|
Dec
16
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
jək-stə-pə-ˈzi-shən
I love the word “juxtaposition.” Merriam-Webster says it means an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast. It’s not a word I often use, but typically at the end of every year, I find myself juxtaposing two periods of time: the past and the present.
Although I love change and technology, every once in a while I enjoy reflecting on the helicopter industry and contrasting the past to the present to reflect on how far we’ve come.
2019 is a special year for Rotorcraft Pro. We are celebrating our 10-year anniversary working on the magazine side of our media company.
[Read More...]
|
Dec
09
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
No, we’re not talking about a slow-speed chase down a California highway; rather, your lost and sometimes forgotten aircraft battery. Without it, your day will never properly start.
With the advent of improved technology, lead-acid batteries are becoming more commonplace in turbine-powered helicopters. And while lead-acids have certain advantages over the original NiCad batteries, a number of “operational” differences could reduce the effect and value of those advantages.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
|
Dec
09
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
STAR (Shock Trauma Air Rescue) Flight is the Air Operations Division of Travis County, Texas. It is a public safety air rescue program that is unique because it performs critical transport, firefighting, rescue, and limited law enforcement support. STAR Flight is based in Austin and serves not only the citizens of Travis County, but also 19 other counties within a 75-mile radius. Many of its calls are to assist those who are experiencing medical problems or suffering from traumatic injuries from motor vehicle crashes or other activities. When requested, STAR Flight regularly transports very sick patients in rural hospitals to larger, better-equipped hospitals.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
|
Nov
25
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
For over two decades, Precision Aircraft Services (PAS) has been steadily building and maintaining a reputation as a top-tier avionics and maintenance shop. Located at Atlanta Regional Airport in Peachtree City, the company garnered the Garmin Award for Performance Excellence and in 2013 became an Authorized Dealer and Service Center for Robinson Helicopters. The next year, PAS became an Authorized Service Center for Airbus Helicopters. The subsidiary of Precision Aviation Group (PAG) is now an avionics dealer for over 80 manufacturers, and is known for its 24/7 service availability. At the helm of this smoothly running maintenance machine is Precision Aircraft Services Vice President and General Manager Mark Tyler, perhaps the only vice president we’ve profiled that keeps a toolbox within reach as a stressbuster. “If it gets too stressful in the office, I get out there and turn some wrenches to relax,” he says.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
|
Nov
18
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
In the world of rotorcraft emergencies, not all situations are equal. There’s a huge difference between a generator failure, engine fire or anti-torque system failure. I think if you were to poll pilots, just the mention of certain crises will make the hair stand up on the back of every pilot’s neck, and they pray that it never will happen to them. For me, there are two such crises: a tail-rotor gearbox failure, and any situation that would cause me to hit the ground hard enough to rupture a fuel tank and spark a post-crash fire.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Safety
|
Nov
11
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
Dr. Travis Bradberry, the award-winning coauthor of the #1 best selling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the cofounder of TalentSmart, a consultancy that serves more than 75% of Fortune 500 companies, once said, “Influential people are never satisfied with the status quo. They’re the ones who constantly ask, ‘What if?’ and ‘Why not?’ They’re not afraid to challenge conventional wisdom and they don’t disrupt things for the sake of being disruptive; they do it to make things better.”
Ron Abbott, owner of Evolution Helmets is definitely a disruptor in his business field; if you need evidence, look no further than his recent endeavor to enter another competitive space: aviation flight suits. Abbott, a U.S. military veteran, 22,000-hour helicopter pilot, and designer/manufacturer of the Evolution brand of flight helmets, has now developed a line of flight suits to complement the company’s helmet business. Evolution Flight Suits are made in the USA and is owned by Evolution Aviation Helmets, but associated with Sisley Clothing Australia and United Designs.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
|
Nov
02
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
It wasn’t expected to happen: The world’s insatiable thirst for oil and gas should have ensured that more offshore oil rigs would always be needed, and that suppliers who supported those rigs – like helicopter companies – would always have a secure, stable market to serve.
But then it happened: Oil prices unexpectedly plummeted “from a peak of $115 per barrel in June 2014 to under $35 at the end of February 2016,” states the World Economic Forum website. “The sharp fall is broadly similar in magnitude to the decline in 1985-1986, when OPEC members reversed earlier production cuts, and in 2008-09 at the outset of the global financial crisis.”
[Read More...]
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
|
Oct
28
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
Looking back at my 26-year Army career, I have many things to be proud of, and only one regret. Before getting accepted to Army Warrant Officer Candidate School (WOCS) and then U.S. Army Flight School as a newly minted Warrant Officer One (W1), I was an Army Crew-chief/technician. I first worked on Cobras, and then moved on to Black Hawks and Little Birds (MD500). This leads me to my regret: before getting accepted to WOC School I was working on my FAA Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) Certificate, but once I was selected, in my short sightedness, I didn’t finish my A&P because I was going to be a pilot and didn’t need my A&P.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
|
Oct
21
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
When a company is born from a desire to help others, its people carry that passion with them, no matter what their title. Air Evac Lifeteam was established in 1985 by a group of citizens in West Plains, Missouri. Their desire was to provide air medical transportation and ensure access to a higher level of emergency health care for their remote community in the Ozarks. Back then, quick access to top-tier hospitals and health care was primarily confined to urban America. Air Evac Lifeteam founders believed that people living in rural areas needed that same rapid access to Level 1 and Level 2 health care centers that could best care for them.
Fast forward 34 years and it’s apparent today that the Helicopter Air Ambulance (HAA) company foresaw and fulfills a need – a need that continues to grow with the closure of rural hospitals nationwide. Since 2010, 106 of America’s 1,700 rural hospitals closed. Air Evac Lifeteam operates more than 140 helicopter air ambulance bases across 15 states, and more than 90 percent of those bases are located in rural America because nearly 90 percent of patients transported by air medical services are from a rural zip code.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
|
Oct
15
2019
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
I was so lucky, when I first began flying helicopter EMS in 1999 when my first director of ops told me that he would rather me turn down a flight and go back to sleep, than push weather limits. However, the go/no-go decision was still my sole decision to make. At the time, I probably did not appreciate my director’s sentiment as much as I should have.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Safety