ALL Things Robinson: RHC’s Founder Talks About The …
December 21, 2008
Frank Talks About The Future of The R44, Helo Training, The Silver State Fiasco, And More!
Life has been good for Frank Robinson and the R22/44/66 family. After years of building expertise throughout the helicopter industry, Frank Robinson set out several decades ago to do what they said could not be done… create a powerful new civil helicopter company. He did it… and probably did so beyond even his own imaginings.
For example, as 2007 was coming to a close, the folks at Robinson Helicopter Company achieved another milestone when their 8000th helicopter was flight certified. The new, solid green, Robinson R44 Raven II S/N 11984 was ordered by SkySales Aviation (Christchurch, New Zealand) for a private owner.
In the past few months, RHC played host to a visit by President Bush… no doubt attracted by RHC’s exceptional overseas helicopter sales… making them a major aerospace exporter and a great place to do a little ‘politicking.’ In RHC, White House staffers chose an appropriate location for President Bush to hawk the benefits of foreign trade since Robinson Helicopters sells 70 percent of its production overseas. A point hammered home by the President.
“You can’t tell the people at Robinson Helicopter that trade isn’t good,” Bush said Wednesday. “When 70% of that which you manufacture gets sold somewhere else other than the United States, they ought to have a sign walking in here and say, ‘Trade is not only good, it is great; and we want the federal government to make it easier for us to sell products.’”
Better yet, work continues on Frank’s next design… the Rolls Royce RR300 powered turbine helicopter…a first for RHC.
Robinson Helicopter Company was founded in 1973. The first R22 was delivered in October 1979. In 1993, the R44 came online and is now the best selling helicopter in the world. The R44 is offered in two models: The Raven I and the more powerful Raven II. The Raven II is available in four specialty configurations: Police Helicopter, Newscopter, Clipper, and IFR …
Duration : 0:9:28
The Air Safety Foundation’s David Wright Updates …
December 11, 2008
ASF’s Vice President of Operations Talks About Air Safety Programs
AOPA… well-known as the 600 pound gorilla of aviation ociations, has a cousin that isn’t as well-known… though it should be. Cognizant of the issues involved in aviation safety — and the many controversies surrounding how to deal with them, the Air safety Foundation has NOT sat on the sidelines of this issue… but instead has taken a leading role in the examination of a myriad of safety issues and the subsequent education of the pilot population so that those issues might be better understood, throughout the industry.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation is ‘a nonprofit, tax exempt organization promoting safety and pilot proficiency in general aviation through quality training, education, research, analysis, and the dissemination of information.’
Aero-TV sat down with several ASF and AOPA staffers over the last few months to get a feel for the organization and the people that staff it… this time catching up with David Wright, ASF’s Vice President of Operations.
David joined ASF in November 2002 and serves as the vice president of operations. In that role he is responsible for all of ASF’s day-to-day operations in support of the Foundation’s strategic objectives. He also contributes to the live and online ASF safety seminars that reach more than 100,000 pilots yearly with updated flight safety information.
He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree in aeronautics from the University of North Dakota, and has been both lead flight instructor for UND and an airline pilot with USAir Express. He holds an FAA commercial pilot certificate, is a flight instructor with both instrument and multi-engine ratings, and has logged about 2,500 flight hours.
ASF’s David Wright Talks Safety With Aero-TV
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Duration : 0:8:3
Dave Price of The Early Show Learns to Fly
December 3, 2008
Last summer Dave Price learned to fly at Century Air in Fairfield, NJ. Century Air is an FAA Part 141 Approved flight school offering Private through Career Training Programs. For more information, visit our website at http://www.centuryair.com or call us at (973)575-4800.
Duration : 0:4:27
Aero-TV Chills Out With NASA-Glenn’s Icing Encounter …
October 24, 2008
A Vital Topic… Deserving Of NASA’s Attention (and YOURS)
Late last year, ANN’s Aero-TV crews spied a truly marvelous piece of flight simulation technology… NASA Glenn’s icing flight training simulator. Demonstrated at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC), we were incredibly impressed at the apparent accuracy of the model (ANN’s Jim Campbell has plenty of Twin Otter time — the aircraft used in the icing encounter sim model — and knows only too well that the icing behavior they displayed is what he has experienced, personally, in real icing conditions).
The high-fidelity simulation model for icing effects flight training was developed from wind tunnel data for the DeHavilland DHC-6 Twin Otter aircraft. First, a flight model of the un-iced airplane was developed and then modifications were generated to model the icing conditions.
The models were validated against data records from the NASA Twin Otter Icing Research flight test program with only minimal refinements being required. The goals of this program were to demonstrate the effectiveness of such a simulator for training pilots to recognize and recover from icing situations and to establish a process for modeling icing effects to be used for future training devices.
NASA notes that ‘Developing flight simulators that incorporate the aerodynamic effects of icing will provide a critical element in pilot training programs by giving pilots a pre-exposure of icing-related hazards, such as ice-contaminated roll upset or tailplane stall. Integrating these effects into training flight simulators will provide an accurate representation of scenarios to develop pilot skills in unusual attitudes and loss-of-control events that may result from airframe icing.’
ANN first saw this technology demonstrated at I/ITSEC, an organization that promotes cooperation among the Armed Services, Industry, Academia and various Government agencies in pursuit of improved training and education programs, identification …
Duration : 0:9:2
Aero-TV: Learning The Truth About The MU-2 SFAR
October 22, 2008
Let’s Talk About The MU-2 With An Expert… ANN has always found the controversy over the airworthiness of the MU-2 an argument of political hype over reality. Much maligned over a number of highly visible accidents (often hyped by some politicos with an aviation-ignorant agenda), the truth of the matter is that the MU-2 is a of an airplane… and PROPERLY trained and flown, this is a serious working airplane. To separate the “Bravo Sierra” from the reality of the matter, ANN and Aero-TV interviewed and flew with MU-2 expert Pat Cannon to detail the TRUE nature of this airplane and the community that has grown around it… especially in light of the recent SFAR actions. After receiving numerous comments from both private and commercial operators of the Mitsubishi MU-2 turboprop — as well as owner representatives, and the plane’s manufacturer — the FAA has gone forward with its call for a Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) calling for new pilot training, experience, and operating requirements for the speedy aircraft. The final rule mandates a comprehensive standardized pilot training program for the MU-2. The regulation requires use of a standardized pit checklist and the latest revision of the Airplane Flight Manual. MU-2 operators also must have a working autopilot onboard except in certain limited circumstances. Owners and operators must comply with the SFAR within a year. The FAA’s requirements follow an increased accident and incident rate in the MU-b over the past four years, and are based on a safety evaluation of the MU-2 conducted by the agency since July 2005. This SFAR mandates additional training, experience, and operating requirements to improve the level of operational safety for the MU-2. “The FAA studies enormous amounts of data looking for trends,” said FAA ociate Administrator for Aviation Safety Nick Sabatini. “When we saw the rising accident rate for the MU-2, we decided to take appropriate actions to bring the plane up to an acceptable level of safety.” In its …
Duration : 0:8:22
Broward College (formerly Broward Community College) Aviation Program
October 12, 2008
South Florida & Broward county’s premier aviation training school open to the public offering a diverse aviation career path including flight pilot training, FAA airframe, powerplant and FCC avionics certifications, pilot, maintenance, aviation operations and airport management degrees.
Duration : 0:4:35
FAA Introduces GPS For Airlines
October 12, 2008
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will begin building a new high-tech satellite-based air traffic control system, awarding a $1 billion contract to begin work on the project that will work using GPS, or global positioning satellites, cutting down on delays and enabling the FAA to handle two to three times the amount of air traffic using the skies.
Joshua Vazquez is safety director for Phoenix East Aviation — a flight training school in Daytona Beach.
Vazquez said this new technology will allow air traffic controllers and pilots to see airplanes in real time, not delayed by a radar blip, which will allow planes to taxi, takeoff, land and fly closer together and safer.
Duration : 0:2:56
