That is the question we asked industry executives to answer here in the Executive Outlook section this year. It is purposely a very broad question in order to give the respondents a lot of room to address whatever is most important to each of them, personally. This is one time in particular that we do try to allow them to point us toward the important things to watch in the coming months, rather than vice versa.
Another question we considered asking was: “When do you think the log jam for money for new capital purchases is finally going to break-loose?”
I have been asking that same question of various industry executives and veterans for several months now and have run across a common theme (watch for our helicopter financing story coming in the February issue). Most do not doubt that some significant solutions are going to present themselves in 2010, but there is a great range of expectations as to exactly what form those solutions are most likely to take. Anyone who has hung around the helicopter market for any number of years is not likely to be too surprised at the emergence of unexpected problems or the resultant detours in our business paths. Things happen, both good and bad. Accident rates go way up one year, Tsunamis or hurricanes wreak major havoc, wars or military skirmishes come and go, new governments take office and the latest iteration of the helicopter-of-the-future gets set aside while attentions turn to even newer and more exciting advances in technology. All these events can drive us in unexpected directions.
I do not believe our industry is particularly different than many others in this regard. But in dealing with an industry like ours, where the cornerstone pieces of capital equipment that provide the fuel for business growth are bought and sold for prices in the multiple millions, it is a cruel twist of irony that we can be held completely hostage by the financial community—in spite of the fact that the underlying tenets of our businesses remain as sound and solid as they were when the financial industry meltdown began more than a year ago. But the answer is out there. I have heard business plans and new ideas in the past few months that make my head spin.
With that said, I turn your attention to the Executive Outlook section and the Annual Reports. I have no doubt that some of the responses given by these industry leaders will provide insight into the answer to not only the questions posed above, but to other equally important questions I had not even considered.
- Randy Jones, Publisher, Rotor & Wing
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I graduated from the Army\'s flight school in 1986 and two weeks after graduation I started the aircraft qualification course for the UH-60. What resulted six months later in Korea after becoming a pilot in command of the sixty was the start of a love story with an aircraft.
Looking at the cover of the Jan 2010 issue is a just minor thought though. I see a crewchief\'s hand touching an M60 which is something I am used to seeing over my shoulder. The bad part of seeing that was also seeing a bunch of skin from his forearm. I have flown with crewchiefs since 1986 and have had to have conversations with them that range anywhere from the UH-60, to sports to, where we were going to sleep that night. In all those years there has only been one time that I looked over my shoulder and had to tell a crewchief that he kneeded to tighten a flight suit around his wrist. To tell you the complete story that young man had done a small job on the aircraft during our last stop and he\'d simply not paid attention to that loose sleeve. He said \"I got it\" and we continued the mission. By the way that occurred in the middle of summer in western Panama with the air containing the humidity from the jungle beneath us.
After all this writting that I\'ve already done my message to you is please pay attention to the small details in your cover because that attention my prevent sending the small message that in the air we are always right about everything.
Thanks for what you do for R&W!
Hector