Kylle Fenton is an Air Crew Officer (ACO) involved in air rescue and ambulance operations supporting NSW, Australia communities. He is more accustomed to being the one to bring the resources, rescue and safety to others in “the worst day of their life”.  In this episode Kylle tells a gripping story of when he and … Continue reading "RWS 112 – What Do Army Loadmasters Do and an Amazing Story of Flood Rescue in the Town of Eugowra Nov 2022 with Kylle Fenton"

James Koens is a Check and Training Aircrew Officer on very expensive rescue/aeromedical helicopters. He also finds time to be a helicopter charter pilot, Army Reserve aircrewman, volunteer rural firefighter and a podcast host. This episode is being pushed out the door half cooked so that you can hear it sooner. Please forgive any short … Continue reading "RWS 111 – Rescue Helicopter Crew Duties to 4300km R22 Ferry Through Remote Australia w/ James Koens"

Have you applied the idea of situational awareness to weather before? Knowing what the weather was doing, what the weather is now and what it will be in the future. With access to the right weather products and knowing more about how they are developed you can level up your pre-flight weather assessment.  Weather is … Continue reading "RWS 110 – Better Weather Situational Awareness with Matt Johnson"

You have probably seen the video clip on social media multiple times – a OH-58 comes into land and as it touches down the blades contact another helicopter ground running beside it. Both aircraft are destroyed in spectacular manner but luckily there is no loss of life. In this episode we give a lot more … Continue reading "RWS 109 – Going Beyond the Social Media Clip – Pasadena PD Accident (2012) with Dan Parsons"

As aircrew we spend a huge amount of time training for different circumstances and emergencies. Dealing with a burning flare in your cockpit fired from a wingman’s aircraft is not one of these circumstances!! Add in the complications of being a few thousand feet in the air, over hostile controlled land and in a sealed … Continue reading "RWS 108 – Sharing an Apache Cockpit with a Burning Flare with Clive Richardson"

Halfway through 2021, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) put out a call for assistance for information from the aviation community. What they are looking for is feedback or more information about any ground handling incidents on Robinson type helicopters, especially focused on the aft tail cone bulkhead or tail rotor gearbox areas  If you … Continue reading "RWS 107 – ATSB Request for Information with Robert Chopan"

Cattle are big business in Australia. Rough round numbers has us at 25 million head of cattle and the industry employs somewhere around 200,000 people. Australia is the 3rd largest beef exporter in the world. The cattle industry also contributes a sizable chunk of the annual helicopter hours flown in Australia.  One set of figures I … Continue reading "RWS 106 – Mustering with Sam Chisholm"

Chatter in the cabin starts to die down, you have reduced power and started to bleed back the airspeed. Outside your world is starting to shrink as the conditions start to deteriorate. You lean forward in your seat to try and see a little further ahead. The VSI is showing a descent as you keep … Continue reading "RWS 105 – Enroute Decision Point with Miles Dunagan"

How would you like to have been holding a steady hover and taking off and landing at 3 hours of helicopter flight time? Chris Ryan couldn’t afford helicopter lessons so he built himself a simulator to practice at home. His instructor was so impressed at his progress that he encouraged Chris to turn the simulator … Continue reading "RWS 104 – Virtual Reality Simulators 2021 Revisit with Chris Ryan"

Before this episode if you told me that there was more than an hour conversation that you could get out of talking about the governor in Robinson type helicopters I would have been dubious. I was wrong! Today we have back on the show pilot and engineer Richard Mornington-Sanford. Richard Mornington-Sanford was an engineer in … Continue reading "RWS 103 – Robinson Governor Operation with Richard Mornington-Sanford"

If the images and text on the page of your aerodynamic textbook are starting to blur together then it might be time to take a break and try to ingest the information using another format. Jacob from the YouTube channel Helicopter Lessons in 10 Minutes or Less is an Apache instructor and standards officer who … Continue reading "RWS 102 – Helicopter Lessons in 10 Minutes or Less with Jacob"

Helicopters make fantastic photo subjects! There is still something special about flying that captures the human spirit and the intrinsic movement and energy in a helicopter especially so. Mark Watterson has been photographing helicopters professionally since 2014. He shares some tips for how best to work with aerial photographers for a great product.  Mark has … Continue reading "RWS 101 – Air to Air Photography with Mark Watterson"

Two US National Guard pilots are developing a new training tool to reduce the risk of and improve the fidelity of reduced visual environment training. IIMC, dust landings and white outs have all been the causes of both training mishaps and real world accidents and deaths. We talk about what it missing in the current … Continue reading "RWS 100 – Degraded Visibility Training with Tyson Phillips and Andre Lavallee"

It is not unusual for helicopter pilots to take a winding route to before they end up with a career in the cockpit. Tryggvi worked as a baggage handler, in flight operations and as a quality auditor before taking on a flying job. Now he is flying for the Icelandic Coast Guard on missions as … Continue reading "RWS 99 – Helicopter Flying in Iceland with Tryggvi Helgason"

Before a helicopter approaches to an oil rig there are checks and safety procedures to be followed on the rig in preparation – the deck is cleared, cranes are moved out of the way and gas venting is stopped. When the landing rig is misidentified and an approach flown to the wrong landing deck the … Continue reading "RWS 98 – Wrong Deck Landings and Approach Detection with Jon Davis"

Jerry Grayson returns to the Rotary Wing Show with an update on his next adventure following a packed career in the cockpit as a SAR and film pilot. Now-a-days he keeps his feet on the ground but leverages his experience in the operation of drones – and he thinks it might be a good time … Continue reading "RWS 97 – A Possible Helicopter Career Plan B with Jerry Grayson"

Richard (Rick) Howell started spinning spanners on aircraft in 1960 as a QANTAS apprentice. Since then he has flown all through Australia and PNG including a 29 year run as a pilot for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.  Rick and his twin brother John both started in aviation at the same time which presented a number … Continue reading "RWS 96 – What I’ve Been Doing for the Last 60 Years with Richard Howell"

Working in the helicopter media part of the industry Elan Head gets to talk to a wide range of people and over time has had the opportunity to take the controls of a wide range of helicopters. This gives her a unique vantage point to talk about the many roles that helicopters perform and some … Continue reading "RWS 95 – Adventures in Helicopter Media with Elan Head"

Electronic news gathering or ENG is the term that those in the helicopter news corner of the industry use to capture their operations. As a platform to provide real time on-scene video at short notice over a city nothing so far beats a helicopter.     As consumers of news media we have become pretty accustomed … Continue reading "RWS 94 – News Helicopter Ops Over Los Angeles with Larry Welk"

Most piston engine pilots will be at least passingly familiar with the theory behind the formation of carburettor icing. However most textbooks lean towards the operation of the carburettor in a fixed wing mounted engine. Helicopter engines, predominately the Robinson helicopter types but applicable to others as well, have their own unique challenges when it … Continue reading "RWS 93 – Carburettor Icing in Helicopters with Richard Mornington-Sanford"

As versatile as helicopters are there are still tight places where they just can’t land to get people in or out. For overwater flights, rescue teams and some utility operations that means using a hoist or under-slung line to reach someone. A hoist fitted helicopter is not always avaliable. Hence we have the considerations that … Continue reading "RWS 92 – Human External Cargo Helicopter Ops with Jeff Yarnold"

The general line thrown out there is that most helicopter pilots try to spend their careers staying away from wires – the guys and girls flying in the powerline industry get right up close as part of their job. David McColl is a powerline pilot in the US and has built up experience in a … Continue reading "RWS 91 – Helicopter Powerline Operations with David McColl"

The pace of consumer electronics development far outstrips that of aviation equipment and helicopter installed functionality. Electronic Flight Bags are becoming a fixture in cockpits throughout the industry. For about AUD$799 in 2020 you can bring a range of features with you into any legacy aircraft that would have previously either been impossible or would … Continue reading "RWS 90 – Electronic Flight Bags (EFBs) with Andrew Boniface"