I received a message from a person responding to comments I’d made on my professional Face Book page that deals with crew resource management topics, about the UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter crash that occurred back in March 10, 2015 off the coast of Florida. The crew, who was extremely experienced, had lost spatial orientation when doing an overwater exercise in sea fog killing the crew of 4 and the 7 soldiers on board. The aircraft was from the Louisiana National Guard. The person who wrote to me concluded, “The LA guard is the best aviation unit in the world.”
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Categories:
My Two Cents Worth
An interesting development in the investigation of the EC225 that lost its M/R in flight last year.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
I am very happy to report that the accident rate for helicopters in the United States continue a downward trend. This should be the goal of each helicopter operator and pilot. However, the accidents we do have are not new, we just keep having the same accidents repeatedly. One such mission segment that has long stood out for having a higher than average accident rate is flight training.
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Categories:
Rotorcraft Checkride
On December 22, 2016 a State District Court judge in Austin upheld a ruling, giving the State of Texas the right to regulate fees paid to air ambulances for transporting patients covered by Workers' Compensation Insurance. On the surface it doesn’t look like that ruling affects the American HAA (Helicopter Air Ambulance) industry, but it could prove to change the fabric of the industry. The ruling has the potential to create a negative ripple effect in our industry, if successfully argued and used as a precedent in other State class-action lawsuits currently filed against for-profit HAA providers.
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Categories:
My Two Cents Worth
Helicopter Maintenance Blog*
April 2017
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
Variations on the methods used to conduct a maneuver during a Checkride really isn’t that uncommon. However, lately one maneuver seems to have more variations than others, and in many cases, with the applicant not understanding why.
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Categories:
Rotorcraft Checkride
So, your flying along in a helicopter with passengers on a 14 CFR Part 135 flight. You’re operating at the highest level of safety for helicopter passenger transport; as an FAA Approved Air Carrier. So obviously Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) operations wouldn’t be permitted at your altitude…or would they?
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Categories:
Rotorcraft Checkride
Reshaaz Mohammed, a helicopter pilot from Trinidad wrote asking me, “Why is it so difficult to get that first flying job?” Here is what he had to say:
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Categories:
My Two Cents Worth
Looks like 2017 is the year of legacy retirements. Last month the Indian Army elected to retire their fleet of HAL built Lamas and Alouette IIIs. Now it hits closer to home.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench
How convenient. Just as we start a year of Lama tips, one of the largest operators of SA315B and SA.316B type aircraft decides to retire their entire fleet. The Indian Army cited recent flight incidents and safety concerns as the reasons for grounding their fleet of approximately 44 aircraft.
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Categories:
ROTORwrench