Aviation Week Heli-Expo Show News Briefing - February 24-26, 2008 - (Page 3) Safety Begets Access, It’s the Key to Everything “Safety drives everything we do. Safety, the first priority. Safety drives everything. Safety affects your access to airspace and your ability to develop your access through infrastructure.” That’s the word from Helicopter Association International president Matt Zuccaro going into Matt Zuccaro. Heli-Expo 2008, which marks the 60th anniversary of the vertical flight association. Heli-Expo gives the industry’s many providers a place to hawk their products and services, and allows HAI itself to reinforce its message of Safety First. HAI is doing so by hosting a Safety Forum here, as well as providing updates on such activities as the International Helicopter Safety T eam AVIATION WEEK President Tom Henricks SHOW NEWS Briefing Publisher Greg Hamilton Editor-In-Chief John Morris Morrisoff@aol.com 860-365-0445 Senior Editor Rich Piellisch Senior Art Director & IT Manager Kirk Fetzer Editorial Assistant Mara Morris Director of Sales Mark Flinn mark_flinn@aviationweek.com Operations Manager Erving Dockery, Jr. (www.ihst.org), which hosted its first International Helicopter Safety Symposium in Montreal in 2005. More recently, IHST has been holding targeted symposia, addressing tour helicopter safety at meetings in Hawaii and Las Vegas, fire-fighting issues in Boise, and ENG (electronic news-gathering) in Los Angeles. A symposium is planned on EMS operations (likely in the central U.S.) and another for the oil/energy sector, and a Middle East safety symposium is planned for Helishow Dubai 2008 in November. “We’re getting a sense that the culture is starting to get affected by it,” Zuccaro says of the safety issue. “It’s a constant subject theme.” Zuccaro’s general message for HeliExpo 2008? “Have A Los Angeles a great flight and fly Sikorsky Firehawk neighborly.” HAI is helicopter dumps at Booth 2409. water on a fire. Robinson Helicopter’s R44 model. The company sold 664 of them last year, a record for any type. Recession-Proof? EMS, SAR, fire-fighting, energy development. The very nature of most helicopter missions makes demand for them less likely to drop when the economy falls off, observes HAI president Matt Zuccaro. “Everything is looking very positive,” he says. “Vertical lift has finally made its way into every phase of life and every segment of society has realized its value.” When calamity strikes, Zuccaro says, “People expect to see a helicopter response.” “I don’t know if I remember a time that’s been as successful,” the HAI chief told Show News. “We’ve had a great year and we anticipate we’re going to have an even better one in 2008.” Smith Honored Posthumously Captain Paul Smith will be honored posthumously with HAI’s Joe Mashman Safety Award at 2008’s Salute to Excellence Awards Banquet at the Hilton Captain Paul Smith. Monday evening. Smith had been the longest serving member of HAI’s Safety Committee, serving since 1989, including as Safety Committee chairman. He was a longtime member and former president of the Eastern Region Helicopter Council and was ERHC Safety Committee chairman. Smith, 60, was killed when an out-ofcontrol taxi ran onto a crowded sidewalk in Manhattan on October 7. His wife Donna was seriously injured, as were other members of the Smith family. According to HAI president Matt Zuccaro, Smith often made the point that flying in a helicopter was safer than being a pedestrian. His death, Zuccaro told Show News, was the “irony of all ironies.” It was an “absolute tragedy,” Zuccaro said. The day following Smith’s death, in his honor, there were no TV stations in New York City flying their helicopters. More HAI awards on Page 22. Manufacturer CEO Forum HAI is hosting a Manufacturer CEO Forum from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. in the convention center on Monday. Following a ten-minute introduction by HAI president Matt Zuccaro, the line-up is 1:40 Giuseppe Orsi, CEO, AgustaWestland 2:00 Richard Millman, President & CEO, Bell Helicopter 2:20 Lynn Tilton, CEO, MD Helicopters 2:40 Frank Robinson, President & Chairman, Robinson Helicopter 3:00 Jeff Pino, President, Sikorsky Aircraft Show News Briefing is published at Heli-Expo 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121 AVIATION WEEK also publishes Show News, Aviation Week & Space Technology, Aviation Daily, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, Business and Commercial Aviation, Overhaul & Maintenance, The Weekly of Business Aviation, Defense Technology International, and the World Aerospace Database including World Aviation Directory. Material in this publication may not be reproduced in any form without permission. © Copyright 2008 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Library of Congress ISSN 1092-6151 www.aviationweek.com/shownews February 24, 2008 3 http://www.ihst.org http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews
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