HAI Announces Salute to Excellence Winners

[Heliport]

HAI Announces Salute to Excellence Winners

HAI's Awards Committee met on December 12 to select the winners of HAI's prestigious "Salute to Excellence" Awards.

The "Salute to Excellence" awards program, now in its 43rd year, recognizes outstanding achievement performed by individuals or companies in the civil helicopter industry.
Winners will be recognized during the HAI "Salute to Excellence" banquet and awards ceremony to be held on March 16, 2004, at HELI-EXPO 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

THE WINNERS ARE:

AVIATION MAINTENANCE TECHNICIAN AWARD: Marc H. Cabibbo; Sgt./Supervisor of Maintenance, New York City Police Department Aviation Unit, Brooklyn, New York

AVIATION REPAIR SPECIALIST AWARD: Val Marshall; Aviation Maintenance Technician, Era Aviation, Inc., Lake Charles, Louisiana

IGOR I. SIKORSKY AWARD FOR HUMANITARIAN SERVICE: Jose Carvalho; Pilot and Base Manager, Evergreen Helicopters, Inc., McMinnville, Oregon

THE JOE MASHMAN SAFETY AWARD: United States Aviation Underwriters, Inc. (USAIG); New York, New York

OUTSTANDING CERTIFIED FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR AWARD: A. Wayne Brown; Assistant Chief Flight Instructor, Bell Helicopter Training Academy/Bell Helicopter Textron, Inc., Fort Worth, Texas

AGUSTA COMMUNITY SERVICE AWARD: Jack Alexander; Site Manager, Keystone Helicopters-Metro Life Flight, Cleveland, Ohio

EUROCOPTER GOLDEN HOUR AWARD: Captain Mike Toms and Aircrewman Euan McKenzie; Snowy Hydro SouthCare Aero-medical and Rescue Helicopter Service, Curtin, ACT, Australia

HELICOPTER MAINTENANCE AWARD: John P. Subbe; Rotary-Wing Quality Assurance Supervisor, Pfizer, Inc., West Trenton, New Jersey

MD HELICOPTERS LAW ENFORCEMENT AWARD: James A. DiGiovanna; Captain, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, Long Beach, California

LAWRENCE D. BELL MEMORIAL AWARD: Peter Wright Jr.; President and Chief Operating Officer, Keystone Helicopter Corporation. Mr. Wright has been promoted to Vice Chairman, as of January 1, 2004, of Keystone Ranger Holdings, Inc., West Chester, Pennsylvania

ROBERT E. TRIMBLE MEMORIAL AWARD: Qwest Communications/Lyle Borders, Terry Bleed, Tom Settje; Captains Rotor Wing, Englewood, Colorado

PILOT OF THE YEAR AWARD: Laurence Perry and Rick Harmon: Laurence Perry; Pilot, Classic Helicopters, Woods Cross, Utah. Rick Harmon; Pilot, Hawkins & Powers Aviation, Inc., Greybull, Wyoming



For further info about the history of the award and the categories, click: Salute to Excellence. (http://www.rotor.com/get.php?page=salute/webpage.htm)

[Thomas coupling]

Nothing like a fair and unbiased sprinkling of international awards of excellence...eh?

HAI: Helicopters America Inhouse?

[Autorotate]

Agree 100%. Why dont they just change the name to Helicopter Assn of America as they rarely do anything to support the intl helicopter community.

Autorotate.

[Firepilot]

Hey Guys, Don't get too bent out of shape. The people who actually win the awards have to be nominated by someone (ie., your employer). If someone doesn't nominate you won't win. I'm not saying there is no bias, but maybe the industry at large is unaware of that fact. There are quite a few civil helicopters operating in North America compared to many other areas of the world.

[Autorotate]

Firepilot - If you look at everything the HAI does it is slanted towards the US (no offence) and their representation to helping foreign (outside US) companies is minimal to say the least.

Basically the only thing a foreign member gets for their membership dollars is a sub to Rotor magazine, cheap access to literature they have and a discounted rate to attend Heli Expo.

Whereas those inside the US get the HAI going to bat for them with FAA, the Senate, House of Reps etc etc.

They try to encourage more intl members but until they actually start doing something for them I doubt they will get the support, or at least thats the feedback I get when speaking to various operators.

Autorotate.

P.S. Look at the stats on who wins the awards, I think it is about 75% of winners happen to be HAI members. :\

[Firepilot]

Autorotate

I can't really make an educated response to the representation of operators in other parts of the world. I would imagine that we (Americans) do gain many benifits to having the headquarters of HAI in our "backyard." But you can't argue the fact that you won't win an award if you aren't nominated. On top of that there are a few awards that pilots from some countries couldn't be eligible for; The Robert Trimble Award won't be given to a pilot who flies off shore in the Middle East, etc.

[Autorotate]

Yes I do agree that you have to be nominated to win an award but I would like to see a mixed panel of say operators or directors of companies from all over the world making the decision, not just those based there at HAI HQ. That way it would be a true winner with no doubts as to favouritism.

Sort of like the world series baseball where its only US and Canada that contest it :confused:

However when you look at the world cup rugby we had teams from nearly every country in the world and that was a 'True' World Cup.

Autorotate.

P.S. Having HAI based there in the US obviously has its benefits for the US members but I would prefer to see it become the Heli Assn of America because, in my opinion, they dont represent the worldwide industry. Just my opinion.

[NickLappos]

Auto,
I think it is entirely appropriate that the board of the HAI determine who gets the HAI awards. The OHAI (Other Helicopter Association Internationale) can elect Twiggy and Michael Jackson to decide.

The number of US awardees is somewhat due to the fact that the vast majority of civil helicopters reside and work in the US, much because of the need here, and at least some due to the nature of the way US laws are promulgated. I honestly believe that the economic burden of European/UK rules have much to do with the cost, and rarity, of their flight ops.

Last count, there were about 8,000 civil helos in the US. Any ppruners know what the worldwide civil helo count is? I cant drum up a figure on the net.

[Giovanni Cento Nove]

http://roadsidephotos.com/baseball/name.htm

[John Eacott]

J109,

So even in the late nineteenth Century, Oz was seen as a premier sporting nation :D .

Shame about the current cricket score, though :rolleyes:

[Cyclic Hotline]

The HAI 2004 Salute to excellence awards are currently open for nomination. The winners are selected by the board of the HAI, from the nominations that are submitted by anyone at all. Nominees and winners are selected by the Board, from the submissions presented to them.

If you take the time to review the 2004 nomination (http://www.rotor.com/salute/salute2004.pdf) you can find deserving winners from all over the world.

So, if you feel you are not fairly represented, try participating in the selection process. It is very satisfying to see deserving winners receive the recognition they deserve, be it for a lifetime's work, or a single outstanding event within that career.



HAI encourages nominations for "Salute to Excellence" awards

“There is a person at my company who deserves to be recognized.” “Why isn’t our company up for nomination, we do so many great rescues?” “They should receive this award for the program they initiated!” If these are comments you hear or think to yourself… read on!

Do you know of someone, or do you work with someone, who is deserving of one of the Helicopter Association International’s (HAI) 13 prestigious “Salute to Excellence” awards? He or she could be spotlighted at the annual “Salute to Excellence” Celebration during HELI-EXPO 2005 in Anaheim, California on February 7. Submit your nominations today — in order to enter your nominee for the HAI Board’s consideration.

The deadline for the "Salute to Excellence" awards nominations is October 13, 2004, however, HAI encourages you to submit your nomination as soon as possible. When nominating, please give concise details that justify your nomination. You may submit nominations by postal mail to: HAI, c/o: Marty Pociask, 1635 Prince St., Alexandria, VA 22314; by fax to: 703-683-4745; or by electronic submission to: [email protected] . Applications have been mailed to HAI members and are available online at www.rotor.com/salute/nominate.htm. Remember, it’s up to you to make sure that those deserving are recognized. Don’t delay, send your nominations now. We look forward to receiving your nominations for the 2004 "Salute to Excellence" Awards.

www.rotor.com/salute/nominate.htm.

[diethelm]

MD helicopter law enforcement award goes to an individual which has switched from MD products to Eurocopter products. Now that is irony.