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April 1, 2013
Eurocopter anticipates that a fix to the main gearbox issues with the EC225 will be available in April. The model was temporarily grounded after two ditching incidents in the UK’s North Sea during 2012. “We have to fix the technical issues which we are currently facing with the 225. No doubt,” said Eurocopter President & CEO Lutz Bertling during a March 5 press briefing at Heli-Expo...April 1, 2013
MD Helicopters CEO Lynn Tilton through the cockpit of the MD540F. At HAI Lynn Tilton, owner of MD Helicopters, said she was scarred, but stronger for it, in her efforts to turn MD Helicopters around since buying the company in 2005. “I can feel the Howard Hughes legacy on my shoulders.” The latest MD product, the MD540F, is on many military wish lists, she said. “We have...April 1, 2013
Lutz Bertling with American Eurocopter CEO Marc Paganini at the company’s March 5 Heli-Expo press conference, a week before announcing his plans to leave for Bombardier Transportation. Longstanding head of Eurocopter, Dr. Lutz Bertling, has announced his departure from the EADS division in favor of Berlin-based Bombardier Transportation, where he will take the top post of president...April 1, 2013
Turbomeca uncovered its TM800 during an unveiling ceremony at Heli-Expo, giving it the name Arrano. In an unveiling that featured an almost Cirque de Soleil-style introduction with acrobats fitting for Las Vegas and CEO Olivier Andries perched above a crowd gathered around the company’s booth, Turbomeca took the wraps off its latest engine on March 5...April 1, 2013
Lockheed Martin/Kaman unmaned cargo K-Max. Gary Tenison, vice president of business development and marketing for Kaman Aerospace, told Rotor & Wing that the company’s recent restructuring is part of a strategy to focus on operators. “One Kaman is about consolidating the Kaman business,” he said. “Helicopters were once apart and are now within the Aerosystems group...April 1, 2013
As Marenco Swisshelicopter’s SKYe SH09 progresses into prototype development and first flight during 2013, the manufacturer has chosen Heliflite to serve as a distributor in...April 1, 2013
Bell engineers use the 525 Relentless simulator to test the ergonomics and flight characteristics of the “super medium” helicopter design. Note the side-stick configuration of the fly-by-wire controls. Last year, Fort Worth, Texas-based Bell Helicopter unveiled the mock-up of its model 525 “Relentless,” the aircraft its designers call a “super medium” twin...April 1, 2013
Roberto Garavaglia and new AgustaWestland CEO Daniele Romiti during the company’s Heli-Expo press conference. The expectation of a battle royale between the press and the management team from AgustaWestland at the company’s press conference on the eve of the opening of Heli-Expo in Las Vegas over the alleged Indian AW101 scandal in India did not materialize. Instead, newly...April 1, 2013
Enstrom CEO Jerry Mullins and Guo Huaqiang, an official with parent company CQHIC. Enstrom Helicopter of Menominee, Mich. used Heli-Expo 2013 in Las Vegas as a backdrop for the introduction of a Garmin G1000H flight control option for its 480B light turbine aircraft. The fully integrated system is primarily a flight information source that provides terrain avoidance, collision awareness, weather and...April 1, 2013
Walking through the long hallways of the Las Vegas Convention Center during HAI’s Heli-Expo in early March, I didn’t have to go far to see some sort of ongoing safety event. Whether it was a class on accident prevention, HFACS or safety management systems (SMS), the show was overwhelmingly conspicuous with safety awareness. I was impressed with the number of members who wanted to learn more...April 1, 2013
TSI’s D Smith (left) presents Moral Courage award to Bond CEO Richard Mintern. The U.S. Transportation Safety Institute (TSI), in partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and HAI’s Safety Committee, presented the first ever “Moral Courage Award” to Bond Offshore Helicopters and the U.S. Coast Guard during a ceremony at Heli-Expo. TSI’s D Smith noted that...April 1, 2013
Cobham HeliSAS is an autopilot system designed for light helicopters. Cobham, the avionics firm based in Mineral Wells, Texas, arrived at Heli-Expo 2013 with HeliSAS, the company’s sleek autopilot system specifically designed for the light helicopter market. Weighing in at a scant 15 lbs., the system, which was designed for Part 27-catagory helicopters in VFR conditions, is capable of...April 1, 2013
Robinson CEO Kurt Robinson at the company’s Heli-Expo 2013 press briefing. At its annual press conference held during Heli-Expo in March, Robinson Helicopter Co. President Kurt Robinson reported impressive 2012 sales for its three-model line of rotorcraft. Its new R66 turbine, sales-leading R44 piston, and two-seat R22 all kept the company’s 617,000-square-foot assembly plant in...April 1, 2013
The GTN series of GPS Nav/Comm, Garmin’s successor to the popular GNS 430 and 530 GPS Nav/Comm systems, made its debut in March of 2011. Featuring a touchscreen interface and multifunction display (MFD), it is continuing to gain popularity in the fixed-wing community. This year, Garmin announces its optimization for helicopter operations. The GTN series has an already impressive...April 1, 2013
Bristow EC175 at the Eurocopter booth. HAI’s Heli-Expo played host to 60 helicopters and 736 exhibitors in Las Vegas while attracting 20,393 visitors during the three-day event in early March. The oil and gas sector was a principle beneficiary of many of the orders signed with the major OEMs during this year’s show. The first official customer for Eurocopter’s new EC175 helicopter...April 1, 2013
When you first arrive at the Daytona Beach or Prescott campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), it does not take long to see that everyone there is well aware of safety management as they “Live the Safety Culture” every day. Dan McCune, vice president of safety, orchestrated the visit. I met McCune at a U.S. Transportation Safety Institute (TSI) safety management systems (SMS)...April 1, 2013
Rotorcraft pilots love to talk shop. We chat about our helicopters and how they handle, regardless of whether they are a pleasure to fly, or are a handful. Sometimes you’ll catch us outstretching a steady clenched fist as we describe the “rock solid” hover tendencies of one model, or rapidly fluttering a hand as we speak of another which gets “squirrely” on approach to a...April 1, 2013
Most things that happen in helicopter aviation can be viewed from more than one perspective, and sometimes achieving access to the correct viewpoint can end up feeling like a matter of life and death. During the 1970s, out of Borinquen, Puerto Rico, we enjoyed not only the pleasure of covering the largest search and rescue sector in all of U.S. Coast Guard operations with the exquisitely capable Sikorsky...April 1, 2013
The surprise resignation of Eurocopter’s CEO, Dr. Lutz Bertling, who sees a better future away from rotorcraft as president and chief operating officer of Berlin-based Bombardier Transportation, is an undisputable loss to the helicopter industry in general. Since his appointment in November 2006—replacing Fabrice Brégier, who moved “up the ladder” within EADS to become chief...April 1, 2013
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has launched its VTOL X-Plane program to challenge industry engineers to dream up “novel concepts” for the next generation of vertical lift. During a conference call with reporters, VTOL X-Plane Program Manager Ashish Bagai said that one of the main objectives is to “not just revisit existing methods or approaches...
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