predominantly with the tail rotor rather than the cyclic to keep the aircraft flat and the equipment in view of the lines. On one particular occasion, I let my concentration lapse after flying all day and made a slow, flat left-hand turn onto a line into a tailwind while going 30 knots at less than 300 feet. When I got onto the new line, the aircraft resolutely continued its left turn despite full opposite pedal as I entered an LTE condition. The only thing I could do was ‘dive’ the aircraft off the line (without getting low-G) to gain airspeed and stability. It gave me a real appreciation for LTE and to always be aware of wind direction.
RPMN: IF YOU COULD GIVE ONLY ONE PIECE OF ADVICE TO NEW PILOTS, MECHANICS, OR SUPPORT PERSONNEL, WHAT WOULD IT BE?
As Al Pacino said in The Devil’s Advocate, “The worst vice is advice,” so I’ll say that my biggest suggestion and perspective is how important it is to critically LISTEN and LEARN when deciding to come into any area in the aviation sector, or indeed, to select a school for flight training. The importance of separating the hyperbole and misinformation from social media when you get bombarded from all directions by adverts, crazy videos glorifying questionable behavior, and “expert” opinion pieces is so important. There is a huge amount of opportunity in the future of our industry, and it’s an amazing time to get involved with the emergence of so many new and exciting technologies, but be wary of getting sucked in under pretenses that may give you a very distorted view of reality.
RPMN: IN YOUR VIEW, WHAT IS THE GREATEST CHALLENGE FOR THE HELICOPTER INDUSTRY AT THIS MOMENT IN TIME?
I think right now, it’s the issue of emerging technologies and how to, or indeed how they should, integrate and interact with existing
legacy platforms and infrastructure. This is from both a regulatory and integration (hardware and software) perspective. There can be no doubt that drones will continue to develop in both complexity, speed, size, and use cases. However, their successful integration into the National Airspace System, keeping them de-conflicted with other manned traffic, has not yet been resolved as far as I am aware. Likewise, the eVTOL DEP industry has an uncomfortable relationship, at best, with the existing helicopter industry, threatening, at least in principle, to take significant urban market share from traditional rotorcraft. However, the true reality of in-service timelines and exactly how they will integrate into large U.S. metropolitan environments is unclear. Lastly, the evolution of AI will undoubtedly create many challenges in how aircraft are piloted in the future.
We are largely deterministic in our software design for fly-by-wire and augmented systems for system behavior predictability. The lure of using AI to develop potentially more powerful non-deterministic control systems will create very challenging and convoluted flight-risk profiles for companies to manage safely.
Do you know someone who would be a good subject for Meet a Rotor Pro? Email your suggestion to the editor-in-chief:
lyn.burks@rotorpro.com
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