R. Fred Polak | Editor Visit an operator or an MRO, and you will hear talk from flight crew and maintenance specialists about the proposed Safety Management System (SMS), and how it will affect their responsibilities and how they perform them. Since SMS is essentially a done deal, now is a good time to highlight just what SMS is and get everyone on board with its basics. According to the FAA, the...

R. Fred Polak | Editor Today’s modern airborne weather radar systems are lightweight, multicolor digital systems designed to provide flight crew with weather location and analysis. The intent is to detect and avoid storms along the flight path of the aircraft. These weather radar systems have come a long way, showing much more today than when they first arrived on the scene some 40 years ago...

The staff of HeliMx magazine attended the NBAA 2010 trade show this past October in Atlanta. Although the show is not specifically focused on helicopters, we saw it as a good opportunity to see some of the latest products and services that apply to both fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft. The Georgia World Conference Center (GWCC) where the show was held is huge. From the street level to the...

“The helicopter is much easier to design then the aeroplane but it is worthless when done.” Attributed to Wilbur Wright, 1909 Witnesses and photographs recorded the Wright brothers’ first flights at Kitty Hawk in 1903, establishing a historic moment in time. Each aviation technological advancement traces its origin to 1903, specifically the progression of fixed-winged aircraft. No such “moment in...

Putting the “You” in Utility I had never given public use aviation much thought at the start of my career, because nobody ever mentioned it as a potential job avenue. My public use education began when I came the base mechanic for a company that had a contract to maintain a California Highway Patrol helicopter. Since then I have had the opportunity to work in almost all aspects of public and...

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years, the proliferation of advanced composite materials in the rotorcraft industry cannot have escaped your attention. Throughout the 1990s and even into the new millennium, it seemed that with every new model helicopter introduced, yet another portion of the structure that we were accustomed to being made from aluminum was suddenly made...

First Sandel HeliTAWS Fleet Installation Sandel Avionics has delivered its first HeliTAWS helicopter terrain safety system to MSP Aero of Minneapolis, for installation in a fleet of Agusta A109 helicopters operated by North Memorial Medical Center of Robbinsdale, Minnesota. Incorporating Sandel’s TrueAlert nuisance-alert elimination technology, off-airport landing capability, high-resolution 3-D...

Left to right: Sean Ginn (holding onto door,) Justin Cook (hand on knee,) Zachary White (next to M/R,) Brandon Jones (T-shirt,) Tarah Arnold. On bottom from left to right is Robert Heritage, Bobby Junge, Corey Gagnon, and Travis Batt. Yes - they are reading HeliMx in Afghanistan! From all of us at HeliMx magazine. Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for serving Our Country! Stay safe!

Grand Prairie, Texas – American Eurocopter, the nation’s leading provider of helicopters for the U.S. emergency medical services industry, announced today that it will again be exhibiting at the Air Medical Transport Conference (AMTC) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from October 11-13. According to American Eurocopter, "The company’s industry leading helicopters account for a significant portion of...

Monday, November 1, 2010 - Shadin Avionics - Shadin Avionics, a global leader in aircraft fuel management solutions, announces the approval of a Supplemental Type Certificate for the installation of a Shadin Fuel Management Kit into Bell 212 and 412 model helicopters. The Bell 212/412 STC is the latest addition to Shadin’s well established portfolio of Fuel Management System STCs that includes...