For those of you that work on or support helicopters or have ever been to the Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) main event — Heli-Expo, you know that it is undoubtedly the largest helicopter tradeshow in the world. This year’s Heli-Expo 2024 was no exception.
At Helicopter Maintenance magazine, we remain optimistic about the future of the helicopter industry. So much so that we are ending the year with our first ever attendance at a European helicopter trade show!
The Super Bowl has come and gone, as it has done for XLV years. There was a winning team and a losing team. The talking heads on TV, radio and internet have 20/20 hindsight and have been making comments on the performance of the teams, individual players and why the coaches did what they did. On occasion they mention teamwork. Teamwork, what an interesting concept!
This has recently been an interesting topic being discussed on the NBAA Part 135 discussion thread regarding TSA screening for air ambulance personnel. There are many opinions on this subject, depending on what your perspective is. In this case, my feelings are that the “screening” of air ambulance medical personnel is not warranted, and does not accomplish anything to promote safety of flight. What next? If there is a fire in the aircraft hangar, do we need to screen the arriving firefighters before we let them do their jobs? What about bus drivers and train engineers?
It’s that time of year that I dread: Christmas. My wife goes nuts over Christmas. This is that time of year when folks who seem perfectly normal the rest of the year become something else entirely. People go around wondering who to buy a gift for and what should it be and how much to spend and what did we give others last year and what did they give us? I often joke that I would like to go back in time 2,000 years and meet the three wise men on the road to Bethlehem. I would ask them not to bring any gifts. They didn’t know what they are starting and it has grown completely out of control.
It’s October 14th and I am up at 0’ dark thirty, drive to the airport, park the car and grab the shuttle to the terminal. Get a cup of coffee and a sweet roll for breakfast and try to remember if I forgot anything. Then get in line with everyone else to go through the wonderful TSA screening process and finally get to the gate and pray that my aircraft is on time. What you say, why don’t I try another profession? And get out of aviation! Are you crazy? I love it!
Labor Day has come and gone, NBAA is just around the corner, and the premier issue of HeliMx magazine for and about helicopter maintenance professionals will soon be published. I suddenly realized as editor that I had not yet started a blog on our website! I better get busy.
