Articles for category Helicopter Sectors
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Jul
04
2016
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I’ve just recently accepted the position of chief pilot at Sundance Helicopters in Las Vegas. This means I’m now responsible for the hiring, training, and scheduling of pilots under CFR part 135. We have anywhere between 35 and 60 pilots, depending on the time of year, which makes it a major challenge to balance the needs of the operation versus the needs of the human operating the helicopter. I work with a bunch of good people though, so I’m looking forward to leading the troops for the foreseeable future.
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Categories:
Human Interest
Training
Helicopter Sectors
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Jun
28
2016
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Posted by Admin
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If your answer to that question is “Yes,” but you are concerned about funding, or if the answer is “No,” but you want to turn that no into a yes, then this is the article for you.
Ever since helicopters first entered law enforcement in the 1940s, agencies have been facing the fiscal challenge of how to fund such capital-intensive assets. Agencies have historically—and in many cases, automatically—assumed that purchasing an aviation unit is the only way have one. This approach relies heavily upon a significant capital budget allocation that may only be available during periods characterized by: (1) a sound economy, (2) a growing population, and (3) a generally prosperous citizenship to absorb the requisite increase in taxes. Unfortunately, the timing that dictates the need for an air asset may not coincide with all of these conditions being met.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Jun
21
2016
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Posted by Admin
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For several decades now, illegal immigration and security along the Mexican border has been a political hot potato for citizens and legislators alike. Politicians have thrown it back and forth, hoping the potato would cool. Well, thanks to a certain 2016 U.S. presidential candidate turning up the heat, it seems the illegal immigration issue is hotter than ever. The fall of 2015 found Donald J. Trump making statements like, “Not only will we (the U.S.) build a wall on the Mexican border, but Mexico will pay for it.” That, and many other soundbites, turned a political potato into a political fireball, and the issue is once again on the American public’s front burner.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
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Jun
13
2016
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Posted by Admin
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Last month, the Professional Helicopters Pilots Association put out a statement regarding the Los Angeles Area Helicopter Noise Coalition (LAAHNC) Ongoing Efforts to Solicit Complaints Against Helicopter Noise which read:
The Professional Helicopter Pilots Association is troubled with the LAAHNC’s ongoing efforts to solicit helicopter complaints from Los Angeles residents. Although we encourage people to utilize the Federal Aviation Administration’s automated helicopter noise complaint system when they are bothered by helicopter noise, it appears the LAAHNC may be encouraging people to “game” the system and make multiple complaints on single incidents or simply complain about any sort of noise and attribute that noise to helicopters. The LAAHNC also continues to proclaim that no progress with regard to helicopter noise has been made.
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Categories:
Regulatory
Helicopter Sectors
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Jun
06
2016
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Posted by Admin
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For the aerial firefighting industry, 2016 is evolving into a transitional year. Fleet modernization is accelerating along with retirements of aging, legacy aircraft.
Specifically, operators are focusing on technology which will enhance safety, reliability, and capabilities. To cite one example, Helimax Aviation is in the final assembly stages of a 2,500 gallon internal water tank installation on its former US Army CH-47D Chinooks, with FAA certification anticipated by June 15th of this year. Upon certification, the tank is to be installed in its two Chinooks for the 2016 fire season, with USFS approval.
The system will be capable of multiple drops of varying capacity on the same spot, drawing water from sources as shallow as 18 inches. Turnaround times will be reduced, given the greater volume of water compared to the 2,000 gallon bucket system currently used. Other advantages include less downtime attributed to bucket failures, and long-line problems.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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May
31
2016
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Posted by Admin
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Once the stuff of science fiction, unmanned helicopters are increasingly becoming a part of daily life. For instance, the U.S. Department of Defense’s Fire Scout unmanned helicopter program, using both the small MQ-8B and the Bell 407-derived MQ-8C, provides the Navy’s littoral combat ships (LCS) with eyes in the sky that enhance both situational awareness and precision targeting. Furthermore, the Lockheed Martin/Kaman Aerospace K-MAX unmanned helicopter has distinguished itself by flying unmanned cargo missions for the Marines in Afghanistan, and is also being configured to support civilian applications such as firefighting, forest management, humanitarian aid, and oil & gas industry support. Meanwhile, about 2,400 Yamaha RMAX remotely controlled helicopters are being employed for crop-dusting around the world. Yamaha is also teaming with Northrop Grumman to develop an autonomous RMAX for the military called the R-Bat (Rotary Bat) for intelligence gathering.These are just some of the unmanned helicopters in use today, with more in development.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Feb
22
2016
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Posted by Admin
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Last year was difficult: stock market volatility, Eurozone volatility, financing volatility, and for those of us in the helicopter industry—oil price volatility. Just why is the price of oil so important to helicopter values? The answer goes back almost 70 years.
In 1948, oilmen and fur trappers in Louisiana were in a dispute about the oilmens’ marsh buggies (used to reach drill sites) trampling muskrat breeding grounds ... and in turn the trappers’ livelihood. A very young Bell Helicopters brought in a demonstrator to show how the oilmen could bypass the breeding grounds by replacing marsh buggies with helicopters. Bob Suggs took that idea and ran with it, forming Petroleum Helicopters Inc (PHI). From there, helicopters found full-time work in the oil fields. PHI still remains a strong presence in offshore oil & gas, although they have been surpassed in size in the intervening decades by Bristow Group and CHC Helicopters.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Dec
07
2015
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Posted by Admin
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With over 24 years of experience, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has achieved a strong reputation for delivering the very best pre-hospital emergency care to patients across the Midlands region of the United Kingdom (UK). From just one Bolkow 105 helicopter flying out of a temporary airbase in Shropshire, to three state-of-the-art EC135 helicopters serving the largest air ambulance region in England with a population of in excess of 6 million people, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity certainly has come a long way since 1991.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Nov
16
2015
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Posted by Admin
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HAITI
That simple, short two-syllable word immediately brings to mind another two-syllable word—EARTHQUAKE. However, the ramifications and repercussions from that tragic event were not short and simple. Even today, more than five years after the 7.0 MW catastrophic quake ruptured rocks—and lives— the reverberations continue.
Yet, it would be another tragedy to still see Haiti through the images of misery and mayhem that flooded the news media those years ago. For out of that rubble and ruin, forces arose more powerful than past casualties and chaos. Those forces: restored lives and hope. Yes, Haiti is still the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with many problems to solve. However, its proud people are anything but poor in spirit. They are determined to climb to new heights—in new ways.
One new way they are reaching those heights is through Ayiti Air Anbilans (Haiti Air Ambulance), a nonprofit organization that arose out of the 2010 rubble. In North America helicopter air ambulance is often taken for granted. In Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, it is seen as something to fight for and cherish.
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Categories:
Training
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Oct
26
2015
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Posted by Admin
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When it comes to training new helicopter pilots, the world’s military organizations are increasingly looking to third-party vendors for help. Choosing an outside organization, rather than doing training in-house, can help cash-strapped militaries exchange the cost of buying and maintaining their own training fleets for predictable fixed fees. Third-party contractors can also provide training in highly specialized areas that are just not cost-effective for militaries to provide for themselves.
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Categories:
Training
Helicopter Sectors