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Jan
11
2016
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Posted by Admin
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Over the years, I have developed a few instructional techniques that I use when teaching students. One such technique has proven beneficial time after time, and begins at the first meeting with the student. Once a student is assigned to me, I’ll reach out to them to introduce myself, and schedule their first ground school session. I request they bring their spouse or significant other, and let them know that this first ground school session is on me…as in FREE!
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Categories:
Training
Career Development
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Jan
04
2016
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Posted by Admin
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Occasionally fate (sometimes luck) steps in to break a link in an error chain, serving to protect us from ourselves. That’s what happened to me in August 1974 while ferrying a Hughes 300C 300 miles, from McArthur River Cattle Station in the Northern Territory of Australia to Mt. Isa, for the aircraft’s scheduled 100-hour inspection. I’d been flying over parched, featureless landscape for 30 minutes; each minute becoming more and more perplexed because nothing I saw outside fit my woefully inadequate map.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Dec
28
2015
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Posted by Admin
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RP: Have you ever had an “Oh, crap” moment in a helicopter? Can you summarize what happened?
I was flying an EC135 on a checkride when part of the rotor control system came apart. Fortunately, we were less than 500 feet above the ground at Casa Grande Muncipal Airport in Arizona. The check pilot and I controlled the aircraft (sort of) to a crash landing, which destroyed the helicopter. We both walked away with minor injuries. Neither one of us thought we would survive the extreme violent gyrations of the flight/crash.
Getting shot down in the jungle in Vietnam was equally as scary, just different because of the wait for extraction.
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Categories:
Human Interest
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Dec
21
2015
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Posted by Admin
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In 1999, I was an EMS pilot flying a brand new Sikorsky S76C+. I truly felt privileged to have an all-glass cockpit, with the exception of the standby airspeed, altimeter, and attitude indicator dials. With EFIS displays showing my primary flight data, and multi-function displays (MFDs) showing aircraft performance data and a moving map display . . . well, I kind of felt we were on the “bleeding edge” of technology in helicopter aviation.
I will not lie; transitioning from traditional round flight instruments to all digital displays was not easy. Although I considered myself as someone who embraced technology, years of scanning habits were very hard to break. This was especially true when it came to my brain interpreting airspeed and altitude. Seeing the pointers on a round gage seemed more intuitive than reading a vertical tape and digital readout. My transition was becoming an on-the-job experiment in human factors and ergonomics in the cockpit. After several months, I realized that I was still relying on the standby instruments, and not looking much at the data on the EFIS display. No matter how hard I tried, when the workload was high, the standby instruments were my go-to location when scanning for primary flight information.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
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Dec
14
2015
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Posted by Admin
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To provide a path for a pilot holding a pilot certificate from another country to operate a U.S. registered aircraft, the FAA publishes Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) 61.75. Within this FAR, a pilot can apply for and be issued a private pilot (PPL) certificate from the FAA, based upon their foreign pilot certificate. To receive this certification, no additional testing is required as long as the foreign pilot certificate is valid and the applicant meets minimum English speaking requirements of ICAO Level 4 proficiency.
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Categories:
Training
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Dec
07
2015
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Posted by Admin
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With over 24 years of experience, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity has achieved a strong reputation for delivering the very best pre-hospital emergency care to patients across the Midlands region of the United Kingdom (UK). From just one Bolkow 105 helicopter flying out of a temporary airbase in Shropshire, to three state-of-the-art EC135 helicopters serving the largest air ambulance region in England with a population of in excess of 6 million people, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity certainly has come a long way since 1991.
[Read More...]
Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Nov
30
2015
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Posted by Admin
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There are lots of companies in the helicopter industry, both large and small, who are innovative but go unnoticed. The Rotorcraft Pro Innovators Contest set out to fix that by soliciting submissions of products and services considered to be innovative. We received dozens of entries from big companies like Airbus and Rockwell Collins, as well as from small companies like TT Aerospace and Helipad Kneeboards.
Once all submissions were in, a neutral panel narrowed the field down to the top 20, which were then presented via Rotorcraft Pro’s Facebook page for a social media vote-off where 4,900 votes were cast.
The top three finishers are receiving prestigious engraved glass awards (with all associated bragging rights) and the winner is also being awarded $5,000 worth of advertising in Rotorcraft Pro. Thanks to all the innovators and pioneers out there who make products and provide services that keep our industry moving forward!
[Read More...]
Categories:
Company Profiles
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Nov
23
2015
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Posted by Admin
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Flying a HEMS helicopter was one of the most dangerous jobs I’ve ever had. One might rightly ask: Why would I stay in a job when I knew it was so hazardous? I did it because the rewards of the job were many; even reaching far beyond knowing I’d played a part in saving a human life.
Children often wanted to interview me or one of the other two Life Flight pilots for papers they were writing in school. Many times, it was hard to live up to the lofty image they had of you. But the adulation didn’t come from just kids. At least once a week someone would stop one of us in the U.C. San Diego Medical Center hallways or the hospital cafeteria and thank us for, in their words, “the wonderful job you’re doing,” or “the humane service you provide,” or most likely for our personal contribution for saving the life of their friend or loved one.
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Nov
16
2015
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Posted by Admin
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HAITI
That simple, short two-syllable word immediately brings to mind another two-syllable word—EARTHQUAKE. However, the ramifications and repercussions from that tragic event were not short and simple. Even today, more than five years after the 7.0 MW catastrophic quake ruptured rocks—and lives— the reverberations continue.
Yet, it would be another tragedy to still see Haiti through the images of misery and mayhem that flooded the news media those years ago. For out of that rubble and ruin, forces arose more powerful than past casualties and chaos. Those forces: restored lives and hope. Yes, Haiti is still the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with many problems to solve. However, its proud people are anything but poor in spirit. They are determined to climb to new heights—in new ways.
One new way they are reaching those heights is through Ayiti Air Anbilans (Haiti Air Ambulance), a nonprofit organization that arose out of the 2010 rubble. In North America helicopter air ambulance is often taken for granted. In Haiti on the island of Hispaniola, it is seen as something to fight for and cherish.
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Categories:
Training
Helicopter Sectors
Company Profiles
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Nov
09
2015
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Posted by Admin
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RP: How did you get your start in helicopters?
After returning from Desert Storm, I started taking flight lessons in an R22 and chose a career in law enforcement. I continued serving in the Kansas Army National Guard as a crew chief on Hueys and Blackhawks. In law enforcement, I was a state trooper in the Kansas Highway Patrol, and was eventually selected for a pilot-in-command position in the patrol’s Special Operations Air Unit. That’s how I got my break flying missions every day in helicopters and airplanes. It was just after 9/11 and there were so many security and surveillance flight missions. It was a great time to be a pilot in law enforcement who wanted to fly and build flight time. Best job I ever had!
[Read More...]
Categories:
Career Development
Becoming A Pilot
Training
Company Profiles
Human Interest