FLYING WITH

THE BEST

AND
R E S C U E

SAR EQUIPMENT
AND TRAINING

Special Report

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 O Vol. 40, No. 11 O NOVEMBER 2006
contents
COVER PACKAGE:
20 Hand in Hand
Recent disasters highlight the need
for greater collaboration in SAR.

24 Have Gun, Will Travel

By Shannon Bower
As the USAF prepares for a new
combat search-and-rescue helo, we
fly with those who will train its crews.

34 Hoist or Hover Load?

Story by Tim Hagel,
Photos by Glenn Grossman
Understanding options and asking
key safety questions make the
difference in rescue operations.

40 Tough Enough
By James Careless
Manufacturers and vendors are
creating innovative products for SAR.

47 The Right Stuff

What it takes to fly
with some of the best SAR pilots.

50 Whither the Wind?

By James T. McKenna
page 56 A flight-training vet shares tips
This Months Cover: A U.S. Air Force HH-60G Pave Hawk during combat-search-and-rescue exercises at Fort and techniques for knowing
Bliss, Texas. Photo by Shannon Bower and using the wind.
This page: (top) Bristow S-61 flying for the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency. (above) Boeings V-22
Flight Control System Integration Rig. 52 From the Field
54 From the Factories
columns
56 Flight Testing at 0 Agl
4 Editors Notebook By John Croft
Boeing is pushing the limits
of simulation.
7 Feedback
8 ROTORCRAFT REPORT
61 Advertisers Index
14 Program Insider
62 Law Enforcement U.S. Air Force CSAR-X
18 People
18 Events

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; (301) 354-1839; fax (301) 762-8965. Email: rotorandwing@accessintel.com. Rotor & Wing (ISSN-
1066-8098) is published monthly by Access Intelligence, 4 Choke Cherry Rd., 2nd Floor, Rockville, MD 20850, MD 20854. Periodical Postage Paid at Rockville, MD and additional mailing offices. Subscriptions: Free to qualified individuals directly involved in the helicopter industry. All other
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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Rotor & Wing, P.O. Box 3089, Northbrook, IL 60065-3089. Change of address two to eight weeks notice requested. Send both new and old address, including mailing label to Attn: Rotor & Wing magazine, Customer Services, P.O. Box 3089, Northbrook, IL
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2006 by Access Intelligence, LLC. Contents may not be reproduced in any form without written permission.
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rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 3

02_RW_1106_TOC_p02_03.indd 3 10/18/06 4:41:35 PM

editors notebook
By James T. McKenna
Is the West at War?
OCTOBER BROUGHT TWO IMPOR-
tant gatherings in Americathe Assn.
of the U.S. Armys annual meeting in
Washington and the National Business
W services, particularly their rotary-wing
Aviation Assn.s yearly convention, in
Orlando. Neither is a helicopter indus-
try event per se, yet rotorcraft play cru-
cial roles in the activities at the heart of
eachwarfighting for the former and
business flying for the latter.
The timing of the shows, just a week
apart, brought into contrast an irony of
life in the W
West these days.
For the NBAA and its members,
business is booming. In early October,
the stock market, as measured by the
Dow Jones Index, set four records for
day-ending values. Those records con-
firmed the markets full recovery from
the falloff propelled by the terrorist
attacks of September 11, 2001. With
the U.S. economy chugging along
nicely, companies focus on further
improving their efficiency and profit-
ability. Business aviation is often a key
tool for doing that, and helicopters
play a small but important role for
that market. So times promise to be
good for business aviation.
Thats true, in fact, for most of avi-
ation in general and for almost all
of rotorcraft in particular. It may be
an unorthodox way of looking at it,
but Id argue that the unprecedent-
ed strike by offshore and emergency
medical service pilots against PHI is
affirmation of that.
At some level, union leaders (and
35 percent of its 600 pilots, according
to the company) must have concluded
that demand for PHIs services and for
their flying skills were so high that the
company couldnt do business with-
out them. It remains to be seen wheth-
er they were right. But its safe to say
they would not have walked off the
job in a weak economy will less than
full demand for helicopter services
and pilots.
Business for the military is boom-
ing, too. The hunt for Al Qaeda and
other terrorists around the world, the
NOVEMBER 2006 O
rotorandwing.com
fight against the resurgent Taliban
T leadership training they will need
in Afghanistan and the struggle to
stabilize Iraq have W Western military
aviators, running nearly nonstop.
But youd be hard-pressed to know
that unless you wear a military uni-
form or work for a company that
directly supports those who do. I cant
speak for those in other nations hit by
terrorist attacks since September 11.
But the main concern of the average
American is how much it will cost this
week to fill the cars gas tank. Those
with loved ones in combat live every
day fearing whats going on over
there, Im sure, as do those in com-
munities surrounding military bases.
But they suffer individually and out-
side the limelight. For Americans as a
nation, todays war seems something
to pass quickly on cable TV between
baseball playoffs, old movies, home-
improvement shows and shopping
channels.
Politicians love the war. Its a means
of bashing those in the other party.
But few in WWashington have the spine
to call on themselves, colleagues and
American voters to truly address the
cost of this war.
Think what you want about the
war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan,
and the war against terrorists that
spans the globeabout how and why
we got into them, how they have been
prosecuted and whether we should
stay in any or all of them. Those are
separate issues from the injustice we
are perpetrating or tolerating today.
We have and continue to put our
W one suggests that critical raw materi-
troops in harms way without the
resources they need and deserve to
accomplish the task weve set before
them. U.S. military units have barely
a years time at home between combat
deployments. That not only exhausts
the troops, as the Armys vice chief of
staff, Gen. Richard Cody, explained
at the AUSA gathering. It blocks com-
missioned and non-commissioned
officers from getting the skills and
to be ready for the next fight. The
high operational tempo also exhausts
equipment at a time when the mil-
itary services lack the resources to
repair or restore it swiftly.
Those circumstances led the Armys
chief of staff, Gen. Peter Schoomaker,
to the unprecedented move of essen-
tially challenging Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld, who brought him
out of retirement to run the service,
and the White House to a stand-off
over not just Army funding but the
entire defense budget.
The problem is real, critical and
not limited to the United States. Lead
times on helicopters to replace those
lost in combat (or expand our critical
vertical-lift capabilities) run to three
years, in part because crucial titanium
is being used to make jewelry, bike
frames and more commercial airliners
instead of combat aircraft components.
In the United Kingdom, the Ministry
of Defence is considering borrowing
helicopters from Denmark and Portu-
gal to fill a priority vertical-lift short-
fall for its troops in Afghanistan. Yet
eight Chinook HC3s sit grounded by a
seven-year dispute over how to certify
their avionics software.
Schoomaker said of the Army bud-
get fight, Its not a matter of afford-
ability. Its a matter of national prior-
ity. That could be said of more than
the funding debate. Yet no one in
Americain or outside of Washing W -
tonhas hinted that taxes should be
raised to pay for the war effort. No
als should be rationed to ensure the
militarys supply. No one in America
talks of sacrificeeither the ones citi-
zens should be making or the ones
those in uniform make every day. If
we are to remain in this long war
and prevail in it, perhaps we should
be concerned as nations with how
we are supporting our troops and less
with where our next luxury will come
from and how much it will cost.
 &XVWRPHUFHQWULF,WVDWHUPWKDWGHQHVDOOWKDW
we do and how we do it at MD Helicopters. It is
the foundation of our strong commitment to our
customer and operator and we understand that
the success of this Company will be ultimately
measured by the depth of your appreciation.
Our long term success will be built upon our
indelible passion for superior product, innovative
thought and operational processes that are
inherently focused on the needs of our customer.
I want to hear what you have to say about our
products and our services; it is the only way that
I can transcend MD into a company that you can
LYNN TILTON
Chairman of the trust. Its a new day at MD Helicopters and I have
Board of Directors pledged my personal commitment to capitalize
MD Helicopters, Inc. upon the innovative technology and the strength
of MDs products and build the spectacular.
My journey and the path we pave at MD begin
with listening to you.

mdhelicopters.com

American Pride Rising to New Heights | phone: 480.346.6344 | E-mail: lynn@mdhelicopters.com

03_RW_1106_EdNote_p04_05.indd 5
 EDITORIAL
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Contributing Writers: Ron Bower; Shannon Bower; James Careless;
Lt. Col.Steve Colby, USAF; Frank Colucci; John Croft; Larry Mattiello;
Tim McAdams; Robert W. Moorman; Johan Nurmi; Ray Prouty; Simon
Roper; Sgt. Ernie Stephens.

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LIST SALES
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ACCESS INTELLIGENCE, LLC

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6 NOVEMBER 2006 O
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04_RW_1106_Feedback_p06_07.indd 6 10/18/06 12:25:27 PM


Safety Management
I am a 20-year-old college student in
southeastern North Carolina. I just want-
ed to say that I thoroughly enjoyed your
article on efforts to improve safety man-
agement (A Few Steps More, September
2006, page 30). It was refreshing to know
that someone else out there is trying to
make a difference in one of the weakest
parts of emergency services these days.
I am a fireman and my last statement
might be a little rough, although I am
sure you can relate in some sense. My
boss and I were having this conversation
the other day and to read it in an aviation
magazine merely hours later was refresh-
ing. I am still very young and believe I can
change the world. So thank you for your
honest effort in educating the masses.
Sean Hunt
Frank and the R22
I write in response to your Question
of the Month for September 2006, Does
Frank Robinsons proposal for flight
schools to replace R22s with the R44
make sense to you?
First, as a novice to flying, I enjoy each
issue of Rotor & Wing, with the feedback
from seasoned veterans and interesting and
informative articles in this specialized field.
I dreamed of flying helicopters since I
saw my first chopper when I was 5 years
old. I carried this dream with me until I
was 47, when I noticed a different looking
helicopter flying over the interstate upon
returning home from a business trip. I had
some extra time and stopped at the FBO
where the helicopter landed. I went in
and talked to the owner who happened
to be the helicopter instructor. I asked
questions and learned that the helicopter
he was using was an R22 Beta. I scheduled
an introductory flight and I was hooked.
I did not have a pilots license or any
previous flying experience. My instructor
pleaded with me to take lessons in an
airplane to defray costs but I had, and still
have, no desire to fly an airplane. This was
coming out of my pocket and I was deter-
mined to learn to fly a helicopter and get
my pilots certificate.
Learning to control the R22 was more
of a challenge than I anticipated. I gen-
erally had little problems adapting to
anything I did and was at a point, during
the third flight, that I thought I might not
04_RW_1106_Feedback_p06_07.indd 7
R&Ws Question of the Month
What do you think the FAAs focus on enhanced
operational control will mean for you and your
operations? (See story on page 8.)
Let us know, and look for your and others responses in a future issue.
Youll find contact information at the bottom of the page.
be able to learn to fly this #%*! helicopter.
It was during the fourth flight that things
started to come together and I was finally
learning how to control the helicopter
with slight pressures rather than abrupt
control inputs. I was also fortunate to
have one of the finest military pilots for an
instructor, who is also a great R22 pilot.
The bottom line is Frank Robinson
afforded me an opportunity to learn how
to fly a helicopter when there would have
been no other way than in the R22. I also
believe that learning in an R22 offers a
pilot the opportunity to learn what a low
inertia rotor system truly is. Learning
from a well-qualified R22 pilot forced me
to pay attention to every detail, not only
to survive but also to be the best helicop-
ter pilot I can be during any flight. I have
since flown the phenomenal R44 Raven
and attended Robinsons safety course,
and I eagerly await additional training
to become a qualified commercial heli-
copter pilot. While I now only have a few
hours over 100 total in the helicopter, I
feel that taking away the R22 as a training
tool for any new student pilots would not
afford them the opportunity to experi-
ence everything you could do wrong as
a helicopter pilot. (The R22 is also a great
flying helicopter.)
I do understand Frank Robinsons
reasoning for using the R44 instead of
the R22 for safety reasons, but you have
got to experience the R22. After meeting
Frank at the safety course, I learned that
he is truly concerned about each and
every pilot, especially the ones that fly
helicopters built by Robinson.
My hat is off to Frank Robinson and
R&W magazine.
Dean Kruger
Mt. Morris, Ill.
feedback
?
Frank is crazy. The R22 is a great
machine to learn in. In 1994, I had 1,000
hr in fixed-wing (tail draggers) and decid-
ed to switch to rotor wing. I learned in
an R22.
It was the most unstable thing I ever
climbed in. The first 10 hr, I could not
keep the machine in a football field. In 15
hr, I could do anything I wanted.
When you learn to master the fast-
acting machine, you can fly any piston-
powered helo. I have flown Bells, Hillers,
and Schweizers, and they are easy to fly.
If you are smooth with a R22, you have
learned to fly.
Robert Heyer
Cuero, Texas
We Stand Corrected
Your most recent issue features a short
piece on page 12 regarding the U.S. Army
UH-60M and the fact that the flight man-
agement system is made by Canadian
Marconi (U.S. Armys UH-60M Joins The
Black Hawk Family, September 2006,
page 12).
Please note that the correct company
name is CMC Electronics. This has been
the company name since April 2001,
before which it was Canadian Marconi.
Janka Dvornik
Communications and Public Relations Manager
CMC Electronics
Saint-Laurent, Quebec
Do you have comments on the rotorcraft industry or
recent articles and viewpoints weve published? Send
them to: Editor, Rotor & Wing, 4 Choke Cherry Road,
Second Floor, Rockville, MD 20850, fax us at 301-
354-1809 or email us at rotorandwing@accessintel.
com. Please include a city and state or province with
your name and ratings. We reserve the right to edit all
submitted material.
rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 7
10/18/06 12:25:27 PM
 GDIDG8G6;Ireport
FAA Focus on Operational Control Unsettles Industry
The U.S. FAA is cracking down on how
aircraft operators control, fly and market
their flights, and its moves have unnerved
some in the aviation industryparticularly
those involved in helicopter emergency
medical services.
The agencys moves could force a
revamping of arrangements in which
operators acquire, fly and maintain air-
craft under contract to medical provid-
ers and supply pilots for them. It also
could force helicopter EMS operators not
directly affiliated with a hospital to beef up
their aviation dispatch and flight-fol-
lowing practices.
Top agency officials said they are
not looking to impose the kind of
dispatch requirements contained in
Federal Aviation Regulations Part 121,
under which the pilot in command and
a dispatcher on the ground have shared
responsibility for the safe conduct of a
flight. But they do want greater control
over flight operations commensurate
with the degree of complexity of a cer-
tificate holders operations.
The crackdown is not limited to
EMS operators; it applies to all Part
135 certificate holders.
The agencys actions follow a
series of accidents and investigations
that unmasked common practices in
which non-certificate holders marketed
and booked flights using an air opera-
tor certificate holders aircraft and crews,
sometimes on a routine basis. Most nota-
ble among the crashes were two involv-
ing business jets. One ran off a runway at
Teterboro, N.J. in February 2005, injuring
20 people. The other crashed in Montrose,
Colo. in November 2004, killing the 14-
year-old son of the head of the NBC televi-
sion networks sports division.
The discovery of those practices also
unnerved top regulators and lawyers at
the FAA, who were confronted with a
situation in which key provisions of the
FARs had fallen into disuse over timeat
times with the knowledge of the agencys
own inspectors.
As a result, top agency officials have
been conducting road shows to clarify for
both operators and FAA inspectors what
caption
the regulations require. Agency officials
briefed leaders of the Helicopter Assn.
International in late August and attendees
at the Air Medical Transport Conference in
Phoenix in late September.
At the heart of the matter is the issue
of operational control of aircraft operated
under FAR Part 135. The FAA planned to
issue by the end of October an amend-
ment to paragraph A008 of a certificate
holders operations specifications that is
intended to clarify the operational control
requirements of the FARs. FAA inspectors
would then inform certificate holders of
the clarified requirements. The certificate
holders would have to revise their op specs
to meet those requirements.
A very important point is that we have
made no regulatory changes, a top FAA
official involved in the process said. These
are all requirements already in the FARs.
In a summary presented at
AMTC in Phoenix, FAA officials
said the amended op specs will
specify that operational control is
the responsibility of the certificate
holder, that that responsibility can-
not be transferred by any business
agreement, and that no agree-
ment between a certificate holder
and other parties can supercede
the certificate holders operational
control responsibilities.
FAA officials have said repeat-
edly that they are looking for more
than manual changes through
this effort.
What we are looking for is
a cultural change, said Hooper
Harris, head of the commuter, on-
demand and training branch of the FAAs
Air Transportation Div. Certificate holders
will have to establish and maintain abso-
lute operational control of their aircraft,
with its customers making requests for air
transportation. To meet the regulations,
both the words and the actions have to
be right.

CIVIL
MD Helicopters Shifts Gears to Speed Fuselages From Mexico
MD Helicopters has revised its plan for a Mexico production
site to get fuselages from the facility faster.
The Mesa, Ariz. manufacturer had planned to gain FAA certi-
fication of the site near Monterrey to produce its single-engine
MD500- and MD600-series helicopters, with plans to start pro-
duction by years end. But the FAA certification process was too
protracted to meet MDs production plans.
The company will now build single-engine fuselages in Mon-
terrey and ship them to Mesa for final assembly and completion.
The first is expected to reach Mesa before the end of the year.
In other production-related news, MD reported in Septem-
ber that it has reduced the number of MD aircraft-on-ground
(AOG) by 90 percent since the companys July 2005 acquisition
by Patriarch Partners, LLC, the $5-billion private investment
firm that holds a controlling interest in MD. Patriarchs chief,
Lynn Tilton, is now MDs chairman. MD also said it is now able
to provide both routine and higher priority parts on the same
day the order is received in over 80 percent of the requests. The
company said it has also been able to fill 90 percent of customer
AOG orders in less than 72 hr. The news confirms the companys
commitment to rebuild the high level of customer service
and operator feedback critical to supporting the large MD Heli-
copter operating fleet, said Jeffrey L. Snyder, general manager for
customer support.

8 NOVEMBER 2006 O
rotorandwing.com

05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 8 10/19/06 9:21:10 AM

 MILITARY
U.K. Weighs Options for Closing Vertical-Lift Gap
The United Kingdoms Ministry of Defence is weighing several
options to close a priority shortfall in vertical-lift support for its
troops operating in southern Afghanistan under NATO command.
Options include leasing aircraft from Eurocopter, extending the
use of its Westland Pumas and Sea Kings, borrowing EH101s from
Denmark and Portugal and contracting with a British company for
Soviet-era Mi-17s.
The outgoing commander of U.K. forces in southern Afghani-
stan, Brigadier Ed Butler, has called for extra helicopters as a prior-
MILITARY

Japan Looks to Buy 24
Military Helos in Fiscal 2007
The Japanese government is proposed to buy 24 military
helicopters in Fiscal 2007 as part of a 4.8-trillion ($41-billion)
defense budget for the year.
Plans call for the acquisition of 21 rotorcraft valued at 41.2
billion ($345 million) for Japans Ground Self-Defense Forces.
The armys requested aircraft include 16 Fuji/Bell
UH-1J utility helicopters, two Kawasaki OH-1 scout air-
craft, one Fuji/Boeing AH-64D Apache Longbow attack
rotorcraft, one Mitsubishi/Sikorsky UH-60JA and one
Kawasaki/Boeing CH-47JA.
Japans Air Self-Defense Forces are seeking an aircraft acqui-
sition budget of 148.5 billion ($1.25 billion), but rotorcraft
make up a small portion of that services plans.
The air force is requesting two Mitsubishi/Sikorsky UH-60J
utility helicopters and one Kawasaki/Boeing CH-47J Chinook
transport helicopter in 2007.
If approved, the budget could be a boon for Kawasaki, which
is operating on a plan to build one Chinook a year.
MILITARY

Sikorsky Taps PZL to Assemble
International Black Hawks
Sikorsky Aircraft has signed a strategic memorandum of under-
standing with aircraft maker PZL Mielec to negotiate agreements that
would establish the Polish company as the assembly center for Inter-
national Black Hawk helicopters and key helicopter components.
The pact was announced last month by the Polish Ministry of Trea-
sury Sept. 20 and confirmed by Sikorsky.
PZL Mielec is wholly owned by the Industrial Development Agency
(known by the Polish acronym ARP), which is a government holding
company under the treasury ministry.
Under the MOU signed at a public ceremony in Warsaw, Sikorskys
strategic investment in PZL Mielec would provide funding for factory
improvements and tooling to support assembly of the International
Black Hawks and other helicopter component production. Financial
terms of the MOU were not disclosed. Sikorsky and ARP have agreed to
work toward finalizing the terms outlined in the MOU before the end
of the year. They anticipate initial component deliveries in 2008 and
International Black Hawk deliveries in 2010.
05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 9
ity to boost the troops ability to combat Taliban insurgents. If
we had more helicopters, Butler has been quoted as saying, we
could generate a higher tempo, not just of offensive operations,
but to press on with reconstruction and development efforts.
The head of the UK Joint Helicopter Command, Maj. Gen. Gary
Coward, has said a 5-10-year lease of helicopters could close the
vertical-lift gap and allow the ministry to complete an assessment
of its long-term vertical-lift needs.
In a related development, the head of Boeings Chinook pro-
gram, Jack Dougherty, said the manufacturer and British officials
are close to resolving a dispute over avionics software certifica-
tion that has kept eight Royal Air Force Chinook HC3s grounded
for seven years. Discussions on resolving the dispute, likely with
installation of Thales TopDeck cockpits, picked up under pressure
from the highest levels of the U.K. government.
MILITARY
Armed Recon Helo Slips,
But U.S. Army to Grow Program
The U.S. Army and Bell Helicopter have agreed to slip the
Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program by at least six
months, with the milestone of a first unit equipped moving
from September 2008 into 2009, according to Frank Wallace,
Bells deputy ARH program manager.
Challenges with integrating target-acquisition and other
sensors with Rockwell Collins Common Avionics Architecture
System is a primary reason.
The program has achieved a number of successes, flying
two system design and development aircraft (shown below)
within 13 months of contract award. It also added its own air-
craft to the program to help overcome test and development
risks. The slip is the latest delay in plans to retire the venerable
but war-weary OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.
The program wont stay delayed if the Armys vice chief of
staff has anything to say about it. Gen. Richard Cody, an Army
aviator, said he visited Bell Oct. 8 and was very clear with Bell
leadership. We want first unit equipped in 2008, not 2009. In
their defense, the Bell briefers have said they are working to
get the program back on schedule.
Despite the delay, the Army is still working to increase the
program from 368 to 480 aircraft or more, with the additional
ARHs intended for the National Guard.
rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 9
10/19/06 9:21:16 AM
 CIVIL


CIVIL

Pilot Faces Charges in Deputys Death
A helicopter pilot faces trial on charges that he failed
to maintain his helicopter, leading to a crash that killed a
Franklin County, N.C. sheriffs deputy. Ben Barrick is charged
with involuntary manslaughter for the 2004 crash that
killed Deputy Ted Horton. He was to go on trial Oct. 1, but a
judge agreed to lower his $50,000 bond to $25,000 to free
money to allow him to hire a defense attorney. The trial is
now set for January.
CIVIL

FAA to Test New EMS Weather Tool
The FAA and U.S. meteorologists plan to soon field a new, exper-
imental, computerized weather tool aimed at helping helicopter
Emergency Medical Service (EMS) pilots in deciding whether they
should decline missions. The tool is designed to provide ceiling
and visibility data in 5-sq.-km. blocks throughout the entire United
States, regardless whether an area is covered by a staffed or auto-
matic weather reporting station. The agency is working with the
National Center for Atmospheric Research to develop and field the
tool, which is an add-on to the Aviation Digital Data Service that pro-
NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
Photo by Christina Barnard
CIVIL

PHI Pilots Union Strikes
Have 200 or so PHI pilots scuttled their helicopter careers by
walking out on strike? Opinions are divided on the matter.
Offshore and EMS pilots led by the Office and Professional
Employees Union International walked off the job Sept. 20 after
2.5 years of talks failed to produce a new labor pact. The union
claimed 330 pilots struck. PHI said in an October financial filing
that 210 did so, but it noted that was 35 percent of its pilots and
the strike was having a significant impact on its operations.
PHI sent letters to the strikers telling them theyd been fired.
Because you are engaging in a strike activity, one letter report-
edly sent by the company said, you are being permanently
replaced. The strike created the embarrassing situation of pilots
picketing against PHI outside the annual Air Medical Transport
Conference in Phoenix, headquarters of PHIs EMS operation.
Top officials of other EMS and offshore companies were split
on whether they would hire PHI strikers. Two interviewed said no
way; one said he would unless an applicant lied about his involve-
ment in the strike.
vides aviators with text, digital and graphical forecasts, analyses, and
observations of weather. It is intended solely as a no-go tool. Pilots
could use it to decide not to fly, but it could not be used as justifica-
tion for accepting a mission.
 MILITARY

Poland Unveils Medevac Mi-17
The Polish army took the wraps off its first Mil Mi-17AE
medevac helicopter during the MSPO international
defense expos ti on.
Poland may deploy the aircraft to Afghanistan to sup-
port NATOs security-assistance operations there.
The aircraft is assigned to the 25th Air Cavalry Brigade
in Leznica Wielka. It is the first of two Mi-17s to be modified
with rescue equipment, including oxygen systems, air con-
ditioning, new power supply systems and a 660-lb (300-kg)
capacity winch.
Polands WZL-1 defense manufacturer in Lodz recon-
figured the Mi-17s cabin to accommodate up to seven
stretchers and three medical personnel. MILITARY
The Mi-17AEs cockpit has been modified to permit
use of night-vision goggles. It includes a GPS receiver,
AgustaWestland to Revive Indian Sea Kings
improved communications suite, identification friend-or- AgustaWestland has won a contract from the Indian Navy to return to service
foe equipment and a searchlight. seven Sea King Mk 42B helicopters. Work on the contract was to start in late Sep-
If the aircraft is configured for combat search-and-res- tember, with AgustaWestland providing a specialist team to work with personnel
cue missions, it can be equipped with modular armor and from the Indian aerospace industry to launch the recovery program.
defensive countermeasures, such as radar warning receiv- Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. is to repair and overhaul rotable items, includ-
ers and chaff and flare dispensers. WZL-1 is also modifying ing the transmission and rotor heads. In March 2004, AgustaWestland signed
an army PZL Mielec W-3W Sokol for medevac duties. a contract with HAL to enable it to perform indigenous Sea King repair and
overhaul work in support of the Indian Navy Sea King fleet.
The Indian Navy has received a substantial number of AgustaWestland Sea
MILITARY King helicopters, including advanced Sea King Mk.42B and Mk.42C variants
which were delivered in the late 1980s.

High-Performance EH101
Enters Flight Test Program MILITARY
A high-performance variant of the AgustaWestland EH101 fitted with new-technology
British Experimental Rotor Program (BERP) 4 main-rotor blades, more powerful General
Electric CT7-8E engines, and a new integrated cockpit display system took flight for the

AgustaWestland
first on Sept. 26 at AgustaWestlands Yeovil, England facility. Following an initial flight in Argues LUH Award
the morning, the aircraft performed a second flight, operating at speeds up to 135 kt and Wasnt Best Value
performing a range of maneuvers. All results were as predicted, the company reported.
Two losing bidders in the U.S.
The BERP 4 Technology Demonstration Program, which is jointly funded by the U.K.
Armys award of the Light Utility Heli-
Ministry of Defence and AgustaWestland, was launched with seven key objectives:
copter contract differ on why the
reduced first cost, reduced life cycle costs, reduced rotor vibration at high and low speeds,
decision was flawed, but their protests
improved hover and forward flight performance, improved damage tolerance, increased
have been combined into a single case
erosion resistance and reduced signatures. The program is delivering the technology for
by the U.S. General Accountability
the next generation of advanced composite rotor blades, which will deliver significant
Office.
improvements in whole life costs and operational capability of future helicopters includ-
The GAO heard arguments on the
ing variants of the EH101.
protests during a Sept. 20 hearing in
The more powerful General Electric engines, rated at 2,527 shp (1884 kW) each for
Washington. It is expected to rule on
takeoff, provide 12 percent more power than previous CT7-family engines, increasing the
the protests by Nov. 8.
EH101s payload by at least 2,000 lb while operating on hot days at high altitudes. Follow-
AgustaWestland argues in its pro-
ing an extensive flight test program utilizing a US101 test aircraft, development flying for
test that the Armys choice of EADS
the CT7-8E engines is nearing completion.
North Americas EC145-based bid was
not made on the best value basis out-
lined in the request for proposals but
on a best price basis.
Had it known that was the basis,
AgustaWestland argues, it would have
bid a version of its smaller, less expen-
sive A109.
MD Helicopters protest argues its
MD902 Explorer bid was the lowest-
price offering.

rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 11

05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 11 10/19/06 9:21:24 AM

 CIVIL

HAI Extends Salute to Excellence Deadline
HAI has extended the deadline for awards yearly. They recognize outstanding
submitting nominations for its Salute to achievement in the international helicopter
Excellence awards nomination deadline community. Winners receive their awards
to allow more time for members and non- at the annual Salute to Excellence awards
members to send in their submissions. banquet, to be held on March 2, 2007, dur-
Nominations must be submitted with ing Heli-Expo 2007 in Orlando, Fla.
signed acknowledgement forms. By acknowledging the exceptional
The new nomination deadline is Nov. 22. merit of an individual or organization, the
HAI presents 13 Salute to Excellence Salute to Excellence awards are intended mail it to HAI, 1635 Prince St., Alexandria,
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12 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 12
to encourage the continued attainment of
the highest standards of professionalism
in the international helicopter community.
Nomination forms are available to down-
load at HAIs Web site, www.rotor.com.
Nominations may be submitted
through the Web site, or you may down-
load the appropriate nomination form and
Va. 22314-2818, or fax it to 703-683-4745.
Remember to include supporting docu-
ments with your nomination. HAI asks that
you not send electronic materials, such as
videotapes, DVDs, or CD-ROMs.
CIVIL

HAI Pursues Virtual
Helicopter Museum
The Helicopter Assn. International
is working with the American Heli-
copter Museum to create a virtual
museum that enthusiasts around the
world could visit to learn the history
of rotorcraft and their uses. A key part
of the effort is dispatching scribes to
capture the oral histories of industry
pioneers before those opportunities
are lost to death or illness. HAI is pur-
suing the initiative through the Heli-
copter Foundation International, of
which it recently resumed control. The
foundation is working on digitizing
the West Chester, Pa.-based American
Helicopter Museums archives to make
them available on the Web, where
conversations with pioneers also
could be accessed.
CIVIL

New Helo Museum Opens
in Tennessee
A new helicopter museum has opened
in Pigeon Forge, Tenn., home of Dolly
Partons Dollywood amusement park.
Helicopter Headquarters is an $8-mil-
lion attraction designed to showcase
the development of helicopters and to
encourage visitors to experience wing-
less flight. Portions of the attraction are
interactive, including three custom-made
flight simulators and a green-screen
experience through which visitors can get
a DVD souvenir that shows them piloting
a helicopter--or diving from one.
10/19/06 9:21:30 AM

CIVIL

Air Methods Commits to 10 AS350s A Year
Air Methods Corp. has signed an agreement with American
Eurocopter to purchase 10 AS350B2/B3 AStar helicopters
annually for an indefinite period. The AStars will join Air Meth-
ods fleet of about 200 rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft.
We need additional aircraft because of the forecasted
requirements for single-engine platforms in the medical field,
and to replace older aircraft that are more costly to operate and
maintain said Archie Gray, Air Methods vice president of techni-
cal services.
By adding B2s and B3s to its fleet on a continuing basis, Air
Methods hopes to achieve a balance between price, perfor-
mance, and power.
Powered by the 732-shp Turbomeca Arriel 1D1 turbine
engine, the AS350B2 can carry up to six people (one pilot and
five passengers), cruise at 133 kt, and fly up to 360 nm without
using reserve tanks.
The AS350B3 offers the B2s carrying capacity beefed up
with a 847-shp, FADEC-equipped Turbomeca Arriel 2B engine
capable of boosting the aircrafts cruise speed to 140 kt, and
provides the AS350B3 the extra power it needs to work in
extreme conditions.
CIVIL

Turbomeca to Expand Parts Production in U.S.
Look for Turbomeca to open a new parts-production plant in the
Midwest United States soon, to help it meet worldwide demand for
engines. The new plant would be roughly the same size as Turbo-
meca USAs engine production and repair facility in Grand Prairie,
Texas but would focus solely on parts production. The French engine
maker, a subsidiary of Safran Group, expects to produce up to 2,000
engines a year and is exhausting the ability of its current production
facilities to provide parts.
CIVIL

First AW139 Delivered
To South Africa
The first AgustaWestland AW139 to be delivered to
South Africa made its appearance at African Aerospace and
Defence 2006 following an eight-day ferry flight from Milan,
Italy to Cape Town in September. The VIP-configured AW139,
painted in a spectacular customized color scheme, is owned
and operated by a South African businessman. The 6,388-nm (11,830-
km) ferry flight started at AgustaWestlands Vergiate factory in northern Italy, where the
aircraft was built, and included stops in Crete, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 13
CIVIL

Chinas AVIC 2 to Invest $380M in Helos
China Aviation Industry Corp. (AVIC 2I) plans to invest more than 3 billion
yuan (US$380 million) into the nations fledgling civil helicopter industry.
The money is to be spent on research and development and co-opera-
tive projects with foreign counterparts during the companys 11th five-year
plan, which runs through 2010.
In the next five years, we will stick to a market-oriented approach, boost-
ing the helicopter industry in terms of R&D and manufacturing capability,
marketing and servicing, Ni Xianping, deputy chief engineer of AVIC 2, the
countrys only state-owned helicopter maker, told China Daily.
After figuring out our clients specific market demands, we will develop
new products and redesign existing ones to meet them.
Specific projects in AVIC 2s five-year plan include a new, 5.56-ton com-
mercial helicopter, which will be entirely self-developed, and several joint
programs with international counterparts, said Ni.
CIVIL

Houston P.D. Taps Sapphire
For Maintenance Program
The Houston Police Dept.s aviation unit has hired Connecticut-
based Sapphire International to develop an all-in-one aircraft man-
agement database for the Helicopter Patrol Div. The $88,000 contract
calls for the design and installation of FoxFlight, a software package
that will manage a variety of operational data on the agencys aircraft
and their usage.
Houstons current administrative software is an in-house design that
uses an MS-DOS format with limited capabilities. After several failures
with that system, Houston became interested in finding new computer-
based software that could track nearly every conceivable management
and usage parameter. Sapphire International, the only company to
respond to the invitation to bid, won the contract, and expects to have
the software ready for installation by the end of the year. FoxFlight will
track and collate every aspect of aircraft usage based on routine post-
flight and post-maintenance information entered by unit personnel.
That information will then be retrievable by category. Stored data can
also be accessed by administrators.By Ernie Stephens
rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 13
10/19/06 9:21:33 AM
 EGD<G6B INSIDER
PROGRAM UPDATES


AttackTurkey was expected to finalize
its Attack/Tactical Reconnaissance Helicopter
(ATAK) competition at last months Defense
Industry Executive Committee meeting, but mil-
itary officials objected to the short-listing of the
Denel AH-2A Rooivalk and AgustaWestlands
A129 Mangusta International, further delaying
the program. The winning bidder should get a
contract for 30 aircraft, with options for 20 more.

FancraftBell Helicopter and Urban
Aeronautics anticipate receiving funding from
the U.S. Navys Office of Naval Research to verify
engineering and performance analysis of their
vertical-lift X-Hawk.

Fixed-WingU.S. Army and Air Force
evaluators are to begin early user surveys
under the Joint Cargo Aircraft program. The
CASA C-295, offered by Team JCA, and the Ale-
nia North America C-27J are being evaluated.

Heavy LiftThe contractor teams
developing four proposals for the U.S. Army-led
Joint Heavy Lift program are continuing analy-
sis of their baseline designs and excursions of
it dictated by program officials. The research
contracts run through March 2007. The Army
currently does not have funding to pursue the
program in Fiscal 2008.
Maritime PatrolTurkey has decided to
order 17 S-70 Naval Hawk variants from Sikor-
sky. Turkey has a longstanding intent to acquire
more than a dozen of the aircraft, but the trans-
action has been held up by disputes over U.S.
Export-Import Bank financing.

TrainerThe New Zealand Defence
Ministry issued a call for tenders Oct. 17 to
supply a fleet of new twin-engine training and
CSAR-X
Decision Due This Month
The contenders filed their best and final
offers with the U.S. Air Force in late Septem-
ber and now await that services decision on
who will win the contract to replace an aging
Sikorsky HH-60G Pave Hawk fleet and pro-
vide the Air Force with 141 next-generation
combat search-and-rescue helicopters.
The Defense Acquisition Board has sched-
uled a review of the Combat Search and Rescue-X program for Oct. 31 that likely will clear
the way for contract award. Some among the three contendersTeam US101 and its EH101-
based bid, Sikorsky with its HH-92 (above) and Boeing with its HH-47speculated at the
recent Assn. of the U.S. Army annual gathering in Washington that the selection already had
been made and that USAF officials were crossing ts and dotting is with senior members of
the Bush Administration and Congress on the selection.
Air Force officials had indicated to some among the contenders that a winner might be
announced the first week of this month. But that is considered unlikely since it would come
at the peak of a hotly contested election season in Washington. The consensus expectation
was for an announcement on Nov. 17, after U.S. stock markets had closed.
The contenders, meanwhile, were trumpeting the attributes of their aircraft and teams
(Boeing is both running itself and partnered with Sikorsky) and defending themselves
against the disparagement of their competitors. A top AgustaWestland official dismissed
arguments that the fact that the EH101 has fuel tanks under the cabin would cause the Air
Force concern. Sikorsky officials deflected criticism that the S-92 is not combat-proven. (The
EH101 is, but the S-92s fuel is outboard in the sponsons.) Boeing, for its part, seemed to be
fighting just to stay in the race, with its officials acknowledging that many folks are speaking
of the CSAR-X competition as between the EH101 and S-92.
light utility helicopters in about three years. ants, all convertible to medevac configurations.
The aircraft would replace the air forces Sioux Greece also holds 14 options.
training helicopters and perform much of the
work done by its 40-year-old Iroquois helicop- UAVNorthrop-Grumman has been
ters. The project includes supplying a flight forced to slow down production of MQ-8B Fire
trainer and technical and logistics support. Scouts for the U.S. Army at its Moss Point, Miss
plant while the service sorts out funding for

TransportGreece should take delivery the aircraft. First Navy flight of the Schweizer
of its first NH90s shortly from NH Industries. Its 333-based UAV version upgraded with a four-
2003, 657-million-euro order includes 16 tacti- bladed prop and new transmission is slated
cal transport and four special-operations vari- for December.

CONTRACTS
Smiths Aerospace has been awarded a
contract worth more than $20 million to sup-
ply the new large area cockpit display system
for the U.S. Marine Corps VH-71A presidential
helicopter. The displays will be manufactured
by Smiths in Michigan and United Kingdom,
with deliveries beginning this year.
Northstar Aerospace, Inc. has won a
$14-million contract from the U.S. Army Avia-
tion and Missile Command to manufacture
AH-64 Apache transmissions. This includes
options for potential orders up to about $28
million over the next two years. Northstar
will manufacture the transmissions at its
manufacturing plant in Chicago. Deliveries
to AMCOM are slated to begin in late 2007.
In support of the AgustaWestland Inte-
grated Merlin Operational Support (IMOS)
prime contract, Lockheed Martin UK has
awarded CAE a contract valued at more than
7 million (C$15 million) over the next five
years. This contract will bring the logistics
support of the CAE-built training devices
within Lockheed Martins EH101 Merlin Train-
ing System located at Royal Navy Air Station
(RNAS) Culdrose under the IMOS program.
Lord Corp. has won a delivery order as
part of an $11.4-million, firm, fixed-price con-
tract for rod-end bearing for the UH-60 Black
Hawk. Work will be performed in Dayton,
Ohio, and is expected to be completed by
Sept. 30, 2011.
EFW, Inc., an Elbit Systems of America
company, has been awarded multiple con-
tracts to supply the U.S. Coast Guard with an
Aviators Night Vision Imaging System/Head
Up Display to extend the border patrol,
vessel identification and search and rescue
capabilities of HH-65 and HH-60J helicop-
ters. These initial contracts are valued at
$815,000.
Lockheed Martin has won an $18.1-
million modification to a firm, fixed-price
contract for target acquisition designation
sight electronic displays and controls for
the AH-64 Apache. Work will be performed
in Orlando, Fla., and is expected to be com-
pleted by Dec. 31, 2010.

14 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 14 10/19/06 9:21:40 AM

05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 15 10/19/06 9:21:41 AM
 BUSINESS

Eurocopter Head Bregier Eyed for Airbus Post
Media reports out of Europe at press time speculated that the head of Eurocopter,
Fabrice Bregier, was destined to take a top post at problem-plagued Airbus.
The reports originated with the Parisian daily La Tribune and indicated Bregier would
be named Airbus chief operating officer as early as Oct. 20.
That paper speculated Bregier would be succeeded at Eurocopter by Lutz Bertling,
the head of Eurocopter Germany.
Airbus is going through a major crisis. Earlier in October, its chief executive, Christian
Streiff, quit after just three months in the job and delays in its high-profile A380 superjumbo
have hit the shares of its parent company, EADS, and seriously dented its earnings outlook.
Streiff was replaced by EADS co-chief Louis Gallois.

BUSINESS

Bell Sues Iran Over Helicopter Production
Bell Helicopter has sued Iran, accusing it and two state-owned companies of mak-
ing counterfeit helicopters. Bell filed suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.,
saying the Iranian government, Iran Aircraft Manufacturing Co. and Iran Helicopter
Support & Renewal Co. are using trade secrets, trademarks and patented designs to
make helicopters that resemble six Bell models. It asked the court to order the Tehran-
based companies to stop making the helicopters, the Shahed 276 and Shabaviz 275,
and award damages. The dispute traces back more than 30 years, to when Bell agreed
to help develop Irans helicopter industry four years before the overthrow of the U.S.-
backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

MILITARY

Australia Approves
MRH90 Support Facility
Australias Parliament has approved devel-
opment of an Australian $20-million center to
support operations, training and maintenance
activities for the Multi-Role Helicopter 90
(MRH90).
The MRH90 is Australias version of the NH
Industries NH90. The nation initially ordered 12 of the aircraft to fill the requirement for
additional troop lift capability. It has ordered 34 more. The first aircraft are scheduled for
delivery in late 2007.
The Facilities for Troop Lift Helicopter project for the Australian Armys 5th Aviation
Regiment, based at RAAF Townsville, combines the reconfiguration and refurbishment of
existing facilities at Townsville with construction of new, purpose-built facilities to sup-
port introduction of the MRH90.

MILITARY

Rolls-Royce, Turbomeca Extend RTM322 Collaboration
Rolls-Royce and Turbomeca have extended Europes longest-running aerospace
joint venture by renewing their collaboration on the RTM322 helicopter engine.
The RTM322 turboshaft engine powers the three-engine AgustaWestland EH101
Merlin and two twin-engine military helicopters, the NH Industries NH90 and the
AgustaWestland WAH-64D Longbow Apache.
The RTM322 has been selected for more than 90 percent of the NH90
fleet and about 60 percent of the EH101 fleet. It powers all the British Armys
Apache helicopters.
So far, about 1,600 RTM322 engines, including orders and options, have been
announced for NH90, WAH-64 Apache and EH101 helicopters.

16 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 16 10/19/06 9:21:44 AM

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PEOPLE

CHC, Groen Brothers Founders Gone West
Craig Dobbin, founder, controlling shareholder and executive
chairman of CHC Helicopter Corp., died Oct. 7 after a brief illness.
He passed away in Beachy Cove, Newfoundland and Labrador,
surrounded by members of his family.
CHC had announced that Dobbin was taking a leave of
absence just a day before his death.
Dobbin founded Sealand Helicopters with one small aircraft
in 1977. He launched CHC 10 years later when he headed a group
that bought Okanagan Helicopters and Toronto Helicopters and
merged them with Sealand. He then took CHC public through an
initial public offerring on the Toronto stock exchange.
CHC today flies in more than 30 countries and considers itself
the worlds largest provider of helicopter services to the global
offshore oil and gas industry.
Deputy Chairman Mark D. Dobbin, his son, assumed the duties
of chairman until CHCs board of directors meets to elect a new
chairman.
Also lost last month was Jay Groen, chairman of Groen Broth-
ers Aviation. He died Oct. 9 at his home in Washington following a
two-year battle with cancer.
With his brother David, he founded Groen Brothers Aviation
in 1986 to develop modern autorotative aircraft. He was instru-
mental in initiating important contacts in governmental and
aerospace industry sectors. The company was recently awarded
a major research contract by the U.S. Defeense Dept. to advance
their rotor-wing technology.
Nov. 13-14Third Annual Rotary-Wing Technology Course: Flight Simulation
and Avionics, The Days Inn Penn State, State College, Pa.
Contact: Nancy Eckard, 814-863-5100; E-mail: ConferenceInfo1@outreach.psu.edu;
Web: www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/FlightSimulation/default-Contact.htm.
Nov. 15-17Heli-Japan 2006, American Helicopter Society International
Meeting on Advanced Rotorcraft Technology and Life-Saving Activities,
Nagoya Congress Center, Japan. Contact: E-mail: kiyoshi_sakura@mhi.co.jp; Web:
www.helijapan.org.
Nov. 21-22Joint Personnel Recovery 2006, The Thistle Kensington Palace Hotel,
London. Contact: +44(0)20-7368-9300, fax +44(0)20-7368-9301; Web: www.iqpc.com/
cgi-bin/templates/singlecell.html?topic=221&event=11059
Nov. 30-Dec. 1Helicon: Rotorcraft in Transformation, Institute for Defense
and Government Advancement, Von Braun Center, Huntsville, Ala.
Web: www.vtol.org.
Dec. 5-7Dubai Helishow, Dubai Airport Export, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Contact: Julia Cuthbert, +44(0)1293-823779, fax +44(0)1293- 825394; E-mail:
cuthbert@mediaccom.com.
coming events
Jan. 23-27International SpecialistsMeeting on Unmanned Rotorcraft,
sponsored by the Arizona Chapter of the American Helicopter Society, Phoenix,
Ariz. Phone: Scott, Swinsick, 480-891- 8429); E-mail: scott.swinsick@boeing.com.
Jan. 31-Feb. 1, 2007Middle East Business Aviation, Airport Expo Dubai, Dubai,
United Arab Emirates. Contact: 971-4-286-7755, Fax 971-4-286-6166; E-mail:
meba@fairs-exhibs.com.; Web: www.meba.aero.
Feb. 20-22, 2007International SpecialistsMeeting on Rotorcraft/Technology
Infusion, Riverbend Campus, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas. Contact Mark
Dreier, 817-280-4907; E-mail: MDreier@BellHelicopter.Textron.com
March 1-3, 2007Heli-Expo 2007, Orange County Convention Center , West
Building, Orlando, Fla. Phone: 703-683-4646; Web: www.heliexpo.com.
May 1-3American Helicopter Society 63rd Annual Forum & Technology
Display, Virginia Beach, Va. Web: www.vtol.org
May 9-12Army Aviation Assn. of America 2007 Annual Convention & 50th
Anniversary Celebration, Georgia World Congress Center, Atlanta.
Web: www.quad-a.org.
18 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 18
Rolls-Royce has named Martin Fausset the new managing director
of its Defence Aerospace business, based in Bristol, the United Kingdom.
Fausset joins Rolls-Royce from AgustaWestland where he was program
director responsible for the Lynx, Apache and EH101.
Brett Gardner has joined MD Helicopters, Inc. as central regional sales
manager. He most recently was the Midwest regional marketing manager
with American Eurocopter, and previously held positions in domestic and
international sales, business development, and aftermarket support with
Bell Helicopter, Texas Aviation Services, and Aerospatiale Helicopter Corp.
The board of directors of Finmeccanica has nominated Lord Bach of
Lutterworth as non-executive chairman of Selex Sensors & Airborne Sys-
tems S.p.A. He was the United Kingdom Minister for Defence Procurement
from 2001 to 2005. The company has two main operating subsidiaries,
Galileo Avionica S.p.A. (Italy) and Selex Sensors & Airborne Systems Ltd.
(UK), with over 4,000 employees in the United Kingdom. Giancarlo Grasso
has been appointed chief executive officer.
REACH Air Medical Services has named retired U.S. Coast Guard Capt.
Paul Langlois as its director of aviation, responsible for overseeing
REACHs aviation and maintenance departments (including its fleet of 16
emergency medical aircraft, 38 pilots and 30 maintenance technicians.)
He is based at REACHs headquarters in Santa Rosa, Calif.
The U.S. Senate on Sept. 30 confirmed Mary E. Peters as President
Bushs second secretary of Transportation. She succeeds Norman Mineta,
who resigned in July.
Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. has appointed John Saabas as execu-
tive vice president and Benot Brossoit as senior vice president, Service
Centers and Operations. Saabas will be responsible for engineering,
operations, quality, service centers, customer support and marketing.
Previously senior vice president, engineering and operations, he has
been with P&WC since 1985. Reporting to Saabas, Brossoit will
provide leadership and strategic direction to the P&WC Service
Center network as well as P&WCs manufacturing operations
and supply chain activities worldwide.
David A. George has joined Simplex Manufacturing as
director of sales. Prior to taking the newly created position,
George served as vice president of rotorcraft at BLR Aerospace.
Scott Selle has been appointed president of Fairchild Con-
trols Corp., which develops, produces and supports power con-
version and control electronics, environmental control systems
and turbo-machinery for military and commercial customers
worldwide. He is to oversee all strategy and business operations,
and also is a member of the board of directors.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. has promoted
Jens C. Hennig to director of operations.
He was previously manager of operations.
Prior to joining GAMA in 2003, Hennig was
manager of flight operations with Embry-
Riddle Aeronautical University.
Dallas Airmotive has made several
appointments. The company promoted Jim
Blasingame to senior director of sales. He
had been director of sales for Honeywell Programs. In his new
role, he will be responsible for all North American sales activity
for Honeywell TFE731 and APU, Rolls-Royce Spey and Tay, and
Pratt & Whitney Canada PW300 engines. The company also
named Matt Hussey as general manager of its Lafayette, La.
component repair facility, where he will be responsible for day-
to-day operations. He had been director of repair engineering
and product development. In addition, Dallas Airmotive named
Steve Barlage as Rolls-Royce regional engine manager for the
Northeastern United States. The company also named Daniel
McLandsborough as Pratt & Whitney Canada regional engine
manager for the North Central United States.
James E. Newby IV has joined Heads Up Technologies as
director of engineering. He will manage the companys overall
design and development processes.
10/19/06 9:21:48 AM
 Lives are on the line.
So we train with FlightSafety.

EMS Helicopter Training

A SERIES

TOM LIEN

Program manager for Trauma 1,

24/7 emergency medical services

and transport division of Sioux

Valley Hospital, Sioux Falls, S.D.

Trauma 1 covers a 30-mile

primary service area, but is

available for emergency flights

of up to 100 miles. The units

Bell 230 helicopter operates

an average of 550 hours a year

transporting nearly 500 patients.

W
hen a call comes in to Sioux Valley Hospitals Trauma 1,
Tom Lien and his crews have to be prepared. It could
be bitingly cold or blazingly hot. A routine transport or
life-and-death where minutes count. Whatever the circumstances,
Lien knows his crews are trained to meet the challenge.
Pilot and maintenance training are essential, but trauma
response requires that the whole crew train for emergencies.
When you have a team on an aircraft, you have to have
everyone working together to make sure things go smoothly,
he says. Thats why our crews train with FlightSafety.
EMS training at FlightSafety acknowledges the unique
challenges of emergency response. Its designed to pull emergency
crews together. Get them working as one, safely and effectively.
Lien knows the value rsthand. After all, lives are on the line.
ThinkSafety. Fly Safely.
FlightSafety is the worlds premier aviation training organization
and the leader in safety training for xed- and rotor-wing aircraft.
Leadership. More helicopter manufacturers and helicopter
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Technology. We were the rst training organization to build
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05_RW_1106_RCR_p08_19.indd 19 10/19/06 9:21:49 AM

 and Rescue
SearchLabel

HAND Major emergencies around

the world in recent years
have highlighted the need
for greater planning and
collaboration among civil,
military and commercial
search-and-rescue assets.

20 NOVEMBER 2006 O
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06_RW_1106_SARPart_p20_23.indd
06_RW
W 20
IN HAND
HAS SEARCH AND RESCUE ENTERED A NEW AGE?
Soon after the first helicopter rescue missions in 1944,
SAR grew into a bastion of dedicated specialists using
honed flying skills and customized tools to return to safety
downed airmen, marooned sailors, and stranded citizens.
SARR crews gained reputations as competitive bunches who
refused to admit defeat. They developed their own territo-
ries and specialties and frowned on interlopers in either
unless an emergencys scope warranted collaboration.
Like other endeavors in aviation, SARR operations slowly
have come to accept less aggressive and independent
initiatives such as crew-resource, risk and safety manage-
ment that tempered the thrill of missions but improved
the likelihood that all in the crew would return alive and
unharmed. Such initiatives took hold within individual
organizations, but those outfits often continued to work
on their owneven occasionally at odds.
06_RW_1106_SARPart_p20_23.indd
d 21
1
Early September 2005 raised the prospect that that
might change. In the wake of Hurricane Katrinas devasta-
tion of the southern portions of Louisiana, Mississippi and
Alabama, rescue crews of every ilk and agency were thrust
together for days on end. In single 24-hr periods, individ-
ual aircraft crews performed a careers worth of hoists and
rescues. Helicopters in many cases were the only links to
civilization and survival for thousands of citizens stranded
on rooftops or holed up in cutoff refineries and beachfront
communities. The disparate crews were forced to find ways
to work together, and discovered that was far more diffi-
cult than any rescue professional should accept.
At a time when W Western military services are realizing
the benefits of jointness in operations, training, and
aircraft equipage through combat and peacekeeping opera-
tions around the world, civil, military and commercial
helicopter operators were confronted with the reality that
rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 21

domestic disastersnatural and man-
madecan be of a scope that can only
be met by large-scale collaboration.
That such civilian jointness is
possible only through extensive and
detailed planning and practice was
made evident by the ad hoc rotorcraft
response to Katrina, which succeeded
despite the lack of planning and pre-
disaster coordination. But that was
made evident as well, or so it seemed,
by the extent of the devastation that
followed the Indian Ocean tsunami
nine months before Katrina, and by
the aftermath of the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks in New York and
Washington, and by numerous small-
er disasters in between and since.
It is unlikely that the lack of plan-
ning and coordination in civil SAR
will be corrected soon. After all, it
has taken 20 years since the Goldwa-
ter-Nichols Act mandated collabo-
ration among the military services
for the military to begin to embrace
joint operations.
Still, there is some movement in
that direction.
The U.S. Coast Guards operations
in Katrinas wake proved the value of
some standardization of rescue opera-
tions. The service acted quickly to
reposition aircraft and crews to aid
22 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
06_RW_1106_SARPart_p20_23.indd 22
in rescue and relief operations. That
threw together aircraft commanders,
co-pilots, flight mechanics and rescue
swimmers from all over the United
States, many of whom flew together
for the first time when launched on a
post-Katrina mission. Standardization
of training and procedures allowed
them to work effectively.
The successful combination and
performance of such crews was
repeated countless times in all of our
aircraft types day in and day out dur-
ing Katrina, said Coast Guard Capt.
Dave Callahan, to the tune of over
12,000 lives saved by aviation forces,
and over 30,000 saved by all Coast
Guard forces. Callahan commands
the services Aviation Training Center
in Mobile, Ala., a major base of opera-
tions for post-Katrina missions.
Coast Guard helicopters performed
thousands of rescue hoists during
Katrina operations, without a single
major hoist mishap on any Coast
Guard aircraft. When you con-
sider the incredibly difficult condi-
tions faced by these crews, along with
the simple fact that hoist operations
have inherent risks, Callahan said,
I believe this is a testament to the
effectiveness of our training and stan-
dardization programs. That is a main
CHC is taking over from Bristow (preceding page) in
providing SAR in the United Kingdom. Evergreen has a
contract for AW139 SAR services in the UAE.
reason why the service continues to
emphasize bread and butter SAR
skills like hoisting and rescue-swim-
mer operations in its training and
standardization programs.
The Coast Guard is, of course, but
one agency. The Helicopter Assn.
International hopes to provide a build-
ing block for multi-agency collabora-
tion through its newly launched First
Responder database. This is intended
as a clearinghouse for government
officials of data on commercial heli-
copters equipped and ready to supple-
ment government rescue forces in an
emergency. Its goal is to cut through
the red tape that kept fueled, staffed
commercial helicopters on the ground
throughout the United States for days
as Katrina victims in New Orleans
clamored for vertical-lift support.
For other examples, those in the
United States can always turn to the
United Kingdom, which for decades
has supplemented its SAR capabilities
with a commercial operator under
contract. The U.K. Maritime and
Coastguard Agency aims to go well
beyond that in the next decade, turn-
ing over to a commercial operator
responsibility for a SAR fleet that will
be staffed jointly by civilian, Royal Air
Force and Royal Navy crews.
10/18/06 3:37:23 PM
 Time for an upgrade?

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helicopter. Whether your need is for an autopilot system,
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06_RW_1106_SARPart_p20_23.indd 23 10/18/06 3:37:25 PM

 HAVE
and Rescue

GUN,
SearchLabel

WILL
TRAVEL
By Shannon Bower

As the U.S. Air Force prepares

to launch its new combat-
search-and-rescue helicopter
platform, we fly with the
experts who will train the
crews that will man it.

24 NOVEMBER 2006 O
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07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd24
RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd24 24
4
 RAZOR R TWO-TWO, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU
caught a few rounds on your last bomb run.
You have some holes in your wing and tail.
Y
Roger Two-
T One, its starting to feel
mushy. Great, you think to yourself, I
am still 20 mi inside bad-guy country and
my airplane is falling apart.
Lights. Lots of lightsand warning
horns. Not good.
RAZOR TWO-TWO, YOU ARE ON
FIRE! EJ
E ECT! EJE ECT! EJ
E ECT!
A surreal quiet invades the chaotic cock-
pit and all you can hear is your own breath-
ingand it sounds normal in your oxygen
mask. Things are moving at about quarter
speed, and as the canopy leaves the once
sleek fighter jet, you take time to ponder,
I would think things should be moving
faster than this. Then the rockets under
your Martin-Baker ejection seat light off,
and you are out of what has now become
quite the fiery, eye-catching event.
Exactly 3 sec and a lot of black smoke later,
E
your trusty steed, which had taken really
good care of you up to this point, becomes a
$20-millionfireworks display.
Oh good, the locals will really like all
that flaming metal falling in their fields,
you reflect as you now hang from what can
Photo by Shannon Bower

only be described as a really thin piece of

silk and a some very small string.
More reflection: I just laid down 8,000
lb of ordinance not 15 mi from here.
Things are going badly, quickly. TwelveT
thousand more feet to fall with style, then I
need to find some cover.

rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006


U.S. Defense Dept./USAF Staff Sgt. Joshua Strang (top) Navy P.O. 2 Scott Taylor (bottom)
Here is the only good part of this
day so far: your trusty wing man has
already called in your unfortunate
turn of events to the radar controller
100 mi to your east. The controller, in
turn, has called the combat command
center, which sounds the alarm in the
ready room, and the combat search-
and-rescue (CSAR) crews are now run-
ning to their helicopters.
The Machines
Now this is not just any helicopter
that these brave men and women
are running to fire up (yes sir, I said
26 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd26 26
women. There are some female
gunners in these outfits that will rain
down 4,000 rounds of Bad Karma
per-minute [BKPM] on the bad guys
with ego-busting accuracyand
make no mistake, their heart is in
this fight).
The helicopter is the Sikorsky HH-
60G Pave Hawk, which comes from a
long, very distinguished line of rescue
helicopters that have been flying in
harms way since the Korean War.
The Pave Hawk is an all-muscle,
all-weather beast that is blessed with
a number of variations that set it apart
from the standard Black Hawk. Most
uniquely, the Pave Hawk can refuel
from a tanker aircraft in flight, there-
by making its range almost unlim-
ited. The Pave Hawk can see in the
darkits crew can use night-vision
goggles (NVGs) and forward-looking
infrared (flir) sensorsand talk to just
about anyone on the planet through
a dizzying array of radios that are not
standard in the basic, troop mover
Black Hawk.
The Pave Hawk also can fight back
The USAF HH-60G Pave Hawks differ from Black Hawks
in, among other things, their inflight refueling capability
(above). The services pararescuemen are the Leather-
man Tool of combat search and rescue (below).
and beat down any threat that it finds
around a crewman that needs res-
cuing, by using the General Electric
GAU-2 mini-gun. The GAU-2 is a six-
barreled, lightning-bolt delivery sys-
tem of death for any enemy threats
in the area. The weapon has now
been made even more effective with
a gun mount that was designed in-
house by the folks that use them
every day. This new mount allows the
guns to always be at the ready and be
deployed in several ways that might
not be expected.
The more terrifying GAU-19 might
10/19/06 9:58:53 AM
 We count on them,
so you can count on us.
Dan Megna Photo

As the largest customer of CJ Systems Aviation Group, we are one of their many EMS operators
who benefits from the Arrius 2B2s reliability, power and low direct operating costs. The Arrius
2B2s TBO is the best in its class at 3500 hours. For STAT MedEvac, this means less expense and
more time in the air which empowers us to get people out of difficult situations FAST! James Bothwell, President

07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd27 27 10/19/06 9:58:53 AM

 USAF airmen guide a Pave Hawk into a C-17 at
Kadena Air Base, Japan. Transportability by C-17
and C-5 is a key requirement for the next-genera-
tion CSAR-X aircraft.
U.S. Defense Dept./USAF Airman 1st Class Heather Tower

also be used; it is a .50-caliber version

of the awe-inspiring GAU-2, and the
-19 more than doubles the bubble of
protection for the pilot and the heli-
copters. Most threats that find them-
selves against a pack of GAUs are new
to the business, simply because very
few threats survive an encounter
with the GAU and are able to report
back how bad it really was.

The Mission
Get our guy back, and quick.
U.S. military aviators are unique
in that they go into combat knowing
that we, as a nation, will come and
get them if something goes wrong
on the mission and the aviator is not
able to aviate home.
The basic idea of the CSAR mis-
sion is we are willing to fight to
get our aircrew back and you cant
have them. So while the bombs
are bursting in air, these heavy, fast,
and awesome rescue birds are zip-
ping back across the line with U.S.
crewmen, who may have scalded tail
feathers, but will fly again.
The Pave Hawk mission is so
important that the helicopters
almost never travel alone. Not only
will each mission have multiple air-
craft (two or more) down in the tree
tops, but there will also be a host

28 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd28 28 10/19/06 9:58:56 AM

 of fixed-wing assets that will come
along to help deal with any trouble
met along the way. Once on scene,
if the bad guys just keep on coming
(some are prone to do just that), the
whole world can be called in for large-
scale noise-making and earth-moving,
which the enemy has very low odds
!
of surviving.
While some parts of the CSAR mis-
sion are understandably not discussed
in an open forum, suffice to say that
there is a wicked bag of tricks in the
hands of these brave warriors. By every
"
definition, these people are warriors.

War Fighter may be the politically
correct way to say it, but these men
and women have the true warrior spir-

it. They intentionally fly into a very
hot area to pick up someone who   
has been shot down. That means that
there has been real, live shooting in the
very recent history and very close in
proximity to the current event. These
people are walking into a gun fight to
save someone, and they know it.

The Training
The key to surviving a gun fight
is simple: Hit what you aim at, and
shoot the other guy before he shoots
you. To do this successfully, in a 3D
environment, anywhere in the world,
and usually at night, you have to
train really hard.
Since CSAR personnel are absolute-
ly committed to making a successful
pickup and returning home, they are
equally committed to diligent training
when not on the battlefield.

I was fortunate enough to be invit-
ed to be a guest of the U.S.Air Forces
34th Weapons Sqdn., and enjoy the
first-rate hospitality of the U.S. Army
at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the White
Sands Missile Range, N.M., just to the
north of El Paso.

 

The 34th is the CSAR training
squadron for the U.S. Air Force Weap-
ons School, based at Nellis AFB, Nev.
The Weapons School is essentially a
masters degree-level program that the 
Air Force has built to teach pilots how   
to get the absolute most out of the air-
craft that they are flying. A pilot who
wears the coveted graduate patch from
the Weapons School is a highly sought-
after commodity for squadron and
wing commanders in the field, and is
typically the go to guy in mission
planning that will have the answer or
know how to get it in record time.
There are many phases of infiltra-
tion and exfiltration performed during
      
    
     


rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 29

07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd29 29 10/19/06 9:58:57 AM

 a rescue. The phase I was invited to participate in was the
Terminal Area Employment.
Terminal Area Employment is the technical, clean
name for in the hot zone with guns blazing, and blaze
they do. This is no pretend training with paint pistols.
This is live fire, with multiple aircraft zigging and zag-
gingjust like real life.
A first-class set up for training CSAR is nestled safely in the
restricted area of White Sands. At the direction of some very
crafty range operators and training coordinators, platoons
and squads of Little Green Men targets (LGMs) and their
support vehicles pop up out of the desert floor and provide
threats to the sharp-eyed gunners of the Pave Hawks. These
LGMs are then dropped back into the dust from whence
they came, by a fire-hose like spray of bullets departing the
GAU-2 mini-guns at 4,000 rounds/min.
CSAR is not a brash, muscle-your-way-in kind of pro-
gram. CSAR is a thinking mans game. And brother, they
have thought it through. Careful ingress and egress plans
are worked up and ready to go. Once the CSAR birds get
on the scene, there is not a moment that goes by that at
least one set of guns is not pointed at and pouring the heat
on the threat. There are plans inside of plans for dealing
with each threat that could potentially be in the area. If
you are a bad guy, they know about you, and they already
have a plan to deal with you swiftly and terribly.
Who does CSAR help? People that need help, anywhere
in the world. Air Force fighter pilots are the primary cus-
tomers, and often the most grateful, once they see from
the ground view the amount of courage it takes to suc-
cessfully fly into a hot area to get a fellow airman who is
30 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd30 30
most likely a complete stranger. Special note to all you
fast-mover types: remember the rotorheads in your prayers
and in your budget meetings. They are the ones that will
come to help you or the young pilots that follow you.
CSAR also will assist in other difficult rescue missions
when units are close and available. One of the most
famous, recent civilian rescue missions was portrayed
in the book, The Perfect Storm. While over the North
Atlantic, one of the lionhearted pararescuemen (called PJs)
was lost at sea during a noble rescue effort.
The PJs
PJs are the Leatherman Tool of CSAR. For starters, PJs
are very skilled at just about every type of outdoor sport
that can be turned into a rescue technique, as well as all of
the industry-standard rescue procedures. This gives the
PJs an out of the box operational flexibility not found in
the rank and file. The PJs are also trained well beyond the
paramedic level for medical services that the customer on
the ground may require.
Once boots are on the ground, stealth and general civil-
ity are the preferred method of the PJs in a pick-up of a
downed pilot. However, a broad variety of torment and
angst can be viciously dealt to any threat that would keep
them from returning with their charge.
Without making light of the topic, you could say that
PJs are a ferocious, dedicated, Mountain Dew commercial
with really good gear. There is not a better trained group of
men on the planet.
Very little is open source information on the PJs, and
it needs to stay that way, so that they can do their unique
job in the secrecy that protects them and the person they
are going to get.
There is no one I would rather have coming to get me
out of a bad place. Only the bad guys are not happy to
see these men. If you have the Stars and Stripes on your
sleeve, things just got a whole lot better when you see
them running toward you. These guys are top hands, and
their motto says it all: That others may live.
CSAR-X
A big deal, this Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X)
Program (aka the mystery helicopter for the next genera-
tion of CSAR). There are several aircraft in the running and
a whole lot of money to be allocated.
As of now, there seem to be two front runners.
A variant of the Sikorsky H-92 (related to the H-60
Black Hawk by way of many combat-proven systems), it
has a rear drop hatch like an early CSAR bird, the H-3 Jolly
Green Giant, and will fit nicely into a C-17 cargo plane
that will deliver it to any hot spot around the world.
The US101 is the other aircraft that has a place in the
race. The 101 is an international, multi-corporation ver-
sion of the EH101 that has recently been selected to be
the new U.S. presidential helicopter. The 101 is a three-
engined aircraft that is closer in size and performance to
the heavy-lift H-53 Pave Low.
The third contender is a CSAR variant of Boeings CH-47.
It is not my place to say which is the right aircraft and
which is notI am not an Air Force CSAR pilotand a
commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS)-like program may very
well not provide the perfect aircraft for the job. Like most
things in aviation, there must be some degree of compro-
mise in order to get off the ground.
10/19/06 9:58:58 AM
 Photos by Shannon Bower

The Pave Hawk's GAU-2 mini-gun is a "six-barreled, lightning-

bolt delivery system of death" for enemy threats. The weapon
has now been made even more effective with a gun mount
designed by CSAR crews.

rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 31

07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd31 31 10/19/06 9:59:07 AM

 However, there are also absolutes
in aviation, especially military avia-
tion: If you dont have the right
tools, you can not perform highly
specialized missions (such as CSAR)
with any degree of success.
CSAR aircraft and their highly
trained crews are not something that
can be shared for other duties in
the grand scheme of things. Forcing
CSAR to fit in would be like having
a racehorse pulling a wagon. While
it may be the general feeling in the
military that special units with
special missions cost too much
and are sometimes not convenient
from a budget standpoint, if you
step back a few steps, you might see
that each and every aircraft that the
Air Force operates is a special unit
with a special mission. Hmmm.
The point is that CSAR is CSAR. It
is such a specialized task that it requires
intense training and coordination with
multiple crews and aircraft, and it is
one of the few missions that actually
makes money for the Air Force (in a
cold, unfeeling way) by bringing back
very expensive pilots and crews that
were lost.
If CSAR is pulled into other tasks
or must share aircraft with other mis-
sions and is forced to use an aircraft
that might work better for some other
shared mission, CSAR crews will not
be effective at doing their job of rescu-
ing downed aviators.
If those who make the decisions are
making them for the wrong reasons,
such as goofy politics, and floating
budget numbers, it could drastically
effect the outcome of many a rescue
missionnot only for the CSAR crew,
but also for the fighter pilot stuck in
the mud, with a broken leg, and behind
enemy lines. Choose wisely.
Back to the Action
Razor Two-Two, this is Tosh Four-
One, say T.L.C. (Threat, Location and
Condition).
Tosh Four-One, Razor Two-Two.
Im in a field. I found a ditch about 400
m west of the river, and 600 m east of
a tree line. I have a bad leg and cant
move very fast. This place is crawling
with bad guys and trucks. They havent
found me yet, but they are getting a
little too close for comfort. There are
some big guns in the tree line at my
two-seven-zero.
OK, Razor, get flat on the ground
and keep your head down, it is going to
get kind of loud.
32 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd32 32
Photo by Shannon Bower
Sandy Three-Six, this is Tosh Four-
One, we need you to clean up the tree
line to the west of Razors position.
Razor is 600 m east of the tree line in a
ditch. Other hostiles are in the area.
The dry voice of Sandy 36 comes
back with a Roger, as two, big, so-
ugly-they-are-beautiful A-10 Warthogs
appear out of nowhere, and roll in
with their 30mm cannons growling.
After plowing a couple of 3-ft-wide
trenches in the tree line (including
right through the large truck carrying
the quad 12.5mm guns), the Sandies
pitch up and go into a wagon-wheel
protective orbit.
While the dirt is still falling back
from the sky, two Pave Hawk helicop-
ters come streaking across the river
at less than 50 ft. More bad news for
the bad guysthe GAU-2 mini-guns
are locked forward on their custom
mounts and streams of red tracers are
flowing from their spinning barrels.
This makes an impression.
Tosh 41 goes into a tight orbit look-
ing for a fight, guns now unlocked
and swiveling around hunting for any
threat. Tosh 42 goes to the ground
next to the ditch, where a very happy
Razor 22 gratefully accepts help from
two very fast-moving, heavily armed
men that appeared, like phantoms,
next to him in the ditch. Later, Razor
22 will swear on a stack of Bibles that
he never saw the PJs actually jump
out of the helicopter and into the
ditch. They were just there.
As Razor is helped back to the wait-
ing Pave Hawk, the orbiting Tosh 41
lights off its mini-guns again and
beats back the threat that appears
Pilots who wear the graduate patch
have the experience to support squadron
and wing commanders on matters of tactics
and aircraft capabilities.
at the edge of the tree line. This is a
pleasant way of saying that the female
airman on the left gun just dropped a
squad of hostiles, who had a rocket-
propelled grenade and were looking
for trouble, with a couple of 3-sec,
high-rate bursts from her mini-gun.
Bad Karma.
Tosh 42 now has a new passenger
and calls, Coming out, plus one,
as the right gunner of Tosh 41 works
over the tree line with his GAU-2. It
is not a good day to be assigned to the
tree line.
Tosh 42 pulls pitch and converts
lift to forward speed. Acceleration is
instantaneous in the Pave Hawk and
10 sec later the Pave Hawks are gone.
All that is left in the field is smoke,
thoroughly thrashed bad guys, and an
empty ditch.
Six days later, Razor 22 is welcomed
home to mainland America by his
grateful wife and kids. Razor 22 will
recover and be in the cockpit again in
six months.
A very wise man once said, The
fight is not going to be what you want
it to be, it is going to be what it is. So,
train hard, get good gear, and never,
ever give up. Thank you to all the
CSAR types across the world. You are
appreciated and respected for what you
do and who you are. Godspeed.
10/19/06 9:59:13 AM
 Terrain Avoidance a Key for CSAR-X
Given mission profiles of low, fast flight to reach downed airmen quickly
and without alerting enemy stalkers, combat search-and-rescue crews
need to constantly be aware of obstacles and threatening terrain. The
more they can see, the lower and faster they can fly as they infiltrate
hostile areas for rescues and leave with downed airmen on board.
For that reason, the U.S. Air Force is looking for greater terrain-
awareness and obstacle-avoidance capabilities in its next-generation
Combat Search and Rescue-X aircraft. That 141-aircraft program, which
is to replace the Air Forces 100 or so HH-60G Pave Hawks, was due for
selection by the end of October (a Defense Acquisition Board review
was set for Oct. 31), with a formal announcement expected by the
middle of this month. Those greater situational-awareness capabilities
are a key focus of Block 10 of the planned CSAR-X acquisition. Block 10
has been accelerated from the original acquisition plan.
That focus has at least two of the three CSAR-X contenders talking
about the terrain-awareness and obstacle-avoidance capabilities of
their entrants.
Lockheed Martin, which has the CSAR-X lead for the Team US101
match-up with AgustaWestland and Bell Helicopter that offers a variant
of the EH101, has been using a company-owned UH-1 to hone the
situational-awareness strengths it hopes to build into the Air Forces
next combat search-and-rescue aircraft (The Flying Edge, October
2006, page 50).
The dedicated R&D platform, known as the Flying Test Bed, is
based at Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Owego, N.Y. and has
been used to test terrain-detection-and-avoidance sensors, advanced
digital-mapping schemes and automated threat-detection and route-
replanning systems.
Among the most recent CSAR-X applications the test bed has
flown is the Laser Obstacle and Avoidance Monitoring (LOAM) system
developed by Selex Communications, which like AgustaWestland is
owned by Finmeccanica.
That system has been selected by the Danish air force, which is
We fly more missions with Sky Connect.
Jim Ballard, opposite, is president and CEO of
EagleMed, which operates 10 helicopters
and 6 King Airs in the midwestern U.S.
07_RW_1106_CSARBower_p24_33.indd33 33
putting it into service on its SAR EH101s following completion of a
qualification and flight test program last month. Lockheed Martin and
Selex are collaborating on marketing the system in the United States
and evaluating potential U.S. government and civilian opportunities for
the technology.
LOAM is a second-generation laser system, using an eye-safe laser.
Usable in day and night conditions, the system is designed to both
warn the crew of possible collision with wires (down to a diameter of 5
mm), pylons and other obstacles and to cue the crew with an escape-
avoidance maneuver. One version uses a simplified, dedicated display
that shows the flight time to the obstacle and up/down and left/right
arrows to indicate the recommended avoidance path.
Selex officials said a laser detector is preferable to a radar one
because the laser requires less reflected energy from an object to
detect its presence. This enables the LOAM system to detect wires at
angles of incidence to the aircraft much lower than 90 deg.
Boeing, for its part, is talking about an enhanced-vision system it is
offering as part of its HH-47 Chinook bid for CSAR-Xbut not much. It
is based on sensors developed for special-operations applications.
We had a demonstrator in work with the Phantom Works that we
contributed to the CSAR-X bid, said Rick Spicer, Boeings deputy
program manager for the HH-47.
Boeing officials said there is nothing fundamentally new about the
sensor suite being used for the enhanced-vision system. Rather, the
company is advancing the use of parallel processors in the system to
fuse more sensor outputs into a comprehensive and comprehensible
picture of the world outside the cockpit.
They tweaked the sensor suite to look at some of the parameters
of particular interest to the CSAR-X program, Spicer said. The
processors allow us to take more information and clear up that picture,
and to mix and match active and passive sensors.
Sikorsky, which is bidding the HH-92, has not said much publicly
about its entrants capabilities in these areas.
Sky Connect communication and tracking systems
are key to EagleMeds successful emergency
medical operations and Jim Ballard says he cant
imagine his aircraft ying without them. Sky
Connect tracking provides our dispatchers with
full-time knowledge of our airborne assets,
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safety, especially beyond VHF radio range.
Having satellite communications on all of our
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www.skyconnect.aero info@skyconnect.aero
rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 33
10/19/06 9:59:14 AM
 HOIST OR
and Rescue

HOVER LOAD?
SearchLabel

YOU DECIDE
Story by Tim Hagel, Photos by Glenn Grossman

Understanding flight options

and answering key safety
questions can make the
difference in rescue ops.

ALL CATEGORIES
A OF HELICOPTER OPER RATIONS ALLOW
for pilot discretion on how best to complete the mission.
But what happens when a helicopter aircrew has two
viable and safe flight options for a rescue mission?
Each helicopter rescue is different, even if it occurs over
and over at the same location. Safety is paramount to suc-
cess of the mission. The U.S. Forest Service is chartered
with administering aviation safety protocols and training
for a variety of government and private helicopter opera-
tors. It defines safety as transforming the severity and
likelihood of risk, which is inherent in all human activity,
to lower, acceptable levels.
Cliff rescues are a perfect example of a mission that
often requires the use of helicopters for support and or
technical rescue by air. Lets face it. Cliff rescues fall on the
high side of a risk continuum. Lowering the risk of mis-
hap is everyones responsibility.
Understanding the flight options and asking one-
self a few key safety questions can make the difference.
Many helicopter safety programs use Socratic questions
as prompts for rescue decision-making. Important in all
decision trees are two basic questions: Is there a safer way
to complete the rescue? Is the perceived urgency I feel
as a pilot the same as the realistic urgency determined
by others?
Remember, nearly all flight techniques have alternative
maneuvers that we can use when facing tough helicop-
ter rescues on cliffs or steep terrain. They include short
haul (ropes), hoisting, hover loads (toe in, one skid), and
skids down.
As a crewmember on a Ventura County, Calif. Sheriffs
Dept. Bell 212HP hoist-equipped rescue helicopter, I was
recently working a shift as a rescue specialist when the
911 call came in for four lost hikers in the Santa Monica
Mountains. W We launched moments later and soon began
searching the Boney Mountain area.
This popular area is known for its spectacular sand-
stone and volcanic cliffs. After a lengthy search, our pilot
in command, Ken Williams, located the lost hikers, who
were isolated on a remote cliff with a 500-ft exposure.

34 NOVEMBER 2006 O
rotorandwing.com

08_RW_1106_Pinnacle_p34_39.indd
6 Pinnacle p34 39.indd 34
 During mission debrief, we discussed the safety
aspects. Our helicopter crew talked about a
variety of issues regarding the rescue. A main
one was the fact that the victims were so camou-
flaged by the natural terrain that we must have
flown over them three or four times during the
search phase. In addition, we collectively deter-
mined (Williams and the three rescue specialists)
in less than 2 min after we located the victims to
complete the rescue as a hover load versus hoist
evolution. W We later completed a pinnacle hover
load of the stranded hikers.
But why a hover load? W Would a hoist have
been an acceptable option? The luxury of the pilot
in command and rescue crew having the ability
to pick any of the appropriate technical-rescue
maneuvers immediately lowered the risk and arti-
ficial sense of urgency that can often develop.
Risk and urgency! Jim Hall, former chair-
man of the U.S. National Transportation
T Safe-
ty Board, was often called upon as a pundit of
helicopter safety. In a speech at Heli-Expo
in 1997, he discussed the rescue helicopters
unique capabilities and emphasized to pilots
that helicopter operationsso susceptible
to pressures to push the limits of the enve-
lopeshould, in fact, always incorporate a
large margin of safety.
Our cliff rescue was no different. There was
almost no intercom chatter as we made our typi-
cal clockwise recon pattern around the victims.
During the assessment passes, each crewmember
had a different function. The tasks were divided
by rescue specialty as the crewmembers intense-
ly evaluated their responsibilities.

Ventura County, Calif. Sheriffs hoist-equipped Bell 212HP on the

job. (top). The lost hikers were on a remote cliff with a 500-ft expo-
sure, and camouflaged by the terrain and vegetation (below).

rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 35

08_RW_1106_Pinnacle_p34_39.indd
RW 1106 Pinnacle p34 39.indd 35
 The pilot in command was
busy flying, gauging winds, escape
routes, power and performance
issues. The hoist operator, Glenn
Grossman, and paramedic Chris
Rosa were methodically assessing
the location of the victims, visual
signs of casualties, and terrain fac-
tors. Through my position on the
hoist side of the open deck, I estab-
lished visual communications with
the victims and gave them the uni-
versal extended right-hand closed
fist that most victims understand
as, Stay put.
One by one, each of us gave
an intercom synopsis of our con-
cerns and planned course of action.
We quickly developed a verbal Inci-
dent Action Plan, complete with
communications failure procedures
specific to the incident. The pilot
asked the final rescue question:
What do you guys think, hoist
or hover load? Like a three-man
choir, the response came back.
Hover load.
Short haul is most commonly
used when a hoist is not available
or when a hoisted dynamic load
(victims) during a swiftwater res-
cue may create a center-of-grav-
ity issue between the hoist and
the helicopter.
In our case, a skids-down maneu-
ver was out of the question. Surely a
tail strike would have occurred. The
Mediterranean climate of the Santa

Pilot-in-command Ken Williams (top, right) and Fire Capt.

Fred Burris (top, left) monitored the mission as the author,
as rescue specialist, helped position the aircraft, then exited
to brief the hikers and keep them at a safe distance from the
approaching helicopter (middle and bottom).

36 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

08_RW_1106_Pinnacle_p34_39.indd 36 10/18/06 1:32:05 PM

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 A safety briefing for rescuees and an escort to guide and
restrain them to prevent self-rescues that put the aircraft at
risk are critical considerations for rescue crews.

38 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

08_RW_1106_Pinnacle_p34_39.indd 38 10/18/06 1:32:21 PM

 Monica Mountains covers the rugged from the hover zone ensured their glass when they step onto a hovering
mountains with dense, impenetrable safety had a total mishap occurred. skid. That pearl of rescue wisdom
brush and trees. I gave the first victim a final safety has worked well in quickly educating
There was no need to short haul and expectation briefing just prior victims in hundreds of rescues. Once
our victims and we knew that there to our final approach to the helicop- again, it worked this time.
was not a c.g. issue with a potential ter. Skid management and assistance All four victims were flown to
hoist evolution. Our two best options by both me and the hoist operator awaiting National Park Service res-
were then focused on a hover load or was paramount to avoid a mishap cue personnel and another safe mis-
hoist scenario. while the victim stepped on the skid. sion was completed. Remember
Hoisting is common both in mili- I always remember my training officer to always balance your sense of mis-
tary and public rescue operations. telling me to have the victims visual- sion urgency and risk with that of
We complete about 450 hoist evolu- ize that they are walking barefoot on actual conditions.
tions a year, rescuing more than 70
stranded and injured citizens. Hover
loads account for about 20 percent of
all our technical rescues.
After our safety power check, we
decided to that I, as the rescue spe-
cialist, would hover-jump the cliff on
a pinnacle separating the helicopter
from the victims by about 100 ft of
nearly impenetrable chaparral. The rea-
son for the safety separation between
copter and victims was based on crew
experience. We had all seen victims try
to self-rescue at the very last minute.
We wanted to avoid that scenario.
Typically, in latent self-rescue,
unattended victims will try to jump
on a skid while the pilot is still
maneuvering into position. Dur-
ing the final approach into a hover
maneuver, crewmembers are focused
on tail- and main-rotor clearance. In
our case, hovering on their pinnacle
would have led them into a sense of
security and they might have prema-
turely climbed out on the cliff face
and fallen 500 ft to their deaths.
The hover jump went smoothly.
Using my portable radio, I contacted
the 212 crew. They were maintaining
the helicopter in a 500-ft agl pat-
tern for safety, observation and noise
abatement. The aerial crew used their
recon pattern to direct me from the
pinnacle to the victims through the
dense brush. The four victims were
uninjured.
Our urgency continuum was then
lowered dramatically. Time was now
on our side. As rehearsed in training
time and time again, I gave the group a
safety briefing. Remember, the briefing
is required and makes sense.
You have an obligation to reduce
the risk factors. Our victims were
located, uninjured and stable. The
first victim was assisted through the
brush, navigating steep cliff faces. The
other victims were kept back at the
isolated pinnacle, a safe distance from
the arte used for the hover load.
Keeping those young victims isolated

rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 39

08_RW_1106_Pinnacle_p34_39.indd 39 10/19/06 5:26:02 PM

 TOUGH
and Rescue
SearchLabel

Equipment
manufacturers
and vendors
are creating
innovative
By James Careless

products
tough enough for
the challenging
SAR environment.

40 NOVEMBER 2006 O
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09_RW_1106_SARTE_p40_45.indd 40
09 10/18/06 1:33:25
10 :25
25 PM
ENOUGH
WHETHER FOR CIVIL/FIRST RESPONDER, COMMERCIAL,
or military helicopters, search-and-rescue (SAR) equip-
ment has never been more in demand. Mindful of this,
SAR
R equipment manufacturers and vendors are creating
innovative products tough enough for the challenging SAR
environment. Here are some of the SAR R products that are
available today.

Drift Measurement
Aimed at improving the success of water-based SAR
missions, the Seimac Self-Locating Datum Marker Buoy
(www.seimac.com) helps measure current direction and
speed when deployed in a rescue area. Data from the buoy
is sent via the units ARGOS satellite data transmitter that
periodically transmits its location when floating in fresh or
salt water. Using this data combined with its onboard GPS
locational measurements, the buoy can emulate the drift
characteristics of either a Person in the Water with survival
suit or a four-person life raft with drogue.

External Cargo Platforms

With the help of the Los Angeles Police Dept.s Air
Support Div., Tyler
T Technologies (www.tylertech.net) has
T
created the Tyler
T Special Operations Platform ((TSOP) cargo
system to support missions such as emergency evacuation
response, dive team transport and rapid SWAT W T insertion/
extraction. The system comes with external benches on
each side of the helicopter for transporting and deploying
personnel. These benches are equipped with anchor points
for seat belts, and tie-in rings to attach to personnel wear-
ing safety harnesses. The system can also be fitted with
special quick-clamp brackets and pip-pins or overhead
anchor points for either fast-rope or rappel operations. For
SARR missions, the system can provide external rescue-litter
carriage, and quick access for SAR R officers.

Hoist Equipment
Goodrich Hoist and Winch (www.hoistandwinch.co
( m)
has a 600-lb External Electric Rescue Hoist (Dual/Single
Rescue Hoist) that can lift people or cargo. It is designed to
serve SARR operations in the civil, Coast Guard, and combat
arenas. This external hoist is in use on aircraft flown by the
U.S Marines (V-22),
V the Australian Army (CH-47), and the
Los Angeles Country Fire Dept. (S-70 Firehawk).
Broken hoist cable? Life Support Internationals (www.
lifesupportintl.com) QuickSplice kit allows SAR R operators
to re-attach a hook to the cable with a minimum of fuss.
Theres no threading required; just wrap the bitter end

SkyHook Rescue Systems (left) has a number of hoist-related products for the
search-and-rescue community. Tyler Technologies special-operations platform
(right) is designed to support missions such as emergency evacuation response,
dive team transport and SWAT.

rotorandwing.com O
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09_RW_1106_SARTE_p40_45.indd
09_RW indd
dd 41
41

ACR Electronics handheld AeroFix GPS 406
Personal ELT is designed to help SAR crews locate
downed pilots, by providing a satellite-detectable
personal distress signal.
of the cable around the plate, attach
the hook, and get back to work. The
QuickSplice plate is made of corrosion-
resistant anodized aluminum, with a
stainless steel self-locking shackle. It is
rated to 2,500 lb.
Life Support International also sells
the AxelCut hoist cable cutter. This is a
one-handed device with Swedish steel
cutting blades that allows a damage
cable to be cut quickly, so that a Quick-
Splice can be put in place.
SkyHook Rescue Systems (www.
skyhookrescue.com) has a number of
hoist-related products for the search-
and-rescue community. SkyHooks
Rescue Hook and Capture Ball allows
rescuers to secure the victim in mov-
ing water to the hook which is also
connected to the rescuer, which pro-
42 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
09_RW_1106_SARTE_p40_45.indd 42
2
vides secure lifting ability for both,
said SkyHook President Terry
T Ascherin.
SkyHooks Rear Mount Harness allows
rescuers to have both hands free when
conducting a moving-water rescue,
he added. It also serves as a combined
water-rescue harness and a helicopter
crew safety harness, providing belted
connection to the aircraft.
Finally, SkyHooks Manual Emergen-
cy Rescue Device Helicopter Rope Hoist
is a quick, reliable inexpensive backup
option for SAR missions, Ascherin
said. The system can raise, lower, and
retrieve a rapeller if necessary.
Fast-Rope
T
Tyler Technologies (www.tylertech.
T
net) Fast-Rope Hook locks the rope in
place when a load is applied, to prevent
an accidental release during roping
operations. The reason: In contrast to a
conventional cargo hook that releases
the load in the event of an aircraft
emergency, the Tyler
T Fast-Rope hook
is meant to provide a fail-safe condi-
tion for fast-roping personnel. Once
the fast-ropers are safely on the ground,
the fast-rope can be jettisoned with a
two-function T T-handle cable release
mounted inside the cabin. The hook
can also be physically locked in place to
circumvent the cable release activation.
Imaging Systems
FLIR Systems (www.flir.com) new
Ultra 8500 XR R helicopter camera sys-
tem is a lightweight unit that combines
state-of-the-art, thermal-imaging per-
formance with a long-range daylight/
low-light CCD. It comes with a high-
sensitivity, 320X240 indium antimo-
nide (InSb) infrared imager with 450
mm of zoom, while the Ultra 8500 XRs
new low-light TV V camera offers solid
performance.
According to FLIR Systems, a Class
III3b CW diode laser pointer can
be added to the Ultra 8500 XR to
improve ground coordination. Basi-
cally, the laser pointer will point at
whatever the camera is aimed at.
Ground forces equipped with night-
vision goggles can see the 30-mW
lasers beam and spot.
The U.K. Maritime and Coastguard
Agency has selected four L-3 Wescam
(www.wescam.com) MX-15i electro-
optical and infrared (EO/IR) systems
for installation on its Sikorsky S-92
SAR aircraft. According to L-3 Wes-
cam, the MX-15i single line replace-
able unit is a technically advanced
multi-sensor EO/IR that offers 25
percent less weight, increased range
performance and an expanded ease-
of-use control suite when compared
to older models. The improved Digi-
tal IR camera in this unit is said to
provide a 20 percent increase in IR
range, to aid missions at night or dur-
ing poor weather conditions. Mean-
while, the systems MX-GEO Gen 3
package includes a series of new tech-
nologies such as, GEO-Scan, auto-
mated video/geo-tracking and adap-
tive-geo. Each are billed as delivering
maximum geographic location accu-
racy and significantly reducing opera-
tor fatigue in demanding and stressful
SARR operations.
Microwave Downlinks
Broadcast Microwave Services, Inc.
(www.bms-inc.com) Microwave Video
Links products allow ground crews to
better understand what is happening
on a given aircraft, by providing them
with live video from the aircraft in
flight. In SAR
R situations, live airborne
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Americas Leading Producers of High Performance Heaters and Air Conditioners for Turbine Helicopters

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 Vendors are offering a variety of advanced moving-
map and warning systems for SAR operations.

video can give SAR ground crews a

birds eye view of the incident scene.
BMS offers a full line of both ana-
log and digital microwave downlink
systems. Their digital systems include
an HCII airborne transmit system.
As well, the company offers multiple
receive options to support various
ranges of transmission. These include
a CVII short-range (5-km), hand-held
video receiver, an MTDII medium-
range (50-km), portable antenna pod,
and a Silhouette long-range (100-km),
fixed-antenna relay pod. BMS down-
link equipment is being used by the
Washington State Patrol, the city of
Atlanta, and the FBI domestically and
the Brazilian and Colombian armies ronment where conventional video sion. The receiver has dual PAL, RGB,
and Mexicos Zapopan Police Dept. links fail. Y/C and MPEG2 transport stream
internationally. ECS Digital Base Station system video outputs and dual audio outputs
Enterprise Control Systems (www. consists of a COFDM antenna control and a NMEA output is provided for
enterprisecontrol.co.uk) designs and unit, a COFDM active switch sector moving map applications.
manufactures a large range of COFDM antenna and a COFDM digital base The Digital Helicopter Downlink
helicopter downlinking equipment. station receiver with dual channel equipment is designed to comply with
COFDM signal technology relies on video. Together, these three parts cre- the U.K. Home Offices MG42C, DVB-T
multiple RF carriers to provide high ate a COFDM base station able to and MPEG2 specifications. This equip-
-quality video transmissions, in envi- receive air-to-ground video transmis- ment can be used with both infrared

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 and daylight cameras to produce DVD-
quality images.
Personal Survival Radios
ACR Electronics (www.acrelectron-
ics.com) handheld AeroFix GPS 406
Personal ELT is designed to help SAR
crews locate downed pilots, by pro-
viding a satellite-detectable person-
al distress signal that combines GPS
locational information with the users
identity information. The palm-sized
AeroFix can be activated with the
push of a button, sending GPS data
and the users personalized identifier
code on 406 MHz to the COSPAS-SAR-
SAT satellite system. The unit weighs
13.3 oz (holster included), operates
in temperatures ranging from -58 to
+158F, and will operate more than 24
hr in a -4F climate.
General Dynamics C4 Systems (www.
gdc4s.com) can add two-way, dedicated
satellite communications (SATCOM)
and COSPAS SARSAT 406 waveform
09_RW_1106_SARTE_p40_45.indd 45
options to all AN/PRC-112G radios sold
to the U.S. military. Offered as part of
its HOOK2 Combat Search and Rescue
Radio System (CSAR), which includes
the AN/PRC-112G transceiver and the
Quickdraw2 interrogator, these option-
al SATCOM capabilities enable over-
the-horizon communications as well as
direct, encrypted, survivor location and
data to move between SAR rescue/recov-
ery aircraft and downed crew members.
General Dynamics C4 Systems
recently received an $8.9-million deliv-
ery order from the U.S. Air Force Special
Operations Command for 1,402 AN/
PRC-112G CSAR radios. Warfighters
operate in isolated and hostile places
so the AN/PRC-112G is their lifeline,
said Chris Brady, vice president of
Assured Communications Systems at
General Dynamics C4 Systems. Gen-
eral Dynamics has worked hard to earn
the confidence the Air Force has in our
solution and we remain utterly com-
mitted to their mission.
The HR Smith Group of compa-
nies (www.hr-smith.com) Techtest
Portable 406 SAR Decoder is a suitcase
unit that allows for the detection, loca-
tion, and verification of SAR 406 MHz
beacons; including ELT, CPIU/ADELT,
and EPIRBs. For helicopter-based SAR
crews, the 406 can be used both in the
air or on the ground, improving the
chances of finding victims using SAR
distress transmitters.
The Techtest 406 comes equipped
with a portable 406 MHz dipole
antenna, a backlit LCD graphic dis-
play, and a receiver with -83dBm
sensitivity. The unit continuously
monitors 406 MHz frequencies and
displays beacon hexadecimal codes
SkyHooks Rescue Hook and Capture Ball (top) allows rescu-
ers to secure a victim in moving water to a hook connected
to the rescuer. Broadcast Microwave Services products
(bottom) give ground crews a birds eye view of an incident.
on its screen. If the sought-after SAR
beacon is equipped to supply GPS
locational data, the Techtest 406 will
display it as well. The complete 406
weighs 13.2 lb, and runs either on an
internal 12-v DC battery or using an
AC adaptor.
Tadiran Spectralink (www.tadspec.
com) has developed a new Personal
Survival Radio to meet the specs of the
German air force. Called the PRS-434G/
SV Personal Survival Radio (PSR), this
unit is equipped with an embedded
GPS receiver and a large LCD display.
It is described as being backwards-com-
patible with all previous ASARS ver-
sions and interoperable with airborne
systems like ARS-700, ARS-700G and
other NATO CSAR systems.
The PRC-434G/SV can be set to
activate automatically in the case of
aircraft mishap, or to be operated man-
ually to talk to searching aircrews or
other PSRs. This unit also has 40 preset
text messages in its memory, which
can be quickly selected and transmit-
ted by the operator. The PRC-434G/SV
will provide GPS location response to
interrogations from airborne systems
or another PSR on the ground. It is
powered by LiMnO2 battery for up to
30 hr, at a Tx/Rx ratio of 1:10 (over 96
hr in sleep mode).
Radar Converter
Skyquest Aviation (www.skyquest.
co.uk) is selling a Radar Convert-
er. It allows users of the Telephon-
ics RDR1500 search radar to replace
their existing CRT radar indicators
with modern, high performance LCD
multi-function displays.
In doing so, the Radar Converter
enables several video sources, includ-
ing the RDR1500 radar image, to
be displayed on the same high-res-
olution display. This increases the
amount of search information avail-
able to onboard crew members who
can either switch between individual
inputs (radar, FLIR, color camera, or
map) or view images simultaneously
on the screen using the picture-in-pic-
ture functionality.
Rescue Lines
Rescue Internationals (www.res-
cueinternational.com) ResQmax is
a portable line-throwing appliance
rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 45
10/18/06 1:33:39 PM
 designed to deploy a line only, or
an auto-inflating flotation sling and
retrieval line, to an otherwise inac-
cessible point in land-based and mar-
itime environments.
According to the company, the
ResQMax uses a non-pyrotechnic, re-
usable, and re-fillable air-thrust meth-
od to send a line up to 400 ft away,
and a auto-inflating harness and line
up to 300 ft in the distance. The ResQ-
EKP-IV PRO from AvMap
The Ultimate Portable Moving Map System
Featuring:
7 Sunlight-Viewable Color LCD Screen
SAR Patterns
Detailed Streets with Labels throughout US & Canada
Direct GOTO to any location or address
Jeppesen NavData
&DSH&RG0$ ZZZDYPDSXV
46 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
09_RW_1106_SARTE_p40_45.indd 46
Max comes with two manual back-up
systems to provide redundancy.
Video Signal Distribution
Skyquest Aviations (www.sky-
quest.co.uk) Video Management Sys- Tyler Technologies
tem (VMS) distributes video captured Fast-Rope Hook
by a helicopters on-board forward- locks a rope in place
looking infrared (flir) camera system when a load is applied
to the aircrafts LCD video displays, to prevent an accidental
video recorders and microwave links. release.
To keep up with the
migration to high definition
video in flir camera systems,
Skyquest has launched a new
range of HD-ready LCD displays.
Their higher resolution gives users
much more live video information,
improving the chances for success-
ful SAR missions even in poor visual
conditions.
According to Skyquest, their new
HD-ready displays started shipping in
September 2006. In the UK, the Lon-
don Metropolitan Police are the ini-
tial user on their new fleet of EC145
helicopters.
In Development
ImSAR (www.imsar.com) is devel-
oping a beta version of its prototype
NanoSAR synthetic aperture radar
(SAR) system.
NanoSAR is a small, high-resolu-
tion imaging product that can pene-
trate through cloud, smoke and dust.
TM The prototype has been test-
ed on a Cessna 170 platform with
images being generated in near real-
time. The NanoSAR beta version
will have real-time onboard video
output that can be fed to a display
in the cockpit or radio linked to
the ground.
Radar is effective at detect-
ing man-made objects in a natural
environment. Metal and composite
structures such as watercraft, aircraft,
ATVs, vehicles, sheds and pipe appear
very bright in SAR images.
The image is inherently geo-ref-
erenced, allowing searchers on the
ground to receive GPS waypoints for
investigation.
According to ImSAR, synthetic
aperture radar systems have not been
available to the search and rescue
community due to the cost and size
of traditional SAR systems. ImSAR
hopes to change this through a com-
bination of cost reductions and vol-
ume sales. Stay tuned!
10/18/06 1:33:41 PM

So you want to be a SAR pilot?
Adaptability, flexibility and on-scene
initiative are what it takes to fly
with some of the worlds best.
SEARCH-AND-RESCUE PILOTS HAVE BEEN BUSY AND
in the spotlight in the last two years. These are folks who
thrive on racing to the aid of those in distress, often in
conditions that most rationale people are fleeing.
The last two years, though, have brought SAR opera-
tions on a scope, scale and pace that seemed unprec-
edented. The Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami in the Indian
Ocean, hurricanes along the U.S. and Central American
10_RW_1106_HTSoSAR_p46_p49.indd 47
The
Right
Stuff
Photo by PAC Tom Sperduto, U.S. Coast Guard
Gulf Coasts, and a massive earthquake in Pakistan killed
thousands, stranded millions and required assistance
that, in many cases, only helicopters could provide.
Those that responded included many whose crews
spend all or most of their days flying SAR missions.
What does it take to fly with such crews as these?
For answers, Rotor & Wing turned to those who train
some of the worlds best, the helicopter pilots of the
rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 47
10/18/06 12:07:07 PM

U.S. Coast Guard. The Aviation Train-
ing Center in Mobile, Ala. provides
advanced aircraft training and transi-
Photo by U.S. Coast Guard
tion programs for Coast Guard avia-
tors who fly the HH-60 Jayhawk and
HH-65 Dolphin SAR helicopters, as
well as the HC-130 Hercules and HU-
25 Guardian fixed-wing assets and
the MH-68A Sting Ray drug-interdic-
tion helicopter. Capt. Dave Callahan,
commanding officer of the training
center, explained to us the service
requirements you must meet to fly
with the Coast Guard.
Most of the services aviators are
officers commissioned through the
Coast Guard Academy in New Lon-
don, Conn. or Coast Guard Officer
Candidate School. Once commis-
sioned, pilot selectees attend the U.S.
Navys Naval Flight Training program
at NAS Pensacola, Fla. Roughly six out
of 10 Coast Guard aviators earn their
wings this way.
The remainder of those in the
services cockpits gets there through
the Direct Commission Aviation pro-
gram. Candidates for a direct commis-
sion as an aviator must be at least 21
and younger than 35 and a graduate
of a military flight training program
and have full-time military or civilian
flight experience within two years
of application. Candidates also must
have at least a bachelors degree from
an accredited college or university and
have served a minimum of two years
as a warrant officer in the U.S. Army
or a commissioned officer in any of
the other U.S. military services.
Rotary-wing applicants must pro-
vide evidence that they are a mili-
tary-rated pilot with at least 500
hr rotary-wing time, not including
initial flight training hours. (Fixed-
wing applicants must have proof of
a military rating and at least 1,000 hr
in a fixed-wing aircraft. Waivers are
48 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com
10_RW_1106_HTSoSAR_p46_p49.indd 48
not allowed for the minimum flight-
hour requirements.
Applicant packages are screened
in depth and undergo an interview
panel process. A Coast Guard head-
quarters selection panel then reviews
their applications.
The process is highly competi-
tive, Callahan said.
It is not just flying skills, however,
that set Coast Guard aviators apart,
he said. It is also the basic operat-
ing principles of the service that are
drilled into its members from the
start. These are adaptability, flexibil-
ity, and on-scene initiative.
These are tough things to train,
but they are imbedded in our entry-
level and pilot upgrade programs,
Callahan said. Coast Guard aviators
are constantly challenged and tested
in these areas as they develop from
a co-pilot to first pilot, and up to air-
craft commander.
The Coast Guard employs a rigor-
ous standardization program, he said,
that regularly challenges an aviators
decision-making skills and practices.
Callahan also cited three key
enablers on which success in aviation
SAR depends. Each is heavily depen-
dent upon training programs, he said.
The first is repetitive, frequent, pro-
ficiency-based training of basic res-
cue maneuvers such as hoisting, res-
cue-swimmer operations, overwater
Rescues like the December 2000 flights to the foundering pas-
senger ship Sea Breeze 220 mi east of Cape Henry, Va. test the
decision-making skill and initiative of Coast Guard aviators. One
flight to the ship set a record for the number of persons rescued by
a single Jayhawk in one flight30.
instrument and night-vision-device
assisted maneuvers, and fixed-wing
drop procedures. Every rescue situa-
tion throws a different set of variables
at rescue aircrews, so it is vital that the
constants, or the basic maneuvers,
are trained to a level that they are sec-
ond nature to the aircrew, Callahan
said. This allows them to focus on
the variables, which are always the
tougher aspect of a SAR operation.
The second is a strong foundation
of crew resource management and
risk management in both initial and
recurrent training.
I would defy anyone to find a
tighter, more cohesive team than a
Coast Guard rescue helicopter air-
crew, Callahan said. Coordination
and teamwork are absolutely essential
to a successful rescue mission. Crew
resource management and teamwork
have been heavily emphasized in the
Coast Guard aviation training pro-
grams for years.
The program has been so successful
and valuable, he said, it has migrated
into other areas of Coast Guard opera-
tions, such as team-coordination train-
ing for small boat and cutter programs.
The third is empowerment of
aircrews to remain flexible, adapt,
make decisions, and exercise on-scene
initiative.
This basic operational principle
of on-scene initiative is pretty impor-
10/18/06 12:07:10 PM
 tant to Coast Guard aviation, and is Guard. A typical Dolphin flight crew met each other until their pre-mission
something we highly emphasize in out of Mobile working rescue opera- brief. They flew together for hours
our aviators, Callahan said. Embed- tions in Mississippi or New Orleans under some of the most demanding
ded on-scene initiative comes from may have consisted of an aircraft conditions experienced in our ser-
an enabling culture, but I would also commander from Mobile, a co-pilot vices history, and returned to Mobile
offer that a portion of it can be devel- from Miami, a flight mechanic from 'high fiving' each other after saving
oped through training programs. I Los Angeles, and a rescue swimmer 150 lives in a days work.
think it is important to recognize from Kodiak, Alaska. Coast Guard aviation forces are
that on-scene initiative is not possible These crews had never trained credited with saving more than
without a concerted effort to exercise together or, for that matter, had even 12,000 lives after Katrina.
and train this into our people, in con-
junction with an effort to maintain
a culture where on-scene initiative is
valued and rewarded.
He noted that some of the best
examples of on-scene initiative during
rescue and relief operations after Hurri-
cane Katrina struck the U.S. Gulf Coast
in late 2005 came from aircraft com-
manders who managed to adapt and
overcome overwhelmingly challeng-
ing situations, relying solely on their
own initiative to meet objectives.
These aviators were brought up in
a culture that encourages and expects
them to exercise flexibility and initia-
tive, he said. In other words, change
the plan if and when necessary.
Coast Guard aviators learn this over
time, Callahan explained, through a
training and development program
that brings them up through increas-
ing levels of skill and, more impor-
tantly, increasing levels of responsi-
bility. Aviators first serve as co-pilot,
then as first pilot, and eventually as
aircraft commander.
As they upgrade and develop
through this training process, he
said, they are challenged with vari-
ous training scenarios, and exposed to
operational situations. They are taught
to follow protocols and procedures,
but they are also taught to continu-
ally assess and reassess, and change the
plan on scene when required in order
to meet the mission objectives.
Katrina tested the mettle of Coast
Guard aviators. The storm was an
affirmation of the many things that
are good and right about Coast Guard
aviation and our training programs,
Callahan said. The basic pillars of
Coast Guard aviation were tested and
passed with flying colors.
Specifically, our service-wide avia-
tion standardization program was
a primary enabler that allowed our
rapid, robust, and highly flexible air
response. On extremely short notice,
we mixed aircrews and airframes
from every aviation unit in the Coast

rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 49

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 Tips and Techniques

Whither the Wind?

Knowing and using the wind properly is key to safe flight in rotorcraft. A
flight-training veteran offers tips for doing both successfully.

By James T. McKenna

WIND CAN BE A CRITICAL CONSIDERATION IN THE manufacturer, Page has been in the training business for
safe operation of rotorcraft, and is one pilots can grow to the better part of 20 years and my flying career has been
disregard (particularly if most of their flying is done in their focused pretty much on training.
local area). He agreed that a lack of awareness of the wind is a com-
That is among the com- mon error, especially with
mon mistakes cited by flight pilots that are brought up in
instructors and flight-train- big aircraft.
ing veterans as being com- They dont tend to have
mitted by experienced and as intuitive a sense of where
new pilots alike. the wind is or how impor-
As one of those veterans, tant it can be for them,
Roger Sharkey, observed, he said. People that are
I dont think many pilots brought up in R22-style, or
would say they take off and smaller, aircraft tend to be
land downwind, but we all far more cognizant of where
do. Sharkey is president of the winds are, just because
Sharkeys Helicopters in Leb- they dont have the luxury
anon, N.H. and partners with of power.
Enstrom Helicopter Co. in There are common traps
advanced training programs. that pilots fall into that lead
It usually starts with 2-3 to problems in managing
kt of wind, he said. Then the wind, he said.
after about six months, it One is that a lot of times
becomes 4-6 kt. A year or pilots get comfortable flying
two later, with all still going the aircraft theyre in at the
well, we graduate to 10-plus location theyre at and they
kt of wind. All of us get away really dont do a good job
with it for years without inci- of paying attention to the
dent. Any downwind is too winds, he said. They rely
much if it can be avoided on the continued reliability
for takeoff or landing, he said of their aircraft to overcome
(Common Mistakes in Training [and Flying], April 2006, any of the pitfalls that the wind presents.
page T6) Here again, pilots who fly smaller aircraft tend to be
In the latest in our series of articles examining common more conservative in this regard. Its one of the first things
mistakes that helicopter pilots encounter and techniques they check prior to takeoff, he said, which way the winds
for recognizing and avoiding or correcting them, Rotor & are blowing.
Wing asked MD Helicopters Nick Page to discuss knowing The key is paying attention to whats occurring around
and using the wind. you on a day-to-day basis. Doing that, you very quickly
A test and demonstration pilot for the Mesa, Ariz.-based will develop an intuitive sense of whats going on with the

50 NOVEMBER 2006 O
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11_RW_1106_HTBigWind_p50_51.indd50 50 10/19/06 9:32:27 AM

 aircraft on any given day and how the winds are affecting
it, without having to use mechanical, external indicators.
Wind savvy is not a matter of experience measured in
flight hours.
You can say a guy with a lot of hours is somebody whos
obviously developed that knack, Page said. But Ive seen
people with thousands of hours that are very ignorant of
how to read the winds vs. some people that only have a few
hundred hours that have a very sharp ability to sense even
slight winds. And thats because theyve taken the time and
effort to learn whats going on around them.
In the desert around Mesa, for instance, often times,
unless the winds are blowing very fast, you dont get any
of the usual external wind indicators, he said. You dont
have trees blowing. You dont get dust, normally, unless
youve got extremely high winds.
Flags are a rare thing, and smoke and so forth, he said,
so things that people can look at in other parts of the
country on a regular basis, you know water and such like
that, we dont have that out here. So you pretty much have
to develop a feel for it.
That can be difficult, especially in a new aircraft,
Page said.
The way the aircraft is handling in the ambient air can
give you some very good clues as to which way the winds
Ive seen people with thousands of
hours that are very ignorant of how
to read the winds vs. some with a few
hundred that have a very sharp ability.
blowing. Obviously, if youve got the aircraft in trim,
he said, you can detect from crab angle a general idea of
where the winds are blowing from.
When making an approach into the wind, the aircraft is
going to handle quite a bit different than it would on the
same approach with a downwind condition, he said. If
youve got a lot of wind, 15 kt or greater, often times its very
obvious where the winds are blowing, he said. They tell
you very quickly. The way the aircraft handles clearly indi-
cates if youre not into the wind. Its much harder to work.
When flying in the mountains or at higher density alti-
tudes, problems can be caused by very light winds, in the
510 kt realm, where you dont get the same clear physical
movement on the aircraft, Page said. You really have to
pay attention to more subtle cues.
Pilots versed in mountain flying will use a wind circle
to plumb the winds.
Basically, you pick a spot on the ground and, as you
pass over the top of it, you execute a standard-rate turn,
Page said. You maintain that standard-rate turn for 360
11_RW_1106_HTBigWind_p50_51.indd51 51
deg, keeping a constant airspeed and bank angle. When
you roll out on the original heading when you started
the turn, how the aircraft is displaced from the start point
tells you the direction of the wind and gives you a sense
of velocity as well. Thats a real good mechanical way
until youve developed a good seat-of-the-pants feel for
the wind.
Other cues to the winds, he said, include the amount of
pedal input required to maintain heading.
On a normal approach into the wind, because its a
reduced power setting, generally speaking in an American-
made aircraft youll normally apply more right pedal then
you will left pedal, he said. If youre downwind, however,
often times the power demand is greater and you find that
you need more left pedal than youre used to. So that is a
clue that maybe youre in a downwind condition.
The airspeed indicator provides another cue. If youre
landing into the wind, even with a very light wind, Page
said, the airspeed indicator on most aircraft will still con-
tinue to wiggle.
Not necessarily reliably, he said, but it will continue
to sort of wiggle in the gauge, almost to the point of bring-
ing it to a dead hover.
If you go into a downwind condition, often times that
airspeed indicator will stop on the peg, even while youve
still got significant ground speed outside the aircraft, he
said. So thats a good clue that theres not enough air com-
ing across the pitot tube and youre probably downwind.
It is essential to think of the wind in considering your
go-around options.
They always say landings are mandatory, takeoffs are
optional, Page said. The same thing could be said about a
go-around. When youre making an approach, if you dont
give yourself an out, often times whether you realize it or not
youve committed yourself to landing, regardless of how that
ends up. He recommends planning the go-around options
into your approach just in case things go bad.
First, as you come into an area, he said, try to determine
as soon as possible the wind direction and speed. Often
times you can, if youre paying attention, have that figured
out in a relatively short period of time. Then its basically
confirming or not what you already suspect and watching
the cues with the aircraft and any external cues that will
confirm or deny.
Again, with American-made aircraft as an example, if
youre going to run out of pedal at a high situation, in all
probability the aircraft is going to go to the right, he said.
So allowing yourself an escape path to the right is prob-
ably the safer bet if the landing area will allow that. Set up
an approach that allows you to break to the right should
the aircraft encounter unexpected winds.
Refine that further by not making an approach that
requires your right break to be a 90-deg or greater turn.
Come in at an angle that, if you have to break out to the
right, instead of having to make a 90 deg or sharper turn,
you can often times get away with a relatively small head-
ing change to allow the nose to drop a little bit and gain a
little more airspeed and regain your pedal, Page said.
rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 51
10/19/06 9:32:28 AM
 from the field
Compiled by R&W Staff
Firm Offers Evaluation Tool for Flight Schools
A Fargo, N.D. company that specializes
in augmented reality is offering a low-
cost flight recording and evaluation tool to
flight schools.
Appareo Systems develops portable con-
sumer electronics combined with 3D graph-
ics software for capturing, rendering, and
even replaying the human experience. The
company has worked on augmenting real-
ity by creating visual systems that combine
actual and synthetic scenes (overlaying a
topographic map on satellite imagery of ter-
rain, for instance, or building schematics on The WAAS-enabled GPS receiver offers suction cup on a window or Velcro on the
top of a visual image of the building). improved vertical precision. The yaw, pitch, instrument panel. That allows it to be moved
It is now applying that expertise to the and roll accelerometers are designed to cap- from aircraft to aircraft.
flight-training market, pairing its lightweight ture true g forces and angle of attack. The offshore support company Air
flight recorders with its Flight Evaluator soft- The sensors are designed to allow the Logistics is working with Appareo to secure
ware in a tool kit aimed at letting flight instruc-GAU 1000 to track movement about every axis supplemental type certificate approval for
tors recreate and critique training flights in 3D. 360 deg in any direction of roll, pitch, or yaw. installation of the GAU 1000 in Bell 206 and
The company unveiled its $1,599 CFI Flight The 2.5-in. GAU 1000 comes with an 407 aircraft.
Debriefing Package at the recent University active or passive antenna and
can be mounted almost any-
Aviation Assn. Fall Education Conference in
where in the aircraft, according
Anythings Possible Expands
Anchorage, Alaska. It includes the hardware
and five software licenses. to the company. Adds Training Staff in Houston
The heart of the package is a combination The FCC-approved unit is Anythings Possible Aviation, Inc. is expanding its
sensor and recording unit that weighs about as designed to track turns at rates operations in Houston to include a new training facility
much as a deck of cards and fits in your pocket. of rotation up to 450 deg/sec. It and second office location at Weiser Air Park.
The Geospatial Awareness Unit 1000 records position, ground speed, The new facility will provided access to a million-
(GAU 1000) includes three gyroscopes, three altitude, roll, pitch, yaw, GPS fix dollar inventory of Robinson R22 and R44 helicopters
accelerometers, a barometric pressure sen- quality, and magnetic heading. and an instructional center for both private and com-
sor and a Wide Area Augmentation System- A rechargeable, lithium ion bat- mercial helicopter students, according to the company.
enabled GPS (all micro-electro-mechanical tery is designed to allow the It will also serve as the new home for its centralized
systems, or MEMS), a solid-state magnetic unit to record on battery power flight operations and sales and administrative offices.
compass and a removable memory card that for 3.54 hr. Over the years, we have experienced continued
can capture 70 hr of flight data. The unit can be mounted by growth in our pilot instructional business, the compa-
ny's vice president, David Lewis, said. As a result, it was
necessary to procure additional space to accommo-
Tomlinson to Offer Training in North Carolina date this increased demand.
Tomlinson Aviation, Inc. plans to open a satellite location in the mountains of The capability afforded by the two separate facili-
North Carolina. ties will not only streamline our operations, but also
Operations are planned for the Elkin Municipal Airport at Yadkin Valley Aviation, bolster our efficiency," he said. "To further boost our
said Neal Tomlinson, president of Ormond Beach, Fla.-based Tomlinson, which will productivity, we have increased our staff twofold, and
offer flight instruction in the Schweizer 300CBi series. We are honored to have also made a sizeable aircraft investment.
Tomlinson Aviation select our airport, said Stephen Sandy Shore, owner of the Anythings Possible Aviation, Inc. was founded sev-
Elkin Municipal Airport. eral years ago and specializes in helicopter support
Being a North Carolina native, Im excited about our second location, said Tomlin- services to oil and gas pipeline companies, motion
son.There is an opportunity for our students to receive mountain training and experi- picture and aerial photography companies, agricultural
ence a different kind of flying than Florida can offer. Also, Im hoping training in the operations, and law enforcement agencies and real
Carolinas will open the door to students in the local area who want to fly with us, but estate sales and development companies.
cant get away from their jobs or other obligations for extended periods of time. Anythings Possible Aviations workforce provides
The Elkin airport is about 40 mi northwest of Winston-Salem, N.C. and offers a round-the-clock support to customers operating Rob-
4,003-ft long runway with a 1,068-ft. elevation. The airport is about 5 mi from the inson Helicopters in North America and Central and
town of Jonesville, putting most restaurants and motels within 10 min by ground. South America.
A courtesy car is usually available by request for short trips, and car rentals can be For more information, contact Anythings Possible Avia-
arranged by calling a day ahead. tion, call 713-806-5640 or visit www.apaviationinc.com

52 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

12_RW_1106_HT_Field_p52_53.indd 52 10/19/06 9:41:59 AM

12_RW_1106_HT_Field_p52_53.indd 53 10/19/06 9:42:03 AM
 from the factories
Compiled by R&W Staff
MD Plans to Acquire Training Fleet
MD Helicopters is committed to being
the provider of training to its customers
and is undertaking an aircraft, training
device and courseware acquisition pro-
gram to achieve that, according to the
companys new director of flight opera-
tions and training and chief pilot.
We are conducting a major review
of every aspect of our training program,
said the new direc-
tor, Clint Balog.
Balog joined the
Mesa, Ariz.-based
manufacturerrecent-
ly, insisting that
he head both the
flight ops and train-
ing departments so
that he had control
over scheduling of
aircraft. MD recently
has had to split air-
craft among training,
customer demon-
stration and other
flight demands.
My first task was to develop a redevel-
opment plan for MDs training activities,
he said. That plan is now in place.
A first step in the plan is acquiring five
aircraft to supplement the companys
training capabilities.
The training aircraft, Balog said, will
include an MD900, an MD902, an MD600N
and two MD 500Es. Down the road, the
company is looking at acquiring a 500 and
a 530F. There is tremendous demand for
the 530F, he said.
Eurocopter Taps CAE for Army Training Work
CAE, Inc. stands to boost its military busi-
ness if Eurocopters EC145 is declared the
final winner of the U.S. Armys 322-aircraft
Light Utility Helicopter competition.
A team led by EADS North America was
picked June 30 to provide the aircraft and
logistics, maintenance and training support.
But two losing bidders, MD Helicopters and
AgustaWestland, have protested. A decision
on the protests is expected this month. The
winning aircraft will replace Vietnam-era Bell
UH-1Hs and OH-58D Kiowa Warriors.
The EADS team tapped Montreal-based
CAE as a training contractor. If the team wins
the protests, CAE would have the job of sup-
plying cockpit procedures trainers for UH145
54 NOVEMBER 2006 O
rotorandwing.com
13_RW_1106_HT_Fac_p54_55.indd 54
Bell Academy Trains
First Responders on Helos
The acquired aircraft, which will all be
Bell Helicopter has expanded its train-
refurbished ones, will be specifically for
ing offerings beyond pilots and mechanics
training and configured as such, Balog said.
to include emergency personnel who work
MD also is looking to secure a flight
around helicopters on a regular basis.
training device for the MD902. MDs princi-
The company has launched the First
pal owner and chairman, New York investor
Responder Training Program, which won't
Lynn Tilton, has committed to acquiring
make anyone a pilot or helicopter mechan-
simulators or flight training devices for
ic. But that's not the point.
all the comapny's aircraft models. That is
Our intent and purpose is to give you
part of her pledge
something you can use," Bell instructor Joe
to adopt the safety
Schmaltz told the first class in August. "The
recommendations
number one safety device on that helicop-
of the Internation-
ter is not a spring or bracket. The number
al Helicopter Safe-
one safety device is you.
ty Team, which is
The first class at Bells Customer Training
pursuing the goal
Academy at Alliance Airport in Texas cov-
of cutting the heli-
ered 407 helicopter rescue operations and
copter accident
ground safety. Attendees included members
rate by 80 percent
of several Texas police and fire departments.
in 10 years. The use
Students learned the basics of a helicop-
of simulators and
ter, such as the airframe, rotors, drive train,
FTDs for training
fuel system, hydraulics, flight controls, and
all helicopter pilots
electrical system. Other lessons centered
is an element of
on how to select a landing zone, assess
international safe-
environmental conditions, and approach
ty advocates rec-
and depart an aircraft, as well as danger
ommendations that led to the creation of
areas on a helicopter. It also discussed how
the team.
to get victims out of a helicopter and shut
While MDs training organization will
the engine down, as well as the basics of an
not be an FAR Part 142 certified opera-
accident investigation.
tion, Balog said,it will be modeled on Part
The course is not all classroom time. Stu-
142, with the quality assurance and instruc-
dents visited the academy's flight simulators
tor trainingannual and six-month recur-
to practice shutting a helicopter down. The
rent training.
course concluded with a tabletop exercise
MD also is working on the develop-
where the class members put their new-
ment of a training center for the kingdom
found knowledge into action.
of Jordan as part of a sales agreement
Terry Eichman, Bells manager of business
with that nation.
development and programs for the Training
Academy, said he got the idea for the course
while listening to a scanner during wildfires
pilots. The Army contract calls for provision
in North Texas this year. The calls involving
of fixed-base trainers for the Light Util-
helicopters indicated poor landing zone
ity Helicopter program; no full-motion flight
selection, laborious communication and
simulators are required.
limited situational awareness. That, in turn,
The initial order will be worth several
raised questions about training, particularly
million dollars, rising to about $20 million
for the first responders on the ground who
over the 10-year term of the contract, said
had to work around helicopters.
an official of CAEs military training division.
The training will be based on Eurocop-
ters commercial EC145 instruction program.
American Eurocopter is expanding its Grand 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment
Prairie, Texas training center in part to handle (Airborne)'s A/MH-6, MH-60, and MH-47. It
the additional work from the LUH contract. also has built all the simulators to train pilots
The CAE training devices will be based there for the CH-47 Chinooks flown by the U.S.
and at Fort Rucker, Ala. CAE already builds Army, the British Royal Air Force and the Aus-
combat mission simulators for the U.S. Army's tralian forces.
 !NYTIME!NYWHERE
)NFORMATION9OU#AN#OUNT/N

7ERE4HERE

2OTOR7INGISTHEMOSTRESPECTEDANDMOSTWIDELY READMAGAZINE
INTHEMARKETANDHASBEENFORNEARLYYEARSANDCOUNTING%VERY
MONTHINEVERYMARKETINOVERCOUNTRIESWHATEVERYOUmY
WHENEVERYOUGOYOUCANCOUNTON2OTOR7ING
4OSUBSCRIBEGOTOWWWROTORANDWINGCOM
&ORADVERTISINGINFORMATIONCONTACTTHE0UBLISHER
2ANDY*ONESATRJONES ACCESSINTELCOM

YOUCANCOUNTONUS


13_RW_1106_HT_Fac_p54_55.indd 55
13_R 10/19/06
/0 9:36:31 AM
M
 With ongoing engineering work
on the V-22, Boeing is pushing
Label
R&D
the limits on the use of simulation
to cut the cost and time to certify
new aircraft systems.
Flight Testing at
By John Croft, Ridley Park, Pa.
FOR 12 HR A DAY, THREE DAYS A WEEK, ENGINEERS,
test pilots and technicians working on the V-22 Osprey
program at Boeings Integrated Defense Systems Rotor-
craft plant here just south of Philadelphia put the military
tilt-rotor through stress tests that both increase the safety
and reduce the amount of flight time necessary to check
crucial details of the aircrafts hardware and software. And
they never leave the ground.
The trials, which feature pilots flying actual V-22
flight-control hardware and computer systems in three
interconnected labs, are designed to check out man-
machine performance during emergency procedures as
well to investigate how the crew and the aircraft perform
after system failures (known as degraded modes testing).
The checks are being performed after each new flight-con-
trol system software revision for the V-22, upgrades that
are being implemented as the aircraft is brought closer to
initial operational capability, slated for next September.
Though Boeings hardware-in-the-loop simulations
have been going on for more than a decade at the plant,
the effort continues to be on the leading edge of advanced
simulation capabilities in the testing and evaluation
environment. That and similar efforts in aerospace are
56 NOVEMBER 2006 O
rotorandwing.com
14_RW_1106_Predict_p56_58.indd 56
Photo courtesy of Boeing
0 AGL
Boeing uses the V-22 Flight Simulation Lab for rapid prototyping of control laws and
crew systems, as well as evaluation of handling qualities.
designed to make flight testing safer and shorter. Its also
part of a broader pushor perhaps ultimatumin the
industry to rely more heavily on simulations to reduce the
risk and time needed to reach initial operational capabil-
ity. Achieving that would reduce the number of costly
flight tests for aircraft certification (particularly when it
comes to proving functionality in a net-centric warfare
environment). [Defined as a continuously evolving com-
munity of people and devices linked by a communications
network, net centric is the Pentagon-mandated baseline
requirement for all U.S. military information systems. Net
centrism aims to turn an information advantage into a
warfighting one.] A lot of the more mundane (flight test-
ing) requirements you could do in a simulator if you get
your modeling right, said Phil Dunford, V-22 program
manager for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems and the current
president of the American Helicopter Society. That will
drive down the cycle time and costs. High-fidelity simu-
lations could also play a role in accelerating the design
cycle, cutting down on the number of wind-tunnel mod-
els needed as well as the number of wind-tunnel tests.
On the operational end of the testing spectrum, Dun-
ford said, modeling and simulations will be key in coming
10/18/06 2:14:27 PM
 up with cost-effective ways to prove that a new or modified
vehicle operates as designed in a net-centric environment
without investing in a live exercise. Dunford said Boeing
and other companies are just now beginning to formulate
ideas for how to accomplish the task. Boeing even created
a vice president slot for analysis, modeling and simulations
in the Integrated Defense Systems business unit. Theres
no room to do business as usual, he added.
The V-22 work represents a baby step along the way, but
a distinct starting point for using simulations and modeling
to reduce risk and time to move a rotorcraft from design to
initial operational capability. The most advanced of Boeings
efforts in Philadelphia is the hardware-in-the-loop simula-
tor capability, also known as the Triple Lab Tie-in. As the
name suggests, the Triple Lab, initially put together in 1995,
is a combination of three labsthe Flight Simulation Lab,
which includes a V-22 cockpit and computer equipment
with a generic tilt-rotor mathematical model developed by
Bell Helicopter; the Flight-Control System Integration Rig,
a room with the V-22s control surface actuators, hydraulic
and electrical systems and flight-control computers laid out
in the configuration of the actual aircraft, and the Systems
Integration Lab, an avionics- and software-qualification
facility that generates the information that pilots see on the
multi-function displays and other equipment in the V-22
cab. Boeing uses the Flight Simulation Lab as a stand-alone
unit for rapid prototyping of control laws and crew systems,
as well as evaluating handling qualities. The Flight-Control
System Integration Rigs primary role as an individual lab
is to test how the hardware and flight-control software will
work together.
With the three labs joined via Mil Std 1553 connec-
tions, Ethernet and Scramnet (shared common random
access memory network), however, helicopter designers
now have an asset with the fidelity needed to run hard-
ware-in-the-loop experiments with pilots, the actual con-
trol algorithms and real hardware, including the aircrafts
control actuators.
As pilots in the cab move their controls during a Triple
Lab simulation, digital signals representing the movement
are sent to the flight-control integration rig, where they
are converted to analog signals and sent to the flight-
control computers. The flight-control computers execute
the flight-control laws that generate commands to the
hydraulic actuators for the flaperons, elevator, rudders,
and swashplates, as well as the nacelles that set the tilt of
the rotors. The actuators, pumps, reservoirs and switching/
isolation valves in the rig are identical to the flight equip-
ment. The lab also includes a patch panel that lets tech-
nicians introduce electrical failures. Simulated hydraulic
failures are also possible with the rig.
When the actuators move, the position transducers
measure the movement and send signals to the tilt-rotor
mathematical model located in the Flight Simulation Lab,
which then computes the V-22s dynamic response to the
actuator movements and generates the cockpit instrument
readings that will be sent to the flight deck. The math
model also calculates the feedback forces on the control
surfaces. It sends that data back to the flight-control inte-
gration rig, where add-on hydraulic actuators apply the
forces directly to the control surface actuators, thereby pro-
viding feedback to the pilot as in the real aircraft in flight.
The input from the math model, combined with the mis-
sion computer, also updates the cabs four multi-function
14_RW_1106_Predict_p56_58.indd 57
displays (flight hardware, too) and the out-the-window
visual display. The cab is surrounded by a 30-ft-dia dome
and uses four projectors that shine a 180-deg horizontal
and 90-deg vertical visual scene on the inside surface of the
dome. The cab sits on a 10-ft base that can either be fixed
or full-motion.
Boeing had planned to build a hardware-in-the-loop
simulator for the Comanche helicopter program before the
program was cut in February 2004. Boeing officials from
the 787 program had also been interested in the pilot-
in-the-loop capabilities of the V-22 simulator, said Curtis
Walz, an engineer who until recently was the integrated
product team lead for the V-22 autopilot system. Bell,
Boeings partner on the V-22 program, is using a hard-
ware-in-the-loop simulator for testing its BA609 tilt-rotor,
a smaller, commercial variant of the V-22. Along with
giving Bell engineers the means to experiment with flight-
control algorithms on the ground, the integrated system
also allows BA609 test pilots to try before they fly to
understand and experience a certain aircraft behavior and
observe the system responses.
Most recently, Boeing has been using the Triple Lab to
run a variety of on-ground tests each time engineers modify
the flight-control system software for the aircraft. Software
changes are sometimes caused by customer requested modi-
fications or deficiencies discovered during flight tests. For
instance, after an unintended takeoff and crash heavily
damaged a V-22 at MCAS New River, N.C. March 27, Marine
officials ordered a change to the software for the full-author-
ity digital electronic controllers (FADECs) that govern the
Ospreys two Rolls-Royce AE1107C Liberty engines. The
FADEC software had been written on the assumption that
the most critical situation in which the unit would fail
would be in flight. Therefore, the engine defaults to a power-
up condition to maintain altitude. It was not anticipated
that a failure on the ground would cause the aircraft to fly
before the pilots knew it. (Fix Planned for V-22 FADECs In
Wake of Uncommanded Liftoff, May 2006, page 10.)
Current production aircraft include the Block B V-22 for
the U.S. Marine Corps and the Block 0/10 CV-22 for the
Air Force. Testing is also under way for future versions of
the aircraft, including studies of the Block C V-22 for the
Marines and Block 20 V-22 for the Air Force.
One line of testing is for investigating the appropriate-
ness of emergency procedures. In these simulations, test
engineers introduce unannounced failures to see if pilots
correctly decipher the failure from the Warnings, Cautions
and Advisories subsystem and apply the appropriate emer-
gency procedure in the flight manual.
Another type of testing is the degraded-modes program,
in which engineers inject a failure into the simulator, tell
the crew about it, then have the crew follow procedures
while putting the aircraft through its flight envelope, fin-
ishing the simulation with a landing. Walz said the stress
testing helps validate the requirement that the V-22 can
be brought in for a safe landing after most double failures.
Walz said the human-factors findings in the simulations
are also helpful in trying to understand how pilots might
react to a failure in flight.
As part of the degraded-modes testing, Boeing also evalu-
ates aircraft handling qualities and controllability after failures.
For this test, pilots are asked to fly an engineering maneuver,
like precision hovering, after failures are introduced. Walz said
tests can last 816 hr investigating a single failure.
rotorandwing.com O
NOVEMBER 2006 57
10/18/06 2:14:27 PM
 ing tests and 2,147 hr of piloted tests)
between March 2001 and February
2006. For the autopilot alone, which
has 11 modes for the Marine MV-22
and 12 modes for the Air Forces ver-
sion, Walz estimated that the Triple
Lab saved hours of flight testing. For
example, he said, Boeing was able to
reduce the number of gross-weight,
center-of-gravity position and altitude
combinations at which the autopilot
had to be tested in flight by identi-
fying the most critical cases in the
Triple Lab.
Photo courtesy of Boeing

We eliminated test points by run-

ning a lot of conditions in the Triple
Lab environment, Walz said
Given his experience with the V-
22 program, he said, hardware-in-
the-loop simulations are here to stay.
The Flight-Control System Integration Rig is a room that contains V-22 control surface actuators, hydraulic and electri- You can look for anomalies, take
cal systems and flight-control computers laid out in the configuration of the actual aircraft. precautions or make fixes with the
system, zooming in on more critical
type cases and leaning out the flight
What we get out of it, he said, minimizing certain maneuvers or test program, he said. Future systems
is that we can be more specific in an flight regimes. will be even more comprehensive.
operating document regarding how According to Walz, Boeing per- I dont believe we can eliminate
to control the aircraft under those cir- formed 5,567 hr of simulated flight flight test, he said, but we can
cumstances. Changes could include with the system (3,420 hr of engineer- reduce it.

58 NOVEMBER 2006 O rotorandwing.com

14_RW_1106_Predict_p56_58.indd 58 10/18/06 2:14:32 PM

 Instruction/Training Merchandise for sale

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rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 59

15_RW_1106_AdIndexMkt_p59_61.ind59 59 10/18/06 4:38:03 PM

 Coming Up
December 2006:
2006 - The Year in Review ... And What a Year it Was!
O
Operations: Disasters, war, homeland security, oil prices,
emerging geographic market opportunities, healthy stock prices
all contributors to an overall increase in helicopter operations world-
wide. Our editors look at some of the most important events affecting
helicopter owners and operators in 2006, and how certain operators
have responded.
O
Products: A special section dedicated completely to important
products announced for helicopter operators in 2006, and impor-
tant tweaks to existing products in the marketplace.
O
Contracts and Awards: A roundup of important contract
announcements from the past year military, commercial, and pub-
lic service contracts from operators and vendors worldwide.
Bonus distribution: Dubai HeliShow. December 5-7. Dubai, UAE.
January 2007:
2006 Annual Reports Issue Whats new from vendors in the helicopter market?
O

Part One: Executive Outlook:Top-level executives from the
helicopter industry give a brief outlook of what they see on the
horizon for the coming year. The combined vision of the top deci-
sion makers who are tasked with forecasting market trends and
predicting sales for their boards-of-directors all year long creates
an extremely accurate vision of what we all might expect in the
coming months.
15_RW_1106_AdIndexMkt_p59_61.ind60 60
in
O
The year-in-review format is an all-new part of Rotor &
Wing for 2006. The traditional Buyers Guide information is being
moved to a very exciting new format (More details to come very
soon) to make room for this detailed analysis of important events
shaping our industry in the past year. Our editors will review all the
important news and announcements from the past year and will
organize it all right here, in one concise analysis for future reference
If you normally pass your issue of R&W on to others in your orga-
nization, you might want to hang onto this one and send them a
subscription card instead!
O Part Two: Company Profiles: The one time-per-year, com-
pany-by-company review of what is new, interesting and exciting
among offerings from vendors in the helicopter community for the
coming year. New facilities new products new people new
market initiatives this is the place to look to see what you might
expect from your favorite vendors and core suppliers. It is also a great
place to learn more about suppliers with whom you are less familiar.
10/18/06 4:38:09 PM
 advertiser index
Page# ....Advertiser ..........................Website or Phone Number Page# ....Advertiser ......................... Website or Phone Number
2.......................Agusta Westland/Italy ............................................................www.agustawestland.com 15 ....................FLIR Systems .................................................................................................www.flir.com

43 ....................Air Comm Corp. ............................................................................www.aircommcorp.com 39 ....................HR Smith.............................................................................................www.hr-smith.com

46 ....................AvMAP Navigation.................................................................................... www.avmap.us

16 ....................Max-Viz ................................................................................................www.max-viz.com

58 ....................Bower Helicopter .......................................www.bowerhelicopter.com or 512-345-1292

5.......................MD Helicopters...........................................................................www.mdhelicopters.com

30 ....................Becker Avionics .................................................................................www.beckerusa.com

63 ....................Revue Thommen...............................................................................www.thommen.com
17 ....................Chelton Flight Systems ...............................................................www.cheltonfs.com/heli
49 ....................Robinson Helicopter......................................................................www.robinsonheli.com
59 ....................Chopper Spotter Company......................................www.jbk.rotor.com or 608-537-2049
23 ....................Sagem Avionics......................................................................... www.sagemavionics.com
29 ....................CMC Electronics......................................................................... www.cmcelectronics.com

12 ....................Simplex ..........................................................................................www.simplexmfg.com
28 ....................DeVore Aviation.........................................................................www.devoreaviation.com

33 ....................SkyConnect .....................................................................................www.skyconnect.aero
37 ....................Dyncorp International....................................................www.uh1upgrades.dyn-intl.com

64 ....................Eurocopter..................................................................................www.eurocopterusa.com 27 ....................Turbomeca ...................................................................................... www.turbomeca.com

19 ....................FlightSafety.....................................................................................www.flightsafety.com 6.......................Wulfsberg Electronics........................................................................www.Wulfsberg.com

rotorandwing.com O NOVEMBER 2006 61

15_RW_1106_AdIndexMkt_p59_61.ind61 61 10/18/06 4:38:13 PM


By Sgt. Ernie Stephens
Show Shopping 101
I HAD THE PRIVILEGE OF ATTEND-
ing the 36th annual Airborne Law
Enforcement Assn.s conference,
which was held in July in New
Orleans, for Rotor & Wing. As always,
there were some excellent lectures
and workshops, as well as an exhibi-
tion hall full of the newest products,
services and aircraft.
Among the many people who
stopped past the R&W booth to say
hello was a friend of mine who was
there staffing his companys dis-
play. Ill call him Frank (not his real
name). He introduced me to some
fellow exhibitors who had walked
over with him.
Hands were shaken, pleasant-
ries were exchanged, and Frank got
straight to the heart of a matter that
had been bugging him for some time.
Were worried, because we dont
get as much interest at the police
shows as we do at the other helicopter
shows, he said. Were thinking about
not doing any more police expos.
I can take 10 orders at Heli-Expo,
said one of the other gentlemen. But
Im lucky if I get one here!
Thats easy to explain, I replied.
Ninety-nine percent of the people at
ALEAincluding medont have the
authority to buy a box of paper clips,
let alone $15,000 worth of new gear!
As I explained to the three exhib-
itors, many of the people who visit
non-specific helicopter shows, such
as the Helicopter Assn. Internationals
annual Heli-Expo, have the author-
ity to buy whatever they need on the
spot. It isnt uncommon for the chief
financial officer of a big company to
be there and sign a contract for two $3-
million helicopters. On the other hand,
the line pilots and observers who grace
the exhibition hall at an ALEA show
need a four-page requisition, three for-
mal price quotes and seven signatures
just to order a pair of $25 flight gloves.
In other words, its all about who has
62 NOVEMBER 2006 O
rotorandwing.com
16_RW_1106_LawEnforcement_p62_6462 62
law enforcement
the big checkbook with them. The
three vendors nodded thoughtfully,
as if unaware of how little purchas-
ing power law enforcement aviation
crews have, not to mention how poor-
ly police aviation events are attended
by agency money-handlers.
Then maybe we should stop com-
ing here if we cant sell anything to
anybody, one of the gentlemen said,
more disappointed than angry. I lose
money if I dont make at least one
sale, or develop some leads on one of
these trips.
Hold on, I said. Just because
these people arent buying anything
right here and now doesnt mean you
wont get a sale later on. Once an
agency finally decides to get some-
thing for their air unit, it will probably
be something one of these cops saw
at your booth here, since ALEA is the
only show many of us attend.
I could tell by their faces that they
were still skeptical about spending
money on airfares, lodging, meals,
and shipping just to come to a show
that seems to yield few sales. So I
just came out and asked them a ques-
tion of my own. What would you as
vendors like from public servants who
have very little spending authority?
Their answers were consistent,
and echoed by several other ven-
dors I quizzed. In short, heres what
they said:
CommunicateExhibitors want
to know what our intentions are. If
were serious shoppers, theyll give
us their undivided attention. If were
just browsing, were just as welcome.
Theyll hand us some brochures
and try not to crowd us. Either way,
theyll be cordial and will know how
much time and effort to invest in
selling us on their product.
Be candidThey said not to be
embarrassed if we dont have the
final say-so on the purchase of an
item. If they know that we arent the
ones with the power to spend gov-
ernment money, they can help us
schmooze the people who do.
On the other hand, if we lose
interest in a vendors product, or
our administrators flat out reject
spending the money, sales people
want us to know that it doesnt hurt
their feelings. Just tell them the
idea has been dropped, and theyll
divert their phone calls, mailings
and visits elsewhere.
Give feedbackWhen we stop
past a vendors booth at a show, they
really want to know what we think
about their products, good or bad.
(They were quick to ask that we not
criticize their product in front of a
potential customer, though.) They
said that with the number of people
who attend ALEA (sometimes a cou-
ple of thousand) its an excellent time
for them to get some good feedback
on what our special market wants
and needs.
Okay, lets say that we honor their
requests. Whats in it for us?
According to the vendors, what
well get out of the exchange is the
right level of sales pitch for our level
of interest (and maybe lower costs,
since the more efficiently they spend
their marketing dollars, the less
theyll have to raise prices). It will
also ensure that theyll keep com-
ing to conventions like ALEA, where
we can see and compare a variety of
products suited just for us.
Personally, I dont think theyre
asking for too much. The majority
of the vendors I know seem to be
good, professional people. I also
think they can be valuable allies in
our never-ending quest for the new-
est, shiniest toys!
Ernie Stephens holds a masters degree in aeronautical
science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. He is
chief pilot for a major U.S. county police department. He
can be reached at rotorandwing@accessintel.com.
10/18/06 2:15:56 PM
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