Evergreen International Aviation (Booth No. 4920) is looking to expand its roots. Evergreen began as a commercial helicopter service business in the 1960s but quickly grew into a diversified aviation company that included aircraft charter, salvage, and modification.

After a moment of silence in respect for members lost in the past year, Jim Kettles, vice president of the venerable Twirly Birds brought to order the association’s annual meeting. It’s tradition, he explained, for the Twirly Birds to convene their meeting during Heli-Expo.

The International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST) has reached a tentative agreement of cooperation with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) to enhance the safety of helicopter operations in nine countries that make up the commonwealth.

FOCUS on…AUTOROTATION TRAINING “Infrequent autorotation training is dangerous,” said Chad Oakley, chief pilot at the Bell Academy, yesterday at a Heli-Expo training session called, “Autorotations, Reality Exposed.” Other participants at the one-hour session–pilots, instructors, and representatives from the FAA, NTSB, OEMs, and several fleet operators–agreed.

Bond Aviation Group signed a contract to purchase 16 Sikorsky S-92 helicopters at Heli-Expo 2012, the largest single order for S-92s ever recorded. Sikorsky will begin delivering the aircraft in groups of four-to-five a year starting in the second quarter of 2013.

Carey Bond, chief marketing officer for Sikorsky, welcomed the Bond (no relation) aviation group to the Sikorsky family with a celebratory contract signing and a toast at the Sikorsky exhibit booth (No. 6148).

Milestone Aviation Group (Booth No 7010), a helicopter financing company, made a splash at Heli-Expo this year, announcing a $480 million deal with Eurocopter (Booth No. 1917) for 16 EC225s, a contract with Sikorsky Aircraft (Booth No. 6148) for three S-92s (terms not disclosed), and a $125-135 million leasing agreement with major operator Bristow Group for five large helicopters.

FOCUS on…GADGETS If Harry Potter’s was a world of wizardry, Heli-Expo 2012 is a world of gadgetry. Hundreds of them. Some lesser, some greater. Some serious, and some downright amusing. In the interest of ensuring items both serious and amusing, we use the term “gadget” loosely.

Kaman Helicopters’ (Booth No. 5222) K-Max “unmanned aerial truck” has delivered nearly 200,000 pounds of cargo since the helicopter entered service in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marine Corps on December 17. Two of the pilotless, heavy-lift helicopters have logged about 100 hours over the skies of Afghanistan on cargo missions.

This could be a called a tale of two cities, but it’s a little more complicated than that.

First, you have Washington, D.C., which has had a viable heliport since early 1998, but it depends on your definition of the word “viable.”

Then you have Dallas, which has had Garland/DRW Heliport since 1988, one of fewer than a dozen stand-alone public-use heliports in the U.S. It was joined in 1994 by 49T, a heliport on the roof of the Dallas Convention Center.