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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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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My Two Cents Worth
Helicopter Maintenance Blog*
April 2017
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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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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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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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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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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
I had let it go as long as I possibly dared. Longer.
I had given this Commercial Pilot every opportunity to recover. To get with the action. Hell, to blessed well get involved, even.
But no... Too busy waving The Royal Wave at his buddies. Too busy doing his Grand Fly By.
Too busy showing off…
I could hear the blade slap. I could feel the buffeting. I could sense what was about to happen. All the warning signals were there, all the harbingers of Truth, all the Reminders of the immutable Laws of Nature and Gravity... everything was lining up, trying to flash that little amber caution light in a good pilot's mind…
Remember the introduction?
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Moggy's Musings
A few months ago, I was conducting a commercial pilot practical test for an applicant in the South Florida area. At the beginning of the exam, the applicant held up his copy of the FAA practical test standards (PTS) next to his face and took a selfie with his phone. He then proceeded to request I “hold on a minute” so that he could post the picture on Facebook. At the time, I didn’t really mind as this moment was significant to him. Maybe it was his way of calming his nerves: no harm, no foul.
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Categories:
Rotorcraft Checkride