From The Desk of The Editor


It’s a Fine Line Between Hero and Nuisance


I always fi nd it interesting, the dichotomy and irony that exists between helicopters and the communities they serve. Isn’t it a fi ne line between being a hero and being a nuisance?


When I was an EMS pilot, we fl ew a young man to the trauma center following a terrible motorcycle accident. The young man’s father was so grateful for our service that he hand-delivered to us 20 fi let mignons and several cases of beer. Naturally, I have no recollection as to what happened to the beer, but I do know that we ate the “you know what” out of those steaks!


In contrast, the local sheriff ’s helicopters were based only a few thousand feet away from us. Those guys were good at their jobs and fl ew a lot of thankless hours in the middle of the night when the rest of the world was safe in their beds.


There were citizens near the airport that took every opportunity to publicly crucify the aviation unit. While even our EMS operation got the occasional complaint, it seemed that no matter how often they changed their fl ight routines, it was impossible to satisfy certain members of the community. Haters love to hate helis . . . until they need one.


In recent years, the helicopter industry has done a much better job of bringing not only sectors within our industry together, but also bringing the public we serve closer to the helicopter community. We realized years ago that educating the public is key in areas where our aircraft interface with the general population. HAI’s “Fly Neighborly” program was a great example of our industry taking a real interest in showing goodwill to the public.


In this issue, we dedicate many pages to the concept of communities coming together. In one of our features, we display three distinct examples of this happening. We cover the interaction of communities within our industry and how some of those groups reach out to the public. Few sectors do this more eff ectively than our brothers


2 July 2014


and sisters in law enforcement and EMS. Also, we highlight not one, but two aviation units: the Stanislaus County (California) Sheiff ’s Department Air Support Unit and the Hillsborough County (Florida) Sheriff ’s Offi ce Aviation Section.


Our Rotorcraft Pro team will see you on the ALEA convention fl oor in Phoenix, Arizona. Come visit us at booth 904!


Lyn Burks, Editor In Chief


Publisher Brig Bearden


brig@rotorcraftpro.com Editor-In-Chief Lyn Burks


lyn.burks@rotorcraftpro.com Layout Design David Matuskey


production@rotorcraftpro.com Online Accounts Manager Lynnette Burks


lynnette.burks@rotorcraftpro.com Copy Editor


Rick Weatherford rick@rotorcraftpro.com Social Media Guru Josh Lash


Clay Branum / Rick Weatherford Contributing Writers Rick Adams James Careless


Randy Mains Brad McNally


Steve Goldsworthy Tim Pruitt Caterina Hessler Matt Johnson


Randy Rowles Scott Skola


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