Author: Admin
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Apr
10
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Skilled helicopter pilots know there’s no substitute for effective flight training. For the most impactful training, there’s only one decision that makes the most sense for its effectiveness, indirect costs and range of training, and that’s simulator training at FlightSafety International.
Fixed-wing pilots and the airlines have used simulator training to their advantage for years. While helicopter pilots have had the tools available to them, there has recently been a culture shift to simulator training over training in the aircraft, and for good reasons.
[Read More...]
Tags:
flight training devices
FlightSafety Level D Simulator
FTD
Helicopter Simulator Training
Simulator Training
Categories:
Career Development
Training
Safety
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Apr
03
2023
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Posted by Admin
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The general aviation industry is hemorrhaging pilots to the airlines, and it doesn’t appear that this practice will slow soon. For decades, helicopter pilots were not a targeted market for the airline industry, but times have changed. Qualified and highly skilled helicopter pilots have their own path to airline selection from both military and civilian backgrounds. This situation has placed a strain on the helicopter industry to obtain and retain qualified aviation management personnel.
[Read More...]
Tags:
14 CFR Part 135.243(b)
Helicopter Pilot Shortage
Part 135 Pilots
Categories:
Regulatory
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Mar
27
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Randy Rowles, the president of Helicopter Institute, has been presenting at the HeliSuccess Career Development Seminar for 14 years now. In the context of career planning to become a helicopter pilot, Rowles ends every presentation with the line, “Having a Dream is Not a Plan." With respect to starting a niche helicopter training company over a decade ago, he’s been planning his dream ever since.
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Tags:
Helicopter Institute
OEM alternative helicopter training
OEM helicopter training provider
Randy Rowles
Categories:
Company Profiles
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Mar
16
2023
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
My current position with Skyhunter Outfitters and Semper Fly Helicopters is CEO and pilot. I am a CFII and also an A&P mechanic so I help maintain our helicopter. Skyhunter offers helicopter hog hunting along the Texas/Oklahoma border as well as night thermal hunts on the ground. Semper Fly Helicopters does tours of Broken Bow Lake, Oklahoma, customizable tours, and skydiving events. I am working on solidifying a Part 135 so we can offer charters. We also do a lot of work with veterans and first responders and try to donate hunts and host events to raise money for them.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Meet A Rotor Pro
Categories:
Human Interest
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Mar
13
2023
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Posted by Admin
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What would a new year be without change? After all, with the new year comes new resolutions for many. But, although the local fitness clubs are cashing in on the optimistic hopes for those that may have overindulged on all of the goodies during the holiday season, it is back to the grind for many others. That daily grind includes industry changes that need to be explored.
Some of these changes are now in place and active, and others are on the, perhaps distant, horizon. Regardless, I want to highlight three changes that should be of interest to CFIs and applicants alike.
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Tags:
FAA’s testing standards
Categories:
Regulatory
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Mar
05
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Small business owners and entrepreneurs often feel like they’re little David with only a slingshot going into battle against strong and tested giants. After 16 years of battle, it is safe to assume AeroLEDS is slaying giants armed with a “slingshot” that was simply the ability to out-pace the competition. “I knew that the main competitive edge we held was our ability to work longer hours and more days, with less mistakes and higher efficacy” says Founder/CEO Nate Calvin. “My work ethic was formed by the ethos of family, my upbringing in a rural environment, and experience as a young kid in wrestling. After you get your butt kicked a few times, you figure out that hard work always pays off if you want a different result”. Calvin, a former wrestling, and current Jiu Jitsu practitioner is deftly taking large competitors down to the mat by leveraging advantages that an agile, small business has over big, established competitors. He explains, “We had no business on paper going up against any of these industry giants, but you have to play to your strengths. For the first dozen years of AeroLEDS, I was working 80-100 hours a week every single week with a dogged pursuit of survival. Like any grappling match, I could live with failure as long as I knew I worked at my best.”
[Read More...]
Tags:
AeroLeds
AEROLEDS’ CEO & FOUNDER
NATE CALVIN
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Feb
27
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Although January 1 starts the calendar new year, I feel like the vertical lift industry’s new year begins on the first day of HAI Heli-Expo, the world’s largest vertical lift industry trade show. 14,000-plus attendees as well as 600-plus companies representing manufacturers and services providers come together to share with our industry what’s new, as well as to connect with customers.
In 2022, we saw many new milestones across a variety of sectors.
Unmanned, Advanced Air Mobility and eVTOL aircraft, which seemed like a pipe dream for several years, moved the needle in a big way with many AAM and eVTOL aircraft flying for the first time, with some achieving certain levels of certification. There was a renewed call for the industry to embrace these new platforms when HAI President Jim Viola strongly said, “Let me be clear: AAM (advanced air mobility unmanned aircraft) and eVTOL (electric-powered vertical takeoff and landing aircraft) operations are complementary to conventional helicopters.” On the unmanned front, on Page 74 Rotor Pro spoke to OEMs and operators to learn who will service Unmanned, Advanced Air Mobility and eVTOL aircraft in our industry.
[Read More...]
Tags:
eVTOL
OEM
Rotor Pro at HeliExpo 2023
Categories:
Career Development
Opinion-Editorial
Helicopter Event Coverage
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Feb
20
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Not only have I seen numerous pilots contract it dozens of times, but I have also fallen victim to it. It lurks both day and night. No, I'm not referring to a strange illness that can only be cured by some supplement found on late-night infomercials. Instead, I'm talking about "Green-Dot Syndrome." It usually presents itself in the following manner. The on-call pilot, such as an HAA pilot, law enforcement pilot, etc., receives a flight request. The pilot takes a quick glance at their favorite weather source. The display shows the point of departure as "green," (indicated by the green dot on the weather platform). There’s another green dot near the destination. What more do you need? "It's all green!"
[Read More...]
Tags:
asos
aviation weather
awos
flight category colors
green dot syndrome
Categories:
Safety
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Feb
14
2023
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Posted by Admin
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In the past, some former military pilots have neglected to be honest when reporting they receive a Veterans Administration (VA) disability payment on their FAA FORM 8000-9, commonly known as the FAA medical application. Specifically, question 18Y that asks the applicant if they receive “medical disability benefits.” According to the FAA this means: “The applicant must report any disability benefits received, regardless of source or amount.” More specifically, it means whether you have ever received disability benefits, not only if you are currently receiving them.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Guide for Aviation Medical Examiners
Military to Civilian Aviation
Veterans Disablity
Categories:
Regulatory
Helicopter Sectors
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Feb
06
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Last March, I informed Lyn Burks, owner and editor-in-chief of this magazine, that this November/December issue would be my last column for Rotor Pro. Before I fade off into the journalistic sunset, I’d like to share with you how I came to write my column, my motivation to do so and discuss how, in my view, the industry has changed since I joined this magazine.
The wonderful opportunity to become a columnist for Rotor Pro happened more by unexpected opportunity than by design. In 1982, when I was working full time as chief pilot for UCSD Medical Center’s Life Flight program piloting a Bell 222 single pilot IFR in San Diego, I also attended San Diego State University full time and graduated with a degree in journalism. I could have never imagined I would one day have my own column. My first published article for Rotor and Wing magazine back in 1983 was entitled “Life and Death—an EMS Pilot’s Viewpoint.” In that same year, I was awarded the first Golden Hour Award presented by Helicopter Association International (HAI). The now annual award recognizes a person’s efforts to further the helicopter air ambulance concept in America.
[Read More...]
Tags:
CRM
Golden Hour
Helicopter Safety
randy mains
Categories:
Career Development
Safety
Opinion-Editorial