|
May
28
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
Military aviators are the best trained pilots in the world, right? How could that possibly be limiting?
Military pilots are extensively experienced, highly trained aviators. They are skilled leaders with combat time, and security clearance. These attributes are listed on most transitioning pilots’ resumes. Unfortunately, civilian employers aren’t looking for any of those skills and they certainly don’t list them in job advertisements. Most military pilots appear out of touch and they never receive a call back.
The truth is, your experience and skills are based upon your flight time, and most military pilots haven’t even been keeping a logbook. They’ve been letting the military keep track of their flight time, which doesn’t keep a flight log in accordance with civilian requirements.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
|
May
21
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
When people think of drones and natural disasters, they imagine search-and-rescue (SAR) drones directing rescue teams to victims in need of immediate assistance. However, the actual use of drones in natural disasters is quite different. Forget SAR: “In the last year and a half (in the U.S), the American Red Cross used drones to conduct overall assessment of damage as well as detailed damage assessment of residential homes,” said Brad Kieserman, the American Red Cross vice president of disaster operations and logistics. “We also make considerable use of drone video footage that we get from our partners—both in and out of government— to do broader scope damage assessment: what neighbors are inaccessible, what the overall level of damage is, how high the water is and where it’s impacting.”
“On an international level, the Red Cross is using drones to collect imagery and data for our disaster preparedness and recovery work,” Kieserman said. “In the Philippines, where we are still helping people recover from Typhoon Haiyan, we’re using drones to gather aerial imagery. The imagery is a valuable resource for response, planning, monitoring, and resilience-building activities in these disaster-prone areas.”
Why Drones?
Helicopters are better suited for SAR: They have the personnel and the lifting power to get victims out of harm’s way as soon as they are spotted. Drones do not.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
|
May
14
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
There are times when helicopters can’t just fly from one place to another, and during those times, Farren International comes to the rescue.
Sometimes it’s because the rotorcraft is in pieces, either because it’s not yet assembled or tragically because it crashed. Other times it’s operable, but it’s a prototype not yet authorized to fly anywhere outside of specified testing zones. It might be that a new owner doesn’t want to add flight time to the precious cargo until it’s in his hands. Or they’re military secrets that the public can’t see flying overhead. In the case of aerospace projects, such as rockets, they aren’t designed to fly to their launch points. “We’re probably the premier aircraft ground transportation company,” said Glenn Wargo, Farren’s director of aircraft transportation who helped start up that portion of Farren’s business back in 1989.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
|
May
08
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
If I were to describe the state of the aerial firefighting industry today, it would come down to two words: preparation and uncertainty. Preparation is for fire seasons that are only getting worse and much more destructive. Uncertainty is because nobody yet knows just how federal budgetary issues and funding for wildland firefighting are going to play out.
At least the good news is that as fire seasons get longer and merge, the industry is well prepared. There is no better evidence of that than the industry’s performance throughout the 2017 fire season. Starting in Florida in early February, and spreading nationwide with almost no letup, wildland fires raged out of control, often for weeks at a time. In California, the state experienced the most destructive fires in its history, as more than 9,130 fires burned over 1,381,400 acres, consuming in excess of 10,800 structures and taking 43 lives, including two firefighters. Particularly hard hit were the densely populated, wildland/urban interface areas of southern California, as well as the San Francisco Bay region’s northern counties.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
|
Apr
30
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
An old flight training adage recites, “Train as you fly, fly as you train.” Helicopter simulation training is not immune from it, and indeed the adage should be the primary consideration for effective use of simulation. In response to the growing complexity of helicopter operations, more sophisticated automation, and generally increased scrutiny of rotary-wing safety, simulation training is seeing its standard continuously rise. This is making the training organizations ever more sophisticated at setting up helicopter simulation scenarios.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Safety
|
Apr
24
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
Because of a fateful decision made in Fort Rucker back in the 1980s, rather than conducting an interview in Boise, Idaho, as the president of night vision leader Aviation Specialties Unlimited (ASU), Jim Winkel could have well instead been conducting a Bible study in Central America as a missionary. Whether that decision was made with providential prayerful guidance, or just good judgment, Winkel now gets to faithfully serve two masters: (1) At ASU, he serves his passion for night vision technology, and (2) at All Saints Presbyterian Church, he fulfills an even higher calling as an elder for his Presbyterian Church in America’s missionary efforts.
A lot of lessons were learned, and a lot of time and moves transpired before Winkel worked his way to the president’s desk in Idaho. Some moves were historic; one of Winkel’s earliest boyhood memories is making the westward road trip along Route 66, as millions did to California, so his father could work for Shell Oil in the San Francisco Bay Area. Winkel spent most of his childhood there in the ‘60s, but the elder Winkel again was transferred, to Houston, Texas, which was far removed from the California counterculture scene of the 1960s. “Making that move was quite a culture shock,” Winkel recalls. “Racial desegregation in the schools was a big issue at the time in Texas, an issue that didn’t impact me in California.” Civil rights race issues weren’t the only adaptation. Winkel humorously remembers, “Another big change I had to adapt to was the Texas accent. I remember our PE coach telling us not to forget our towel fee to wash our towels. I thought he was saying not to forget our taffy fee; I was wondering why in the world we needed to buy candy in gym class?” Winkel adjusted to Southern culture enough to successfully ask a fellow high school student, Sandy, out on a date. It must have gone well, the couple has been married for 37 years.
[Read More...]
|
Apr
16
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
In its third year, Rotorcraft Pro’s annual U.S. Pilot Salary & Benefits Survey was initially launched in an effort to monitor and report trends on the salaries of pilots in the industry. Traditionally, surveys were sent directly to employers via snail mail in ballot form, then collected and tabulated. This old method did provide interesting results, but because employers are reluctant to reveal the exact salaries and benefits they provide, the sampling could be rather small and probably wasn’t always representative of the larger whole.
Online technologies have given us the ability to survey actual pilots and their employers thus generating more participation throughout the industry. As in previous years, this year’s survey had excellent participation and we have obtained some of the latest information on helicopter pilots:
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
|
Apr
09
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
RPMN: What is your current position?
I am currently the President and CEO of Sevier County Choppers Inc. Our main business is conducting overhauls on Robinson helicopters, along with a small flight school and touring business. We are a family owned and operated business.
RPMN: Tell me about your first flight.
My first flight in a helicopter was during Army flight school. About halfway through I was pretty sure I would not be able to do this. I really thought I was going to throw up on my instructor and was probably several shades of green. Of course this was August in lower Alabama, so the heat didn’t help much.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
|
Apr
02
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
On 17 October 2017, a flight instructor and commercially rated pilot were practicing instrument approaches at the Molokai Airport (Hawaii) when they were lost from radar. Debris from the helicopter was found floating on the water northwest of the shores of Molokai. Although they were operating on an IFR flight plan, the flight was being conducted under VFR as a Part 91 training flight. (NTSB Identification: WPR18LA010)
Air Traffic Control had cleared the aircraft for a practice RNAV (GPS)-B instrument approach to the Molokai Airport. They were provided instructions for the missed approach procedure, which included a climb to 4,000 feet and a heading of 040 degrees. Following completion of the instrument approach, they reestablished radio contact with Air Traffic Control (ATC). They were then issued a clearance to PHNL (Honolulu International Airport) with instructions to fly a heading of 260 degrees, then 240 degrees and ascend to an altitude of 4,000 feet. They were to intercept the Victor 8 airway, which they confirmed with ATC. Shortly after, the controller noticed the flight had descended to 3,600 feet before radar and radio communication with the helicopter was lost.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
Training
Safety
|
Mar
26
2018
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
“Why do you do what you do?”
That’s a question Rick Weatherford, copy editor and staff writer for Rotorcraft Pro, asked me recently. Rick casts a discerning editorial eye over everything I write for the magazine, so I suppose he became curious about what motivates me.
When I asked him exactly what he meant he made his query more specific:
“Randy, what fuels your burning passion for promoting rotorcraft safety? Is it statistics, or your personal experiences? Do you believe helicopter safety is generally being addressed in the wrong way and you think you have a solution that’s been overlooked? Or is it some combination of all these issues as well as others that I didn't allude to?”
I vividly remember the exact date and time I decided I needed to return to the USA to deliver a life-saving message. The date was August 31, 2010; the time: 10:00 PM. That’s when I learned of yet another air medical crash; a Bell Jet Ranger in Arkansas went into the clouds and came out the bottom in pieces killing the pilot and the two-person medical crew who had entrusted their lives to him.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Safety