Articles for category Company Profiles
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Aug
19
2019
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Posted by Admin
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Becker Avionics has been innovating high-quality products since 1945 when Max Egon Becker created his first aircraft radio receiver. Within three years, he was building luxury car radios for Mercedes.
“Max was a great innovator and great thinker,” Becker Avionics USA President Luis Gonzales related. “He had a passion both for automotive racing and flying.”
Becker’s focus on the general aviation market, especially gliders, naturally led to equipment attributes that all pilots desire. “It required them to build light equipment that was very reliable,” explained Lee Benson, a senior consultant for Becker USA. “That continues in the ethos of Becker today.”
Becker remains a high-tech family company, now under the direction of Max’s son, Roland, with a focus on digital avionics technology. It creates and manufactures communications, navigation, surveillance and search-and-rescue equipment for general aviation, air traffic control, law enforcement, and military operations throughout the world. “He took the company to that next level,” Gonzales said.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Jul
22
2019
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Posted by Admin
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“Screw Plan B!” exclaims HAA pilot Markus Siebert.
Those are not words commonly uttered by a pilot who must have backup contingencies in mind for the unexpected. But Siebert is no common pilot. In addition to being an HAA pilot in Berlin, he’s also the managing director and founder of HeliEFB, a 21st century technology startup that helps helicopter pilots and operators cut through 20th century paperwork, by using an intuitive iPad app as an electronic flight bag.
First, let’s quickly put his ‘screwy’ quote in context before one gets the mistaken impression that the thoughtful German entrepreneur is an aggressive “Red Baron” von Richthofen. Siebert wasn’t referring to flying, but rather giving sound advice. “If I was going to give someone career advice, it would be that you should find your passion and try to work in that area. Your chance of succeeding will be much greater if you’re doing something that you’re passionate about. It should be your sole focus. Arnold Schwarzenegger once said that when you start developing a Plan B for when you don’t succeed, you’re losing focus on your first priority. You should not do that. It’s costing you time and energy. Screw Plan B! Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a Plan B, if something goes wrong in the cockpit, but when you’re trying to find a career, then go for it! Don’t say, “Well, I can also become this or that. No, you can’t; you’ll lose focus. If you want to become a pilot, then focus on being a pilot.”
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
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Jun
24
2019
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Posted by Admin
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It’s no surprise that U.S. Customs and Border Protection is involved in protecting our nation’s borders and rescuing people from natural disasters. Probably fewer people know that CBP’s varied duties also include enforcing Temporary Flight Restrictions at NFL Super Bowls and other major events.
While TFR enforcement duties are similar no matter what the national security special event – from a Republican National Convention to a NATO Conference – there’s nothing quite like the annual Super Bowl that attracts more than one million people to the game and related events throughout the week.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
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May
06
2019
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Posted by Admin
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One pictures the CEO of a large international aviation corporation sitting at the conference table in a mahogany boardroom, not at the wheel of a volunteer ambulance racing to give someone in Italy a second chance. After hearing his story, it’s not too surprising to find Mecaer Aviation Group CEO Bruno Spagnolini driving that ambulance. He often speaks in rich Italian tones about the importance of serving one’s community. And the former CEO of AgustaWestland knows firsthand that one does not have to be in the back of an ambulance to appreciate a second chance. Mecaer Aviation Group both took and gave a second chance to Spagnolini. The result: the company and CEO seem to be on a honeymoon flight.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Apr
22
2019
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Posted by Admin
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It’s not easy for a power company to chalk up a 99.999 percent electricity reliability rating, but the Tennessee Valley Authority has been doing it for the last 19 years straight. Helicopter pilots and linemen are an integral part of this achievement.
People outside the industry sometimes envision these pilots and linemen as a bit loony, and for good reason. The Tyler benches attached to the outside of helicopters commonly touch 500,000-volt electricity lines while linemen transfer themselves from the benches onto towers that stand as high as 300 feet in the air. While the lines are de-energized, their proximity to the helicopters and their spinning rotor blades is hair-raising to the uninitiated.
Ask TVA Helicopter Operations Manager Adam Hammond whether the pilot or lineman is loonier, and he’ll quickly point to the other guy.
“Definitely the lineman,” Hammond said. “They’re out there operating in all kinds of weather to get the power back on.” When rain grounds the helicopters, the linemen have to climb the towers instead.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
Career Development
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Feb
18
2019
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Posted by Admin
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Pura Vida translated from spanish means “pure life.” The phrase is to Costa Ricans as Malhalo is to Hawaiians.
Answering the phone: “Pura Vida.”
“How’s your day going?”
Reply: “Pura vida, my friend.”
Fly a helicopter across a ridge line, in which a breath-taking view unfolds and a spectacular volcano is revealed before your eyes. Suddenly, you get the urge to shout something out of pure guttural excitement: “Pura vida!”
Costa Rica, translated literally, means "Rich Coast.” Located in Central America, the country is bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador is to the south of Cocos Island. This beautiful country has a population of approximately 5 million in a land area of 51,060 square kilometers (19,714 square miles). An estimated 2 million people live in the metro area of the capital city San José. With its healthy agriculture and eco-tourism markets, Costa Rica is one of the most stable countries in the region, both fiscally and geopolitically.
Additionally, it’s also home to one of the highest educated populations in Central America, especially in healthcare. San Jose is well known for its cost-competitive, highly-trained, cutting-edge medical industry that attracts international clients from around the globe for a variety of procedures.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Dec
24
2018
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: Tell me about your first flight.
It was a J3 Cub. I was 8 or 9 years old and my dad took me out to a grass airstrip where plane rides were sold. After the pilot put me in the seat he started untying the airplane and when he got to the rear of the plane he lifted up the tail and started shaking it acting like the plane was going to take off It wasn’t even running yet, but I grabbed the stick and yelled, “Let her go!”
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Dec
17
2018
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Posted by Admin
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Anyone who’s ever traveled in the western United States, has come face to face with the great Rocky Mountains. They’re formidable. They’re hard. They’re rugged. Such are the characteristics of the people it takes to run a helicopter business in and around those beautiful, yet unforgiving rocks.
Mark Taylor is chief pilot and co-owner of Rocky Mountain Rotors (RMR). After hearing his journey, I view him as a living testimony to what happens when the school of hard knocks crosses paths with perseverance and a little bit of luck.
Taylor began at Silver State Helicopters as a Robinson R22 pilot. He now owns and operates a full-service helicopter operation utilizing the R22, R44, Bell 206, 407, and 429. The gregarious and charismatic aviator is a horseman and a hunter. At the end of my first day with him, he asked, “Do you like beer?” I knew we were going to get along just fine. We enjoyed an amazing Salmon Fly ale from Madison River Brewery that concluded Day One on a high note.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Nov
11
2018
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Posted by Admin
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Probably the first thing noticed in this article’s photos are the paint jobs on Ecocopter’s H125 helicopters, Much of their artwork is admired on social media for its intriguing and avant-garde style, but the fact is that operator Ecocopter, is intriguing and avant-garde itself.
Ecocopter is a Chilean company born 15 years ago with the vision of providing a different type of service in their region of the world. Born with a single helicopter, they were pioneers, providing the first EC130B4 in Chile for private use. As changes occurred, especially in the mining sector, they began to provide air services to industry. Then, after having success, an AS350B3 was purchased. After the aerial sector for industry continued to grow, the next logical step was to buy four helicopters to start Ecocopter’s fleet.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Oct
15
2018
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Posted by Admin
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Just as a LifeFlight of Maine helicopter crew was conducting a safety course for EMS responders in a small rural community, a call came in to help a hemorrhaging pregnant woman. Fortunately, the training and emergency were both occurring on Vinalhaven Island.
LifeFlight landed nearby and found Megan Day, 38 weeks pregnant, on the floor in her home. She needed to get to a hospital on the mainland as quickly as possible, but she was an hour’s boat ride away. LifeFlight got her there in five minutes.
Doctors at a Rockport hospital delivered baby Kyra with a C-section. Kyra’s heart was beating but she wasn’t breathing, so they resuscitated her. Then she had seizures and had to be transported to a larger neonatal hospital wing in Portland. Meanwhile after hours of surgery to find the source of her bleeding, doctors determined Megan had a pregnancy-induced renal artery aneurysm and temporarily stabilized it. LifeFlight then flew her to the same Portland hospital where Kyra was recuperating, and doctors there were able to save Megan’s kidney.
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Categories:
Company Profiles