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Dec
28
2020

Best of 2020 Legacy - James (Jim) Wisecup

Posted by Admin

Former Helicopter Association International (HAI) Board of Directors chair James Wisecup never stopped learning. When he retired as assistant chief pilot for Air Methods in 2019, he had just earned a bachelor’s in aviation science from Southern Utah University. “Jim was a highly respected member of the rotorcraft community, and we will miss his knowledge and leadership,” HAI president and CEO James Viola said. “He was an advocate for safe flying, training, and mentorship, and he was always willing to share his experience and passion for flying.” [Read More...]



Tags: Helicopter Association Internation Jim Wisecup Jim Wisecup
Categories: categoryHuman Interest



Dec
28
2020

Best of 2020 Legacy - Rudy Frasca

Posted by Admin

Rudy Frasca was a true pioneer in the world of flight simulation. He was first inspired by his older brother’s model airplane that motivated him to learn to fly at the tender age of 14. “From then on, he was just hooked,” said his daughter Peggy Prichard, marketing manager for Frasca International. Frasca joined the Navy in 1949, teaching pilots at the Glenview Naval Air Station on early Link Trainers. After the Korean War, he attended the University of Illinois Aviation Research Laboratory at Urbana-Champaign, where he honed his flight simulation skills and conducted research in aviation psychology. [Read More...]



Tags: Frasca Simulation Rudy Frasca
Categories: categoryHuman Interest categoryOpinion-Editorial



Dec
21
2020

Executive Watch - Romain Trapp, Airbus Helicopters

Posted by Admin

The Airbus Helicopters Inc. president and head of the North America region for helicopters was once so shy he was afraid to phone anyone he didn’t know. Romain Trapp says, “I was really super shy. I had to write down in advance every word I planned to say in a call.” So, the college accounting and finance student got fed up with his handicap and devised a strategy to overcome it. “I came to the point where enough was enough and I began to force myself out of my shyness,” he says. “For example, I volunteered to organize a conference at my college; it forced me to interact with people. Eventually, I worked my way out of my shyness, so that I now have no problem speaking to an audience of 200 people.” That’s a good thing, because presiding over a global original equipment manufacturer (OEM) like Airbus Helicopters is not a cubicle-in-the-bowels-of-a-building position for the super shy. It requires someone who can get out into the rotorcraft world, see how it’s changing, and react. When pressed to talk about his personal strengths as a top corporate executive , the humble leader says, “My strength, I think, is my ability to grasp the big picture and develop strategy from that view. Also, I develop a sense of belonging to the team as soon as I start a new job. You’ll notice that when I talk, I use the word ‘we’ and never ‘them’ nor ‘I.’ Finally, I have developed an ability to adapt to changing circumstances because I’ve had different responsibilities in different countries.” [Read More...]



Tags: Airbus Helicopters president Romain Trapp
Categories: categoryOpinion-Editorial categoryHuman Interest



Dec
14
2020

Editor's Letter - Good Riddance 2020

Posted by Admin

I think that most people would agree that our holiday card pretty much sums up how many of us feel about 2020. Not really helicopter themed as our previous cards have been, but if it causes a bit of a chuckle and captures the lighter side of the human spirit, then we achieved our goal. [Read More...]



Tags: Editor Lyn Burks Helicopter Magazines Helicopter Publications Rotorcraft Pro Editor
Categories: categoryOpinion-Editorial



Dec
07
2020

Military to Civilian - 14 CFR 61.73 - A Military Pilot’s Best Friend

Posted by Admin

The regulation is officially titled “Military pilots or former military pilots: Special rules,” but it’s best known by the acronym “MilComp,” short for military competency. It outlines the eligibility and requirements for a military pilot to obtain FAA pilot certifications based on their flight and ground training with the armed forces. Simply put, if you have graduated from a military flight school and haven’t been removed from flying status because of lack of proficiency or disciplinary action, you are eligible for an FAA commercial pilot certificate, instrument rating, flight instructor certificate (for those who were instructor pilots or examiners) and maybe even a type rating. [Read More...]



Tags: 14 CFR 61.73 Military Competence Instructor (MCI Military Competence Non-Category (MCN)
Categories: categoryCareer Development



Nov
30
2020

Be a Truly Professional Pilot

Posted by Admin

In an era when so much aviation industry news and training focuses on new technology and keeping up with so-called proficiency as proverbial boxes are checked, one often overlooked important aspect of being a pilot is being neglected—professionalism.  Recently, a colleague reached out for assistance on a new project; his company wanted to create an advisory board to offer advice on their aviation services. I was humbled he sought my advice. He garnered my full attention when he said the company was writing a quick bio on me, and then he asked me, “How long have you been flying as a professional pilot?” I had an easy and ready answer: “Since. Day. One.”  [Read More...]



Tags: commercial pilot certificate professional pilot
Categories: categoryCareer Development



Nov
23
2020

Meet A Rotorcraft Pro - Dennis Bowdoin, Helicopter Air Specialty Service

Posted by Admin

What is your current position? I’m the owner and operator of Helicopter Air Specialty Service, owner and operator of AMP/HASS LLC a Robinson Service Center, owner and operator of the Maple Grove Heliport (E66), and manager of the Maple Grove Airport (65G) at Fowlerville, Michigan. Tell me about your first flight? I had a chain of 126 retail stores and needed to get to one of them fast. I hired a pilot that turned out to be a CFI to get me there. He let me fly! Most expensive flight I ever took. It was a thrill. Five lessons later, I was buying my first helicopter: a Robinson R22. I had no license, but I owned a helicopter, which forced me to get my license. Failure was not an option. [Read More...]



Tags: Dennis Bowdoin Helicopter Air Specialty Service Meet A Rotorcraft Pro
Categories: categoryCareer Development categoryOpinion-Editorial categoryHuman Interest



Nov
16
2020

Maintenance Minute - Essential Tools Part 2

Posted by Admin

I clearly remember that life-changing day in April 1990.  It was my first day working as a helicopter mechanic at Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The radio call dispatched the helicopter, the pilot brought the machine to life and the medical crew strapped in as the Bell LongRanger took to the air. It seemed like only minutes later the aircraft returned, and the patient was rolled past me to the Level I trauma center. From that moment on, life was different as the purpose for my work became clearer in that instant.  [Read More...]



Tags: Helicopter Maintenance Tools Maintenance Minute Mark Tyler
Categories: categoryOpinion-Editorial



Nov
09
2020

From Fragile to Formidable: 77 Years of Helicopter EMS

Posted by Admin

1943 was the first year that helicopters were used to perform emergency medical services (Helicopter EMS; aka HEMS). According to The Smithsonian Institution’s magazine Air & Space, it was a Sikorsky YR-4B flown by the U.S. Army in Asia that conducted the first HEMS mission in April 1944. The two-seater YR-4B flown by Carter Harman rescued three wounded U.K. Commandos and a downed pilot from the Burmese jungle, lofting one at a time to safety using four separate flights. Since then, helicopters have become essential civilian/military ‘air ambulances.’ The road from that relatively fragile YR-4B to today’s formidable HEMS machines made by Airbus, Bell, Leonardo, MD Helicopters, and Sikorsky (now part of Lockheed Martin) has not been a smooth one. It took persuasion and performance to convince skeptics that helicopters belonged in the EMS realm. [Read More...]



Tags: Air Evac Lifeteam Flight For Life in 1972 History of EMS Helicopters Med-Trans REACH Sikorsky YR-4B
Categories: categoryOpinion-Editorial



Nov
02
2020

Executive Watch, President Tyson Phillips of AT Systems, LLC

Posted by Admin

President Tyson Phillips of startup AT Systems LLC is at the very beginning of his business career. He’s never been an executive officer of a leading aviation company and his name is not known throughout the industry. He has yet to even turn a profit. This begs the question:  Why profile this newcomer in “Executive Watch,” a feature that historically profiles executives with a history? Well, the answer is simple: Pilot Tyson Phillips is likely on the verge of making history. If the company he co-founded fulfills its promise, AT Systems will transform aviation training.  It is often said that need is the mother of invention. Oklahoma National Guard Pilot Phillips co-founded his company with fellow military pilot Andre Lavallee out of the mother of a need—the need to prevent the leading cause of often fatal helicopter accidents: spatial disorientation caused by degraded visual environments such as inadvertent instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC) brown/white out.  [Read More...]



Categories: categoryCompany Profiles


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