Helicopters

A military helicopter flyover at a recent Tennessee Titans football game in Nashville is under investigation by the FAA and U.S. Army officials after the four combat aircraft flew low over a stadium filled with spectators.

Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft are years away from entering service, but the discussion is already under way about passenger prices.

In May 2019, two men took off from Tipton Airport (KFME) in Fort Meade, Maryland, for a pleasure flight. They were in a Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter, and had hoped to find and photograph a relative of the passenger who was fishing from a boat in the Chesapeake Bay. The morning was foggy; when the […]

Robinson Helicopter Company has made delivery number 13,000: an R44 Raven headed for Texas operator SKY Helicopters in Dallas. The aircraft, serial number 14438, was delivered on April 23, and it comes fully equipped, with a brand-new paint scheme. The R44 features the following options: a Lithium-ion battery, heated seats, and a 4K cockpit video […]

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) joined five other aviation associations recently in opposition to two New York City bills that would severely restrict helicopter operations in the city and create additional paperwork requirements. The March 9 letter to Peter Vallone, chairman of the New York City Committee on Economic Development, was co-signed by representatives of the […]

Inadvertent VFR flight into IMC weather and the resulting fatal accidents are not simply a problem for aircraft pilots, but also for those flying helicopters. In a news release, the US Helicopter Safety Team (USHST) said, “Between 2000 to 2019 in the US, there were 130 fatal accidents directly linked to the issue of spatial […]

While the data just released from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) showed trends that weren’t unexpected, the degree of downturn for the industry points to a more significant slump than most people prepared for. The total number of aircraft shipped to date in 2020 declined 21.5 percent from the same period last year. Billings […]

There was a time when men and women who joined the United States Army could take advantage of the service’s program that taught them to fly any of a variety of helicopters and left them on the hook for a relatively short six-year commitment. But those days are no more. The US Army plans to […]

Orlando-Sanford International Airport-based Vertical Aviation Technologies, Inc. recently purchased type certificate 1H2 from Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation, which represents the FAA design approval for the S-52 series helicopters Sikorsky originally developed and certified. Vertical plans to release its own version to the commercial marketplace as the new four-place S-52L Hummingbird. Brad Clark, president of Vertical Aviation, […]

The National Transportation Safety Board has asked helicopter manufacturers Bell, Airbus Helicopters, Leonardo Helicopter Division, MD Helicopters, Robinson Helicopter Company and Sikorsky to require visual and audio data recorders on commercial turbine-powered helicopters. Speaking directly to airframe manufacturers is a first for the NTSB regarding video image recorders and comes following the FAA’s refusal to […]