Rotor & Wing 2009-03.pdf

March 2009

Serving the Worldwide Helicopter Industry

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Silver State:

What REALLY

Happened

Pilot Training Today

How It’s Done: Engine Overhauls

VISIT US AT AEA | APRIL 1-4

3D Obstacles, Terrain, and Traffic

The most important thing we build is trust

Cobham Avionics, Integrated Systems

delivers unparalleled situational awareness

and unprecedented safety and control for

any helicopter mission.

Highway-In-The-Sky (HITS) allows flight

with a stabilized flight path to any point in

the world. No other helicopter EFIS in the

world offers HITS.

With our Digital Flight Recording, all flight

data from the last five flights of unlimited

length is captured. Use the data for route

analysis, training, accident investigation /

defense, and exceedance.

Cobham Avionics

Integrated Systems

One S-TEC Way

Municipal Airport

Mineral Wells, TX 76067

(817) 215-7600

www.cobham.com/avionics

Our Helicopter Terrain Awareness

and Warning System (HTAWS) offers

predictive terrain and obstruction

alerting with pilot-configurable filters

to minimize nuisance alerts. ADS-B,

TCAS-I/II, or TAS traffic is displayed

conformally on the PFD and

conventionally on the MFD.

Vol. 43 | No. 3

March 2009

Personal|Corporate

Commercial

Military

Public Service

Training

Products

Services

Departments

10 Rotorcraft Report

Program Insider

Flight Safety International

People

Coming Events

Silver State Helicopters flew from fame to bankruptcy,

leaving its former employees and students locked out in the cold.

Photo and cover courtesy of World Images News Service.

Columns

Features

4 editor’s notebook

7 Meet the Contributors

54 eMS

56 Safety Watch

58 Maintenance notebook

59 Advertisers’ index

60 Safety Culture

62 e-Media

CoveR SToRy

■ Silver State Helicopters

What a former executive and student say really happened.

By Ernie Stephens

2 6

■ engines

Get your fingers dirty learning how to overhaul an engine.

By Ernie Stephens

■ HUMS

Health and Usage Monitoring Systems help ensure helicopter safety.

By Pat Gray

■ U.K.Medium/Heavy Lift

What’s happening with the program and what’s to come.

By Tom Withington

■ Human Factors

Know thyself. How would you behave in extreme conditions?

By Chris Baur

■ NTSB Hearing

A discussion on the current state of EMS’ oversight and safety.

By Charlotte Adams

4 6

■ Helicopter Training

Tips on matching students with success.

By Debbie Sparks and Tony Capozzi

The editors welcome new product information and other industry news. All editorial inquiries should be directed to Rotor & Wing magazine, 4 Choke Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, Md.

20850, USA; 1-301-354-1839; fax 1-301-762-8965. E-mail : rotorandwing@accessintel.com. Rotor & Wing (ISSN-1066-8098) is published monthly by Access Intelligence, 4 Choke

Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, Md. 20850, USA. Periodical postage paid at Rockville, Md. and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: Free to qualified individuals directly involved in

the helicopter industry. All other subscriptions, U.S.: one year $89; two years $178. Canada: one year $99; two years $198; Foreign: one year $129; two years $258.

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Engines await their turn for overhaul.

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MARCH 2009 | RotoR & Wing MAgAzine

Editor’s Notebook

By Ernie Stephens

Civilian Training vs.

Military Training

I ’m frequently asked what the best way

ment and living off of bread and water for

several years in order to come up with any-

where from $10,000-$15,000 for a private

ticket—a license that is useless for making

money with—and another $15,000-$17,000

to earn a commercial license. And while

we’re adding up the numbers, plug in $8,000

for a helicopter instrument rating, since

most employers require their pilots to have

one. So, on the low side of the equation, the

total for a marginally marketable license is

$33,000, but can get much, much higher.

pilot’s license, enlisting in the military seems

like a no-brainer, right? Well, I’m not so sure.

Back in 1990 when the U.S. launched

Operations Desert Shield and Desert

Storm, a couple of Army reservists I knew

looked like deer caught in headlights. They

were basically good men, but they admit-

tedly enlisted solely for the free flight train-

ing. The idea of ending up in a shooting

war was so remote; they had given it little

consideration. Yes, they still served bravely

and honorably, but they became acutely

aware that military flight school actually

has a tuition. It includes one-year deploy-

ments, time away from family, living in the

desert, being shot at, maybe being injured

and sometimes being killed. For the record,

I salute the men and women of the armed

forces who risk their lives for what they

believe in and understand the risks that go

with the wings. But I wholeheartedly dis-

courage the military route for those who are

just looking for a license.

Between the economy and the across-

the-board high cost of learning how to fly in

the civilian world, it’s easy to see why joining

the military seems to be a sensible option

for learning how to fly without breaking

the bank. But military aviation is a danger-

ous and demanding occupation that can’t

be entered into lightly. One must be ready

to live where the government tells them to

live, fly what the government tells them to

fly and go into harm’s way when the govern-

ment orders them into harm’s way.

So that I don’t leave you thinking that I’m

discouraging people from getting a pilot’s

license, let me state two things. First, much

as I would have liked to, I didn’t earn my

wings in the military. (My vision was below

their minimums.) I paid for my license out

of my pocket. Second, even if it had cost

twice what I paid for it back in the 1980s, my

first solo flight made it worth every dime!

Thanks, Todd.

is to earn a helicopter pilot’s license,

considering how much it costs to go

to a flight school. They don’t have to

go into much more detail than that, because

I’ve been watching the cost of helicopter

rentals rise ever since the mid-1980s when I

thought $89 per hour for an R22 was outra-

geous.

Today, schools are getting upwards from

$250 per hour for dual flight instruction

in the U.S. Multiply that times the 40-hour

Guess what? Military light schools

actually do charge tuition.

minimum required by the FAA, and a pri-

vate license costs around $10,000.

But while a private license is all well and

good, not many people can afford to rent a

helicopter for $210 per hour, let alone buy

one outright. That’s why private rotorcraft

pilots almost always have to move up to a

commercial license so someone else can

pay them to fly.

The money thing is rarely as big an

issue with those who want to fly airplanes

for fun or profit. Dual instruction in a two-

seat Cessna 152 is currently around $115

per hour; less than half that of helicopter

training. And with rental costs for that

same plane averaging around $95 per hour,

borrowing a plane for some fun every other

weekend or so isn’t a huge deal for the avia-

tion novice. (Well, at least it wasn’t before

the economy went into cardiac arrest!)

So, while the common man is able to

earn an airplane license with little more

than a hiccup to their savings account, the

would-be helicopter pilot often has to con-

sider a second mortgage, part-time employ-

And then there’s the other option: The

military.

I don’t think anyone, including my

friends who own flight schools, will argue

with me when I say the best trained heli-

copter pilots in the world learned how to

fly in the armed forces, especially those

who graduated from the U.S. Army’s school

at Fort Rucker, Alabama. (Okay, you folks

who learned at Pensacola are a really close

second!)

The best part of military flight school

is the overall experience. Instructor pilots

are all handpicked men and women who

could roll the aircraft inverted and trim

your hedges with it while calculating fuel

burn down to the third decimal place. And

when the training is all done, the soldier

has earned the equivalent of a commercial

license with an instrument rating, received

some great night vision goggle training,

tried their hand at long-line operations and

been checked out on at least one turbine

helicopter.

So, if someone is looking for a helicopter

RotoR & Wing magazine | maRCH 2009

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