SAFETY AWARD For outstanding contributions to the promotion of rotorcraft safety and safety awareness Rex Alexander President, Five-Alpha, Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA
A veteran vertical aviation professional, Rex Alexander has made significant strides increasing safety in the industry through patience, diplomacy, and perseverance. Alexander began flying in 1985 as a US Army helicopter pilot. During his 10-year military career, he also served in the Indiana Army National Guard as a pilot, instructor pilot, and standardization instructor pilot. After leaving the military, he flew helicopters for the offshore oil-and-gas industry and then signed on as a helicopter air ambulance pilot with Omniflight Helicopters. Over the next 20 years, Alexander became a force for safety in the air ambulance industry. He joined the Indiana Association of Air Medical Services and the National EMS Pilots Association (NEMSPA), serving on their boards and as president of both organizations. “I lost a lot of good friends in military and EMS accidents,” Alexander says.
“When you look at the accidents, most were completely preventable. One of the biggest things that pushes me is that pilots are held to a higher standard than anyone else when looking at an accident. After an accident occurs, it’s way too easy to blame pilot error. It requires effort and specialized training to identify and classify the causes of and contributing factors in an accident. I’m driven to identify these causes and contributing factors, educate the industry on why they are threats, and work to eliminate them.” While in the industry, Alexander began designing heliports and helping
Rex Alexander
“I’m driven to identify the causes and contributing factors [of accidents], educate the industry on why they are threats, and work to eliminate them.”
Sponsored by
hospitals identify safety issues related to heliport standards, building and fire codes, and pilot education. He used this knowledge to advocate increased safety across the industry. In 2006, he worked with NEMSPA colleagues to develop the HEMS Weather Tool. In 2007, he became cochair of the new Infrastructure Working Group (IWG) at the US Helicopter Safety Team (USHST). In 2013, the IWG and the National Center for Atmospheric Research
held a joint industry–government summit to identify roadblocks to launching the tool, which was still in experimental status. Te meeting ultimately uncovered a roadmap to bring about FAA-mandated changes, so that the HEMS Weather Tool was established under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aviation Weather Center. Alexander and the IWG have since hosted eight successful summits on
advancing safety and improving low altitude–aviation infrastructure. Heliport and vertiport safety remain key passions for Alexander.
Today, among other advisory roles, he serves on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Advanced Air Mobility
Ecosystem Working Groups and chairs the National Fire Protection Association’s Helicopter Facilities Technical Committee. He also teaches at the US Department of Transportation’s Transportation Safety Institute. “What drives Rex every day is knowing system safety is always perishable,” wrote Tom
Judge, executive director of LifeFlight of Maine, in his nomination letter. “Every day, our people climb into helicopters and operate in a safer environment due to Rex’s efforts.”
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