Articles for category Human Interest
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Sep
26
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the CEO of Aerotoscana, a Chilean helicopter company. I serve as the chief pilot, flying a Robinson R66 primarily for agricultural operations, including frost control and fruit drying, with a special focus on Chile’s cherry growers. I carry out this work alongside my wife, a team of engineers, and strong accounting support, allowing us to perform each operation with the highest level of dedication and professionalism.
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Tags:
Aerotoscana
Felipe Reitz Lobo
Helicopter Cherry Drying Chile
Helicopter tours Patagonia chile
Heliglamping chile
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Jul
29
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am currently assigned as the commander of the Aircraft Support Branch, Special Enforcement Division, Kentucky State Police (KSP).
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Tags:
Aircraft Support Branch
Captain Timothy Brad Austin
Kentucky State Police Aviation
Categories:
Human Interest
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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
12
2025
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Posted by Admin
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We catch Gretchen Johnson in a rare hour of relatively free time. She was in Orlando, having headed south from her metro-Atlanta home, when she said in a cultured, soft Southern accent that would make Scarlett O’Hara sit up and take notice, “Thank you so much for choosing to spend an hour with me; I’m flattered. Hopefully, something I say will be worth repeating. It’s wonderful being down here in Florida because now Miss Georgia can’t decide whether she’s winter or spring.”
Make up your cotton-pickin’ mind, Miss Georgia!
It would be wrong to base an assumption on Johnson’s accent and Southern manners that she’s some antebellum belle. The CEO and founder of DaVinciSKY was in Orlando for a “Women in Power” symposium—and that could be a clever pun because Johnson’s flagship company and its subsidiaries feature helicopters in power-line construction, inspection, and maintenance.
[Read More...]
Tags:
DaVinciSKY
power line patrol helicopter
Utility Helicopter
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Human Interest
Company Profiles
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Mar
24
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the director of safety at Winco Powerline Services. We perform aerial powerline work which includes new constructions, maintenance, inspections and emergency response. I also serve on the Board of Directors for Vertical Aviation International.
RPMN: Tell me about your first experience with helicopters.
As a passenger in a CH47, I was tired, cold, wet and The Royal Air Force was three hours late. I think they were on their coffee break!
After that my first ever lesson was in 2005, I was on leave in Australia and I took an intro flight from a company called Chopper Line just outside Brisbane. It was fantastic and I got hooked. Then, I started flight training at the Bristow Academy in Florida at the end of 2009.
[Read More...]
Tags:
David McColl
Director Of Safety
Pipeline Patrol Helicopters
Winco Powerline Services
Categories:
Human Interest
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Feb
03
2025
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Posted by Admin
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For units of the New York Army National Guard, the year could not have started busier. In early May, Bravo Company of the 3-142nd Assault Helicopter Brigade (B. Co 3-142 AHB) deployed four Sikorsky UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters to Gulfport, Mississippi, to participate in the MARSOC 24-4 exercise. Meanwhile, Alpha Company of the 3-142 Assault Helicopter Brigade (A. Co 3-142 AHB) was deployed with four UH-60M Blackhawk helicopters and 45 personnel to Barbados to take part in the multinational exercise named “Tradewinds 24.” This annual exercise, organized by the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), took place from May 4 to May 16 with the participation of 25 countries. The focus during this 39th iteration of the exercise was mainly on improving interoperability and effectively executing both maritime and land operations, but it also dealt with humanitarian assistance and disaster response.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Helicopter Bridage
MARSOC 24-4
New York Army National Guard Aviation Unit
Tradewinds 24
Categories:
Human Interest
Company Profiles
Opinion-Editorial
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Jan
13
2025
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
Director of maintenance for Helicopter Institute and Longhorn Helicopters. We are a Part 141 flight school, a Part 135 operator, a Part 145 repair station, and maintain just over 20 rotorcraft representing, at one time, five different manufacturers in-house. Helicopter Institute functions as a one-stop shop for pretty much any training need folks can have in rotorcraft aviation. If it’s done in a helicopter, we do it or train it.
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Tags:
Austin Rowles
Director Of Maintenance
Helicopter Institute
Categories:
Human Interest
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Nov
25
2024
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I'm the President of the “Vuichard Recovery Aviation Safety Foundation” (VRASF.org). We're a non-profit organization and I'm proud to serve as an international helicopter safety expert, keynote speaker, flight instructor, and producer of new safety videos to improve global helicopter safety. In Switzerland, I also run a small flight school for advanced training, including mountain ratings.
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Tags:
Claude Vuichard
global helicopter safety
Vuichard Recovery Aviation Safety Foundation
Vuichard recovery technique
Categories:
Human Interest
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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