Articles for category Human Interest
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Sep
28
2026
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the chief instructor for Robinson Helicopter Company.
RPMN: Tell me about your first experience with helicopters.
My first helicopter ride was in a Hughes 500 when I was about five years old, through my father’s work. Unfortunately, I was too young to remember much about it. The first one I really remember, was in a Bell 47 in Australia when I was 15. By then, my interest in helicopters was already well established, so that flight was a memorable experience.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Sep
28
2026
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Posted by Admin
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Some pilots fly for work. Some fly for the love of it. And then there’s Sebastián Díaz — a Chilean aviator with over 9,000 total flight hours across helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft, and gliders.He flies to the most remote and unforgiving corners of the planet in conditions that can push any aircraft and crew to their limits.
Every year, between March and April, Sebastián organizes what has become one of the most extraordinary private helicopter expeditions in the world: a flight deep into Chilean Patagonia, pushing south until the continent simply runs out of land. This past season, a group of four Robinson helicopters — two R44s and two R66s — reached Cape Horn, the mystical southernmost tip of South America, where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans collide in one of the most violent stretches of water on Earth.
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Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Sep
07
2026
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Posted by Admin
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Dror Yahav is a former fighter pilot, a “fighter jock,” which is not exactly fertile ground for an innovative executive who is pioneering state-of-the-art avionics for helicopters. Yet, the current CEO of Universal Avionics had a life-changing observation while later flying in a field that has been aggressively recruiting talent and skill away from helicopters—the airline sector. Again, not exactly where one looks for people to add to the rotorcraft industry. How Yahav came to contribute to the rotorcraft industry is a life story that begins in his boyhood…
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Tags:
CEO of Universal Avionics
Executive Watch - Dror Yahav
Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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Aug
04
2026
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
Founder and CEO of Anthelion Helicopters and I’m a helicopter experimental test pilot.
RPMN: Tell me about your first experience with helicopters?
It was while I was on my first ever cruise as a teenager in Alaska. We did a trip up to the glaciers to go dog sledding—or in our case, falling off, because we were terrible at controlling our sled! We took an AS350 AStar up there and back, and I remember thinking just how cool it,and the pilot, were and how complicated it seemed. From then on, I started reading some fiction novels with one of the key characters being a helicopter pilot, who naturally got all the girls, so I was hooked on beginning the journey!
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Tags:
Alex Chaunt
Anthelion Helicopters
Meet A Rotor Pro
Categories:
Human Interest
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Jun
01
2026
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Posted by Admin
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What is your current position?
First and foremost, my most important position is I’m a dad to five wonderful young ladies, and husband to another lady. I also have one son. I have two primary jobs in the rotor-wing industry. For my day job I am a line pilot for Precision LLC. We specialize in aerial fire suppression in the AS332 Super Puma. For my fun-side job, I work for Euro Safety as an Instructor. Euro Safety provides factory equivalent training in all types of airframes. I specialize in the Bell medium and light products.
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Tags:
aerial fire suppression
AS332 Super Puma
Meet a Rotor Pro Cody Bosek
Precision LLC
Categories:
Human Interest
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May
18
2026
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Posted by Admin
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Way back in 1965, a mop-top band from Liverpool was singing their new #1 hit, “Ticket to Ride,” to fans on both sides of the pond. That same magical year, a man far less famous than John, Paul, George and Ringo—Elling Halvorson—began selling tickets to ride on his Grand Canyon helicopter tours. Those hot tickets have been snatched up by so many fans over the decades, that the tour operator that Halvorson founded, Papillon Helicopters, has become the #1 helicopter tour operator, not only on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, but over the entire world.
Papillon Helicopters’ fleet of 44 helicopters, 16 airplanes, and hundreds of employees safely fly approx. 300,000 fans per year to experience the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Lake Mead, Valley of Fire, Lake Powell, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and of course, Papillon’s “lit” hometown of Las Vegas.
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Tags:
Jake Tomlin Papillon Helicopters
Papillon Helicopters
Categories:
Human Interest
Company Profiles
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Mar
22
2026
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am a contracting pilot. I have been working seasonally between my homeland of Australia and Canada for the last eight years with most of my recent experience being in firefighting and mineral exploration in the Bell 212 and 407. I’ve recently started posting some of my work adventures on social media under the name “Bushpiloting” to share my experiences with others while having fun!
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Tags:
Contract Helicopter Pilots
Darcy Taylor
Meet A Rotor Pro
Categories:
Human Interest
Helicopter Sectors
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Mar
08
2026
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Posted by Admin
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If there was a Mount Rushmore for the giants of helicopter history, the late Frank Robinson would be carved in granite. The rotorcraft pioneer’s driving vision was to put a sophisticatedly simple, affordable light helicopter in the sky. So, he left his position as a chief engineer at Hughes Aircraft to start Robinson Helicopter Company at the draft table in his Palos Verdes, California, living room where he began to will his vision into reality by founding Robinson Helicopter Company 53 years ago.
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Tags:
David Smith CEO President Robinson
Robinson Helicopter
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Feb
09
2026
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Posted by Admin
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In the far south of South America, between the fruit valleys of central Chile and the dramatic landscapes of Patagonia, operates Aerotoscana — an aviation company that blends the precision of modern flight with the adventurous spirit of its founders, María Jesús Ardura and Felipe Reitz. What began as a shared dream has grown into a reputable helicopter operation known for its professionalism, versatility, and innovative approach to rotorcraft aviation.
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Tags:
Aerotoscana
Helicopter Operators Chile
Helicopter Operators Patagonia
Categories:
Human Interest
Company Profiles
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Jan
19
2026
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Posted by Admin
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Swelling rivers overflowed their banks and blustering winds fell trees as Hurricane Helene hit the Appalachian Mountains on Friday, 27 September 2024. The Category 4 hurricane approached the coast of Florida earlier in the week, beginning its ravaging course across the United States Southeast. In western North Carolina, the floodwaters and wind quickly destroyed roads and cut off communication for the communities nestled in the mountains.
Within 24 hours, while most of the country was still stunned by the rising fatality numbers, several groups began organizing and deploying their aviation assets. Among these aviation assets was a JAARS Robinson R66 helicopter, which took off from Jungle Aviation and Relay Service (JAARS) Townsend (N52), North Carolina, the morning of the 28th to survey the Avery County Airport (7A8) and its surrounding area.
Avery County Airport has a longstanding history with the JAARS aviation training department. JAARS, a mission aviation organization that covers the “last mile” of missions across global geographical barriers, has trained their pilots in the mountains and airstrips surrounding 7A8 for 50 years. With the JAARS base located south of Charlotte, North Carolina, the local Appalachian Mountains provide specific mountain flying opportunities that reflect similar terrain challenges around the world.
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Tags:
JAARS
Jungle Aviation and Relay Service
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest