Nov
23
2010
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Posted by Admin
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By Brad McNally - In 1957, Columbia Helicopters started with one helicopter flying primarily in Oregon. That first year the company grossed $20,000. Forty years later the company grossed $100 million (Bernstein, 2009). Today Columbia Helicopters employs 700 people and has over 20 helicopters operating around the world. The story of how Columbia Helicopters grew to be one of the premier heavy lift and heli-logging companies, operating the world’s only commercial tandem rotor helicopter fleet starts with its founder Wes Lematta.
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Categories:
Human Interest
Nov
09
2010
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Posted by Admin
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Having been invited in to conduct a week’s worth of program evaluation and EVS training by Wojciech Wozniczka, the LPR Deputy Technical Director. I had the sincere pleasure to work with this tremendously professional EMS group based out of Warsaw, Poland which had been founded in 2000. The LPR was a result of the consolidation of several independent EMS units to form a single state (country) medical service with the ability to coordinate all care from one single location.
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Categories:
Safety
Nov
03
2010
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Posted by Admin
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The Federal Aviation Administration announced on Oct 7, 2010, via a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM), sweeping new equipment and regulation changes in an effort to enhance the safety of all helicopter operations. While this action has been expected for many months, there will no doubt be a great deal of debate and political wrangling before any changes are actually put into place.
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Categories:
Regulatory
Oct
26
2010
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Posted by Admin
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Humor by Klank - One pilot skill that should be taught is dealing with the mechanic. This is some how neglected in the basic flight skills textbook. There was a great text going around a while back on “How to operate a helicopter mechanic”, but I feel that information was for the advanced pilot. Therefore I shall remedy the situation and write a basic piece that I feel should be inserted in your Pilot Operating Handbook.
DEFINITIONS
Mechanic: Worker skilled in using tools, repairing machines, etc, Source - Webster.
Mechanic: Worker skilled in using tools, text, voodoo, threats, intimidation, profanity, pagers, cell phones, and determination, Source - Klank.
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Categories:
Humor & Poetry
Oct
19
2010
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Posted by Admin
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By Brad McNally - In the 1920’s the Autogiro was the cutting edge of aviation technology. A Spanish engineer by the name of Juan de la Cierva got the Autogiro into the air by solving several fundamental rotary wing flight problems. An American businessman by the name of Harold Pitcairn partnered with Cierva to bring the Autogiro to the United States and further developed it. Their work was sometimes collaboration and sometimes competition but it directly led to the development and rapid advance of the helicopter in the late 1930’s and 1940’s.
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Categories:
Human Interest
Oct
12
2010
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Posted by Admin
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Steve Goldsworthy talks with Jim Paules, founder of the American Heroes Airshow. Late in July the skies over Los Angeles were filled with helicopters. That’s not so unusual with all the ENG and police ships that can show up at the rumor of a pursuit, but what was unusual was the type of helicopters in the air. First in were two Pavehawks, a DEA Astar, a Vietnam era Huey, wow, this is not your average event. But for the American Heroes Airshow, it’s just the morning of fly in.
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Categories:
Helicopter Event Coverage
Oct
05
2010
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Posted by Admin
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By Brad McNally - Hollingsworth Franklin Gregory was born in Rockwell, TX in 1906. Frank Gregory as most people knew him, graduated from high school in Shelby, MS in 1923. After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Mississippi in 1926, Gregory worked for several years as a Mississippi high school principal (Official Air Force Biography, 1956).
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Categories:
Human Interest
Sep
28
2010
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Posted by Admin
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Written &Video Feature!
Article. photos, and video by Lyn Burks
I remember when I was a much younger helicopter pilot clawing my way up through the helicopter world, one airframe and one mission at a time. Training, ENG, Utility, EMS, Corporate, you know, the usual stuff. I recall the first time I saw the term GOMER on the Justhelicopters.com message board and thought, “what the heck is a GOMER?” Frankly, it doesn’t really sound all that cool!
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Categories:
Career Development
Helicopter Sectors
Sep
14
2010
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Posted by Admin
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By William T. Winn - Anyone who has read Professor James Reason’s writings on human factors in accident causation is familiar with his well-known model of how causative factors can line up like the seemingly random holes in slices of Swiss cheese to result in a mishap or in a serious accident. Dr. Reason is professor of psychology at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom. He has published books on motion sickness, human factors in transportation accidents, absent-mindedness, human error, and on identifying and managing organizational risk factors.
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Categories:
Helicopter Sectors
Sep
08
2010
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Posted by Admin
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By Brad McNally - As you read this article it is almost a certainty that somewhere on the high seas there is a helicopter belonging to one of the U.S. naval services conducting naval operations. For the past 60 years these operations have been commonplace. That was not the case in the early 1940s when helicopters were in their infancy. No one tried to apply the helicopter’s unique capabilities to the naval environment until mid World War II. This all changed thanks to a group of dedicated individuals who saw the significant contributions that helicopters could add to the Coast Guard, Navy and Marine Corps. This article showcases three true Naval Rotorcraft Pioneers.
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Categories:
Human Interest