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Nov
07
2017
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Posted by Admin
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As with everything else in the Sunshine State, Hurricane Irma temporarily benched west-central Florida’s Bayflite air ambulance service. It wasn’t just the unflyable hurricane-force winds that grounded Bayflite’s three H135s. Irma’s unpredictable storm path also kept this air medical service (AMS) and its parent company Air Methods guessing as they tried to prepare for the storm.
“Well in advance of Irma’s landfall, Air Methods set up an emergency operations/control flight center in Fort Myers (also in west-central Florida) at its LeeFlight base,” said Matt Turner, Air Methods’ area manager for Central Florida. Air Methods used the LeeFlight AMS base to stage resources brought in from outside of Florida, for deployment in the state pre-storm and post-storm. A fixed-wing Pilatus aircraft was also brought in to help transport patients before Irma hit.
“Irma then turned west and was headed directly at us, so our regional leadership quickly decided to change direction even as we were in the middle of implementing our plan,” said Turner. “So we evacuated all our local assets, because no-one knew whether Irma was going to go up the east coast, west coast, or right up the middle of the state.”
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
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Oct
30
2017
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Posted by Admin
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Upon graduation, the young man came very close to working in banking and finance. “The guy that ran NationsBank in Dallas said something to me that really changed my career path. I was very outspoken back then, and he told me that in the corporate world, 50 percent of the job is political. He told me that if I wasn’t prepared to play that game, then banking and finance wasn’t the place for me. That struck me and I realized my heart was in aviation.” After Mast realized his plainspoken, direct nature wasn’t tailored for bankers in Brooks Brothers suits uttering politically correct bromides, he returned to his first love and to the company that had helped him pay his college bills. AvGroup’s Ed Tomberlin had a job for the returning graduate that required neither political maneuvering nor silk over-the-calf banking hosiery. Nevertheless, Mast was expected to wear clothes. “He offered me $2,000 a year more than my banking job and $500 so I could buy some clothes,” Mast chuckles. “Ed was truly a brilliant man and entrepreneur. I was fortunate to learn the ins and outs of the industry under his tutelage.” Yes, Mast found employment in an industry that he loved and that fit him better than banking. Parts and components don’t care what you say or wear. Aviation is all about “mission accomplished.”
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Oct
23
2017
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Posted by Admin
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Colombia historically has been a country full of security challenges. For more than five decades, its military and police forces were engaged in a bloody fight against armed terrorist groups and drug trafficking organizations that claimed more than 220,000 lives. These armed organizations such as FARC (in English, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) unfortunately brought Colombia an international reputation for high levels of violence and cocaine production.
The extended internal conflict in this South American country has led to improvements in military and police capacity and equipment. Colombian armed forces once lagging behind in technology and operational readiness are now strong, trained, and global benchmark institutions in the fight against terrorist organizations and illegal drug trafficking.
The National Police of Colombia’s Police Air Service is an integral part of this transformation. Since its founding in 1958 with a few Cessna 206 aircraft to control crime, this unit attached to the Anti-Narcotics Directorate has boosted its capabilities and exponentially increased its aircraft fleet. Thanks to the help of the United States, the Police Air Service currently has in its inventory 80 helicopters and 60 airplanes that record a total of about 42,000 flight hours annually to support police operations in both rural and urban missions.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
Training
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Oct
16
2017
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Posted by Admin
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The following is a sidebar of Rotorcraft Pro's story on Hurricanes Hit - Helicopters Rise that outlines ten valuable lessons learned from the first responders that were on the ground in the days following Hurricane Harvey.
1. Think about roles and responsibilities in advance, and put safety first. “People can get into these disasters…and they start to take risks they wouldn’t take elsewhere,” Tom Baldwin, Air Evac Lifeteam safety manager said. Put an immediate stop to any of that. Debrief after every shift.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Safety
Helicopter Sectors
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Oct
16
2017
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Posted by Admin
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Facing a mind-boggling 122,000 victims who needed to be rescued across 182,000 acres of flooded neighborhoods, air rescues were especially critical to the massive effort to save lives when Hurricane Harvey struck the Gulf Coast Aug. 25 then stalled and dumped a record 51 inches of torrential rain in three days.
The federal government deployed more than 21,000 staff to the hurricane area in late August, but that wasn’t enough. Alongside volunteers, private industry was essential to search & rescue as well as recovery efforts – especially air operations that could spot and rescue people in areas that were inaccessible from the ground. Everyone worked together under the same incident command system.
Hundreds of helicopters performed a variety of simultaneous missions in the worst of conditions and somehow avoided accidents. Crews cut through roofs to hoist people stranded in attics, flew patients in critical condition out of flooded hospitals, and repaired major transmission lines.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Human Interest
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Oct
09
2017
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: How did you get your start in helicopters?
I began ground school just after my 19th birthday at a school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. By the end of that year, 2007, I had my private and was working on instrument/commercial. When that school filed for bankruptcy, I had a huge loan frozen on my credit while a lawsuit was in play. All training ceased until almost a year later when my dad offered to take out a private loan in his name as long as I paid it back monthly.
The loan amount was a guess, of course, and then when I needed more, I maxed out whatever credit card I could get as well as paid out of pocket for whatever I could. So I worked my restaurant jobs at night and trained during the day. Finally I had my CFI/CFII and continued working in two restaurants until one was sufficient, then finally I was OK working full time as a pilot.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
Human Interest
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Oct
02
2017
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Posted by Admin
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Earlier this year, you may recall that I wrote about factors that may impact the pilot supply in 2017-2018. Those factors were: (1) policies of the incoming U.S. President, (2) oil prices, (3) retirements, and (4) the airlines. I went on to ask if the pilot shortage that we have been talking about for the last decade was finally here? So far it seems that the four factors mentioned have had shifting dynamics, which are having an impact on the industry. Whether that’s good or bad is yet to be determined.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
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Sep
25
2017
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Posted by Admin
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During a recent Private Pilot examination, I asked the applicant to show me his planned cross-country route and associated planning documents. The applicant pulled out an iPad that was mounted to a kneeboard and said, “I’m ready!” As an opened-minded person, I was intrigued by the applicant’s quick study and preparedness for the task at hand. However, I was concerned the applicant hadn’t properly heard my request and restated that I desired to review all aspects of the pre-flight planning to include plotting the course, wind correction, etc. “Yes Sir” was the applicant’s reply. “I’m ready to go. It’s all right here” he said while holding up his iPad. The lack of materials the applicant had brought with him for the examination caught my attention.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Training
Safety
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Sep
19
2017
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Posted by Admin
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WASHINGTON DC – The U.S. Helicopter Safety Team has completed its comprehensive analysis of the root causes of fatal accidents and has developed 22 measurable safety enhancements aimed at reducing fatalities.
The 22 safety enhancements can be grouped into four categories:
[Read More...]
Categories:
Safety
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Sep
19
2017
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Posted by Admin
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About a year ago a pilot attending one of my 5-day CRM Instructor courses asked me, “Have you seen this?” He played a YouTube clip that made my blood turn to ice. Michael Farikh, a highly respected Russian pilot who accomplished many great things for civilian helicopter aviation in his country, posted it. One article published just after his death called Farikh “The godfather of Russian helicopter aviation.”
The clip the person showed me was entitled “Pilot Flies Helicopter into Clouds.” Farikh posted several similar clips, “Whiteout—What’s That?” and “Human Limitations—IMC Auto,” all equally chilling to me.
In the initial clip, “Pilot Flies Helicopter into Clouds,” Farikh purposefully enters IMC conditions in a Robinson then covers up some of his flight instruments until he’s flying on partial panel. I witnessed very experienced ATP pilots lose spatial orientation in similar conditions in the Level-D simulator I operated in Dubai. That is why while watching Farikh’s videos I could not suppress a deep sense of dark foreboding.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Training
Safety