Articles for category Company Profiles
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Oct
24
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Aviation Specialties Unlimited
Night Vision – Business Vision
Article, Photos & Video by Lyn Burks
Helicopter flight training wearing Night Vision Goggles (NVG) is as exciting and interesting as any other new skill or technique that can be learned in a helicopter. It’s right up there with learning touchdown autorotations! The one and only buzzkill is that, as the name of the device suggests, you must be using them at night. It’s all fun and games --- until your flight-training block is from 0200 – 0400.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Training
Safety
Regulatory
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Oct
10
2013
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Posted by Admin
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White Hot: Adding a Thermal View with EVS
By Rick Adams
I was driving on the turnpike through western Massachusetts a number of years back, enroute to Boston, and the fog was thick. I should have pulled off and waited for better conditions, but I had a hotel reservation for that night and appointments the next morning. So I followed the only visual aids I had – the stripes on the side of the road and the taillights of the car in front of me. If the car ahead had gone off a cliff, well …
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Training
Safety
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Aug
23
2013
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Posted by Admin
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As a working helicopter pilot of 22 years, I have watched the bumpy business roads that MD Helicopters has travelled. Although the legacy of MD is much older than its owner, Lynn Tilton, it seems like it may have inherited its resilient scrappiness from the company’s matriarch.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Jul
26
2013
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Posted by Admin
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There is an old aviation axiom that goes like this: How do you make a million dollars in aviation? Answer: Start out with two million dollars!
It doesn’t matter if you have designs on becoming a pilot, mechanic, or business owner, the aviation industry can be very unforgiving. There is virtually nothing easy about being successful, especially in the rough and tumble world of flight training. Inject a helicopter into the equation and your “difficulty factor” goes up exponentially.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Jul
05
2013
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Posted by Admin
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When I was a kid, my mom always had a ready supply of catchy “wisdoms” that fit every occasion, and even future occasions. A few of my favorites were: “Make sure you wear clean underwear in case you need to go to the emergency room,” “That won’t last as long as a fart in a whirlwind,” and “Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly is to the bone.” However, the one I still reflect upon to this day is “Watch your pennies and your dollars will take care of themselves.”
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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May
03
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Los Angeles is known for many things: beaches, skyscrapers, complex airspace, freeway chases and a lot of helicopter operators that support the tourist and broadcasting needs of the city. But as we all should know, behind every good helicopter stands a solid MRO, and behind that MRO stand great mechanics.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Apr
12
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Looking at the front of the Rotortech Services facility, I have many thoughts. The first is, “WOW, what a nice facility.” The location is pretty amazing, but the structure itself is even more impressive. Looking past its pretty face, I also recognize that at the end of the day, a business is more that just a building. It’s really about the people and services it provides to the industry.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Feb
22
2013
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Posted by Admin
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Flare, level off, pull pitch and cushion the landing. With the low rotor horn blaring, the AS350 came to a sliding stop on the grass runway. We had just completed an autorotation to touch down. Dave Burchill, the American Eurocopter instructor pilot looked at me and said, “Here, why don’t you take the controls and try one?” In my 21-year career, I have never flown a Eurocopter product. My entire pilot life has been spent sitting in Robinson, Bell, Sikorsky and Agusta aircraft. The last 13 years have been in multi-engine helicopters. To say that I am rusty when it comes to autos is an understatement.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Feb
07
2013
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Posted by Admin
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35 years ago, the only helicopter simulator training done was in the military and it was used primarily for instrument qualification. At that time, visual systems were in their infancy and the cost and complexity ruled out simulator use for most commercial customers. Today the use of flight simulators in helicopter training is booming.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Training
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Dec
13
2012
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Posted by Admin
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The fuselage was made partly of plywood beams. The tail cone was made of riveted magnesium. The rotor blades were a composite of fir and balsa wood, with a steel reinforcement bar down the leading edge. Powered by a vertically mounted 165-hp Franklin engine, Bell’s first helicopter, the Model 30, first flew in 1942.
Advancing technology is the double-edged sword in aviation. On one hand, technology improvements make us more efficient and situationally aware. On the other hand, just when you thought you were proficient using one technology, it changes. This tension is a boon for training providers, as they are always in demand to provide initial and recurrent training programs.
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Categories:
Company Profiles