The Milestone Aviation Group Limited (“Milestone”), a provider of helicopter leasing, together with Australian firefighting equipment designer and manufacturer, Helitak Firefighting Equipment Pty Ltd (“Helitak”), announces that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has certified the FT5000 fire tank and granted a supplemental type certificate for the Sikorsky S-92A helicopter. The industry-first firefighting platform combines unique capabilities of the S-92A with Helitak’s lightweight, carbon-fiber FT5000 system, including a retractable belly-mounted fire suppression tank with a 5,000-liter (1,320 US gallons) capacity.

GPMS International announces that Foresight MX, its aerial firefighting HUMS solution, has been selected by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) to equip their new Black Hawks. With Foresight MX’s all-in-one solution, the NSW RFS Black Hawks benefit from predictive aircraft and engine health monitoring, flight data monitoring (FDM), exceedance monitoring, and integrated rotor track and balance.

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) welcomes Textron eAviation Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, as the latest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to join NBAA’s Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) Roundtable.

Bell Textron Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE: TXT) company, announces the delivery of two Bell 407GXis to the Louisiana State Police at APSCON 2024, bringing its total number of Bell aircraft to nine.

Vertical Aviation International (VAI) and the general-aviation industry commend the recent decision by the U.S. District Court, District of Hawaii, to overturn a section of Hawaii Act 311 that imposed reporting requirements on air-tour operators in that state. The decision reaffirms the doctrine of preemption, which reserves certain functions, including oversight of aviation, to the federal government.

A business-aviation coalition calls on the Biden administration to follow the approach the government uses for existing biofuel programs when it develops rules to quantify and verify greenhouse gas emissions from various feedstocks for producing sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Those rules will determine the level of Inflation Reduction Act tax incentives available to SAF producers.

PHI MRO Services, a global provider in helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, announces at the 2024 Airborne Public Safety Association Conference (APSCON) that it has been awarded a completion contract for two Bell 407 GXis by the Louisiana State Police’s Air Support Unit. 

Nighthawk Flight Systems, Inc., a developer of advanced compact integrated avionics, welcomes Marc Ayala to the company’s executive team as vice president of sales. In this position, Ayala is responsible for growing and supporting sales of Nighthawk’s entire suite of products, as well as supporting its dealer network and customer-facing programs.

Metro Aviation is growing its list of capabilities with the creation of Metro Gulf, a new division that adds fixed-wing aircraft to the company’s extensive list of completion services. The new division holds its own Part 145 certificate and will provide maintenance, repair and avionics services to Metro’s existing fixed-wing and rotor-wing fleet as well as external customers.

The Aircraft Electronics Association's Educational Foundation announces the names of 26 individuals who were awarded scholarships for the 2024-25 academic year. The AEA Educational Foundation annually awards scholarships to students pursuing a career in avionics or aircraft maintenance, as well as students from AEA member companies.