ik-ˈsep-shnə-ˌli-zəm FROM THE DESK OF THE EDITOR
Exceptionalism Abounds In the Vertical Lift Industry
Frank Sonnenberg, author of the book “Listen to Your Conscience: That’s Why You Have One,” wrote, “Exceptional people don’t shun tests of their strength and determination – they relish them.”
It almost seems there’s a cultural movement in some parts of society to diminish the idea of exceptionalism. Personally, I hope the movement is not successful because in our industry, we are blessed with many exceptional people and companies that keep driving us all collectively to new heights in safety, technology, and performance.
Without the existence of these exceptional people and companies, we would be relegated to hand flying underpowered helicopters in only VFR conditions using only basic instrumentation — and training in them too! Instead, we are seeing exponential technological advancements in vertical lift aircraft that will relegate many old platforms to obsolescence. It’s both a scary and interesting time for those of us living it.
As you will see on page 67 in our piece titled “The Push for Cleaner Propulsion,” the OEMs are full steam ahead on developing cleaner, greener propulsion systems for helicopters in an effort to do our part in reducing CO2
emissions. In fact, much of the technology
they’re moving towards is not fully developed. They are, however, taking the long view and using some current technologies as a “bridge” to the end goal.
Lyn Burks, Editor-In-Chief
On the military vertical lift front, perhaps one of the largest attempts at a paradigm shift in a half century is being pursued aggressively by Bell Flight. On page 58 in our article titled “Bell Attempts U.S. Military Paradigm Shift with V-280 Valor,” we explore Bell’s Future Long-Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) bid to transform the U.S. Army’s helicopter program, which has been dominated by the UH- 60 Black Hawk for 43 years, with its V-280 tiltrotor.
Finally, being that this is the APSCON issue that focuses on law enforcement operations, we were quite honored to spend a couple days with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Aviation Unit, a group full of exceptional people. On page 46, we explore this extremely busy aviation unit that uses Airbus H145 and MD 500F helicopters and a bunch of high-tech equipment to not only patrol and reduce crime, but also to rescue those in need throughout an area larger than the state of New Jersey.
For those people and organizations in our industry who are exceptional and keep us safe and progressing forward, Rotorcraft Pro salutes you. Perhaps we can meet at APSCON 2022. Please come visit us in Booth 108.
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Editor-In-Chief Lyn Burks
lyn.burks@rotorcraftpro.com Account Executives
Teri Rivas
teri.rivas@rotorcraftpro.com Brad Shubargo
brad@rotorcraftpro.com Circulation Manager
Laura Lentz Layout Design
Bryan Matuskey
production@rotorcraftpro.com
Online Accounts Manager Lynnette Burks
lynnette.burks@rotorcraftpro.com Copy Editors
Rick Weatherford
Joanna Nellans Social Media Guru Laura Lentz
Content Creators James Careless Randy Mains Joanna Nellans Jennifer Ferrero Rick Weatherford Wes Van Dell Randy Rowles Mark Tyler Matt Johnson Uros Podlogar
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May/June 2022
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