Aviation Week Heli-Expo Show News Briefing - February 24-26, 2008 - (Page 22) Salute to Excellence Banquet on Monday to Honor Veterans, Heros A maintenance veteran, a teacher, a finance communicator and a Coast Guard crew will be honored at HAI’s Salute to Excellence dinner at the Hilton on Monday evening. Rotorcraft Support Inc. president Phillip DiFiore will receive the Helicopter Maintenance Award. DiFiore. Barry Lloyd, a Sacramento-based FAA designated pilot examiner and accident prevention counselor, will receive this year’s Outstanding Certified Flight Instructor Award. Barry Desfor, managing director, of Wauconda, Ill.Lloyd. based HeliValue$, is the recipient of the 2008 Excellence in Communications Award, with specific recognition for his work on helicopter valuation and its relevance to critical issues of leasing and taxation. Last but not least, this year’s Eurocopter Golden Desfor. Hour Award recipients are U.S. Coast Guard HH-65C Crew 6548 from San Francisco, who rescued the crew of the abandoned sailing vessel Cherokee Rose in chaotic, 15-foot seas off Gualala, Calif. following an IFR flight on August 7. HAI is at Booth 2409. Metro for Six Texas Completions Metro Aviation (Booth 1015) has been picked to complete five new Eurocopter AS350B2 helicopters and one Eurocopter EC145 for the Texas Department of Public Safety, a new customer, and will do the work at its new main facility in Shreveport beginning this month. “TDPS has specified a very technologically advanced surveillance, tactical communications and avionics package,” said Metro managing director Milton Geltz. He said Metro “has been increasing its experience and capabilities steadily over the last 25 years in preparation to respond to this type of customer requirement.” Metro holds STCs for AS350, EC135, EC145 and other craft. It is also a FAR Part 135 EMS provider working as far afield as New Hampshire and Montana. Kaman Offers Isolair Tank Connecticut’s Kaman Helicopters (Booth 2447) is talking up the role of its K-Max helicopters in fire-fighting, and confirms that firefighters using Kaman FireMax helicopters have a new water tank option: a 700-gallon, FAA-certified fixed-tank system from Oregon’s Isolair (Booth 3333), available in addition to certified 700-gallon tanks from Kawak Aviation (Booth 2816). Secures Black Hawk Cockpit Work Kaman’s aerostructures unit late last month disclosed a contract to supply cockpits for Sikorsky’s UH-60M, HH-60M and MH-60S model Black Hawk helicopters through 2012, performing the work at Jacksonville, Fla. The value of initial orders to Kaman (Booth 2447) is approximately $74.3 million, the company says. The new multi-year agreement, if fully exercised, has a total potential value to Kaman of approximately $196.4 million. Sikorsky is at Booth 1641. BoomBeams for the Bell 206 “See and be seen!” says Vero Beach, Fla.-based LoPresti SpeedMerchants, which reports an STC for its BoomBeams brand HID (high intensity discharge) lights for Bell 206 helicopters. The product is said to double landing light output, and to give pilots ten times the normally available light for taxiing. “The lights are a superior installation,” PWB Leasing chief pilot Dick Sinnot says in a LoPresti release. “There is no ‘splash back’ of light into the cockpit as with the original installation, especially when near or on the ground. Also, the beam is visible on the ground from about 700 or 800 feet of altitude.” The installation is mounted in the same OEM location on the Bell 206, using the LoPresti designed bracket. Sandel Backlights Popular EHSI Sandel Avionics is promoting a new, LED-backlit version of its popular SN3500, a 3-ATI electronic horizontal situation indicator. “Seeing the dramatic improvement that LED backlighting offered in our 4-ATI systems, we made it a priority to upgrade the 3-ATI SN3500, to provide piston-aircraft operators with the same display enhancement, cost savings and other benefits,” said Gerry Block, Sandel’s CEO. The EHSI’s new backlight technology now boasts a 10,000 hours MTBF. Operational benefits of the LED backlighting upgrade include increased sunlight readability, resolution and color fidelity, along with enhanced unit life and dispatch reliability, and a significant reduction in maintenance costs and aircraft downtime. Sandel is at Booth 2441. February 24, 2008 USCG Lieutenants Robert Fitzgerald and Derrick Greer, maintenance technician and flight mechanic Brian Patrick, and rescue swimmer Dan Strange of HH-65C. 22 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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