters
Leonardo Helicopters Diagnostic Service Tower - AI
Categories:
Company Profiles
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Mar
31
2025
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Posted by Admin
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Ironically, flying unmanned aerial systems (UAS) can often sound like buzzing mosquitoes. You can hear them buzzing in on approach, and eventually, when close enough, you can see them peering down at you from above. Yet, UAS is a new solution to controlling mosquito populations in Lee County, Florida. Mosquitoes serve many purposes in a healthy balanced ecosystem. In fact, mosquitoes are considered pollinators, as much as any bee or butterfly. Having said that, the average citizen likely believes that they have no useful purpose, because their proliferation of peskiness knows no end. They irritate us on beaches, hiking, and working with animals. They can cause serious disease and eventually death for mammals, reptiles and birds, and they are incessantly difficult to kill. Mosquito diseases can affect humans, horses, birds, dogs, cats, and more.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Lee County Mosquito Control Aviation Unit
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Mar
24
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the director of safety at Winco Powerline Services. We perform aerial powerline work which includes new constructions, maintenance, inspections and emergency response. I also serve on the Board of Directors for Vertical Aviation International.
RPMN: Tell me about your first experience with helicopters.
As a passenger in a CH47, I was tired, cold, wet and The Royal Air Force was three hours late. I think they were on their coffee break!
After that my first ever lesson was in 2005, I was on leave in Australia and I took an intro flight from a company called Chopper Line just outside Brisbane. It was fantastic and I got hooked. Then, I started flight training at the Bristow Academy in Florida at the end of 2009.
[Read More...]
Tags:
David McColl
Director Of Safety
Pipeline Patrol Helicopters
Winco Powerline Services
Categories:
Human Interest
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Mar
17
2025
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Posted by Admin
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It’s a bright and sunny autumn morning at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey. While on the adjacent ramps it is still quiet, the ramp of HMLA-773 (-) is already packed with Bell UH-1Y Venom and Bell AH-1Z Viper helicopters being prepared for the day’s flying by the busy maintenance crews. Although being a Marine Reserve Unit, Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 773 plays a key role in the organization and operations of the United States Marine Corps.
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Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
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Mar
07
2025
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Posted by Admin
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This year DART Aerospace is celebrating 50 years in the rotorcraft industry. Interesting to see how it all started.
The Summer Olympic Games were coming to Montreal in 1976. Jim Bradley and his family created a company to sell souvenirs to the throngs of visitors from around the globe coming to Canada. As they were gearing up in 1975, another opportunity came to Bradley in an industry far from souvenirs—a small helicopter job for the installation of an HF Whip Antenna on a Sikorsky helicopter. Bradley seized on that opportunity, and thus 50 years ago, DART Aerospace was born. The business now sells rotorcraft products and services to customers in almost every nation on Earth. “It’s funny how companies start and how they evolve over time,” says DART’s current president, Ryan Williamson. He speaks from experience, for he came to aerospace from an industry as unrelated to helicopters as Olympic souvenirs—the furniture manufacturing business.
[Read More...]
Tags:
DART Aerospace
Jim Bradley
Ryan Williamson
SEI Bambi Bucket
Simplex
Categories:
Company Profiles