Articles for category Helicopter Sectors
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
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
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
Jul
20
2020
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Posted by Admin
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CWO Shane Engelauf knows what Romano is talking about. Engelauf is chief pilot with the Charlotte County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) Air Support Unit in Punta Gorda, Florida. Thanks to resource sharing among the agencies within his jurisdiction, Engelauf’s missions have expanded beyond police work to encompass firefighting, rescue, air ambulance, and even mosquito spraying on behalf of Charlotte County.
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Tags:
Aviation Law Enforcement
Helicopter Avionics Advances
Helicopter Multiple Role
Primary Flight Display
Unmanned Aerial Aircraft
Unmanned Helicopters
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Training
Jul
06
2020
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Posted by Admin
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Combine an AS350 with doors off, an automatic machine gun, and an open desert range with your own tourist trigger finger and you've got “The Ultimate Thrill Ride In Las Vegas,” also known as Gunship Helicopters.
For many, just flying through the Mojave Desert mountains in a helicopter is a thrill. Add a military M249 SAW (squad automatic weapon), zombies, and AR500 reactionary steel targets, and you’ve got Gunship Helicopters’ next-level exhilaration and firepower.
The partners at Gunship Helicopters are a living testimony that there’s glory in overcoming obstacles. Gunship Helicopters is owned by father-and-son duo Robert and Matt Fahnestock, partner Randy Saenz, and managed by Brad Scanlon. This adventure tourism company was built on hard work, determination, and
only taking yes for an answer.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Jun
01
2020
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Posted by Admin
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Manned-unmanned teaming (MUM-T) is a term that helicopter pilots need to remember. MUM-T refers to efforts by helicopter OEMs to integrate unmanned rotary and fixed-wing drones and helicopters into functional, teaming relationships – based on Aristotle’s observation that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
In the case of MUM-T, combining drones and helicopters creates teams that can do more than drones or helicopters alone. A case in point: Imagine a military ‘tank killer’ helicopter receiving targeting data from a fleet of autonomous surveillance drones. The drones would be tasked to spot enemy tanks and send their coordinates to the helicopter’s weapons system. The pilot/crewman in charge would then simply decide which targets to fire upon.
In the civilian world, MUM teams could be highly effective when it comes to search and rescue, police aerial searches, and humanitarian relief efforts. In fact, any mission in which wide-area, time-sensitive aerial surveillance is required is a natural for MUM-T -- especially if the drones are either autonomous or flown from the ground, leaving pilot(s) to focus on actionable intelligence gathered by them.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
Apr
20
2020
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Posted by Admin
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As a person of faith, I never really felt I was in complete control of things . . . at least not the big things.
Sure, I can control little things like when to go to bed and how many hours to work in a day. But when it comes to big things, like what career path my daughter will take or what my business will look like in 10 years, or when I will hang up my wings (rotary-wings, of course) for the last time, I believe I am not in total control of those things.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Mar
23
2020
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Posted by Admin
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If asked to describe the present state of the privately operated aerial firefighting industry in the U.S., I would call it robust, thanks in large part to aggressive fleet upgrades prompted by customer requirements and vendor initiatives. Including UH-60 Blackhawks and CH-47Ds, operators have acquired turbine-powered equipment that is at least one generation newer than most of the current fleet of medium and heavy Cold War and Vietnam War-era helicopters. At the same time, some regional airliners have transitioned to new lives as large air tankers.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Feb
24
2020
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Posted by Admin
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Health and fitness is one of those topics pilots would prefer not to talk about—specifically if there are problems with their personal health and fitness that could affect their flying status. But not talking about health and fitness poses risks to pilots, the people they fly, and the aircraft they operate. If pilots suffering from serious health/fitness issues manage to stay under the FAA’s radar and keep flying, they could experience a physical crisis in the air.
Addressing pilot health and fitness in a positive, career-saving manner is what Delta P is all about. Based in Port St. Lucie, Florida, Delta P helps pilots and their employees deal with aeromedical safety, aerospace physiology, and other human factors that can compromise pilot performance.
“Ninety percent of all aviation accidents are related to human factors and human performance,” said Dr. Dudley Crosson, who founded Delta P in 1988. “Yet, whenever pilots go for training, the great majority of their training is focussed on system failures. We need to start taking human factors more seriously because they are causing most of the accidents.”
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Career Development
Jan
20
2020
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Posted by Admin
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Troubleshooting an intermittent yaw caution light with the autopilot and FCDS installed can be a pain sometimes. Since both the yaw SAS SEMA and the yaw autopilot SEMA are mounted on the same control tube at the Fenestron, the yaw SEMA 1 can influence yaw SEMA 2, or vice versa. The trick is to separate the systems by turning off the autopilot and pulling into hover; if the yaw light indication returns, it should be the yaw SEMA 2. If not, it should be yaw SEMA 1.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors