Articles for category Helicopter Sectors
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Feb
14
2022
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Posted by Admin
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Last year may have been a tough year for the world in general due to COVID-19, but there was still lots of good news when it came to the latest and greatest in helicopter technology. Here's what the industry achieved in 2021.
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Tags:
4K cockpit video recording system
AW609 AC4 twin-engine tiltrotor
commercial S-70M
EDAT
electronically distributed anti-torque
helicopter electric motors
hybrid helicopters
S-70M Type Certificate
Vita Rescuer System
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Oct
18
2021
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Posted by Admin
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The teaming of manned search and rescue (SAR) helicopters with unmanned aerial systems (AKA drones) is an idea whose time has come. Remotely controlled drones can be immediately dispatched to search for victims and identify landing zone hazards while a SAR helicopter is preparing to fly. Once aloft, the SAR helicopter crew can use the drone’s data collected to reduce their flight time to the victims.
“Unmanned systems can reduce exposures and risks to SAR personnel as part of their operations,” said Johnny T. Doo, group leader for NASA Transformative Vertical Flight Working Group-4: Public Services and also president of International Vehicle Research Inc. “It's a combination that is becoming more and more popular because there are tasks in SAR that are not human-friendly,” added Juan Plaza, a UAV/general aviation consultant. “Drones can search for victims at night during fires and other environmental conditions that pose dangers to manned aircraft.”
The big question for SAR operators is just how far the teaming concept can go. Given advances in artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous (self-flying) drones, and the growing computing power onboard manned helicopters, it seems possible that tomorrow’s SAR helicopters could fly out accompanied by swarms of self-coordinating surveillance drones and that these drones could do more than just relay visual data back to their human operators.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Aug
09
2021
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Posted by Admin
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Some of the biggest questions military pilots ask when transitioning to the civilian pilot sector are: “What kind of flying jobs are out there for me?” “Which helicopter jobs am I qualified for?” “How much money will I make?” Plus many more questions. To find answers, we looked at our own niche in the helicopter industry and asked our friends in other flying jobs for the information to assemble an overview.
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Tags:
Military to Civilian Aviation
Military to Civilian Helicopter Mechanics
Military to Civilian Pilots
Military to Civilian Transition Aviation
US Army Helicopter Pilots
US Army Helicopter Salary
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Career Development
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Jun
14
2021
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Posted by Admin
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For any helicopter pilot paying the scantest bit of attention to the news, the conclusion is inescapable: Commercial unmanned aircraft – a.k.a. drones – are no longer toys. They have grown in size, payload capacity, mission profiles, and range to become bonafide aerial platforms.
The fact that commercial unmanned aircraft are achieving ‘critical mass’ (the minimum size or amount of something required to start or maintain a venture) raises big questions for helicopter pilots: Will the advent of drones take work away from humans? Or does this emergence open up vast new possibilities for aerial applications – and new employment opportunities for pilots as a result?
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Tags:
Helicopter Urban Air Mobility
UAM
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Apr
19
2021
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Posted by Admin
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NASA says it best. It’s gonna take a revolution! They call it revolutionary vertical lift technology (RVLT), and how right they are. According to a PowerPoint presentation from Johnson, Silva (2018), a revolution in design, sizing, propulsion, blade design, rotor performance, geometry, and handling qualities will be required for urban air mobility (UAM) to evolve to a viable and sustainable system. Additionally, they say, their baseline system must “design aircraft, which will produce less than 50% of the climate-impacting emissions of today’s fielded technology” and those aircraft must be whisper quiet.
UAM is an obvious next-step in urban transportation systems. After Lyft and Uber run their course, what’s next in urban mobility? Elon Musk is headed underground with his tunnels. But aren’t tunnels just an upgrade to the London tube system? What’s left is above ground. Disney likes the Monorail. China and Japan are both strong proponents of a monorail system and are heavy users as well. Moreover, whereas monorails are technically “above ground”, they are still attached to the surface. That leaves the airspace directly above the ground, but not quite high enough to enter the national airspace system (NAS), as a last frontier.
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Tags:
revolutionary vertical lift technology (RVLT)
urban air mobility (UAM)
urban transportation systems
urban unmanned aerial system (UAS)
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Helicopter Sectors
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Mar
15
2021
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Posted by Admin
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The aerial firefighting industry faced unprecedented challenges throughout 2020. For starters, it was a record year for wildfires, particularly in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Colorado, as well as uncharacteristically active in Oregon.
At a glance, the numbers show a significant increase in wildland fire events over the previous year. According to year-to-date National Interagency Fire Center statistics as of 13 November 2020, 49,815 fires destroyed 8,750,197 acres. For the 2019 comparable period, 45,840 fires burned 5,418,234 acres. All indications are that dry conditions will persist, especially in the West, and fire seasons will get longer and more destructive, as the fuel load—the vegetation that will dry out in the summer—increases. Along with this, the trend toward residential development in the wildland/urban interface makes the fires that much more catastrophic—and more deadly.
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Tags:
Aerial Firefighting
Boeing CH-47D Chinooks
call-when-needed (CWN) contracts
exclusive-use (EU) contracts
Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawks
Type-1 helicopters
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
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Mar
01
2021
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Posted by Admin
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I find it curious that the first flight on the surface of another planet will be attempted via a helicopter.
As I write this article (February 2021), we are only days away from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover landing on the surface of Mars. This new Mars rover is on the cusp of plunging into the Martian atmosphere to land on the Red Planet and is equipped with panoramic cameras, subsurface radar, laser micro imager, x-ray spectrometers, and a weather station. But there’s one more innovative piece of equipment that will be dropped from the belly of the Mars rover onto the planet’s surface: Ingenuity, the Mars helicopter!
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Tags:
Airbus Helicopters
H135
Ingenuity
Mars Helicopter
the Mars helicopter!
Categories:
Human Interest
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
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Jan
25
2021
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Posted by Admin
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If you look up the word ‘multi-mission’ in the dictionary, chances are that you won’t see a helicopter alongside it. But you should, because there are few transportation platforms as multi-mission capable. In the real world, the words ‘helicopter’ and ‘multi-mission’ are synonymous.
“I’ve heard people describe helicopters as ‘the SUVs of the air’,” said James Viola, president/CEO of Helicopter Association International (HAI). “The industry’s constant drive to create platforms that are as light as possible while using the most powerful engines available has resulted in highly flexible aircraft that can be adapted to multiple tasks and carry all kinds of loads internally and externally, and perform so many functions so well.”
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Tags:
Aerial Firefighting
Forestry and Stream Restoration Helicopters
Multi Mission Helicopters
Search and Rescue Helicopters
Sikorsky YR-4B helicopters
Vought-Sikorsky VS-300 rotorcraft
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Opinion-Editorial
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Oct
13
2020
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Posted by Admin
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“My only point is to remind those of us who receive the benefits of altruistic servants to be thankful for their desire to do some of the dirtiest work on the planet. Every day (not once or twice in a lifetime, but every day) these amazing people intentionally put themselves into the most dangerous situations and environments. They inject themselves into people’s lives at the lowest points, when people are most scared, most sick, and generally at their worst. They do this repeatedly to help someone in need, to make that person’s life better.”
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Tags:
EMS
Front line workers
HAA
HAA Medics
HAA Pilots
HEMS Pilots
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Opinion-Editorial
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Jul
20
2020
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Posted by Admin
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Once upon a time, the world of law enforcement (LE) helicopters was a relatively simple place. LE pilots flew surveillance and pursuit missions in aid of their respective police departments, using basic helicopters that were aerial observation platforms and little else.
Times have changed: Today’s LE helicopters and LE pilots are affected by trends such as a move to multiple-role missions, advanced cockpit technology, and unmanned aerial systems (aka drones); among others.
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Tags:
Law Enforcement Helicopters
Public Safety Aviation and Covid
Public Safety Aviation Units
Public Safety Helicopters
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Helicopter Sectors