Author: Scott Skola
Unfortunately, the last month hasn’t been kind to the industry. Several tragic events: AW139 hit a zipline in flight, a pilot was struck by 230 M/R blades during ground ops, a midair between an Astar and fixed wing, and an EMS 407 hit trees during cruise. Luckily, in the fifth incident, where a Skycrane contacted water during fire ops, everyone made it out okay.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
Looks like the offshore rotorcraft industry hasn’t fared any better though. While the financials of most major players are continuing their slide, there’s new company acquisitions on one side and rumors of sell-offs on the other side.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
A lot of flying going on in California last month covering the fires. While I never directly worked in that type of ops, I have seen them in action during the day and the mechanics during the night. A sight to see.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
Being a history buff, I run across some unique stuff. Like this one: This past October, 62 years ago, the first Bell Huey flew as the XH-40.
While the Sikorsky R-4 and the Bell 47 gave the world a viable helicopter, it was the Huey and its performance in Vietnam that gave us the industry we call home.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
To all those flying and wrenching in the Carolinas and beyond, I wish you good luck and support.
I think everyone has an FAA story. For most of us, we usually remember only the bad ones. You know: “Hi, I’m with the FAA and I’m here to help you.”
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
The world’s last flying Bristol 171 Sycamore helicopter will return home to Weston-super-Mare this month when it flies to the Helicopter Museum; 60 years after it was built. The historic aircraft land at the museum on Monday 11 June and be based in its Duke of Edinburgh Hangar until Sunday 24 June. It will be the UK’s first Sycamore flight in 46 years.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
Last year for my August blog topic I discussed tool FOD. And the same for this August. However, this time I found some examples that drive the point home. Of all the things we can do as mechanics, when working on aircraft, is to ensure we, as a group, return all our tools back to their respective toolboxes.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
Last month’s tip, the one concerning the Alouette III brakes, left me feeling less than satisfied. There is another brakes-related accident I want to describe along with some other comments to emphasize the importance of airworthy brakes.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
As the maintenance end of the industry continues its shift to a new safety culture, more articles are being written on the topic. I ran across two articles from 2016 that give a different viewpoint on where maintenance operations are going.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
The latest on the Bell 525 is a 2019 delivery date. However, with the offshore industry saturated with existing aircraft, a Bell spokesman stated it plans for a “soft” service debut. It will be interesting how the old school pilots will take to the fly-by-wire controls in every day operations. Definitely something to keep an eye on.
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Categories:
Rotorcraft Checkride