2023 HeliOps Calendar Giveaway
 

Well its that time of the year - 2023 HeliOps Calendar is on the printing presses while I am away here in the US. As soon as I get home I am sending them all out so hopefully they get to everyone before Christmas.

Only requirement for this year is to post on here how you are getting on in the industry - is everything going ok, so so or its been a ****e of a year.

And this year once you have posted onto this thread send me a PM with your name and postal address and also name and address for a colleague and we will send them a calendar also.

Be safe out there everyone.




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Pulled my R44 out of it's long standing lease agreement. There was and is plenty of work for it, but the business environment was getting too difficult to manage with low risk, both operationally and financially. It was a good time for a break. I'm currently enjoying an insurance bill that is 50% of what it was and having the machine at my beck and call :) And yet...I have talked to the insurance company and FSDO about doing my own LOA, which appears to be an easy-do, so I may yet still be a glutton for more punishment.

Well... this last year couldn't have been better for me. Working on touring in Western Africa, I've seen the company growing on new contracts, aircraft, technicians and pilots. Got a second type and increased the number of destinations to work. Not too bad. Anyway this increased volume of business seems the trend now in this area. Greetings to you all Rotorheads. APT

KiwiNedNZ I’ve pinned this post, unless you prefer otherwise?

At my place of work we have experienced considerable slow downs of orders and manufacturing. Lead times of materials have caused further delays.
We got through the worst of it by the use of "workshare", but we did lose some key workers who could not afford to stay under reduced income.
Things have now ramped back up and we are gettig backlogged with quotes from customers who are also ramping up their operations.
Hoping 2023 will be a good year.

So far in the industry I'm in it's been normal ops! Covid has of course slowed things down with restrictive opening hours or airports and shortages of crews, however flying for us has actually increased which is really good news. Brexit hasn't helped though with AOG customs issues :(

Ops normal
 

Last 12 months continuing on from the previous. Ups and downs work wise (no pun…)
but no let up in the work…
some fun jobs!
IR back on license….which is nice 😀
All the best to everyone for the next 12 months…and to a beer at Christmas 🍻

Just a reminder to everyone, the first batch of calendars will be shipped out about 10th Nov as soon as I get back from the US so if you want one sent in that batch then please make your post soonest.

Cheers and enjoy.

Very busy year so far with loads of training required for some new contracts with not enough trainers so in-between doing TR's also training new TRI's and TRE's. Looks like the first 6 months of 2023 will be very busy as well and then hopefully slow down a little bit.
All the best for 2023, hope everybody has a good & healthy one.

Anyone else interested, am home in 6 days and then sending them out.

So far it's been a fantastic year, up some 70% compared to last year. The Covid19 situation is by definition gone, although raw material shortages are still part of daily business. All in all, I'm happy :-)

Have had a few people just message me saying send me a calendar but without even making a post on this thread.

Its simple - you need to post a reply on this thread to the question in the initial post at the top. If you dont then will just delete the message.

Sorry but everyone else follows the instructions. Thanks

The Off-Shore industry is very healthy in Australia.
The energy companies are busy making record profits.

Now that the Covid induced travel restrictions are a fading memory - It’s full steam ahead for a while. With strong demand protecting pay and conditions from further attack.

Hi Ned.

I can't comment on the "State of the Business" as I'm purely a hobby flyer here in the UK with by Bell-47-G3-B1 registration G-CIGY but I work in the electronics and embedded software sector, I can confirm its been a most challenging year for us, we simply "can't get stuff" the normal common or garden components are now approaching 52 weeks delivery....! Not sure if and when it will end, what has the world come too?

I'm self employed and if we can't deliver circuit boards and electronics related "stuff" due to the component shortage then I'm afraid I will have to stop working - what happens then I have no idea...?

Cheers

Kev..

Im getting sacked, so thats a bit unfortunate, but there just might be another position for me at another company which would of couse change things quite drastically for the better. Also trying ti get into flying ir helicopters, which is a struggle when I only have experience from the aerial work sector and no ir(h), but we'll see, stranger things have happened.

Hi, can't really comment on the heli industry as I am only training at this time, But my training organisation are busy, The work I do fund it is challenging due to lack of supply and cost of what is available, but I can still fund the training so all's good.

The economic situation in Europe got worse, and, working for a Government agency as a helicopter maintenance engineer, I clearly see it in a form of lack of funding. This results in lack of spare parts and fuel - we even had to put some of our helos into long term storage, and use them as a source of spare parts to keep the rest of the fleet flying. The situation is not going to improve in the foreseeable future, and the only positive thing is that, up until now, we got our salary in time.

I started to work for a civil helicopter maintenance organization at my free time, hoping to get my practical experience for a Part-66 license by the end of next year. Working on the Bell 427 and EC135, I learned that our MD900s at the Police are not so bad after all. However, the second half of the year has been though for the company, with some of their customers cancelling maintenance events, or even selling their aircraft without replacement. What the future will bring is unclear, and they are a bit pessimistic.

I also hope to become approved by my CAA as an MD900 maintenance type instructor, and make some extra money from it. Looking at the situation at my employer, I really feel the need to look for new opportunities.

I will not complain. After all, I chose the uber cool career of wrenching on helicopters nearly forty years ago. Wow, time flies. 2022 has had me seek employment change, for the better. My US employer for early 2020 through mid 2022 lost some key overseas helicopter/airplane contracts, so went to another US company still going very strong in overseas contracts. Working even time 6 weeks and the pay is what I would normally be earning pre-2020 or even better! Good life.

Technically since covid began in 2020 things have been rather rocky in the VIP charter section. Especially here in Southern California with the N72EX Crash. Thankfully over the past year and a half or so there has been a slow uptick in that market.

In contrast the ENG market here in Los Angeles area has been going very steady basically without pause. As many might know, LA is the land of the police chases where we have up to 5 news ships following a one single car plus two police ships following the car as well. Its quite a spectacle in itself.

All in all I'm very excited for the future and what it brings, particularly in the coming years when It might become common to see a non military tilt rotor aircraft flying around such as the AW609

Utility going stronger than ever, almost more work than we can deal with. Currently multiple interesting options on the table for a switch to another field of work. Another great year so far! :ok:

Flying the B505 being only a hobby for me, I can't comment on the state of the aviation industry. Working in healthcare however has been once again a hell of a year - with absolutely no end sight. :ouch:

Hey Ned-

Great flying w you a few weeks ago. This has been a very busy year and my 1st year ever where I didn't leave the state of CO for work...yet

First batch of calendars was put into the mail today. Next batch on the 17th so if you want to get your hands on one then enter the comp soonest.

calendar
 

Operations in Thailand are mostly restricted to government and military, apart from the offshore oil support at Songla. As I am now retired from working offshore, I am no longer up with those operations.

There are some charter operations, but very restricted to just where they can operate. From time to time a TV news operation will pop up, the last one that I am aware of ended up in the Chao Praya River!

The Civil Aviation training school is still in operation at Hua Hin. At the moment they are using an R44 for training, having either added the time expired R22 to the collection in a hanger, or crashed it!

The biggest exposure that I now have to helicopters, is that where I live in Bangkok is on a direct route from the Royal Thai Police air wing base, to what I can only assume is a golf club!

Every morning there are 2 or 3 passing overhead in succession, and then mostly returning in the afternoon. The police have a sizable fleet, now mostly Airbus of various models. There is still at least one old Bell 214 that goes plodding by occasionally with its distinctive blade and tail rotor beat!

Interesting to note that operations in Bangkok are mostly restricted to 1,000 ft, and in some areas 500 ft. Many years ago, when I was still involved, I remember the pilots complaining that there are radio antennae masts higher than 500 ft around Bangkok!

So, as far as the year goes, not much has changed.

The spring time winds in Texas & Oklahoma were brutal to us this year. Apparently it was the windiest spring since 1963, so we weren't able to get over our usual acreage. The wind just never stopped blowing for days on end. We made up for it on other crops, but were still down financially when compared to 2021, which was our best year ever. Could have been better, but also could have been worse!

I am not flying currently.. its very complicated.. - i hoping to rejoin in the air soon... i miss the comunity badly

Hey, thanks for the great offer again, Ned, always appreciated, as well as your new parallel thread.

I'm not directly in the industry any more, but like another poster, the hi-tech / electronics I'm consulting for are have real problems with supply chain issues for processors / microcontrollers and other specialist silicon chips. It is affecting the new cr industry badly, with prices of 2nd hand cars hugely up.

I guess to some extent the smaller volumes of helps which are made lessen the risk, however the risk must nevertheless still be there securing future stock of at risk components isn't managed carefully. Best wishes and thanks.

Not in the idustry as of March 4, 2022 (Retired)
 

Thanks Ned for the offer. The MRO business at the largest repair center in Corpus Christi, Tx. in the world is still going strong. The Bell portion of military repairs has tapered to about zero with most of Bell's military models being Navy's composite rotor heads, being maintained at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C. Although, it is starting to look like the Yankee's and the Zulu's are not going to require a lot of rotor maintenance. Otter.

Anyone else - we will be doing one more shipment next week and then one last one at the end of November so everyone gets them before the end of the year.

Excellent calendar as always, KiwiNedNZ . Many thanks for your generosity 👍

2022 has had it's challenges again... I have been diagnosed with Interstitial Lung Disease which has robbed me of 40-50% lung capacity... currently trying to stop it from progressing... I still remain part of the industry as a moderator over at Vertical and hangar ratting as always.... Guess I should have a little cheese with my "whine"...

Your calendar with your fantastic pictures just arrived today, thank you very much KiwiNedNZ, for your generosity, much appreciated!

Hi Ned.

Calendars arrived this morning - thanks once again and have a Happy Christmas & New Year.

Kev.

Calendars made it Ned! Many thanks!

LAST CALL - Last batch of calendars are going out at the end of next week before I head off overseas again. This way everyone who wants one will have them in the mail well before the end of the year.

So if you want to get one then make your post and let me know on email asap.

Good year, got HESLO, FFO training and started working in that industry.

Hi,
well, I'm still flying the desk for six weeks - and the helicopter for the next six weeks.
Quite good for the backpain and the sleeping habits , cause night shifts are a pain in the a....
When flying it's mostly done with NVG. The demand in the dark hours is increasing from year to year.
Only during the wildfire season day flying hours are higher. Good, that we started with the Bambi-buckets - it's a great help, especially at the hillsides.
So everything is going strong - only three and a half year ish left until retirement :-)
Udo

Things have been a tad slow with the covid fallout but now starting to look up a bit. I think that we all will do well to see the end of these medical problems. The helo calendar on the office wall certainly has eased the pain somewhat ....

As usual I’m late to the party!

Not much has changed in my world, the WSB TV helicopter passing by, EMS still frequently landing at Grady Hospital and Atlanta Police still overhead on a regular basis….. not much changes when you are in downtown Atlanta!

On a happier note was recently in the Caribbean and St Lucia Helicopters are still doing what they always do, great customer service, polite helpful staff and the pilots…..great as usual!

Best Wishes to all in and connected to the industry.

Thank You Ned for once again offering up the Calendar!