Articles for tag VAST
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Nov
16
2023
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Posted by Admin
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Come Collaborate to Improve Safety and Operational Excellence
Since time began, humans have come together to share stories and discuss ideas that can make the world a better place. In such a diverse community like that of rotorcraft and VTOL, we have lots of amazing people using a wide variety of machines to perform different tasks and activities.
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Tags:
Safety First
VAST
Categories:
Safety First
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Sep
22
2023
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Posted by Admin
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I knew at age 16 I wanted to fly when I saw my first medical helicopter pick up a trauma patient in front of me. I began my career in air medicine at the ripe old age of 24 as a flight nurse at Lifeline in Rockford, Illinois. It was several years later that safety took on a new meaning when I later flew for AirLife-Denver in Colorado, and our program experienced a fatal crash that rocked me to my core. I was afforded the resources to heal and saw meaningful industry-wide changes develop over time. I still applaud AirLife’s leadership who first supported their people and then mined for lessons learned, sharing them broadly to enhance safety for all. When I became their le
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Tags:
Safety First
VAST
Categories:
Safety First
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Jul
27
2023
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Posted by Admin
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One dark night on the San Diego coast, my crew was launched for LE to intercept a drug-laden “panga” en route from Mexico to the U.S. We got the intel from our command center and launched into the blackness to find our panga. As we headed west over the Pacific Ocean with our radar scanning the surface of the water and our night vision goggles tuned up, we encountered declining ceilings at 1,000 feet AWL. We continued our search pattern at 700 feet and as the evening got cooler, the ceilings got lower. When we went down to 500 feet AWL, we discussed our hard deck of 200 feet AWL and termination of the search. We went down to 300 feet and finally at 200 feet we reached our limit and returned to base. The risk to my crew in declining ceilings was not worth the gain of finding the drug runner.
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Dave McCarthy
Safety First
VAST
Categories:
Safety First
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May
23
2023
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Posted by Admin
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I recently assumed the USHST Industry Co-Chair position from Nick Mayhew, who has provided many significant contributions during his tenure. I want to take this opportunity to share my thoughts and objectives in my new role. But first, a look back at the journey. I first became involved with the IHST International Helicopter Safety Team in 2010. As a helicopter pilot with an airline background, I saw an opportunity to provide different aspects of safety, training, navigation and human factors to the vertical flight community. Not everything will translate, but many aspects do, such as evidence & scenario-based training, flight training devices, electronic flight bags and performance based navigation (PBN). At the onset, some of this seemed foreign, but is clearly recognizable today. Also, over time, the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) became the Vertical Aviation Safety Team (VAST) and the U.S. Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) is now a regional organization in the global VAST organization. I have worked with the USHST’s Infrastructure Working Group, particularly on COPTER IFR/PBN, and we’ve seen important, transformative changes.
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Chris Baur
Safety First
VAST
Categories:
Safety First
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Mar
23
2023
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Posted by Admin
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“You have the controls; I think I’ve got the leans,” I told Rich, the front seat PIC in our US Army AH-1F Cobra. I tried to sound calm, but there was no disguising the worry in my voice. I had recently commenced a descending left turn through an inviting sucker hole to escape the rapidly forming low overcast clouds. It seemed like only moments before we had higher clouds with sufficient visibility to enjoy our cross-country flight along the picturesque Rhine River valley near Koblenz, Germany.
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Tags:
Chris Hill
VAST
Categories:
Safety First