The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association announces the 2009 Award Winners in recognition of their excellence in aviation maintenance and dedication to the aviation industry. The PAMA Awards Program recognizes the professionalism and dedication of the individual aviation maintenance professional and companies in the following award categories: Award of Excellence PAMA’s highest award, the...

Rotorcraft Services Group, Inc. (RSG) has continued the consolidation and rebranding of two of its operating subsidiaries, renaming them RSG Aviation, Inc. and RSG Products, Inc. Over the past two years, Rotorcraft Services Group has assembled an extensive team of experienced industry professionals to lead the companies forward from their past histories. Each of the companies provides specific...

Eurocopter inaugurated a new building complex at its Aviation Training Academy on September 21 in the Marbachhöhe Technology Park near Kassel, Germany as part of its 40th anniversary celebration. The expansion of the facilities for practical aviation training and for training units of the German armed forces also offers room for a segment of an Airbus A310 airframe, an EC135, three BO105s and...

This whimsical drawing of an aeronaut supposedly providing lift with pedal-power in 1877 is from a museum archives in Germany. It is reproduced from “The Epic of Flight — The Helicopters.” The earliest concepts of manned flight were based upon the notion that, once up in the air, like a bird, humans could take off in one place and land in another. At the same time, there were dreamers content...

This is the first in a series of articles on the history of the helicopter. Like the helicopter, stories about aviation pioneers can fly in all directions, and always provide an interesting journey. Future columns will be chronological, beginning with the Pioneer Aviation Exhibition Era (1908-1917), illuminating inventions of Jacob Ellehamer and Igor Sikorsky. Following WWI, Emile Berliner and...

Turbomeca engines are widely used in the helicopter industry. There are two engine families: the Arrius and the Arriel. These engines operate primarily in the single and twin, light and medium helicopter segments. The required maintenance steps are determined by the operator, taking into account the level of maintenance they want to perform, personnel and logistic considerations. Arriel engines...

Scott Cochran – Contributing Author The following is an interview with Scott Cochran, Premier Turbines’ West Coast Regional Manager for the Rolls-Royce 250/T63 Turboshaft Engine. For more than 40 years, Premier Turbines has been a leading provider of repair and overhaul services for business, general aviation, government and military turbine engines, components and accessories. They are also a...

R. Fred Polak | Editor Over the past 30 years, commercial helicopters have been called upon to fly a vast variety of missions. These missions include everything from airborne law enforcement, off-shore oil support, emergency medical support, logging operations, executive transport, etc. This versatility is accomplished by there being many different types and sizes of helicopters. One type and...

R. Fred Polak | Editor What an industry we work in! It’s full of acronyms, abbreviations and terms that, to an outsider, seem like a foreign language — And it is! To some of us, the terms seem to merge together until we find it difficult to separate and identify just what is what. SAS, AP, FD, CPL, HSI, ADI ... and the list goes on and on. In the world of avionics, rest assured that whatever...

Larry Schultz-Contributing Author By definition, nondestructive testing is the action to inspect, test and evaluate an item, component, assembly, composite or materials for anomalies that may cause a premature failure while in use, without damage to the item being inspected. That’s a mouthful. Nondestructive Inspection (NDI), Nondestructive Evaluation (NDE) and Nondestructive Testing (NDT) are...