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Oct
21
2024
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Posted by Admin
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When I was commissioned as an officer in the Marines, I had no intention of staying in beyond the required time commitment that I had to fulfill, but life as a Cobra helicopter pilot grew on me. Supporting our Marines on the ground was an awesome responsibility and one that we all took quite seriously. The military provides great training, support and mission focus – an entire system that we take for granted at times. I had no plans to continue flying post-service, but time and space aligned. I was not only able to stay in the cockpit, but to do so in another model of Cobra that was retrofitted for firefighting operations. I got to do nearly the same job without being shot at! Was I fully prepared to make the transition? In my mind, I was more than ready to leave “Big Green” behind and take on this challenging new mission, but there was a lot more luck than planning. What I would like to offer are just a couple points that may require less luck and for you as you make your transition in a more thoughtful and intentional way.
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Tags:
Military to Civilian Aviation
Military to Civilian Transition
Military to Civilian Transition Helicopters
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Oct
14
2024
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Posted by Admin
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The Icelandic Coast Guard has three Airbus Helicopters H225s at its disposal. Their operating area ranges from countless waterfalls to dangerously cold seawater and from snow-white glaciers to newly formed land rising from the earth's core. Director General Georg Kristinn Lárusson describes five years of flying the H225 in a challenging and dynamic environment with constantly changing weather and a wide range of tasks.
Iceland is located between the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean and is known for its unparalleled natural beauty. Three tectonic plates, including the North American and Eurasian, provide much volcanic activity and attract many visitors throughout the year. The island is home to under 400,000 residents, but that number increases fivefold each year due to visiting tourists. Reykjavík Domestic Airport houses the fleet of the Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) that consists of three Airbus H225s and one fixed-wing Dash 8 Q300 maritime surveillance aircraft.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Icelandic Coast Guard
Categories:
Company Profiles
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Oct
07
2024
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Posted by Admin
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About a year ago, I was conducting pilot training for a Part 135 company, which was a relatively new customer. Prior to FAA approval to conduct this training, I conducted a review of their Part 135 training program to determine their differences from our training. Most often, a VFR Part 135 helicopter operators training program is going to be quite like another. Of course, some differences will always exist. The question is whether those differences require additional training and checking.
During the review of this company’s training program, I noticed a statement regarding the conduct of autorotation training that said, “at no time shall the throttle be reduced during autorotation training maneuvers.” This immediately got my attention. My initial thought was: If you don’t close the throttle, how are you practicing autorotations?
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Tags:
autorotation training
my two cents worth
Pilot Training
Randy Rowles
VFR Part 135 helicopter operators training program
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Sep
30
2024
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Posted by Admin
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When it comes to search and rescue (SAR) operations, the teaming of drones (aka UAS) and helicopters go together like peas and carrots. “In today’s SAR missions, UAS can effectively complement helicopter operations performing the search task and also reduce the risks for the crewed helicopter that can be used only when strictly necessary, such as to perform rescue operations,” said Roberto Pretolani, Leonardo Helicopters division marketing manager for rotary uncrewed aerial systems. Leonardo produces both helicopters and fixed- and rotary-wing UAS.
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Sep
23
2024
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
Right now, I been working as the assistant chief pilot of Metro Aviation Inc. in Shreveport, Louisiana, as an instructor and check airman for the EC-135 and EC-145 and as an instructor on the Bell 407 for our programs, I flew the line for five years and three years ago I was invited to the Helicopter Flight Training Center and I’ve also worked as director of training at Night Flight Concepts Inc. in Waco, Texas, as an NVG Instructor pilot for the last 10 years. I’m very happy with both companies. They've been like family since I came to the U.S., which is my new homeland.
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Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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Sep
16
2024
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Posted by Admin
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When it comes to flight helmets, Steve Mifsud has seen it all.
“I’ve seen helmets that were picked up by tornadoes and thrown a ways away,” Mifsud related. “Dogs have torn them up. They’ve even been used as bowling balls in Antarctica (by bored researchers). And one was burned on one side in a wildfire.”
Mifsud has seen all this damage on various helmets because people chose to repair them. So they sent their headgear to Evolution Helmets in Melbourne, Florida to get them restored to mint condition. “You see some crazy things,” concluded Mifsud, a helmet tech at Evolution Helmets.
Mifsud recalls totally refurbishing a 1990s-era Army helmet for one customer. About six months later, the pilot called Mifsud from the hospital to ask him to restore his helmet again – after he was a passenger in a rotorcraft that spun out and crashed. Luckily he walked away with a concussion and a dented helmet but nothing worse. “The helmet was up to OEM standards...and that definitely could have helped,” Mifsud said. The new styrofoam likely softened the impact when the g-force shoved the passenger’s head against the machine, he added.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Evolution Helmets
Helicopter Helmet Painting
Helicopter Helmet Repair
Helmet Refurbishing
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
Safety
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Sep
09
2024
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Posted by Admin
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It was bound to happen. As the American workforce and aerospace industry becomes more diverse, we now have two consecutive Executive Watch profiles, published last issue on Anthony Rios and this time on Ray Lamas, that feature second-generation Hispanic Americans who make positive contributions to the vertical-lift industry and show how healthy immigration fuels American economic growth and ingenuity. Lamas said, “Everyone is born somewhere and I was very fortunate to be born in the United States.”
[Read More...]
Tags:
Loft Dynamics
Ray Lamas
vertical lift industry
Categories:
Company Profiles
Career Development
Human Interest
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Aug
29
2024
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Posted by Admin
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Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England that encompasses the capital of Massachusetts. Rich in history, Boston was founded on the Shawmut Peninsula in 1630 by Puritan settlers. The city was named after Boston, Lincolnshire, England. During the American Revolution, Boston was home to several events that proved central to the revolution and subsequent Revolutionary War, including the Boston Massacre (1770), the Boston Tea Party (1773), Paul Revere's poetic midnight ride (1775), the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775), and the Siege of Boston (1775–1776).
Greater Boston is ranked tenth in population among U.S. metropolitan statistical areas, being home to 4,941,632 people. Today, Boston has emerged as the largest biotechnology hub in the world. The city is a national leader in scientific research, medicine, engineering, business, and higher education.
Serving New England
Boston MedFlight (BMF) was created by a consortium of six Boston-area academic medical centers in 1985. The organization was established as New England Life Flight Inc. as an independent, non-profit corporation to provide critical-care transport across eastern Massachusetts and New England; not just to serve the consortium hospitals, but to also be a service to its Commonwealth communities.
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Aug
26
2024
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Posted by Admin
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Back in 1999, I became an air ambulance pilot at a busy program flying an S76C+. We flew about 900 patients per year, 80% scene calls, and a large portion of our flights were after midnight. I was 32 years old and in the best shape of my life. I was training for and running 10k races, half-marathons, and triathlons for fun.
Specific to our operation, there were several factors that lended themselves to a slow decline in health and energy levels. Pilots and crew members had to bunk together so getting rest when not busy was very difficult. We worked a random rotation of nights and days in a four-on and four-off cycle, which kept the circadian rhythm out of sync. Also, intentional to our operation, as a benefit for the pilots, management kept the pilot pool a pilot or two short, which created overtime shifts for those wishing to earn extra money.
Fast-forward five years to 2004, and after working many extra shifts and busy nights, I found myself in a constant and chronic state of fatigue. I would spend most of my days off recovering, rather than enjoying my family or other activities. In five years, I went from being able to run 26 miles to barely being able to run one.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Editor's Letter
HAA Pilot retention
HAA Pilots
Pilot fatigue
Categories:
Opinion-Editorial
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Aug
19
2024
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Posted by Admin
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In preparing to transition out of the military to the civilian aviation industry, you have likely done a plethora of research and preparation. After reading articles, attending networking events, assessing job postings and salaries, you encounter a major roadblock: you do not have enough flight hours or relevant flight time to qualify for any of the jobs on the market. So, now what?
This was precisely the position I was in about seven years ago when I left the military. As an officer in the MEDEVAC unit, I was only able to accrue approximately 600 hours during my time of service, which was certainly not enough to allow me to be eligible for most hiring minimums in the civilian sector. The good news is that it is possible to be successful in the rotary-wing industry with the right amount of determination, sacrifice, and patience. There are many programs that allow military trained helicopter pilots to transition into commercial fixed-wing positions. However, navigating the rotary-wing industry is a bit trickier, especially if you are a low-time pilot.
[Read More...]
Tags:
Mil to Civ transition aviation
Military to Civilian Rotor
Military to Civilian Transition
Categories:
Career Development