Spotlight Archives - Helicopter Association International

HAI Member Spotlight: Spidertracks, New Zealand

Jen Boyer — Tue, 01 Jun 2021 10:00:52 +0000

A look at an international HAI member up close and personal. The idea for Spidertracks took root in 2005, when a high-profile New Zealand resident crashed his helicopter near the country’s remote west coast. The following two-week search-and-rescue effort came at a huge financial and emotional toll for his loved ones. The resulting national media coverage caught the attention of a few creative and curious minds who would eventually envision a better, more-affordable way to track and locate aircraft. Thus was Spidertracks born. Based in Auckland, New Zealand, the company today is a leading provider of aircraft fleet tracking, communication, and safety management solutions for thousands of aircraft across the world. At their core, Spidertracks’s solutions are designed to enable operators to see precisely where every one of their aircraft is in real time and to be immediately alerted in a worst-case scenario. Using the Iridium satellite network, Spidertracks covers every inch of the globe, sending 12 position reports per minute to the cloud, regardless of local infrastructure, ADS-B coverage, or cellular reception. These reports are graphically displayed on an easy-to-use map interface, with each position point listing latitude, longitude, time, altitude, speed, and direction. The interface is accessible via (more…)

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HAI Member Spotlight: Hampton Roads Helicopters, Virginia, USA

Jen Boyer — Tue, 25 May 2021 10:00:50 +0000

A look at an HAI member up close and personal. Hampton Roads Helicopters (HRH) is a full-service aviation company based at Hampton Roads Executive Airport (KPVG) in Chesapeake, Virginia. The operator is one of two companies owned by lifetime industry veteran Dave Hynes, a helicopter and airplane flight instructor and helicopter designated pilot examiner. In addition to HRH, Hynes is president of Hampton Roads Charter Service (HRCS), an authorized Robinson Helicopter dealer and service center and aircraft management company. Together, HRH and HRCS provide FAA Part 135 helicopter charter services, flight instruction, aircraft ferrying services, aerial tours, as well as support for aerial photography/videography, special events, land surveys, and utility patrol. The two companies also offer helicopter maintenance, new- and used-aircraft sales and leasing, and aircraft hangaring, management, and pilot services. A Family Tradition Founded in 2005 by Dave Hynes and Andy Gibbs, HRH is a family business built on a rich helicopter history. Hynes’s brother, Patrick Hynes, also a helicopter and airplane instructor as well as an A&P mechanic, serves as HRH’s director of maintenance. Two of six children of 2021 HAI Salute to Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Michael Hynes, the brothers grew up around and worked for Brantly-Hynes Helicopters in the 1970s (more…)

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HAI Member Spotlight: Luma Technologies, Washington, USA

Jen Boyer — Tue, 18 May 2021 10:00:50 +0000

A look at an HAI member up close and personal. Since 2006, Bellevue, Washington-based Luma Technologies has designed and manufactured lighted displays and custom switching products for both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. The company was founded with the goal of bringing affordable solid-state technology to the rapidly changing cockpit environment. Luma combines creative analytical design with proven solid-state optical and LED technology to increase the reliability and performance of traditional lights, switches, and other cockpit controls. What’s more, most of the company’s technology is goggles-ready, allowing for immediate compatibility for NVIS (night-vision imaging system) operations. Luma’s integrated LED displays replace traditional ganged and matrixed annunciator banks with high-performance LED technology combined with one or more single-piece, multicelled legend plates. This approach eliminates intermittent and burned-out lamps, scalding surface temperatures, and uneven or jammed cap assemblies common with standard assemblies. LED Annunciators Luma’s latest line of LED annunciators, the LT-3000 Series, features a host of traditional and low-profile packaging options. The series’ unit was originally developed as a drop-in LED solution for “Grimes” style designs used on older aircraft with traditional, screw terminal–type hardware. The product has similar applicability on Russian-made Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters and offers a quick, affordable solution for aircraft struggling with (more…)

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HAI Member Spotlight: Kelly Manufacturing, Kansas, USA

Jen Boyer — Tue, 11 May 2021 10:34:03 +0000

A look at an HAI member up close and personal. Kelly Manufacturing Co. (KMC) of Wichita, Kansas, manufactures the popular RC Allen line of analog instruments and their digital counterparts. The largest manufacturer of general aviation aircraft instruments in the world, KMC operates manufacturing plants in Wichita and Grenola, Kansas. Both facilities also house FAA licensed repair stations. A Storied Past The RC Allen line of instruments has a storied past that KMC keeps alive through modernization and expansion. RC Allen Inc. was founded by Ralph C. Allen in 1932 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It later became RC Allen Business Machines Inc. and was one of the leading makers of business machines. Thousands of old RC Allen cash registers, adding machines, and typewriters are still in existence across the country today. With the onset of World War II, the demand for a large quantity of aircraft propelled RC Allen Business Machines into the aviation world. RC Allen facilities were ideal for manufacturing the delicate instruments needed for the war effort. As a result, thousands of RC Allen turn and bank instruments were installed on war-bound aircraft. After the war, RC Allen continued as a major government contractor manufacturing instruments for the Korean (more…)

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HAI Member Spotlight: Eagle Copters, Canada

Jen Boyer — Tue, 04 May 2021 10:08:45 +0000

A look at an HAI member up close and personal. Based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Eagle Copters was founded in 1975 with a lease fleet composed of a single Alouette II. Today, the company operates on three continents through an international network of subsidiaries, affiliates, and joint-venture partnerships. With locations in North America, South America, and Australia, Eagle specializes in worldwide helicopter fleet management, including sales, leasing, completions, product development, engineering, parts and logistics, and maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) services for major OEM platforms. As Eagle has grown over the past four and a half decades, the company has added services to better meet its customers’ specific operational needs. A key such service is the ability to engineer, develop, and certify a host of products to customize aircraft. Engine Conversions A prime example of Eagle’s added capabilities is the Eagle 407HP program, an engine upgrade conversion that delivers considerable power and performance to the Bell 407 helicopter. The Eagle 407HP conversion replaces the Rolls-Royce C47 turbine engine with a next-generation Honeywell HTS900 turboshaft engine, substantially improving the high-altitude and hot ambient-temperature performance of the Bell 407 for a faster, more powerful, fuel-efficient aircraft. The Eagle 407HP currently supports the utility, air (more…)

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