Helicopter Association International (HAI) remains committed to supporting the vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) industry by holding an in-person HAI HELI-EXPO 2021 in New Orleans March 22–25, with exhibits open March 23–25.

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announces the supplemental type certificate (STC) for the installation of QuantiFLY™, a new aircraft communication unit (ACU) powered by Truth Data, offering a true low-cost, lightweight and fully automatic flight data monitoring (FDM) solution, currently available for the Bell 407GXi and Bell 429. Bell developed QuantiFLY with Appareo and FDM analytics to enable operators to affordably use the data from QuantiFLY to be actionable and drive safety.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces $5.8 million in research, education and training grants to universities that comprise FAA’s Air Transportation Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), also known as the Alliance for System Safety of UAS through Research Excellence (ASSURE).

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, announces the delivery of a Bell 505 to the Fort Worth Police Department. Bell executives and city officials celebrated the delivery at the police department’s hangar at Meacham Airport to mark a 70-year relationship between Bell and Fort Worth.

The Bucher Group, a specialist in emergency medical systems, announces that its new rescue equipment, H135 AC67 flex, is now EASA-certified on all variants of the H135 helicopter. Further developments by Bucher's engineers of the AC67 equipment, which has been in use successfully for many years, now results in the new AC67 flex.

Alpine Aerotech announces it has validated several of its Transport Canada STCs (supplemental type certificates) in various international airworthiness regions. Most recently the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has validated its Bell 205/212/412 Bear Paws and 13-person shoulder harness kit.

The Aircraft Electronics Association moves the dates of its 64th annual AEA International Convention & Trade Show to June 22-25, 2021. The event will take place at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX.

Construction on the new Flammability Lab at the Duncan Aviation full-service facility in Battle Creek, MI, is to be completed next week. Duncan Aviation’s Engineering & Certification Services is not only expanding the size of its burn lab, it is also expanding its testing capabilities to include the NexGen or Sonic Burner test, also known as the FAR 25.853 (b) Fire-Blocking test.

Bell Helicopters announces another milestone reached in the flight-test program for its Autonomous Pod Transport. On Dec. 9, the ATP flew with 110 lbs. of payload over an 8-mile route at Bell’s testing site near Fort Worth, TX.