Articles for category Career Development
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Feb
02
2026
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Posted by Admin
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The helicopter training community has long been built on mentorship, credibility, and shared experience. For generations, knowledge has been passed from one aviator to the next through hard-earned expertise and honest, practical instruction. Today, that tradition is threatened by a growing issue: false narratives, manufactured authority, and AI-generated content presented as fact. With a camera or an internet connection, anyone can publish training commentary, and because online platforms reward attention rather than accuracy, the newest and most impressionable members of our industry are increasingly exposed to misinformation with real-world consequences.
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Tags:
helicopter training ai generated content
Helicopter training social media
Categories:
Career Development
Safety
Opinion-Editorial
Training
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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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Oct
19
2025
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Posted by Admin
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Many times, while flying a UH-60 Blackhawk while stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, I thought about how great this job is! There were also many times I thought about potential job prospects that would be available to me as a helicopter pilot in the civilian world if I decided to leave the military. To be honest, I overvalued my military experience and how it would transfer to the civilian aviation market. I thought: What company wouldn’t want to hire me? I flew one of the most advanced military helicopters at the time and I was well trained. I flew VIP’s, conducted many sling-load, firefighting, disaster relief, IFR and NVG operations. I was a catch! I would easily walk into one of those corporate aviation departments I heard so much about, and walk out with a job offer. I was wrong.
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Tags:
Michael Toth
Military to Civilian Aviation
Categories:
Career Development
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Aug
11
2025
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Posted by Admin
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To put me in perspective: I didn’t have a squadron command tour, no beltway time, and I wasn’t a ring knocker. I was just a fleet average major trying to do above average work. I was an XO, a schoolhouse advanced IP, a JTAC, a school-trained ASO, and I even flew Marine One for a bit. So, I thought I had the experience to succeed in the civilian HEMS landscape and that’s what I wanted to do. I had no interest in the airlines, agriculture or utility. With that background on me, here is my take on challenges and wins I realized in my transition to civilian flight and my final recommendations for those making the transition.
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Chris Janecek
Military to Civilian Helicopters
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Career Development
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Jul
14
2025
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Posted by Admin
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Remember back when Apple introduced its iPhone with iOS. The new operating system transformed Apple’s cell phone into a powerful handheld computer. Worthy competitors soon followed with their own smartphone operating systems, such as Android. Now, imagine if an operating system had been introduced that transformed any old cell phone into a smart phone. Suddenly, Blackberry phones and non-smart Nokias would have been upgraded into smartphones! This analogy is basically what Skyryse (pronounced sky-rise) is attempting with their proprietary SkyOS, which they say is “the first universal operating system for flight” that upgrades “any helicopter or airplane” with pilot-assisting autonomous flight capability that far exceeds today’s standard autopilot. Does that sound too lofty—too pie-in-the-sky? (One can almost hear tennis personality John McEnroe exclaiming in a commercial, “Choose any aircraft?? You cannot be serious!!”) Well, welcome to the serious challenge that faces Warren Curry, VP of sales for Skyryse. He explains, “In aviation, there’s a lot of ‘vaporware.’ What I mean is that there are a lot of companies over-promising technology as being almost available, but it’s actually years away…. People see (our SkyOS operating system and coming Skyryse One helicopter) as being half a decade away, but our FAA certification is imminent. We’re shipping Skyryse One in 2026.”
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Tags:
SkyOS operating system
Skyryse One helicopter
Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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May
27
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I work as a utility helicopter pilot in Alaska, where a helicopter is often the only way to transport passengers and supplies to remote areas. Conducting aerial surveys, pipeline, and power-line inspections, slinging equipment to mountain tops or conducting crew changes for offshore platforms and container ships in the Bell 206 and 407 are just a few examples of my various tasks. The ever-changing weather can be a challenge: Besides extreme temperatures, we often deal with complex weather patterns that can shift rapidly and unpredictably.
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Tags:
Jani Hartung
Utility Helicopter
Categories:
Human Interest
Career Development
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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.
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Tags:
Helicopter Pilot Shortage
Categories:
Career Development
Opinion-Editorial
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Sep
23
2024
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
Right now, I been working as the assistant chief pilot of Metro Aviation Inc. in Shreveport, Louisiana, as an instructor and check airman for the EC-135 and EC-145 and as an instructor on the Bell 407 for our programs, I flew the line for five years and three years ago I was invited to the Helicopter Flight Training Center and I’ve also worked as director of training at Night Flight Concepts Inc. in Waco, Texas, as an NVG Instructor pilot for the last 10 years. I’m very happy with both companies. They've been like family since I came to the U.S., which is my new homeland.
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Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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Sep
09
2024
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Posted by Admin
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It was bound to happen. As the American workforce and aerospace industry becomes more diverse, we now have two consecutive Executive Watch profiles, published last issue on Anthony Rios and this time on Ray Lamas, that feature second-generation Hispanic Americans who make positive contributions to the vertical-lift industry and show how healthy immigration fuels American economic growth and ingenuity. Lamas said, “Everyone is born somewhere and I was very fortunate to be born in the United States.”
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Tags:
Loft Dynamics
Ray Lamas
vertical lift industry
Categories:
Company Profiles
Career Development
Human Interest