Van Nevel vs FAA

[HOSS 1]

Here is a disturbing story about a small helo manufacturer trying to make it, and some vengeful FAA thugs. Armed snipers for a helicopter company raid? Is this really what has become of the USA?
part 1
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=821
part 2
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=838
part 3
http://www.northescambia.com/?p=857

Quite simply, sad.:(


HOSS

[SASless]

So much for the complaint "...the FAA is getting too chummy with the airlines...".

I would love to see the Probable Cause Statement in the Search Warrant Affadavit where the FAA had to set forth the information used to convince a Federal Judge or Magistrate to issue the warrant.

That Problable Cause has to be set forth within the four corners of the Affadavit and must be in some detail to be valid.

If only minor discrepancies were found on all of the prior inspections.....and there is no "inside" source to point out the evidence trail....it would appear the FAA will be batting a sticky wicket in court.

Also.....pray tell why the FAA could not have shown up during business hours and politely knocked on the door and announce service of the search warrant?

I can understand the assistance of the Sheriff's Office (almost anyway!) but a forced entry and use of a SWAT Team....now that fails to pass the smell test!

It will be interesting waiting for the proverbial fat gal to sing!

[HOSS 1]

Interesting that he claims a FAA person with whom he had had a personal issue, instigated all this.

Could one (or two) people within the FAA really have the power to do all this?
Seems his only real "crime" was to add a "V" to old part numbers.

Reminds me of the Bob Hoover debacle. In that case, wasn't it just two FAA insiders that caused the whole ruckus?

[Alloa Akbar]

I met Georges on a professional level in 2007, and whilst we can only take people at face value, I must say I found him to be a decent, knowledgable and highly professional guy, and his love of helicopters shone through every time.

Good on ya Georges.. don't let the b**tards grind you down!!:ok:

[Turkey32]

This is going to be an interesting battle. I would like to see the progress on this. I myself have time on the FH1100 for which still flies today, and flies well for that matter. They are a very nice aircraft to fly and wouldnt take much to make some suttle improvements to be competing in the market again. It would be sadd to see these machines leave the market. I'm sure that Van Nevel will win this battle overall however this guy needs alot of support.

[Cyclic Hotline]

No Sale: Helicopter Technologies Building Buyer Backs Out : NorthEscambia.com (http://www.northescambia.com/?p=3015)

Looks like the end for this guy.

[The Hustler]

Having heard the news about the new M visa from 2010, and the lifting of the cap of 8 schools being allowed to teach foreign students I was looking again at Van Nevel as their deal seemed worth considering and they would hopefully be applying to the DHS . . . then I stumbled upon the articles mentioned above :(

Then I noticed that the NTSB published the results of their investigation into the probable cause of the fatal crash of the newly refurb'd FH1100 mentioned (N313BG). Posted here if anyone's interested :-

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=DFW07FA198&rpt=fi

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/GenPDF.asp?id=DFW07FA198&rpt=fa

[VeeAny]

Hustler

From the way I read the Final Accident report there was a mast bumping incident and the rotor system came off. I am sorry for the loss of the guys onboard but don't understand the relevance of the NTSBs conclusions and what is referred to in the rest of the thread.

Don't know the bloke or company referred to in this thread, but the accident report doesn't make mention of any wrong doing, component issues or similar, just an event to which all teetering rotor helicopters are prone.

My comments refer only Hustlers post on the accident reports and not the rest of the thread.

Gary

[The Hustler]

I only posted the NTSB report as the crash was mentioned in Part 1 of the article linked to by HOSS 1 at the top of the thread, and as several comments on the web alluded to the fact that it was due to Georges Van Nevel being a cowboy (in fact some comments on the web are blatant in their name calling).

Apologies - I should have made clear that the 2 parts of my post weren't meant to be taken as related or cause-and-effect.

[rick1128]

I looked at VN to do my Helicopter Instrument and CFII. It was an interesting program and they were willing to work with people. I talked with several pilots that had flown the 1100 and all stated that while not as pronounced as the R22, mast bumping was possible.

[rotors88]

As is the case in ALL 2 bladed, semi-ridged teetering headed helicopters (mast bumping)