Articles for category Human Interest
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Mar
11
2019
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Posted by Admin
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Night Flight Concepts (NFC), based out of Waco, Texas, brings night vision training and technology from the military to the civilian masses who need to safely fly when the sun goes down. The company is known for cleverly marketing their night vision products and services under acronyms like L.E.A.S.E (Law Enforcement Air Support Entity) and S.O.A.R. (Special Operations Aviation Resources). With approx. 300 global customers, approx. 1,450 students trained, and approx. 3,500 NVGs inspected and repaired since 2006, another catchy acronym for NFC would be F.L.I.G.H.T. (Forward Looking Industrious Group Has Tenacity).
NFC began as a vision, and early side-hustle, that its co-founder and president, Adam Aldous, had while serving in Iraq as an Army Chinook pilot. (Aldous still hustles; if he doesn’t wake up earlier, his 5-year-old daughter gets him up every morning by 6:00—without fail.) When we caught up with him in early January, he was working on NFC’s 2019 marketing plans, but he graciously found the time to share his fascinating story.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Mar
02
2019
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I currently work for Air Evac Lifeteam as a base pilot supervisor and flight instructor. Essentially, I'm one of four pilots at an EMS base with the added responsibilities of scheduling and pilot oversight. I also help out the training department with new hires and recurrent flight training as needed.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Jan
15
2019
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Posted by Admin
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HeliTrak President Chris Nehls starts our interview with words that no writer wants to hear. “I’m afraid this is going to be a hard profile for you, as I’m a boring person.” Fortunately, the former farm boy from the Illinois corn belt was just letting his small-town Midwest modesty get the best of him. Nehls is a compelling risk-taker who leads a startup that is at the heart of bringing cutting-edge aviation autonomous technology to underserved aviators. After all, many pilots fly Robinson helicopters in the same airspace as those in avionic-laden aircraft. Shouldn’t Robinson pilots, and those who fly other smaller ‘common’ aircraft, also have access to collective pull down and autopilot technology?
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Dec
31
2018
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Posted by Admin
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Chief Warrant Officer 3 Taylor Galvin in Baghdad, Iraq, died earlier this year as a result of injuries sustained when his helicopter crashed in Sinjar, in Iraq’s Nineveh Province. Galvin’s helicopter crashed while conducting a partnered counterterrorism mission in support of the Operation Inherent Resolve coalition to defeat the Islamic State, according to a U.S. Central Command statement.
A decorated Vietnam veteran died earlier this year while piloting his personal helicopter. Schwarz was a commercial pilot, who had a love of flying.
Henry E. Schwarz was the president of the Virginia Helicopter Association prior to his passing. In his earlier years Schwarz was a U.S. Army helicopter pilot who served in the Vietnam War. He led more than 100 combat air assaults and received 29 medals for performance and service to the country. He was also a member of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society and a member of the Wilbur Wright Chapter, National Capital Region.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Oct
22
2018
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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?
Quality personnel is definitely the biggest challenge for our industry. It is tough to sell this trade to someone who has the mental aptitude to calculate and determine that the total ROI of the career path yields a negative return for those who have to take out a personal loan to obtain training. Flying is only a small portion of career success, and yet, the minimum educational requirements are a high school diploma and 200 hours of stick time. A successful business requires a wildly more advanced and educated population than what is minimally required to enter this profession.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Oct
09
2018
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Posted by Admin
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Like the company she founded, Jan Smith is opportunistic. For example, Smith’s corporation S3 Inc. (AKA “S-cubed”) stands for System Studies and Simulation, but it evolved and grew greatly from a software developer startup that began in Smith’s Alabama house with only three employees (Smith first hired “me, myself, and I”) to a Huntsville-based corporation that follows the money to where it leads and now wholly owns three subsidiaries: Kachemak Bay Flying Services (KBFS), Global Logistics Support Services (GLSS), and S3 International Inc. (S3I).
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Sep
04
2018
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the director of maintenance for Haverfield Aviation in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Haverfield operates 23 MD-500 D and E models, one Garlick UH-1H, and one Delta Enterprises UH-60 A model Blackhawk. Haverfield Aviation is an innovative operator that utilizes its fleet to service the transmission power grid throughout the United States. Haverfield offers comprehensive visual inspections, demolition and construction, maintenance, OPGW support, aerial tree trimming, helicopter lift services, FLIR, and drone services.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Aug
20
2018
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Posted by Admin
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If the key to Success City is preparing oneself to take advantage of opportunities, then Kaman’s Senior Director of Business Development Roger Wassmuth has worn that master key to a nub. “Taking advantage of opportunities that presented themselves on my path pretty much got me to where I am today. I enjoyed most of the path that I took,” he circumspectly says.
The path has been no leisurely stroll down a meandering way, rather Wassmuth’s career path ascended to his senior position beginning at a fast and purposeful pace. The Columbus, Ohio, native—and proud Ohio State University Buckeyes fan—entered the military in 1978 directly out of high school, where he served as a Navy maintenance technician. He even honed his maintenance skills earlier as a boy in his father’s full-service gas station. (You may remember those now extinct establishments: service attendants wore ties, and usually a smile, as they checked your oil, belts, battery, and tires while topping off your tank.) The boy started out pulling weeds on the station’s lot and eventually worked his way up to performing repairs, tune-ups, and oil changes.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Aug
06
2018
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Posted by Admin
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A gentleman on my professional Facebook page, claimed a certain unit was “the best aviation unit in the world.” While we pilots often make strong claims, I got to thinking: What criteria would qualify a unit to be considered one of the best in the world?
Naturally, I immediately thought about the unit I served with in Vietnam from October 1968 to October 1969. We were the Black Widows of Charlie Company assigned to the 101st Airborne Division. I was Black Widow 25. When I arrived we were based at LZ Sally, 7 kilometers northwest of Hue. Several months later we moved to the air base at Hue Phu Bai.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Jul
03
2018
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I’m currently the Eastern United States regional pilot training manager/check airman with Metro Aviation Inc.
An additional duty with Metro is that of maintenance/production test pilot at Paradigm Aerospace Corporation, known as PAC International, a wholly owned subsidiary of Metro Aviation. This responsibility has provided me a great opportunity to fly numerous types of airframes, including: Airbus EC145, EC135 (all variants), AS350 and the BK117 (all variants); Bell 206 series and the 407s,
(both analog) and the GX1000s and the MD900.
I’m also co-owner of Professional Helicopter Services LLC, one of the principles in 4D Aviation Consulting LLC.
I enjoyed a 26-year career with the Pennsylvania State Police retiring from the Aviation Unit in 2010.
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Categories:
Human Interest