First responders sign up more than 250 helicopters
HAI’s first-responder database is up and running with more than 250 helicopters registered since it became operational last July.

HAI’s first-responder database is up and running with more than 250 helicopters registered since it became operational last July. The association formed the database in response to communications gaps that came to light after 9/11 and rescue missions flown in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The database is designed to allow various government agencies to quickly identify and request specific civil sector helicopters in the hours and days following a national emergency.

For several years, HAI had held discussions with various federal agencies in an attempt to form a government-sponsored database, but those discussions never got off the ground. When Matt Zuccaro became president of HAI in 2005, he tasked his organization’s IT department with creating a database independent of the government. “I felt that if HAI didn’t do it, no one would,” he said.

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