Articles for category Human Interest
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Sep
28
2020
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Posted by Admin
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There are wildfires in the woods, and then there are crazy-strange wildfires such as a recent one in Florida that was fueled by hundreds of cars. When you battle that kind of conflagration, you’re bound to learn a few new lessons. We certainly did.
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Tags:
Car lot aerial fire
Charlotte County Aviation Unit
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Human Interest
Training
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Aug
24
2020
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the regulatory compliance manager at Coptersafety in Helsinki, Finland, which means that I manage and direct all aspects of Coptersafety’s FAA training programs as well as our FAA Level D full-flight simulator qualifications. We operate H125, H145, AW139, and AW169 full flight simulators. Coptersafety is the largest independent simulator training center in the world. We provide helicopter specific initial training and type ratings, recurrent training, and specialty tailored training programs in our simulators for customers around the world. My family and I moved to Finland about three years ago from Canada after I left my previous position of nine-plus years with Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation where I held positions as a maintenance test pilot, site manager, and field service representative.
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Tags:
Coptersafety
Matt Presnal
Meet A Rotorcraft Pro
Categories:
Human Interest
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Jul
27
2020
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Posted by Admin
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TracPlus, headquartered in New Zealand, coordinates collaboration and communication between first responders on a shared platform that has now logged 6,500,000 flight hours, which seems to approximate how many academic credit hours the technology company’s CEO, Trevor McIntyre, has accumulated. The executive has a bachelor’s degree and postgraduate degrees from Rhodes University in his native land of South Africa, as well as a further postgraduate degree from the University of Natal, and a Master’s Degree (with first class honors) from the National College of Ireland. Then there are his two professional charters as well. He’s a Chartered Accountant through his fellowship in the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants. That’s impressive book-cracking. However, you’d be mistaken if you deemed McIntyre an ivory tower student detached from the real business world. Most of those degrees were earned in night classes while he pursued his career in the light of day day with Big Four accounting consulting firms, like KPMG and PWC, helping companies recognize their strengths and find their sometimes hidden flaws. “Studying that way (at night) taught me how to manage my time effectively and that you can fit more into your life than you believe that you can. I believe that education is a key part of constantly striving to improve yourself. My parents were both teachers and really emphasized the importance of lifelong learning to my brothers and I. It is a key part of what I try to embed into my teams.” says McIntyre.
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Tags:
Executive Watch
TracPlus
Categories:
Career Development
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Jun
29
2020
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the assistant chief pilot for Southern California and Hawaii for REACH Air Medical Services. I have responsibility for 44 pilots at 11 bases as well as three IFR reserve pilots and two instructor pilots/check airmen; it keeps me fairly busy. I enjoy working with pilots and flying first-rate helicopters in the single-pilot IFR role.
RPMN: Tell me about your first flight.
My first helicopter flight was in the U.S. Navy flight school at South Whiting Field near Pensacola, Florida. I was a student naval aviator and had been selected to fly helicopters in the United States Marine Corps. From the moment we lifted off in the TH-57C, I was hooked! I had flown fixed-wing prior: a T-34C at North Whiting Field, and Cessnas at the Don Scott airport affiliated with The Ohio State University when I was a college student there. My actual first flight was in a Cessna 152 at Ohio State.
RPMN: How did you get your start in helicopters?
As a Marine officer pilot at Whiting Field. Upon getting designated as a naval aviator and getting my wings, I was sent on to learn to fly the Sikorsky CH-53D Sea Stallion and eventually the CH-53E Super Stallion.
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Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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May
25
2020
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Posted by Admin
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After listening to Erickson Incorporated’s Vice President and General Manager Hayden Olson for an hour, one is not sure whether he just concluded an executive interview or finished a life coaching session. The momentary confusion is resolved upon reflection that Olson views all facets of his life as interconnected by his faith and calling to coach others. Thus, he can approach family life as building a high performing team as he similarly does on the job at Erickson where his team building is based on interpersonal relationships and caring. Away from family and work, he’s either coaching personal growth and fitness at the non-profit he founded, or he’s being coached by his “Core Four” board of mentoring friends to which he holds himself accountable for personal and professional growth. The interview all comes together when one realizes that Olson is not only an executive at one of the leading global rotorcraft manufacturing and aviation service providers of utility aircraft, but he’s also a determined, uplifting coach who expects himself and his teams to consistently perform. Olson is Nick Saban in a Fred Rogers’ cardigan. Actually, he’s more likely to wear athletic gear and a T-shirt; which is how he inauspiciously started his business career.
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Categories:
Career Development
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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May
06
2020
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Posted by Admin
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What is your current position?
Currently, I’m the lead pilot and Instructor pilot flying King Air 300s in Afghanistan for an aerospace company that provides intelligence, reconnaissance, and surveillance on a government contract.
Tell me about your first flight.
My dad was an Air Force pilot stationed in Orlando, Florida. I was nine years old and my dad loaded the family up in a Cessna 210 for a week in Naples, Florida. During the flight home he let me sit in the right front seat with the headset on. During cruise flight my dad looked over and said, “You have the controls.” For the short time I held the yoke I knew all I wanted to be was a pilot. He never pushed me to be a military pilot, but he knew exactly what he was doing by letting me think I was flying that plane.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Apr
13
2020
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
From the moment I started learning about becoming a helicopter pilot, I was not 100% certain, but I saw myself doing something that would help people; air ambulance was on that list. I consider myself both lucky and grateful to have achieved that goal. Today I’m a line pilot flying an H135P2+ for Air Methods Corporation in the eastern U.S. Additionally, I’m an account executive for Rotorcraft Pro Media Network helping helicopter businesses promote their services to the industry.
RPMN: Tell me about your first flight.
My first flight was way back in 1988. My eyes had always jumped skyward whenever I saw a helicopter cruise by. I grew up directly under the flight path of runway 1R at Washington Dulles International Airport and regularly saw Concordes arriving and departing which was awesome, but there was always something about helicopters like that of the Fairfax County Police Dept. that blew me away. My Dad was in the Army and in the mid-to-late ‘80s there were a number of movies released about Vietnam; Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, MIssing in Action and so on. Naturally, they featured Hueys, etc. and they just captured my imagination. I used to beg my Dad to take me up on a helicopter and I thought maybe this was a possibility. Well to my surprise for my 13th birthday he took me to Reagan National Airport and I took a 10-minute tour over D.C. in a Beige 206. To say that this was one of the most impactful moments in my life is the understatement of the millenium
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Mar
30
2020
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Posted by Admin
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John Talmadge, director of worldwide sales for avionics company, Avidyne, says he didn’t choose to work in the helicopter industry; instead, he was born into it. “My dad was a Vietnam War pilot, doing what he called his (high school) ‘senior trip’ to Southeast Asia in 1970,” Talmadge says. “They had nose art on their aircraft back then. The lady painted on his helicopter had a baby bump. That bump was me.”
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Feb
17
2020
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: In your view, what is the greatest challenge for the helicopter industry at this moment in time?
The helicopter industry doesn’t seem to face pilot shortages in the same way as commercial airlines do but we did experience a drop in the number of people coming through during the 2008-9 recession. There was a five-year gap with not much training going on, and because of that there is a massive skills gap and it’s difficult to find pilots with the right level of experience.
Additionally, there is a huge gap in training between PPL to Instructor and single-engine flying charter. It’s difficult for new pilots to build their hours to be considered for employment.
At Castle Air we wouldn’t employ anyone with fewer than 1,000 hours, but how do new pilots go from 185 (CPL level) to 1,000 hours? It’s difficult for us to fund training up to 1,000 hours and furthermore there are not enough smaller helicopters around to build experience. We’re trying to have more two-seater aircraft at Castle Air to help alleviate the issue and provide some training, but without a robust training regime the gap is going to remain.
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Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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Dec
30
2019
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Posted by Admin
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Rotorcraft Pro highlights industry leaders who have contributed to help better the helicopter community in 2019 in our Best of Safety, Best of Education, Best of People and the Best of Legacy series.
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Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest