Author

Bill Wagstaff

Latest from Bill Wagstaff

Rotorcraft

Carroll Suggs Sells Off Controlling Interest in PHI

An era has ended in the helicopter offshore oil-support business with Carroll Suggs, wife of Petroleum Helicopters Inc.
Accidents

Columbia Helicopters BV-107 Crash Claims Three

A Boeing Vertol BV-107 operated by Columbia Helicopters of Portland, Ore., crashed in August during a maintenance check flight in southern Montana, killing
Rotorcraft

Bell Announces Layoffs

Bell Helicopter Textron last month announced plans to lay off 270 workers at its Fort Worth-area plants.
Rotorcraft

Helicopter Plan Enrages North Sea Rescue Vessel Operators

For those toiling for oil on the roiling North Sea, the stormy nature of that piece of water keeps the possibility of rescue constantly in mind.
Rotorcraft

NASCAR needs helos to move

The men and women who race cars on the Nascar circuit are addicts.
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: Tltrotor flight-test proceeding satisfactorily

A pair of Bell Boeing MV-22 tiltrotor transports have joined the remedial developmental flight-test program that’s hoped to get the cause of tiltrotor oper
Rotorcraft

U.S. Army sold on the benefits of pilot airbags

Most aviators feel pretty secure when ensconced in that expensive, fleece-covered, form-fitted cockpit seat, their bodies held firmly in place by a five-po
Security

New York’s flying finest cope with post-Sept. 11 realities

More than a year later, southern Manhattan still seems scarred, incomplete; the variegated skyline stretching the length of the island seems an archite
Accidents

In-depth exam of aeromed accidents yields results

Last month’s annual meeting of the Association of Air Medical Services was its usual low-key success as some 2,500 aeromedical professionals, a record numb
Safety

Rotorcraft Update: Emergency AD grounds Bell 407 fleet

Once again, an emergency AD (No.
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: Aeromed pioneer passes on

Ellsworth “Dutch” Kuhlman, the hospital executive who in 1972 founded the Flight for Life medical airlift program at Denver’s St.
Accidents

Rotorcraft Update: Beloved French baker killed in helo crash

French baking baron Lionel Poilane was killed November 7 when the Agusta 109C he was piloting crashed into the sea off Brittany, France’s northwestern coas
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: U.S. corporate helo hit by ground fire

A helicopter owned and operated by U.S.
Rotorcraft

PZL-Swidnik’s turbine single helo certified

More than a decade-and-a-half after PZL-Swidnik introduced it to the Western world in 1985, the Polish helicopter manufacturer’s Ecureuil-like SW-4 turbine
Rotorcraft

Top of the world

In a world in which one can, by means of a relatively inexpensive handheld GPS, determine one’s position within two feet, there just aren’t a lot of explor
Rotorcraft

On-demand helo airline to link NE Corridor sites

The successful helicopter airline is the rotorcraft world’s equivalent of the lost continent of Atlantis.
Regulations and Government

Rotorcraft Update: NTSB wants certain helo pilots to be IFR proficient

Helicopter pilots who conduct commercial passenger-carrying flights in areas where whiteout conditions routinely occur should be required to have a helicop
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: Biggest Sikorsky ever proposed

Nobody beats the Russians when it comes to rotorcraft “bigness.” Mil unveiled the Mi-12 in 1971 and later hoisted a record-setting 44 tons to more than 7,0
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: Wrong place, wrong time, baby's fine

Most medevac helicopter missions are a race against time, and when the helicopter loses, it’s usually a time for sadness.
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: First EC 145 U.S. sales

American Eurocopter has sold its first EC 145 in the U.S., to the Lee County (Florida) division of public safety/EMS.
Security

Rotorcraft Update: How to avoid football (and other big public gatherings)

The FAA has released a list of stadiums to help pilots comply with notam 2/0199.
Rotorcraft

Rotorcraft Update: If they'd never brought it up...

For the last 15 years, a northern New Jersey bank has been quietly landing its AS 350 AStar on a grassy patch of ground a few yards from its Ramsey o
Rotorcraft

CHC posted on the big board

CHC Helicopter Corp.
Rotorcraft

IMAX flick shows helos in a good light

Helicopters have traditionally gotten short shrift in the movies.
Rotorcraft

Air Methods & Rocky merged

Finalizing an acquisition process long under way, leading aeromedical transport operator Air Methods of Denver acquired Rocky Mountain Holdings (RMH) of Pr
Rotorcraft

Sikorsky Outlines S-76 Improvements

Focusing on the needs of the corporate user, Sikorsky Aircraft used last month’s NBAA Convention to outline a series of fresh improvements applicable to it
Rotorcraft

S-92 Completes First Full Autorotation

Sikorsky’s S-92 medium-twin program has passed another milestone on its way to certification as prototype number four performed two flawless autorotational
Accidents

Mercy Air EMS Accident Claims Three

A Bell 222 operated by Air Methods subsidiary Mercy Air crashed on September 7 at 4:40 a.m.
Rotorcraft

What Worked for Beer May Work for Bell

Beset with stagnant civil sales, a stymied multi-billion-dollar, investment-intensive defense project and a dearth of new programs in the pipeline, Bell He