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May
26
2015
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What has been your most challenging job in the industry?
The most challenging job in the industry is to find enough technicians of suitable intellect, work ethic, and attitude to train to our demanding standards, and to also find the technicians that will retain these qualities. Many technicians in the helicopter industry find the opportunities for advancement, in both position and pay, to be limiting after a few years.
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Categories:
Human Interest
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
Career Development
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May
18
2015
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Posted by Admin
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The FAA has formally proposed a new Part 107 to the FARs covering unmanned aircraft weighing less than 55 pounds. It would allow these microdrones (what the FAA officially calls “small Unmanned Aircraft Systems” or “sUAS”) to be flown for commercial purposes by certificated DRone OPerators (DROPs) as long as they fly below 500 feet AGL within their line of sight, during the daytime, and outside Class A, B, C, and D airspace. DROPs can obtain certification by passing a knowledge test and a security screening, but they need not hold conventional pilots’ licenses, undergo skills testing or have minimum levels of flight experience. The public—obviously including the helicopter community—has until 24 April 2015 to submit comments, which can be done online at www.regulation.gov, by searching for the docket number: FAA-2015-0150-0017.
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Categories:
Career Development
Helicopter Sectors
Regulatory
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May
04
2015
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Posted by Admin
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Leasing — it’s not just for automobiles anymore. As proven by the growth of the helicopter leasing industry, rotorcraft operators are increasingly obtaining leases to boost their capabilities, without adding millions in debt to their balance sheets.
Helicopter leasing company Milestone Aviation Group was founded just five years ago in 2010, but now owns 168 helicopters valued at over $2.8 billion and has leases signed with 26 operators in more than 20 countries. Milestone also has $3 billion of new aircraft on order, including AgustaWestland AW139s, AW169s, and AW189s, Airbus EC175s and EC225s, and Sikorsky S-76Ds and S-92s. In the fall of 2014, the company was acquired by GE Capital Aviation Services for $1.78 billion.
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Categories:
Company Profiles
Helicopter Sectors
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May
04
2015
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Posted by Admin
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This Mother’s Day, it’s important for us to give thanks to our mothers, but also to a committed group of men and women who provide care to most ill and injured mothers, fathers and children across the country, each and every day. Air medical flight teams, while not the most widely recognized of emergency care providers, deserve an extra pat on the back this Mother’s Day. Think of them as civilian soldiers on a mission for all of us, including our Moms.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Human Interest
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Apr
27
2015
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Posted by Admin
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RPMN: What is your current position?
I am the aviation standardization officer for 97th Aviation Troop Command (similar to a brigade) and the senior standardization instructor pilot (SIP) in the AH-64D Apache Longbow for the Utah National Guard. I have been in the Army for over 35 years, flying the Apache for nearly 30 years. In my position, I oversee the flight training of all Apache pilots in Utah. Prior to joining the Guard, I was on active duty for 12 years and also have experience flying the AH-1 Cobra (as an IP), OH-58 Kiowa Scout, UH-1 Huey, and UH-60 Blackhawk.
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Categories:
Human Interest
Helicopter Sectors
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Apr
22
2015
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Posted by Admin
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In the 1989 movie Field of Dreams, Kevin Costner hears ghostly voices coming from his Iowa cornfield telling him, “If you build it they will come,” meaning he should build a baseball diamond and former members from the Chicago Black Sox would come. Each day for the two months that I worked building a crew resource management instructor’s course, a similar line kept replaying in my head: What if I build it and no one comes?
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Categories:
Training
Safety
Helicopter Sectors
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Apr
20
2015
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Posted by Admin
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As a member of the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) Safety Management System (SMS) Working Group, we attempt to provide helicopter professionals with useful ideas and tools to help with their SMS implementation and sustainment. As you might imagine, the needs of aviation programs can vary widely depending on the size and scope of the operation. Despite the FAA’s reluctance to regulate SMS for other than Part 121 operators in the U.S., many proactive aviation companies and agencies have voluntarily begun their own implementation with varied results. By now, most of us in this industry are familiar with SMS and its four pillars: (1) safety policy (2) safety risk management (3) safety assurance (4) safety promotion. (If these four components aren’t familiar to you, it’s time to get out of the cave and see the light!) These items are interrelated and are the essential framework for an organization’s SMS program.
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Categories:
Safety
Training
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Apr
20
2015
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Posted by Admin
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2015 promises to be an exciting year in helicopter development, as OEMs push the envelope on advanced technologies to deliver more speed, higher flight ceilings, and improved fuel efficiency. Here are some of the most exciting trends to watch for over the next 12 months, some of which will be seen at Heli-Expo 2015.
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Categories:
Helicopter Event Coverage
Company Profiles
“The doctor told me I’d never walk again,” former Utah flight nurse Stein Rosqvist told the group with obvious emotion. “I saw that wheelchair being pushed towards me down the corridor and said, ‘That’s definitely not for me.’”
Through months of physical therapy by a nurse that would not permit him to say, “I can’t,” Stein walks today. His is just one of the stories I heard during the three-day digital story workshop I attended recently in Denver, Colorado.
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Categories:
Training
Safety
Helicopter Sectors
The FAA requires all initial pilot certificate applicants (except ATP) to demonstrate cross-country proficiency during a practical test. The Practical Test Standard (PTS) Area of Operation identifying the proficiency to be demonstrated is titled “Navigation.” Tasks included within this section of the PTS are pilotage and dead reckoning, radio navigation and radar services, diversion, and lost procedures. This portion of the exam is intended to verify that the student has sufficient knowledge to fly a helicopter safely outside of his or her local flying area.
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Categories:
Training
Safety