Rotorcraft

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Helicopter

| January 17, 2025

Helicopter Financing: Key Lender Preferences & Requirements

Aircraft financing is a small subset of the overall vehicle financing market, and helicopter financing is an even smaller submarket of that. Since there aren't as many helicopters as there are airplanes, fewer lenders are interested in providing financing for them. Thankfully, AOPA has good relationships with those that do.

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Video

| December 12, 2024

Virtually perfect

It’s rare that a technology comes along that’s so transformative it completely changes the way we think about training pilots. Virtual reality has that potential.

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Article

| February 29, 2024

Heli-Expo showcases new turbine helicopter, training tech

Thousands of helicopter pilots, businesses, and enthusiasts from around the world descended on Anaheim, California, for Helicopter Association International's Heli-Expo 2024.

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Advocacy

| October 19, 2023

FAA clarifies low-G maneuver training in Robinson helicopters

The FAA has issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that seeks to clear up conflicting safety and training requirements regarding low G maneuvers in Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters.

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Pilot Magazine

| September 27, 2023

Romeo Hotel

Some of the most iconic companies had humble beginnings. Cirrus started on the family farm, Apple began in a garage, and Robinson Helicopter Company started in a living room.

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Article

| July 13, 2023

From patrol car to Airbus H125 command

Carlos “Danny” Casanova fell in love with aviation while working as a deputy sheriff with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office in Florida. Now, he’s protecting his community from above in an Airbus H125 police helicopter as an aircraft commander and airborne law enforcement pilot.

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Pilot Turbine Magazine

| May 25, 2023

The 'Ferrari' of helicopters

By Murray Huling

The theme song to the 1980’s hit TV show Magnum, P.I. plays on repeat in my head as we walk up to the new MD Helicopters MD 500E.

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Pilot Magazine

| December 31, 2022

‘Green deck’

Nothing sounds quite like the whine of a Bell 206 starting up. The high-pitched squeal is followed by the whirling, building rhythm of the rotor blades, which accelerate and eventually settle into a cacophony of whipping wind and fast-moving parts.

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Article

| December 7, 2022

NTSB urges immediate Bell 407 inspections

The NTSB found the tail boom of a Bell 407 air tour helicopter 762 feet from where the rest of the helicopter came to rest following a June 8 accident in Hawaii, and called for immediate inspection of the rest of the fleet.

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Article

| October 17, 2022

Airbus delivers first ACH130 Aston Martin Editions to US, Brazil

Airbus Corporate Helicopters announced October 17 two more deliveries of a special edition of the ACH130 helicopter designed with Aston Martin. One of these was the first to a U.S. customer who, naturally, owns an Aston Martin sports car to go with the new Aston Martin Edition helicopter.

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Flight Training Magazine

| October 12, 2022

Skid it on

The power requirement of helicopters is sometimes backwards to that of an airplane.

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Article

| July 7, 2022

Garmin GI 275 available for Robinson helicopters

Garmin’s round-dial electronic flight instrument is a popular airplane retrofit that is now approved for installation in Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters.

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Article

| April 18, 2022

Pilots push for helicopter wake-turbulence awareness

A group of helicopter pilots and aviation safety professionals have come together to research and share the importance of helicopter wake-turbulence safety with the aviation community.

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Article

| March 25, 2022

'All about finding your niche'

What started as a simple landing on a small island in the middle of a Georgia lake has turned into a career for Bell sales representative Errick Smith.

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Pilot Magazine

| February 1, 2022

Head spinning

Learning to fly a gyroplane was not a life goal. Not something that I’ve had my eye on for a long time or always dreamed of doing. No, this was a marriage of convenience. But even those can have a bit of love thrown in.

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Pilot Magazine

| November 1, 2021

Bell Model 47B

In 1946, the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Authority awarded the first civil helicopter certification to the Model 47.

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Article

| October 12, 2021

Airbus provides optimistic outlook for business jets, helicopters

With a backdrop of a continuing global recovery for business aviation, Airbus showcased its newest offerings and initiatives in both business jets and helicopters at the National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Las Vegas.

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Flight Training Magazine

| August 1, 2021

Ramp Appeal: Workhorse

Helicopters might be fun to fly, but as Igor Sikorsky was fond of noting, they are primarily built to work.

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Pilot Magazine

| August 1, 2021

Flight Training: Rotorhead

Get a seaplane rating, add a multiengine rating, try a glider. There are dozens of ways to experience aviation anew, but one stands above as the ultimate combination of fun and utility. This is an argument for learning to fly helicopters.

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Article

| July 21, 2021

CAU president ‘excited’ about rotorcraft degree program

California Aeronautical University President Matt Johnston said he was thrilled to add a rotorcraft emphasis degree program to the aviation mix as the aviation university founded in 2012 begins an eastward expansion to metropolitan Phoenix’s Falcon Field Airport.

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Article

| May 26, 2021

FAA approves Avidyne helicopter FMS

Avidyne announced technical standard order (TSO) approval that will allow maintenance facilities to request supplemental type certificates or field approvals for the Helios multifunction flight management system installation in corporate, military, and special mission helicopters. Helios is designed to work with legacy instruments and replace legacy helicopter navigation and flight management systems.

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Article

| May 13, 2021

Virtual reality training device for R22 certified

VRM Switzerland thinks it has cracked the code. Many training and simulation companies have promoted the benefits of virtual reality training, but until recently most of the applications had too many drawbacks to be considered effective. Working with the European aviation authorities, VRM Switzerland said recently it has become the first company in the world to receive certification for a virtual reality simulation device that can be used in lieu of time in the aircraft to meet training minimums.

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Article

| May 4, 2021

Leonardo unveils new training academy

Leonardo, in a virtual ceremony on April 29, unveiled its latest training facility in Philadelphia, the first in the United States. It joins factory training facilities in Italy, Malaysia, and the United Kingdom.

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Advocacy

| April 7, 2021

NTSB would mandate aviation safety programs, some data recording

The NTSB announced its 2021–2022 Most Wanted List of Transportation Safety Improvements on April 6, leading off with recommendations for operators of revenue-generating passenger carrying flights to establish safety management system (SMS) programs, and for passenger-carrying commercial aircraft to have image recording and flight data recording capabilities that would shed light on—or help avoid—accidents.

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Flight Training Magazine

| March 8, 2021

How it works: Frankencopter

It’s so bonkers you would think the inspiration came from a kid’s drawing.

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Article

| March 1, 2021

Self-made motion picture pilot

Fred North flies helicopters for Hollywood movies with big budgets directed by seasoned pros who have a thirst for dynamic footage that often leaves little margin for error. He has no fear of losing his job to a drone.

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Article

| February 10, 2021

NTSB faults pilot's decisions in Bryant crash

Faced with lowering clouds and rising terrain flying a Sikorsky S–76B with nine people aboard including basketball legend Kobe Bryant and Bryant’s daughter, Gianna, pilot Ara Zobayan neither slowed down nor turned around.

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Article

| February 4, 2021

RotorWay sold to Rotor X Aircraft Manufacturing Co.

RotorWay International Helicopter Manufacturing, a top producer of experimental helicopters, was recently sold to Rotor X Aircraft Manufacturing Co. According to a press release, the new company hired many of RotorWay’s former employees, and will continue to produce new kits and offer parts for existing models.

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Article

| January 15, 2021

AeroLEDs’ landing, taxi lights approved for Part 27 helicopters

Upgrading the lights on their aircraft to LEDs is a common move among owners who want to increase their visibility for collision avoidance and get more life from their lights. Now, AeroLEDs taxi and landing lights are available for more than 200 makes and models of rotorcraft certified under Part 27.

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Flight Training Magazine

| November 17, 2020

It’s all about the power

The images are breathtaking. A Boeing Chinook sits only on its rear wheels on a small rock outcropping while soldiers pile out the open back door. A climber hangs onto a small piece of rock as one wheel of a Sikorsky Black Hawk plants down and he’s pulled inside.

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