Heli-Expo Issue | February/March 2017

cannot assume any responsibility for the safe return of submitted material. © copyright 2017 mhm publishing inc. international serial number issn 1703-8812 canadian publication mail agreement number: 40741549 postmaster: if undeliverable, return mailing label only. printed in u.s.a. in canada: 500 trillium Dr., unit 23, kitchener, on n2r 1e5 in the united states: 701 s. main street, fall river, Wi 53932 Vertical is proud to be a member of contributinG editors: Jen boyer, ed brotak, John carinha, thierry Dubois, geoff goodyear, guy r. maher, Dan megna, bob petite, skip robinson, andy roe, howard slutsken, kenneth i. swartz contributinG photoGrAphers: oscar bernardi, rob brown, eugen burgler, Dirk collins, Jerome Deulin, chi yin liao, guy r. maher, Dan megna, heath moffatt, christopher moss, brittany mumma, arden oksanan, anthony pecchi, mike reyno, skip robinson, Julien sollberger, vitek Zawada Helicopter Association of Canada 2 0 1 5 K e n n e t h R . W i l s o n A w a r d s Finalist B e s t i n C a n a d i a n B u s i n e s s M e d i a read the magazine online verticalmag.com/digital subscribe to vertical news verticalmag.com/subscription insightmagonline.com verticalmag.com shop vertical merch shopcanada.mhmpub.com shopinternational.mhmpub.com watch videos on vimeo vimeo.com/mhmmedia like us on facebook facebook.com/verticalmag follow us on twitter follow @verticalmag follow us on instagram follow @verticalmag Firehawk Helicopters breaks new ground Fighting Fire with Fire C e l e b r a t i n g e s t . 2 0 0 2 yearsyears heli-expo issue // february/march 2017 Visit us at heli-expo! booth #7736 Visit us at heli-expo! booth #7736 rcaf special january/february 2017 an MHM PubLISHInG MaGaZIne s k i e s m a g . c o m THe RiGHT cHOice FOR RiGHT NOW: expeRTs Super Hornet c295W FOR caNada THe RcaF’s NeW saR aiRcRaFT avIatIon IS our PaSSIon [ inside ] • COMMANDER INTERVIEW • S-92 SIM CENTRE • DREAMLINER EXPERIENCE • HONDAJET FLIGHT TEST • FLIGHT RECORDER REGuLATIONS have a great photo to share? we want to see it! if you have a helicopter-themed photo you’d like to share, post it to our facebook page at www.facebook.com/verticalmag, tweet it to us @verticalmag, or share it on instagram using the hashtag #verticalmag. in addition to receiving prizes, our weekly winners have their photos featured on our home page and in Vertical Daily News, our daily email newsletter. WINNERFacebook phoTo conTesT | @henriksteinset a firehawk helicopters sikorsky s-70 firehawk and airbus as350 b3 fly in formation near the operator’s facility in leesburg, florida. firehawk has been operating s-70s for more than 20 years. dan megna photo Firehawk Helicopters breaks new ground Fighting Fire with Fire C e l e b r a t i n g e s t . 2 0 0 2 yearsyears heli-expo issue // february/march 2017 Visit us at heli-expo! booth #7736 Visit us at heli-expo! booth #7736 Gunship to Go Arming the Black Hawk What are the odds? Calculating risk in HEMS Loud and CLear Next-gen loudspeakers Heli-expo issue 2017 | BootH #7736 Meet the King Up close with Sikorsky’s CH-53K VERTICAL 911 THE PULSE OF THE HELICOPTER INDUSTRY HELI-ExPO ISSUE 2017 VOL 10 NO 1 CH-53K | ARmED BLACK HAwK | RISK IN HEmS 8 Ver tical Maga zine Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 9 Conception/Réalisation : Free-Lance’s l’Agence - ©Getty Images. safran-helicopter-engines.com : @SafranHCEngines Safran is the world’s leading manufacturer of helicopter engines. It offers the widest range and supports 2,500 operators in 155 countries with one constant aim : to stay focused on their missions and to keep their helicopters flying every day, everywhere. HELICOPTER ENGINES FOCUSED ON YOU 10 Ver tical Maga zine ColumNFocus on saFeTy | geoff goodyear wresTlemania — newFoundland sT yle While many of our safety management ef- forts are generated by and for specific com- panies, we work in a regulated industry and are answerable to regulators for much of what we do. We have a lot of stakeholders in our workplace, including passengers, suppli- ers, pilots and maintainers. but the regulator holds a special place in our work lives, and it plays a key role in the effectiveness of our safety management efforts. the relationship is an imposed one, and can sometimes be very complex. i recall a family anecdote concerning my grandfather that might help put this into perspective. bear with me as i set the scene. my grandfather was a very dynamic and original character. everyone in town referred to him as “skipper ken,” which was a local term of respect and endearment. i knew him as the patriarch of the family business. before my time, he served in the first World War with his brothers, and was wounded in france at beaumont hamel during the battle of the somme. a bullet had taken out the better part of an elbow, and the attend- ing field surgeon had insisted that the arm be removed. the skipper was no doubt in a foul mood at the time, and after a heated exchange with the surgeon it was mutually decided that it was to be saved, but that my grandfather would be left with limited mobility in that arm. so be it. fast-forward to the 1920s in newfoundland. skipper ken was very athletic and active in numerous sports, but eventually took up boxing. my grandfather never did anything by halves, and in due course became the heavy- weight boxing champion of the Dominion of newfoundland. he retired from the sport undefeated, and was eventually invested into the province’s sports hall of fame. not bad for a wounded vet with a bad arm! now, in 1920s central newfoundland, there was not a whole lot going on for entertain- ment — unless you liked watching pulp wood fall from a stacker (grand falls was a paper town). so, it generated no end of excitement when word arrived that professional wrestlers from mainland canada were coming to town to put on a show. ticket sales were brisk and the town could hardly contain its excitement. the only thing the promoters needed to con- firm the event was someone to referee the match. the choice was obvious; the town’s favorite son and champion boxer agreed to the request, and all was made ready for the contest of the century. the wrestlers showed up in all their fight- ing finery and the match started off well enough. the wrestlers’ embraces became more spirited as the match wore on, and the skipper found himself having to intervene on more than one occasion. then, as the match reached a fever pitch, one of the intrepid ca- nadian wrestlers took great umbrage to the skipper’s interventions. clearly offended by being penalized or by being called out by a local ref (or both), the wrestler proceeded to make two mistakes in rapid succession. number one: he took a swing at the skipper. number two: he missed. the skipper reacted instinctively. he plant- ed two feet firmly on the mat and laid waste to the professional wrestler with one well- placed right hook. as the wrestler was flying through the air i can only image what was go- ing through his mind… besides his jaw. the second wrestler, seeing his excitable partner spread-eagled and unconscious on the mat, decided to give the skipper a wide berth, and let the chips (or wrestlers) fall where they may. clearly he was gifted with more common sense than his colleague. Despite the unpredictable outcome and early end to the match, all attendees were satisfied with the outcome, as the local ref- eree was the clear winner in what must have been a spectacle to watch. no doubt, entanglements with regulators can sometimes get complicated and emo- tional, and like our malcontent wrestler, we will not always agree with their calls. but the regulator can provide some much-needed outside review of your operation and safety management efforts. having a third party look at your processes and qualify your crews’ training, while sometimes an angst- filled process, is not a bad idea — and will ultimately make our operations safer. my ex- perience has been that if they know you are trying to be compliant and safe, they often do what they can to help. thankfully, they rarely implement the dreaded right-hook proce- dure. as my grandfather advanced in years he was often asked how he was doing. or as we say here, “how are you gettin’ on?” he would always reply, “like Johnny Walker — i am im- proving with age!” in the spirit of continuous improvement and from someone who now qualifies for senior’s discounts — may we all continue to improve with age! have a safe season. Focus on saFeT y column c clearly offended by being penalized or by being called out by a local ref (or both), the wrestler proceeded to make two mistakes in rapid succession. number one: he took a swing at the skipper. number two: he missed. Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 11 ColumN 12 Ver tical Maga zine Focus on TraininG | andy roe sTory TellinG storytelling is part of human culture, and helicopter pilots have no shortage of stories to tell about their adventures in the air. these stories can be good instruction, or simply whimsical entertainment. hopefully your in- structor is discerning enough to use a story as a good instructional tool. the plethora of stories amassed through- out a helicopter career can be of great in- terest to everyone at social functions, but many may not have any instructional ben- efit. student pilots are greatly entertained with on-the-job stories, but many instructors wander hopelessly off topic when they get themselves started on a flying story. aviation teachers must be very creative in how they present flight-related exercises and training information. verbal commu- nication — either in group format or better still, one-on-one — is the traditional method of information transfer. student pilots also respond well to visual aids, metaphors, and other real-time comparisons. however, many instructors, especially those new to the career, crawl into the lobster trap of sto- rytelling — and learning quickly stops. helicopter stories about special missions are always intriguing. the very first flying job i did (oh no, here comes a story!) was to take a group of geologists to and from a remote worksite every day for a week. at my next job, the customers were skeptical about my experience and asked how my summer had been going. i told them that my last job was quite intense and i had learned a lot about igneous rock formations and quartz veins from the geologists on board. the custom- ers were relieved and thought i probably had a thousand hours or so. in fact, over and above my initial training, i had a grand total of 15 hours. most stories are of challenging jobs well done, but often the tales of these achieve- ments have the pilot penetrating impossible weather conditions or flying an external load 500 pounds over the allowable helicopter gross weight. the stories tend to become embellished at each telling, which certainly heightens interest with the audience, but paints the wrong picture if nascent student pilots are around. exciting bad weather stories probably have the pilot exceeding weather limitations. the message students will take from this is that weather minima are important to know, but in real life you’re on your own. the hero with the heavy load may not have been aware that the certificate of airworthiness and the company’s insurance policy were imme- diately null and void as soon as the gross weight was exceeded. teaching braggado- cio sends the wrong message; it’s not very good instruction for budding student pilots. a lot of helicopter flying work is both chal- lenging and safe, and the successful com- pletion of many tasks is an accomplishment. it is only natural that when pilots recount some of the flying missions they have been on, the weather gets worse, the loads heavi- er and the risks far greater than they really were at the time. helicopter stories play well on social media, but student pilots need thought-provoking images and information to help them learn all of the ground theory needed to become licenced. stories should only be considered academic when they have a direct impact on positive learning. a helicopter story with instructional merit might start with a pilot near the end of a power line patrol up the side of a steep mountain. the top of the mountain is cov- ered in low stratus and the customer insists that the tower partially submerged in fog ahead was the highest one at the top of the hill, and if the pilot could just hover by the conductors, the line would immediately fall away into the clear sky on the other side. the customer had flown the line for years, and yet the pilot left the foggy tower and whatever was beyond for another day. the following week, on a cloudless day, the pilot returned with a different lineman to inspect the tower and the remaining line. the “high- est tower” was followed by three more ris- ing up the hill. the pilot, a true professional, didn’t even flinch because his decision the previous week was based on the big pic- ture, not just one man’s observation. this story was short and to the point. student attention was piqued because the important decision-making teaching point was told in story form and the lesson well retained. another example of a good teaching story has the pilot faced with a heavy load on a long flight with no fuel enroute. a quick cal- culation shows that the all-up weight will exceed limitations for the first 12 minutes of a three-hour flight. the straightforward deci- sion is not to go. a pilot electing to proceed with the flight has taken into consideration the implications of the weight and balance, airworthiness, emergency landing charac- teristics and overall safety of the flight for a duration of 12 minutes. although not an endorsement to attempt the flight, the pilot who does in an effort to offer good customer service is most likely better prepared for an emergency, because of the known safety implications, than a pilot preparing for a more normal flight. What de- cision would you make? good instructors include good storytelling in their teaching “bag of tricks,” along with good board/media presentations, and the effective use of helicopter training aids and manuals. helicopter pilot stories that overly expound on one’s personal prowess are better kept and rehearsed for the next gov- ernment pilot workshop. Focus on TraininG column c Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 13 P&WC’s FAST TM solution captures, analyzes and sends full-flight data intelligence electronically to customers within moments of engine shutdown. By providing actionable preventative alerts and prognostics directly to the people who need it, we empower operators to make informed decisions, reduce costs and troubleshoot issues before they happen. With the FAST TM solution we take the words rapid response to a new level. It’s that easy. It’s that powerful. FAST™ Solution: Unparalleled dispatch availability and reduced operating costs. PREVENTIVE, ACTIONABLE & WIRELESS FULL-FLIGHT INTELLIGENCE FAST ™ SOLUTION KNOW YOUR ENGINE FROM THE INSIDE OUT WWW.PWC.CA ColumN 14 Ver tical Maga zine Focus on mainTenance | John carinha keepinG Focus one of my favorite pastimes over the holiday season is to disconnect from all things Wi-fi, cellular and social media, light a fire, and bury myself in a good book. my latest read, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior by ori brafman, has left me deep in thought since its opening chapter. Drawing on behav- ioral economics and social psychology, sway reveals the dynamics that often derail rational thinking or muddle decision-making abilities. the book opens with the story behind the deadliest collision of two aircraft in aviation history: klm and pan am boeing 747s at tenerife airport in 1977. at issue was the de- cision by the seasoned klm pilot to takeoff with what he assumed was takeoff clearance, but in fact wasn’t. the ensuing result was his aircraft colliding with the pan am 747, which was still taxiing on the active runway. the crash resulted in the loss of 583 lives. curious, i googled the next most deadly air disaster. this brought up the Japan airlines (Jal) 747 crash outside tokyo in 1985, which killed 520 people. the cause of this accident was attributed to an incorrect structural repair to the rear pressure bulkhead that effectively reduced the repair’s resistance to metal fa- tigue to 70 percent. post-accident, boeing calculated that the repair would fail after ap- proximately 10,000 flight cycles; the accident aircraft managed just over 12,000 prior to fail- ure. in the months following the accident, the Jal maintenance manager and the engineer who inspected and approved the repair both committed suicide. there is cause and effect to almost every action in life. the nature of these examples brings to light the proverbial chain of events and helps identify where the wheels came off in a process or sequence that ended with se- vere consequences. in both situations, we can identify the point at which the effect of irrational behavior took control of events. in the klm disaster, a vet- eran pilot, rated the best amongst his peers, allowed the pressure of duty cycles, an es- teemed record, and gate times to influence his decision to respond to commands and verbal direction. he elected to takeoff without proper clearance. in the Jal disaster, a de- cision, albeit known or unknown, was taken to circumvent an approved repair scheme. arguably an honest mistake, it came seven years before the inevitable and with the most extreme of outcomes. i am a believer in silver linings. no matter the circumstance or outcome, one has to look for the “takeaways.” What can i adopt in my own shop policies, attitude, and persona that will otherwise make me and/or my staff wiser, bet- ter, or smarter? processing the two events, i came to one glaring conclusion. in both these scenarios, neither pilot nor engineer made a conscious decision to cause these accidents. they didn’t begin their respective days think- ing or hoping that they would make a mistake that would end with a high volume of death. so why then, did it still play out that way? to avoid severe consequences, it is important to mitigate distraction. this means recognizing the start of a sequence of events and taking pause to acknowledge when external factors interrupt rational thought — something easier said than done. this highlights an ongoing challenge, both in my business and in daily life. We’ve had a longstanding policy with our employees where the use of cellphones is prohibited while working. the distractions offered by smartphones are too tempting. Whether a text message, email, or phone call, the de- sire to stay connected, and the new adage of “fomo” (fear of missing out) becomes overbearing. as a business owner who is also hands-on, this proves challenging to balance. i was once told by a mentor that i should al- ways answer my phone — it could be money calling. nevertheless, research indicates that while using a cellphone, average reaction times increase from 333 milliseconds to 607 milliseconds. in aviation and flight, these mere fractions of time can impact life-or-death situ- ations. this brings to light the federal avia- tion authority’s well-documented belief that 80 percent of maintenance mistakes involve human factors. it should be no surprise that distraction ranks fourth on their list of causes. no one will ever know the thought process of the pilots or maintenance crews leading up to these crashes, but at some point in their sequence of thought, their flow was disrupted and their attention was swayed. even during times of focus and productivity in maintenance, simple distractions and minor interruptions can easily impede the flow of ra- tional thought and behavior. Distractions may be unintended or created, but in the aviation industry, losing focus in critical areas results in an almost certain consequence. it is crucial to recognize any interruption or distraction as a significant opportunity for deadly error. Focus on mainTenance column c even during times of focus and productivity in maintenance, simple distractions and minor interruptions can easily impede the flow of rational thought and behavior. Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 15 MANAGEMENT THE FUTURE OF AVIATION CAPTURE ACCURATE FLIGHT, MAINTENANCE AND SAFETY PARAMETERS IN REAL-TIME. DATA STREAM LIVE DATA, TEXT OR VOICE FEEDS FROM ANYWHERE ON THE GLOBE. AUTOMATE PROCESSES ACROSS YOUR ENTIRE ORGANIZATION. www.skytrac.ca / HAI Booth #5912 phoTos From The Field field ops photos fop 16 Ver tical Maga zine garin klinker finds the perfect spot to land his pJ helicopters bell 407. pJ was contracted to conduct snow surveys from the mount lassen area down to the buck lakes area, east of chino, california. Vertical hiGhliGhTs phoTos submiTTed ThrouGh VerTicalmaG.com & Facebook.com/VerTicalmaG Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 17 mason mashon took this moody shot of rob gallagher of coldstream helicopters flying a bell 212hp during the filming of the latest teton gravity research film on the cariboo mountains at silvertip lodge heliskiing. cynthia nubien caught qwest helicopters’ sa365 n1 Dauphin taking off on a cold evening from the company’s fort nelson, b.c., base. phoTos From The Field field ops photos fop 18 Ver tical Maga zine leonardo photographer, simon pryor, flew along with her majesty’s coast guard in the u.k. to photograph their newest search-and-rescue aircraft, the aW189, which is operated by bristow. paul sadler sent in this snap of toll air ambulance’s new leonardo aW139. toll launched service in the southern zone of new south Wales, australia, in January 2017. Vertical hiGhliGhTs phoTos submiTTed ThrouGh VerTicalmaG.com & Facebook.com/VerTicalmaG Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 19 wesley semeniuk of eagle copters took this photo of the company’s most recent eagle single (a single-engine bell 212) conversion while on a test flight south of calgary, alberta. the newly-converted helicopter went to a lucky private operator in the united states. konrad dabkiewicz photographed this swiss air force airbus as332m super puma flying through the swiss alps during a training mission. 20 Ver tical Maga zine RotoRbEatindusTry // operaTor // oem // uas // inTernaTional Bell 505 certified; deliveries to begin he bell 505 Jet ranger x received type certification from transport canada on Dec. 21, narrowly meeting the company’s most recent certification target of year-end. approval from the federal aviation administration (faa) and european aviation safety agency (easa) is expected to follow “very soon” accord- ing to 505 program manager lashan bonaparte. “We look forward to seeing the bell 505 take to the skies in 2017,” said bell presi- dent and ceo mitch snyder as the manu- facturer announced the landmark. production of the 505 will take place at bell helicopter’s facilities in mirabel, quebec, after bell announced in may it would be relocating the 505’s final assembly line from a purpose-built facil- ity in lafayette, louisiana. that facility will instead be used to support programs including the bell 525 relentless. as Vertical went to press, bell was antici- pating production certification in early february, and was planning a production rollout ceremony in mirabel on feb. 9. the first production 505 achieved first flight on Jan. 22. ultimately, bell hopes to be able to pro- duce between 150 and 200 505s each year. this year will see an aggressive ramp-up of production with an estimated 75 aircraft leaving the line by the end of 2017, by which point the manufacturer hopes to be at the rate required to pro- duce 150 aircraft annually. powered by a single safran 2r engine, the bell 505 fills the void in bell’s product line that was created when the bell 206b Jetranger ceased production in 2010. the five-seat Jet ranger x has a useful load of 1,500 pounds (680 kilograms) and a range of 360 nautical miles (667 kilometers), and features the garmin g1000h integrated avionics suite. the aircraft has been certified at a maxi- mum cruise speed of 126 knots and a maximum gross weight of 3,680 pounds (1,669 kilograms) — representing an increase of 30 pounds over the original stated target. the official empty weight has not been finalized, but is expected to by in the range of 2,210 to 2,220 pounds (1,002 to 1,007 kilograms). the manufacturer has received over 400 letters of intent (lois) for the aircraft, and is now in the process of turning those into firm orders, with waves of customers By oliver Johnson & elan head T Development of the five-seat bell 505 was first announced at the paris air show in June 2013, and an aggressive timeline saw the aircraft certified by the end of 2016. bell helicopter photo Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 21 For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com invited to fly the 505 in canada. according to bell, the conversion rate from lois to orders is around 80 percent. however, with a substantial number of aircraft on the order books, the lead-time for new orders is likely to be at least two years. at the same time as it was working on type certification, bell was also working on kit configurations for the 505. the first kit certified was the corporate configura- tion, which includes movable leather seats, carpet, a sliding window, dual controls, and an avionics upgrade package that has a terrain awareness and warning system, synthetic vision, traffic advisory system, an emergency locator transmitter, and a radar altimeter. the second and third 505 prototypes will continue to work on other kit certifications, including a utility configuration that will include a cargo hook, cargo hook mirror, and cargo hook weighing system. a third party — united rotorcraft — is developing an emergency medical services configuration for the 505, but according to bonaparte, no official partnership has been entered between the two parties to provide that as a bell option. training plan in place the first two production aircraft were due to be delivered to the bell training academy (bta) in early february (join- ing the first 505 prototype, which will be used as a maintenance training aid), as the manufacturer prepared to launch its train- ing program. the field maintenance and avionics train- ing programs will each be two weeks in length, while the pilot course will last one week. all three programs are due to be certified shortly, according to ray lamas, general manager of global customer train- ing. “We’re getting ready to teach our first cus- tomers in the 505,” said lamas. “in pace with customer deliveries, we’ll be getting certifications for both the flight and the technical training.” also in place at the bta is a 505 level 7 flight training device (ftD), which is await- ing the finalization of some of the aircraft’s flight test data before it is certified. built by fellow textron company tru simulation (which recently completed the bell 429 level D full flight simulator in place at bell’s facility in valencia, spain), the ftD has a cockpit with a few degrees of movement for an enhanced training experience the 505 uses the same rotor system as the 206l-4 longranger – and according to ralph gannarelli, the lead 505 training pilot, that legacy is felt in flight. “it flies a lot like a longranger/a Jetranger, there’s really not a lot of differ- ence,” he said. “if you can fly Jetranger or longranger you take right to it, without a problem. i was doing full-touchdown auto- rotations within the first half hour.” ganarelli said the power of the arrius engine was also particularly noteworthy. “from a pilot’s standpoint, the thing has a tremendous amount of power. i’m very impressed with that. it will be a great high altitude machine,” he said. “it’s like a light- weight l4. it’s got all the power an l4 has, but with a lighter empty weight.” according to snyder, the base price of the 505 remains around the $1-million mark targeted by former bell ceo John garrison when he first announced the aircraft’s development at the paris air show in June 2013. “it’s been a global demand for the aircraft,” snyder said. “to have 400 letters of inter- est has been an amazing response by the market. . . . even though the market has been down, we’ve had a great response out of this.” the first production bell 505 takes flight at the manufacturer’s facility in mirabel, quebec, on Jan. 22. the aircraft will be used to train pilots on the type at the bell training academy. bell helicopter photo indusTry news rotorBeat 22 Ver tical Maga zine he airbus h160 has completed its cold weather test program in northern canada, as the aircraft continues its journey towards certification in late 2018 or early 2019. the 5.5- to 6-tonne twin-engine aircraft, unveiled at hai heli-expo in march 2015, is powered by the 1,200-horsepower safran arrano, and features a number of innovations, including a fully composite airframe, airbus’s proprietary blue edge rotor blades, electri- cal landing gear, a new canted fenestron tail rotor, and a biplane horizontal stabilizer. the h160 was ferry flown to the cold weather testing site in yellowknife, northwest territories, in December 2016, and began flight trials in the first week of January. bernard fujarski, head of the h160 program, said the team was looking to expose the aircraft to temperatures as low as -40 c dur- ing the tests. “they are looking especially to assess the dynamic behavior of the aircraft, the perfor- mance in cold weather, and we are interested in performing several cold soaks and then starting the aircraft to see how the systems are working,” he told Vertical. While he wouldn’t share specifics in terms of the aircraft’s performance, he did say that the feedback from the flight team has been posi- tive, and that the aircraft’s systems are behav- ing as predicted. prior to travelling to yellowknife, airbus took the h160 to a climate chamber in vienna, austria, to complete some low and high tem- perature tests. “it was an excellent dry run for the campaign,” he said. “We had to make some little adjust- ments — not too much — and so far the results are according to our expectations. especially the behavior of the engine is extremely good.” as Vertical went to press at the end of January, airbus was planning to invite repre- sentatives from various airworthiness authori- ties, including the european aviation safety agency (easa), transport canada, and the federal aviation agency, to visit the aircraft in yellowknife in mid-february. also joining the airbus crew of one pilot, two flight engineers, and five mechanics on loca- tion are representatives from its customer support division — speaking to the manu- facturer’s aim to launch the h160 with a high level of maturity in both performance and support. “We started the program with a dedicated team performing concurrent engineering — at the same time we are developing the product, the industry [manufacturing], and the mainte- nance of the aircraft,” he said. “so we’re using H160 completes cold weather trials By oliver Johnson T the airbus h160 during cold weather testing in yellowknife, northwest territories, in early January. by the end of 2016, the aircraft had accumulated more than 300 flight hours. Jerome Deulin photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 23 the [yellowknife] campaign to also check what we are developing regarding the maintenance — the maintainability, the tooling, the proce- dures, the accessibility — in cold tempera- tures,” he said. program progression by the end of 2016, the h160 program had accumulated more than 300 flight hours between its two flying prototypes — pt1 and pt2. the team had also completed the equivalent of 150 flight hours on its “Dynamic helicopter Zero.” containing the aircraft’s engines, transmission, rotors and tail boom, the platform is used for dynamic and power checks. in July, the program passed a key milestone with the freezing of the aerodynamic configu- ration of the h160’s dynamics assemblies, and the completion of load valuation flights. “We’ve now got everything in our hands in order to design the serial parts,” said fujarski, adding that the helicopter was still to per- form fatigue tests to determine the life limit of mechanical parts. progress has also been good on the manufacturing model to build the h160, with assembly beginning on the first station of the assembly line. for the serial aircraft, airbus will use a “major component assembly” model, whereby separate modules (including tail boom, central and front fuselage, cockpit avionics bay, main dynamic components, and blades) are fully built and tested in parallel at various airbus facilities around europe, and then shipped to the h160’s final assembly line (fal) in marignane, france. “our industrial model is validated with work- share between the sites of the [airbus] group in germany, spain and france,” said fujarski. “We’ve also started the maturity checks regarding the industry — for instance, we have already used the manufacturing [system] to assemble the third prototype in order to check that the industrial process is well defined, and adjust what needs to be adjusted.” the third prototype (pt3) is now in final assembly, but is not due to fly until mid-year. this is because airbus needs to validate the modifications it has implemented in pt3 from the previous prototypes. according to fujarski, the major changes were related with the relocation of avionics and some electrical equipment from the rear to the front in order to optimize the aircraft’s center of gravity, while the air intakes and cowlings have also been reshaped, and a final main rotor mast length has been chosen. “pt3 is in what we call standard one con- figuration, whereas pt1 and pt2 were built according to standard Zero configuration,” he said. “We are now working on standard two, which will be the standard certified and deliv- ered on the first helicopter.” the h160 has already been assessed by a number of potential customers, with 15 pilots having the opportunity to fly the aircraft in september and December last year. “so far the feedback was extremely good regarding the vibration level of the aircraft, the external and internal sound — which is extremely low, the visibility from the cockpit, and more generally speaking the maturity of the aircraft at that stage of the program,” said fujarski. the manufacturer began taking letters of intent for the h160 in march at heli-expo last year, but has not disclosed the total it has received so far. it plans to turn these into firm orders once it has firmed up performance and pricing later this year. fujarski said they will be speaking with potential launch customers about the manu- facturer’s commitment regarding the h160’s performance, delivery date, configurations, and commercial conditions in the coming weeks. he said this information will be publicly disclosed by mid-year. in terms of the flight test campaign, one important outstanding element is to test the indirect effect of lightning, which will be done on pt3. the program will then begin certi- fication tests and flights with the regulatory authorities. faa certifies h125 fastfin he federal aviation administration (faa) has certified the blr aerospace fastfin on airbus h125s, making it available to the aftermarket and as a factory-installed supplemental type certificate option on new aircraft. fastfin uses advanced airflow manage- ment to increase the effectiveness of the h125 anti-torque system and the certified performance data shows up to 130 pounds (59 kilograms) increased useful load and a 10 percent improve- ment in pedal margins. additional benefits include a reduction in pilot workload, easier control in preci- sion hover-hold operations and better management of the yaw axis when hov- ering in challenging crosswinds. With faa certification in place, addition- al approvals from the european aviation safety agency, transport canada and brazil’s agência nacional de aviação civil (anac) are expected to follow by year-end. roTorBits T airbus plans to turn the letters of intent it has received for the h160 into firm orders once pricing and the aircraft’s performance specifications are firmed up later this year. Jerome Deulin photo bLR photo indusTry news rotorBeat 24 Ver tical Maga zine FAA clears Super Puma return he federal aviation administration (faa) approved the return to service of the airbus helicopters h225 (ec225lp) and as332 l2 super pumas in December, achieved through an alternate means of compliance (amoc) notice. the types had been grounded by the faa since June 3, after the accident investigation board of norway released its third preli- mary report on the fatal crash of an h225 off the coast of turøy, norway. that report indicated metallurgical findings of fatigue and surface degradation in the outer race of a second stage planet gear of the main gear box (mgb) epicyclic module, and while the investigation continued, the european aviation safety agency (easa) decided to temporarily ground the h225 and as332 l2 fleets as a precautionary measure — a move adopted by the faa the following day. on June 29, while the fleet was still grounded by the regulators, airbus issued an emergency alert service bulletin that called on operators to replace one of the two types of second stage planet gears in service in the h225 with the other; the reason being that one type was found to have increased damage tolerance and showed enhanced reliability. easa authorized the as332 l2 and h225 super pumas to fly again on oct. 7, issuing an airworthiness Directive (aD) that ordered operators to complete the actions described in airbus’s easb, as well as mandating a life reduction and more frequent inspection for certain parts in the mgb. the faa’s amoc (issued against aD 2016-21-51) is based on the same actions detailed in easa’s aD. the move provided a boost for airbus, which is fighting three separate lawsuits from owners of h225/as332 l2 super pumas who are seeking remuneration for aircraft they claim are no lon- ger airworthy. all three referenced the ongoing faa grounding in their original petitions to support their claims. however, grounding orders remain in place from the u.k. civil aviation authority and its norwegian counterpart, and earlier in December, norwegian oil company statoil stated it will not use the type in the future — even if norwegian authorities decide to lift the type’s grounding. By oliver Johnson T in December, the faa approved the return to service of the airbus h225, which had been grounded by the regulator since June 3, 2016. Anthony pecchi photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 25 The Rolls-Royce Value Improvement Package (VIP) significantly improves post-production performance for Bell 407 and MD600 operators! Available through the M250 FIRST Network and Aviall, the VIP package also provides an increase in range and power, better fuel efficiency through less fuel burn, increased hot and high performance, and an overall improvement in engine performance. Contact your local Aviall representative today. Go with Aviall. aviall.com/helicopter Increase Savings Improve Performance www.rolls-royce.com ENGINE SERVICES GROUP: 972-586-1570 ENGINE SERVICES GROUP: esg@aviall.com PROUDLY KEEPING THE WORLD IN FLIGHT indusTry news rotorBeat 26 Ver tical Maga zine hi aviation has com- pleted the federal aviation administration’s process for acquiring a type certificate (tc) for the boeing ch-47D. the type cer- tificate was granted to tandem rotor, an affiliated company of chi aviation. “We are very pleased to have been awarded the tc for this extraordinary helicopter,” said chris turner, president of chi. “this now gives us the flexibility to continue to tailor this aircraft for missions it will excel at. as we continue to work under an agreement with boeing, as well as in partnership with summit aviation, chi will bring this aircraft to its full potential as a helitanker and in super-heavy lift external load applications.” patrick pilolla, chi’s director of business development, called the chinook the “next generation” of aerial rotary-wing firefighting and super-heavy lift. “the timing is perfect as we are in the final stages of manufac- turing and testing the latest concept in a constant flow internal fire suppression system for the ch-47D,” he said. “With its increased payload and altitude perfor- mance, along with this new generation of fire tank, we are going to make our cus- tomers around the world very happy.” incorporated in 1980, chi is part of heligroup holdings llc, which specializes in transportation of people and cargo by helicopter and fixed-wing, along with aerial firefighting, night vision goggle, search- and-rescue, hvac placement, and aerial construction applications. wiss rotor solutions’ maximum pilot view kit (mpvk) for the airbus h125/as350 family has received a supplemental type certificate (stc) from the european aviation safety agency (easa). the mpvk is billed as a next generation aerial work safety and visibility solution for the astar, providing pilots with an uninhibited field of view below and to the right of the aircraft. the kit comprises two main pieces, with a single-piece bubble door accompanied by a lower vertical window assembly and floor and fuselage insert/frame. the bubble door offers a significant increase in lateral visibility and pilot headroom when leaning to the right — even when wearing a helmet. below, the large lower viewing aper- ture and transparent fuselage window fairing increases the vertical field of view forward, aft, and directly underneath the aircraft by a factor of 10 compared to existing solutions, the manufacturer claimed. the mpvk is designed to improve operation- al safety during demanding operations such as sling loading, firefighting, search-and-res- cue, emergency medical services, confined area operations, aerial survey, seismic, law enforcement and any other tasks performed in close proximity to terrain, obstacles and ground crews. swiss rotor solutions obtained the stc with the support of its easa 21J certifica- tion partner, gvh aerospace, which will also support serial installations and continued airworthiness. the mpvk can be installed by any easa part 145 with small rotorcraft h125/as350 authorization with base mainte- nance capability. to date, swiss rotor solutions has received multiple orders and said it is ready to supply and support installation throughout europe, australia and new Zealand. the company said validation of the mpvk from regulatory authorities in the u.s., canada, and brazil is in progress and is expected shortly. CHI gets CH-47D type certificate AStar Max View Kit certified C S the maximum pilot view kit for the airbus h125 includes a single-piece bubble door and a lower vertical window to increase the visibility forward, aft, and directly underneath the aircraft. swiss Rotor solutions photo chi will be using the boeing ch-47D for firefighting and super-heavy lift operations. skip Robinson photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 27 MISSION PROVEN. indusTry news rotorBeat 28 Ver tical Maga zine equiring all newly manufac- tured helicopters to comply with existing crash resistance standards would cost the industry approximately $764 million over 10 years, a working group has found. the estimate appears in a cost-benefit analysis report submitted to the u.s. federal aviation administration’s (faa’s) aviation rulemaking advisory committee (arac) by the rotorcraft occupant protection Working group. according to the report, the costs of mandating compli- ance with u.s. regulations for crash resis- tant seats, structures, and fuel systems are more than five times greater than the projected economic benefits, which were estimated at around $144 million over 10 years. however, these figures should be regarded with caution. the industry working group arrived at its cost estimate using nonstan- dard methodology that may have resulted in a higher estimate than faa cost calcula- tions would have yielded. meanwhile, the working group used stan- dard faa methodology to calculate ben- efits, despite some members arguing that “current faa methodology for calculating the economic costs of fatal and serious injuries significantly underestimates the actual societal costs of these injuries.” the faa created the rotorcraft occupant protection Working group in late 2015, after high-profile fatal accidents — notably the fiery crash of a flight for life helicopter in frisco, colorado — drew attention to the fact that many new-build helicopters fail to meet safety standards that have been in place for decades. the faa adopted its current helicopter fuel system crash resistance standards in 1994, and dynamic crashworthiness standards in 1989. but because the stan- dards do not apply to rotorcraft with type certificates approved before those dates, a majority of civil helicopters manufactured over the past two decades do not fully comply with these requirements. in announcing the creation of the working group, the faa noted that the numbers of u.s. fatal helicopter accidents and asso- ciated fatalities have remained “virtually unchanged” over the past decade, despite a decline in the total number of accidents. “if the occupant protection improvement rules are not incorporated in new produc- tion helicopters,” the faa stated at the time, “there will be no meaningful reduc- tion in the number of fatalities in helicopter accidents.” the helicopter industry has 20 members in the working group, including representa- tives from operators, manufacturers, and industry associations. their first assigned task was to perform a cost-benefit analysis for incorporating existing occupant protec- tion standards into newly manufactured rotorcraft. to accomplish the task, the working group divided into two subgroups: a cost task group, consisting primarily of manufac- turer and operator representatives; and a benefits task group, including accident investigators, accident analysts, and safety experts. the working group submitted its initial cost-benefit analysis report to the arac on march 13, 2016, but was granted addi- tional time to complete a more accurate and detailed report, which was submitted on nov. 10 and accepted by the arac in December. in performing its cost analysis, the cost task group considered both the non- recurring design costs and ongoing manu- facturing costs likely to be incurred by manufacturers, as well as operator costs related to the reduction in payload, reduc- tion in fuel load and range, and increase in fuel burn rate resulting from the design changes. in its final report, the working group expressed the opinion that “current faa standard methodology does not accurately consider the practical costs of aircraft modification,” and stated that it “sought to correct this by using a methodology that Report puts price on crash resistance R By elan head bell helicopter contended that “all in-production bell models, whether certified to 27/29.952 or not, currently have crfs as part of their basic aircraft offering.” Christopher Moss photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 29 alpine aerotech adds leonardo capaBilities lpine aerotech has expanded its maintenance capabilities to include leonardo aircraft. “We are dedicated to supporting our expanding customer base, and being able to service leonardo models pro- vides a more comprehensive mainte- nance offering,” said Jeff Denomme, president of alpine aerotech. “We have established a great relationship with leonardo and recently delivered the first aW139 airframe fixture to the philadelphia facility. We continue to develop, certify and manufacture new solutions to support our customers.” alpine aerotech provides maintenance support for leading helicopter makes and models around the world, operat- ing with a wide variety of airworthiness authorities. hai announces new director of safety elicopter association international (hai) has announced the appointment of Dr. steve sparks as director of safety. prior to joining hai, sparks was an aviation safety inspector for the federal aviation administration (faa) with the general aviation and commercial division in michigan. as director of safety, sparks is respon- sible for managing the association’s existing aviation safety programs, and developing new safety initiatives to benefit hai’s membership and the international helicopter community. roTorBits A H it feels more accurately predicts actual industry costs.” according to an faa statement attached to the report, the working group’s opera- tor cost methodology does not follow the method of accounting for impact on empty weight and useful load that is used in other arac and faa economic impact analyses. the faa also noted that non-recurring costs are not broken down to a level that allows review and validation of costs from each manufacturer, and that international development costs are not split out sepa- rately, as they typically are in the faa’s economic impact studies. by contrast, the benefit task group did use faa methodology to calculate the value of the lives that would be saved and serious injuries avoided if crash resistant seats and structures (crss) and crash resistant fuel systems (crfs) were fully implemented in newly manufactured heli- copters. this methodology values the avoidance of a fatality at $9.6 million, the avoidance of a serious injury at approxi- mately $2.4 million, and the avoidance of a minor injury at $28,800. by analyzing accidents of rotorcraft manufactured between 2006 and 2015, the group was able to confirm that com- pliance with the crfs standards of 14 code of federal regulations 27/29.952 is “extremely effective at preventing post- crash fires and thermal injuries.” the group found that there were no post-crash fires in survivable accidents involving compliant rotorcraft, and that fully compliant crfs are moderately effective even in extreme impact crashes. however, the working group noted that its analysis was “greatly inhibited by the fact that neither [the national transportation safety board] nor faa determine impact conditions in an accident investigation nor injuries for the involved occupants,” and that “lack of these data render occupant protection analysis almost impossible.” in a statement of non-concurrence attached to the report, working group member krista haugen pointed to the frisco flight for life crash as an example of how the absence of detailed injury data can lead to underes- timating the value of safety improvements. in the group’s analysis, the flight nurse who suffered serious injuries in that crash represented a net benefit valuation of $2.4 million, yet his medical expenses alone are likely to be much higher than that — and that’s without taking into account his lost earnings, the impact on his quality of life, or the burdens placed on family members. “the thermally injured survivor of this crash sustained full-thickness burns to 90 percent of his body because of the post- crash fire. he was hospitalized in the burn intensive care unit for 11 months, with total hospitalization time just over 12 months,” haugen stated. “he will require medical care for the rest of his life . . . and it must be emphasized that he literally would have walked away with minor blunt injuries, were it not for the post-crash fire.” the lack of detailed injury data also makes it difficult to determine the effectiveness of designs that are in partial compliance with existing standards. for example, David shear of robinson helicopter company noted that robinson has performed vol- untary dynamic seat testing that “showed that the existing occupant protection fea- tures on the r22 and r44 are very effec- tive,” meeting the head impact criteria, lumbar spine load, and seat belt tension load requirements of 14 cfr 27.562. for these models, he claimed, “there would be little to no benefit if the design revisions required to demonstrate full compliance with [the crss standards of ] 27.561, .562, and .785 were incorporated.” likewise, working group member John Wittmaak of bell helicopter contended that “all in-production bell models, whether certified to 27/29.952 or not, currently have crfs as part of their basic aircraft offer- ing. . . . bell helicopter believes efforts to certify currently in-production crfs systems provide no benefit and ultimately delay availability and increase costs asso- ciated to retrofit solutions for pre-crfs aircraft.” in its report, the working group observed that “partial implementation of the subject regulations may provide a significant por- tion of the benefits while avoiding much of the costs.” the group expects to study this further in its next task phases, which will include making specific recommendations on how to implement existing occupant protection standards, or proposing new, alternative performance-based safety regu- lations. the faa stated that it will continue to work with the group, “with the desire to create a more refined cost-benefit analysis which aligns with other arac and faa eco- nomic analysis to support the next tasking actions.” Mike Reyno photo indusTry news rotorBeat 30 Ver tical Maga zine obinson helicopter company and magellan aerospace have partnered on the development of a new wire strike protection kit for the r66 turbine helicopter. Wire strike protection systems incorporate deflectors — which allow a wire to slide along the aircraft without snagging or dam- age to the aircraft — and cutter blades, which catch and sever the wire, affording a measure of protection to a helicopter and its occupants in the event of an accidental wire strike. because the systems are required by many government and civilian contracts, the availability of a kit will allow the r66 to penetrate into new markets, in addition to enhancing safety. the kit consists of two parts. the “provi- sions installation” comprises a strengthened windshield bow and cabin structure and mount points to which the wire cutters and deflectors are installed. the “wire strike components installation” includes an upper deflector and cutter, two lower deflectors and cutter, and a nose deflector, offer- ing comprehensive protection that will still engage and cut a wire even if the helicopter is turning with roll. in other notable design features, the kit does not impede use of ground handling carts, and the cutters and deflectors attached to the struts do not affect energy absorption during a hard landing — where- as some other designs limit landing gear deflection or require a break-away feature. the provisions installation adds approxi- mately seven pounds (3.2 kilograms) to the aircraft, while the components instal- lation adds around 16 lbs. (7.3 kg), for a total kit weight of about 23 lbs. (10.5 kg). the provisions installation will be an option on new r66 helicopters and installed at the robinson factory, while the wire strike components will be available from magellan aerospace. an aftermarket retrofit kit will also be available through magellan distribu- tors pag, aai, vts, and helimart. in addition to the standard r66, the wire strike protection system will be available for the r66 police helicopter and newscopter, although the percentage of protected cov- erage will be somewhat reduced in these models due to the presence of the camera on the chin. at press time, certification of the kit was expected by hai heli-expo in march 2017, with the price yet to be determined. the r66 is currently the only robinson model for which a wire strike protection kit is being developed, the company said. R66 to get wire strike kit By skip roBinson R vector extends ads-B upgrades ector aerospace has received federal aviation administration (faa) supplemental type certificate (stc) approval to extend its aDs-b solutions to cover the airbus helicopters h120/ ec120, h125/as350, h130/ec130 and h135/ec135 series, with operators able to choose from either the l3 lynx ngt- 9000 or garmin gtx-345 transponders. the l-3 aDs-b in/out retrofit upgrade features an intuitive, panel-mounted touch-screen transponder, which replac- es the aircraft’s existing unit. vector also offers a remotely-mounted transceiver with a compact cockpit control head. both aDs-b solutions offer aDs-b in/out, internal gps, 1090 megahertz extended squitter and uat aDs-b in, along with Wi-fi enabling for use with portable elec- tronic devices (peDs). canadian coast guard receives first Bell 412epi he first two of seven bell 412epi medium-lift helicopters were accepted into the canadian coast guard fleet Dec. 8. helicopters are used in delivering key coast guard services, including ensuring the safety of marine traffic, performing icebreaking reconnaissance, maintaining aids to navigation and marine communi- cations equipment, science and fisheries enforcement, and transporting personnel and cargo between ship and shore. roTorBits V T robinson hopes to have the wire strike protection kit certified on the r66 turbine by hai heli-expo in march 2017. skip Robinson photo bell helicopter photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 31 SEE US AT HELI-EXPO! 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AIrwOLf makes It sImple. airwolfaerospace.com • 440-632-1687 TT STrAPS fOr: • Enstrom 480 & F28/280 Piston Helicopter Conversions • Bell Jet Ranger, Long Ranger & OH-58 • Bell 204, 205, 212, UH-1 & AH-1 cOmIng SOOn: Strap Fittings, Pins, Latch Bolts, other Life Limited Components for Bell Helicopters and Hiller Helicopter Components Always in Stock, Always Saving you Money indusTry news rotorBeat 32 Ver tical Maga zine ell helicopter is hoping to be able to resume flight tests of its 525 relentless “witihin several months,” and is coordinating with the federal aviation administration (faa) and national transportation safety board (ntsb) on a return to flight date. the program has been grounded since July 6, when the first 525 flight test vehicle crashed during flight testing, killing the two test pilots on board. the ntsb’s investigation into the crash, which took place south of bell helicopter’s xworx facility in arlington, texas, is ongoing. “the ntsb and bell helicopter have focused the investigation on a sequence of events for which corrective actions are being implemented,” said larry thimmesch, vice president of the bell 525 relentless program. “it’s an important statement — it means we’re moving forward. We’re coordinating with the faa and ntsb to resume flight tests in the next several months.” While the program is grounded, ftv2 and ftv3 are undergo- ing a variety of modifications, with the majority being production maturity changes typical of an aircraft development program, thimmesch said. however, “we do have some corrective action related to that accident,” he added. “obviously, we need to wait until the ntsb comes out with a summary of the findings to talk about what goes on; what we’re doing as a corrective action process.” bell is currently building aircraft 4 and 5, which will be the last two aircraft in the certification program, in full production configuration. those aircraft will be used to certify the majority of the 525’s kits and are scheduled to enter flight test in late summer or fall this year. thimmesch said bell has been “integrally involved” with helping the ntsb with its investigation, and has taken the opportunity to forensically examine its own processes. “it’s a perfect opportunity for us to look at process improvement, just to validate everything that we’re doing so that when we go back to the air, we’re completely certain that we’ll provide a safer, more reliable aircraft as a result of that,” he said. Despite the lack of flight activity, ground testing of the 525 has continued apace in the manufacturer’s relentless advanced systems integration lab (rasil). “most of the testing that we do does not require the aircraft in the air,” said thimmesch. “i can test the entire aircraft with electrical tie-in, the actuation, all the avionics, all the hydraulics in that sys- tems integration lab. . . . it is really game-changing in the capabil- ity that we have to learn to do those great things without flying the aircraft.” before the accident, bell had been targeting the end of 2017 for certification of the super medium 525, but the manufacturer is now looking to complete the process by the end of 2018. thimmesch said the remaining tests that had originally been scheduled to be completed by ftv1 have been reallocated to dif- ferent aircraft — another reason the other two flight test vehicles required modifications. “We had gone through the majority of our initial development envelope expansion, so we understand the aircraft very well, [and were] getting close to going to the next phase,” he said. in terms of technical support, the 525’s maintenance manuals and flight manuals have been in development for some time, and have been used in flight test to validate the documents. on the mainte- nance side, 10 of the 13 maintenance training group meetings that are required for certification will have been completed by the end of this year, said thimmesch. over at the bell training academy, a 525 full flight simulator is now being installed and will be operational by the third quarter of this year. the 20,000-pound gross weight 525 offers a standard seating configuration for 16 passengers and two pilots, with a typical cruise speed of 155 knots for distances of over 500 nautical miles. When certified, it will also be the first commercial fly-by-wire civil part 29 helicopter. 525 to resume flight tests “within months” By oliver Johnson B flight test vehicles 2 and 3 for the bell 525 relentless program are undergoing modifications in anticipation of the resumption of flight test activity in a few months. bell helicopter photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 33 K-MAX ® BACK IN PRODUCTION The K‑MAX Aerial Truck is the only helicopter designed and optimized exclusively for external lift operations, providing powerful advantages for highly specific missions and operator needs. MAXIMUM EXTERNAL LOAD 6,000 Pounds EMPTY WEIGHT 5,150 Pounds 2 MILLION POUNDS Of Cargo Moved By One K‑MAX In A Single Day 1 CALL for more information Terry Fogarty at (860) 243‑7431 or Terry.Fogarty@Kaman.com 6 MISSION TYPES Firefighting Power Line Construction Logging Operations Emergency Response Vertical Replenishment Construction 325,000 HOURS FLOWN By The Global K‑MAX Fleet $1,300 PER HOUR Direct Operating Cost Of Unmanned K‑MAX 85GALLONS Average Fuel Burn Per Hour During Lift Operations kaman.com/aerosystems Accepting orders now, stop by our booth #9756 at Heli‑Expo Kaman Aerosystems is a division of Kaman Aerospace Group. indusTry news rotorBeat 34 Ver tical Maga zine eonardo’s helicopter Division is gearing up for certification of the aW609 tiltrotor in 2018 — a delay of a year to the schedule it set prior to the fatal crash of the second prototype on oct. 30, 2015. Despite the accident, the manufac- turer launched production late last year in philadelphia, pennsylvania, and has pro- ceeded with initiatives to support regulation readiness at its entry into service. flight testing resumed in the summer, and the manufacturer will test the aW609 in flight behind a helicopter icing spray system (hiss) this winter, project pilot gianfranco cito said during the european aviation safety agency’s (easa’s) 10 th rotorcraft symposium in cologne, germany, in December. hiss trials are required for flight into inadvertent icing certification, he explained. to ensure easa, federal aviation administration (faa), and international civil aviation organization (icao) rules keep up with the advent of the first commercial tiltro- tor, the milan, italy-based company has a roadmap for working groups to “analyze reg- ulations.” easa’s flight standards directorate organized a meeting about “the introduction of tiltrotor into easa regulations” last July in cologne. easa intends to bring forward a rulemaking task for operations and licensing requirements, formally starting in 2017. next march, an expert group will discuss an icao convention annex 16 amendment addressing environmental considerations. formed by leonardo, it will be supported by icao’s committee on aviation environmental protection. faa baseline certification is expected in mid-2018, with the first delivery planned in the same year. in addition to the base- line approval, leonardo has “a huge list of optional kits” to certify. one of them will be a maximum takeoff weight extension to 18,000 pounds (8165 kilograms), as the air- craft’s appeal reaches beyond vip transport operators, cito said. the aW609 first flew in 2003. obinson helicopter company issued a new safety alert Dec. 22 after receiving a report of a cracked ao16-6 main rotor blade on an r22 helicopter used for cattle mustering. the incident is also the subject of an airworthi- ness bulletin issued by australia’s civil aviation safety authority (casa). according to the bul- letin, the r22 beta ii was engaged in low-level, slow-speed operations when the pilot experi- enced an unusual increase in vibration levels and made a precautionary landing. subsequent inspection revealed a crack approximately 160 millimeters (6.3 inches) in length, emanating from the trailing edge and running chordwise toward the D-section spar. the bulletin notes that evidence of very minor corrosion was observed on the trailing edge of the blade, which had been in service for approximately 1,780 hours (of a life limit of 2,200 hours). “the blade is currently being investigated by the atsb [australian transport safety bureau] however at this stage details are limited with the root cause yet to be determined,” the casa bulletin states. in its safety notice, robinson identifies the area of the blade in which the crack occurred, and instructs r22 operators to perform a careful visual inspection of this area during the daily preflight inspection, using a stepladder if nec- essary. the notice also states that if an unusual rotor system vibration is detected in flight, the pilot should land immediately and have the blades examined by a qualified technician. the casa bulletin adds that “increased vibration levels should be reason to initially suspect a cracked blade,” and cautions “against the practice of rebalancing the blade to enable return to ser- vice unless a thorough inspection of the blade has been carried out.” AW609 program presses ahead Robinson issues R22 safety alert By thierry duBois By elan head L R waypoint leases h225 to ghs aypoint leasing has agreed to lease one airbus h225 to global helicopter service gmbh (ghs), a german operator with a strong presence in africa, for utility and humanitarian sup- port missions. “this transaction demonstrates Waypoint’s confidence in opportunities for the h225, a modern, safe and efficient aircraft, which is increasingly displacing older, less capable aircraft in this market,” said ed Washecka, chief executive officer of Waypoint. “We believe that the per- formance and utility of the h225 put the helicopter in a strong position to deliver excellent capabilities in utility and humani- tarian missions, and we are excited about working with ghs, a leading operator in the segment.” roTorBits W leonardo is now aiming to certify the aW609 tiltrotor in 2018. the aircraft first flew back in 2003. Leonardo helicopter photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 35 indusTry news rotorBeat 36 Ver tical Maga zine metro aviation receives helisas stc for ec145e etro aviation, with the genesys group, has received a supple- mental type certificate (stc) for the helisas autopilot in the ec145e, a lightweight twin-engine aircraft main- taining the same power, performance and reliability of the legacy ec145. the aircraft is now approved for two- axis autopilot. helisas provides a full array of workload-reducing capabilities for visual flight rules pilots and pro- vides situational stability, should pilots encounter instrument meteorological conditions in flight. outerlink receives new stc for ec145e uterlink global solutions has announced federal aviation administration (faa) supplemental type certificate approval of its fully integrated iris voice, video, flight data and broad- band satcom system in the airbus ec145e. iris provides continuous aircraft and internal data, audio and video recording. the system can record up to 1,000 hours of data received from over 200 sources, depending on model type, giving the operator unprecedented insight into the operation of the aircraft. the system also includes internal, always-on wireless con- nectivity for electronic flight bags or for continuous data downloads. iris is compatible with a full range of air- craft, from older analog models to the new- est on the market. in addition, iris meets all aspects of the faa 135.607 ruling. roTorBits M O arenco swisshelicopter ceo martin stucki has stepped down from his role at the company he created. in a press release, marenco swisshelicopter’s board of directors con- firmed that stucki “retired from his func- tions” at the company as of Dec. 5, 2016. effective Jan. 1, 2017, he was replaced by andreas loewenstein, who served in vari- ous roles at eaDs and eurocopter (now airbus group and airbus helicopters, respectively) before joining the french naval systems manufacturer Dcns in 2010. stucki is the visionary behind marenco’s flagship product, the skye sh09, a light single-engine helicopter that aims to compete with more established aircraft including the airbus helicopters h125 and bell 407. an engineer and commercial helicopter pilot, stucki began developing the concept for the clean-sheet sh09 in 2002, formally launching marenco swisshelicopter in 2007. the company’s identity is closely tied to stucki. the name marenco comes from “martin engineering and consulting,” and its headquarters in pfäffikon, switzerland, occupies a farmhouse that has been in stucki’s family for four generations, and continues to serve as stucki’s primary residence. in its press release, marenco’s board of directors expressed its “gratitude to martin stucki for his visionary ideas, relentless efforts and entrepreneurial spirit that led [marenco swisshelicopter] from a most respected engineering bureau to the brink of becoming a full-fledged player in the helicopter industry.” the release went on to say, “the board of directors is convinced that andreas loewenstein together with the [marenco swisshelicopter] management and employees will accelerate the transition Marenco founder steps down M skip Robinson photo marenco swisshelicopter is still aiming for certification of its skye sh09 by the end of 2017, despite the change of leadership at the company. Eugen burgler photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 37 REVOLUTIONIZING PILOT VISIBILITY AND OPERATIONAL SAFETY MAXIMUM PILOT VIEW KIT for Airbus Helicopters H125/AS350 Validation in progress VISIT US at Heli-Expo Booth #7350 EASA CERTIFIED FAA/TCCA/ANAC STC SWISS ROTOR SOLUTIONS // Thunstrasse 6 // CH-3770 Zweisimmen // Switzerland +41 33 657 70 00 info@swissrotorsolutions.com www.swissrotorsolutions.com from a technology pioneer to the first swiss global helicopter provider and manufacturer.” the board confirmed that it remains com- mitted to the company’s swiss roots and to expanding its business activities in switzerland. a company spokesperson told Vertical, “the change of management does not affect our plans in terms of loca- tions and we will continue as planned, specifically with mollis where we have invested significantly and started the construction of the 4,000-square-meter [43,055-square-foot] assembly facility.” the spokesperson also told Vertical that the company continues to plan for initial type certification of the skye sh09 by the european aviation safety agency in late 2017, with first customer deliveries in 2018. swiss company air Zermatt and canadian operator horizon helicopters have previously been named as launch customers for the aircraft. loewenstein has 25 years of busi- ness development and strategy in the european helicopter and high-tech indus- tries, having initially joined the french aerospace manufacturer aérospatiale in 1991, according to his linkedin profile. from 1994, he served as group vice pres- ident, strategy and business development for eurocopter before overseeing the post-merger integration process of eaDs group from 1999 to 2002. in the summer of 2002, he returned to eurocopter, serving as deputy executive vp in charge of commercial programs and external relations, and then senior vp of strategy and company develop- ment. since joining Dcns in 2010, he has served as executive vp of strategy and development, and executive vp of strat- egy partnership and innovation. indusTry news rotorBeat 38 Ver tical Maga zine n Dec. 23, 2016, an r66 (s/n 0763) became the 12,000 th helicopter to roll off robinson helicopter’s pro- duction line. “a nice way to end the year,” said robinson president, kurt robinson. the r66 will be delivered to hover Dynamics, one of three long-time robinson dealers in south africa. the helicopter was purchased by a new charter and tour operator, fly karoo air services, operating in the area of graaff- reinet. robinson’s first two-place r22 was produced and delivered in 1979, the first four-place r44 in 1993, and the first five- place r66 in 2010. or decades, eagle copters has been known as a leading helicopter leasing company and bell helicopter customer service facility. now, the calgary, alberta- based company is sharpening its focus on providing customers with comprehensive support solutions to help them manage costs and grow their profit margins in chal- lenging market conditions. at hai heli-expo 2017, march 7 to 9 in Dallas, texas, eagle copters is rolling out its new mission statement: “to partner with our customers to ensure they safely execute their missions by providing world- wide complete fleet management.” or, as eagle vice president of sales and marketing stephane arsenault put it: “you fly, we do the rest.” according to arsenault, “the current crisis the industry’s going through prompted us to rethink what we were doing. . . . the reality is, the competition amongst opera- tors has never been higher and the margins have never been lower. you have to think outside the box.” eagle’s diverse offerings, which include global parts and logistics support in addi- tion to leasing, sales, avionics, and mainte- nance, repair and overhaul services, allow customers to do that. With offices in chile and australia, eagle can support customers wherever they might be working. “right now, [operators] have to go where there is work,” arsenault said. “We have the capability with our network and our global footprint to support that.” the overarching goal is to help customers cut costs and maximize uptime by lever- aging eagle’s capabilities and expertise. and eagle has been applying that same efficiency-maximizing philosophy to its own operations — for example, by outsourcing its engine overhaul business to overhaul specialist ozark aeroworks. “it was a difficult decision, but overall it was the right decision for us,” arsenault said of eagle’s joint venture partnership with ozark aeroworks, which launched in 2015. “We’ve been able to save on costs, which we’ve been able to pass on to our customers.” meanwhile, eagle is also seeing growing interest in its eagle 407hp conversion, which replaces the rolls-royce c47 tur- bine engine in the bell 407 helicopter with a honeywell hts900. at heli-expo, eagle will display a 407hp recently converted for helicopter express — the eighth 407hp to be delivered, and helicopter express’s sec- ond. eagle recently placed an order with honeywell for eight more hts900 engines for additional conversions. according to arsenault, the increased hot-and-high performance of the 407hp is helping customers stand out in a crowded and competitive market. “it’s a way for operators to differentiate themselves,” he said. “the 407hp does provide a payload increase that operators can get paid for.” Eagle focuses on fleet management By elan head F O Robinson delivers 12,000th helicopter eagle recently completed testing of the eagle 407hp in the challenging environment of papua new guinea, where the manufacturer said it demonstrated impressive performance. Rob brown photo the robinson team celebrates the landmark deliver of its 12,000 th aircraft at the manufacturer’s facility in torrance, california. Robinson photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 39 Aviation professionals from around the world trust us to provide the highest quality training and outstanding service. More than 1,800 highly experienced professional instructors deliver aircraft- and mission-specific courses, using our comprehensive training systems and advanced-technology flight simulators designed to enhance safety. Trust your training to FlightSafety. You’ll see why so many aviation professionals make the same choice. And have since 1951. For more information, please contact Steve Gross, Senior Vice President, Commercial 314.785.7815 • sales@flightsafety.com • flightsafety.com • A Berkshire Hathaway company E A R N F L I G H T S A F E T Y MASTE R AV IATORT H E H I G H E S T S TA N D A R D I N S A F E T Y To the safest pilots, flying is more than just earning ratings or building hours. The best go beyond being merely proficient. They strive to operate their fixed-wing aircraft or helicopter at the highest level of safety. FlightSafety’s Master Aviator program is that standard of achievement. You’ll build on your proven flying abilities with Master-level Advanced Training courses that expand your skills and prepare you to react correctly to a broad range of demanding, unexpected situations. You will gain a deeper knowledge of your aircraft and earn the recognition of being a pilot dedicated to enhanced safety who has achieved the highest standard. indusTry news rotorBeat 40 Ver tical Maga zine airbus helicopters is planning on having a new version of its helionix avionics suite certified this year for the h135, h145 and h175. improvements will focus on the helicopter terrain awareness and warning system (htaWs) and synthetic vision systems (svs) on all three models. the h175 will also benefit from a more advanced search-and- rescue (sar) mode, as well as automated rig approaches. the software update, dubbed “step 3” on the h175 and “maintenance release 1” on the other two types, will be the same, except for those functions that require special equip- ment, such as for sar. htaWs algorithms have been improved to recognize a situation when the helicopter is normally close to the ground, christian franot, manager of the helionix program, told vertical. a lot of false alarms are thus avoided. the previous version of helionix did include an svs but it was only displaying terrain. obstacles, helipads and objects like roads have been added. the pilot may want to declutter the display by removing some objects, franot adds. the digital map has been augmented, too. ships and rigs are now identified thanks to their automated information system (the equivalent of a transponder). information is displayed only at the altitude range that is useful for the crew. moreover, in response to customer feedback, the avionics suite can hold larger maps. other customer feedback has also been taken into account. skytrack and skyconnect — two solutions for an operator to locate their aircraft and receive mainte- nance notifications — can be integrated. the instrument panel has been simplified thanks to the replacement of “hard” radio controls with “soft” controls on a display. for the h175, the main application of which is in offshore oil-and-gas, approaches and takeoffs have been automated. the gps- navigation-assisted software program is the same as the h225’s rig’n fly, now described as an airbus family concept. it aims to make approaches and takeoffs safer and simpler at platform-based helipads. rig’n fly reduces pilot workload, allowing the rotorcraft’s crew to focus on monitoring flight parameters and the outside environ- ment. once the approach is prepared, only two pilot inputs are required. the system can be used even if the oil platform has moved. approach flight paths are thus much more standardized. on the h175, pilot workload has been reduced for sar operations, too. a search radar, an optronics system (including sen- sors in visible light and infrared) and a search light have been integrated. the latest helionix update will be available as a retrofit. “for software-related retrofit, we want customers to be able to do it them- selves as a download, with a service bulle- tin,” franot said. helionix uses three displays on the h135 and the h145, and four displays on the larger h175. a two-display variant is being studied as a lighter, simplified version for a smaller helicopter. Airbus Reveals Helionix ‘Step 3’ By thierry duBois A For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 41 irbus helicopters released its annual results for north america in early february, revealing a total of 64 orders for the manufacturer in the u.s. and canada as a slumping civil turbine helicopter market saw just 100 aircraft purchased across the continent in 2016. chris emerson, president of airbus helicopters inc. and head of north american operations, told Vertical that while he had expected it to be a tough year, the final figure represented just 50 percent of the 200 north american sales across the oems that the manufacturer had forecast at the start of the year. the biggest seller was the h125 astar, fol- lowed by the h145, h135 and h130, with a growing interest from the vip/corporate sector. of the 64 sales the manufacturer recorded, 20 were to new airbus customers, and five were first-time helicopter owners. in previous years, emerson said, airbus would have added five such customers to its entire global fleet. and, of the 20 new customers, 75 percent were vip clients. “this was really hunting, it was intense, [and] it put us in a vulnerable situation at times, because we were talking to customers who really had a different expectation of us,” said emerson. “We were selling to customers who said they could only do training on the weekends — and we’ve never trained on the weekends. We had to gear up our whole train- ing organization, and the flight line, because you have to have helicopters maintained to be available seven days a week. and, in January, we started our first ab initio training.” emerson added that the sale of an h145 to Dallas cowboys owner Jerry Jones showed the company that there was a realistic mar- ket out there of high net worth individuals who would purchase a helicopter to combat increasing commuting times — and this result- ed in sales throughout the year. in terms of other sectors, law enforcement sales were as the manufacturer predicted, the utility market was down, and so was the air medical segment. “of course, it was also an election year, and a lot of these [air medical] operators were not sure what was going to happen with obamacare,” said emerson. “so i think a natu- ral postponement of aircraft acquisitions was inevitable.” however, airbus noted “a bit of a reversing trend” with a pickup in sales of light twins in the air medical market — after 2015 saw a general shift away from light twins towards single-engine aircraft. emerson pointed towards his company’s efforts to control more of the completions pro- cess as part of the reason for its success with new clients, growing the amount of comple- tions that it managed or performed from 30 to 90 percent. “all of this goes to managing the customer experience,” he said. “i don’t want some- one buying an airbus helicopter and having a poor experience. i want them buying an airbus helicopter and going back to their friends and saying, ‘that was such a great experience — you should try it.’ and, in a sense, that’s what happened.” other company initiatives included improving the availability of spares and enhancing its engineering capabilities, and emerson said the company’s efforts to improve its support ser- vices were recognized by its customers. hope for an improved 2017 the exact impact of the trump administration may be hard to pinpoint at this early stage, but emerson hopes it will result in sales to customs and border protection, as well as an influx of military spending that could unlock some opportunities for the lakota with addi- tional army orders and perhaps for initial pilot training for the air force. “they do the air force initial pilot training in fort rucker where there are 200 lakotas,” he said. “Doesn’t it make sense to have a lakota [for the air force] as well, where you can ben- efit from the support infrastructure that fort rucker has?” on the civilian side, emerson said he was hopeful that airbus would see some activity around the h160 this year, following discus- sions it has been having with “a lot” of opera- tors about airbus’s new medium-lift aircraft. however, the super medium h175, which made its debut in europe back in December 2015, is still to enter service in north america. “We’ve come to an agreement with the faa [federal aviation administration] on the cer- tification of helionix step two, which should occur in spring this year,” he said. “With that, the 175 completes its certification in the u.s., and we are working on a handful of deals right now that one could see a delivery in the u.s. at the end of the year, maybe the beginning of next year.” a major recent development for the manufac- turer’s ever-popular h125 was the certification of the blr aerospace fastfin system for the aircraft, which will be offered as an option on new aircraft and as a kit for existing astars. “obviously utility and air medical operators are very interested in it,” said emerson. “We haven’t sold any yet, but we really haven’t been actively marketing it yet.” Despite the challenges that lie ahead, emerson was optimistic about the outlook for 2017. “my ambitions are even higher this year,” he said. “i don’t see any reason why we shouldn’t end the year better than we did last year.” By oliver Johnson Airbus sees VIP growth in slumping N. American market A airbus sold 64 aircraft in north america in 2016, with the h125 astar being the most popular choice among customers. Anthony pecchi photo indusTry news rotorBeat 42 Ver tical Maga zine CNC Technologies to Exhibit at HAI HELI-EXPO 2017 Dallas, TX Booth #11534 Define Client Mission Requirements. Design Custom Solutions. Deliver Commissioning, 24/7 Support, Training. 3 2 1 Alex Giuffrida CNC Technologies, LLC 805.275.3738 mobile agiuffrida@cnctechnologies.com cnctechnologies.com Come visit the CNC Technologies team and let us help you with your ISR system design, integration, and support needs. CONTACT US recision flight controls, based in rancho cordova, california, in partnership with ryan aerospace of southport, australia, formally introduced its helicopter advanced aviation training device (aatD) at the 50th annual i/itsec training and simulation event held in orlando, florida. the conference is the world’s largest training and simulation event of its kind. the helimax simulation system is based on the bell 206 Jetranger and sports a full avionics suite including a fully functional g530 Waas gps with a second nav/ com radio, aDf and transponder. the simulator is pending federal aviation administration aatD approval and is expected to qualify as a level 7 ftD in mid-2017. Precision Flight Controls Launches Bell 206 Sim P helitowcart refreshes product line elitowcart has refreshed its prod- uct line with a new version of its sturdy wheels for robinson helicop- ters. this new version allows a pair to be used both inside and outside skids to fit all robinson versions from the early r44s to the latest r44s and r66s. the arms can also be used left or right and cranked forward or aft as preferred. helitowcart said the design significantly improves efficiency and lowers operating costs. the company also introduced an “easy roll” wheel type, made from high quality solid rubber to facilitate helicopter handling over hard surfaces. sw-4 ‘solo’ takes flight he leonardo sW-4 solo took its first flight on Dec. 15, 2016, at the taranto-grottaglie airport, beginning a test campaign to verify the remotely- piloted helicopter’s operational charac- teristics and validate flight procedures in both normal and emergency condi- tions. the solo, derived from the sW-4 helicopter produced by leonardo in poland and equipped with advanced systems and sensors also made by the company in italy and the u.k., is designed to operate with or without pilot on board. the aircraft recently returned from a successful demon- stration campaign in the u.k., and is targeted towards activities such as hydrological and critical infrastructure monitoring, firefighting, search-and- rescue, patrol, and disaster relief activities. roTorBits H T helitowcart photo For more daily news updaTes VisiT VerTicalmaG.com Heli-E xpo Issue | Februar y/March 2017 43 HOT. HIGH. AND VERY COOL. WAY MORE PAYLOAD. The Eagle Copters conversion improves the payload capability of your Bell 407 helicopter by an estimated 34% at 10,000 feet, significantly increasing the aircraft’s capability over a wider operating spectrum. The powerful new Honeywell HTS900 engine delivers an output of 1,021 shaft horsepower — a 22% improvement in output at high and hot conditions over the incumbent engine. Try our tool at www.hothighandverycool.com MEET US AT HAI HELI-EXPO 2017 | MARCH 7-9 BOOTH #8540 | DALLAS, TX eaglecopters.com indusTry news rotorBeat 44 Ver tical Maga zine elicopter association international (hai) has announced the recipients of its 2017 salute to excellence awards, which will be presented march 8 during heli-expo in Dallas, texas. the awards honor pilots, maintenance techni- cians, operators, safety professionals, and others who hai determines have demon- strated a commitment to excellence that has enriched vertical aviation. the recipient of the bell helicopter lifetime achievement award is Dr. John leverton, who is being recognized for his lifetime of service dedicated to the aviation industry. leverton has spent his career studying and promoting helicopters, working with many manufacturers on aspects of noise measure- ment, environmental assessment issues, public acceptance of helicopters and civil regulations. robert fournier and trent vick are the 2017 winners of the appareo pilot of the year award. While working on a fire in riggins, idaho, they received an emergency dispatch to the copper king fire. the two pilots worked several long days dipping water from a deep spot in the clark fork river near thompson falls, helping contain the fire that threatened ground crews and kept it from progressing to nearby homes. the trinidad and tobago air guard is the winner of the leonardo humanitarian service award for providing an invaluable service far past its shores for the benefit of those in other caribbean nations. it operates two metro merlin c-26b fixed-wing and four leonardo aW139s, and has rescued lost hikers, airlifted victims of shark attacks and injured sailors, fought and extinguished threatening bush fires, helped vessels in distress, evacuated stranded individuals from otherwise inacces- sible land, and conducted medical evacua- tions from vessels at sea. the airbus helicopters golden hour award will be awarded to era search and rescue. era pioneered the first u.s. commercial search-and-rescue (sar) program, in part- nership with priority 1 air rescue. era’s sar program has responded to more than 1,050 emergency calls from more than 70 compa- nies in the gulf of mexico. Vertical 911 contributor Jack h. schonely is the winner of the mD helicopters law enforcement award, recognized for dedicating his professional life to promoting professional- ism in, and the advancement of, helicopter use in airborne law enforcement in the u.s. and around the world. schonely, a nationally-recognized expert on suspect tactics and perimeter containment, spent more than 33 years in law enforcement. he worked as chief tactical flight officer and later command pilot at los angeles police Department (lapD), where he served until his retirement in June 2016. the winner of the blr aerospace safety award is bryan smith, pilot for the seminole county (florida) sheriff’s office and safety program manager for the airborne law enforcement associati