MAY 30, 2009
Monday: TFRs and badges
New NOTAMs for Lakehurst NJ posted. TSA badge program begins Monday. Plus NJ, EWR, NYC TFRs. Check usual sources often.
MAY 29, 2009
Multiple local TFRs
Central NJ: published Friday morning with only five hours' notice, two VIP TFR rings today through June 1.
Wilmington, DE: In effect as we write, VIP TFR.
NYC: Saturday through very early Sunday May 31 in NYC.
Check your favorite sources for the details. Frequently.
We've posted these reminders here, on our email list, and on Twitter for members.
Email notification list sign-up
The ERHC e-notification list is one of our main public notification vehicles. The list has grown to nearly 400 subscribers, and that's a good thing, since it means we're reaching more people, members and non-members, with our message, and that is a measure of success for the organization. On the downside, this volume of addressees made it cumbersome to send out any message due to the way we were doing it.
We've changed to a new, much easier technology solution that required one simple step by subscribers: clicking "reply" in the email invitation. Unfortunately, not even half of subscribers have taken that step or have gone to our notices list page to sign up.
If you haven't received or have misplaced the invitation email, and want to subscribe, please go to our notices list page and sign up right away. It's open to the public and limited to important information, so please take action now.
MAY 20, 2009
Fleet Week is here, and Jones Beach airshow
Go to the Fleet Week site to find out more (schedule pdf), and check TFRs for the airshow info, as well as keeping eyes and ears alert to the presence of announced and unannounced aircraft from out of the local area. T-birds are part of the JB event, and have flown formations through the Hudson exclusion area without radio calls in the past.
Email notification list invitations sent
To make the system easier and more effective, we're changing the way we do our annoncements, and this requires opting in. Current subscribers should receive an email today describing how to opt-in. If your email address has changed recently, you haven't received an invitation, and you'd like to continue subscribing, please contact us.
MAY 19, 2009
Good program Friday at the General Meeting
The day started with an excellent classroom and pool training program in Shallow Water Egress Training. Over a dozen participants were taught by three instructors from Survival Systems USA, all the way from Groton, DT with two training chairs and lots of safety equipment. All participants were smiling with satisfaction they'd learned some life-saving skills during the day. Thank You Very Much, SSUSA!
In the evening, about 40 persons joined to share in listening and discussion of the latest information, from the Class B airspace redesign to new IFR procedures to Fly Neighborly, Safety, and other committee reports.
It was our privilege to host special guests Matt Zuccaro, President of Helicopter Association International, hear about Ray Syms' national heliport safety survey, and to welcome in new members and benefit from sponsors.
IMPORTANT: notification list members must opt-in
ERHC maintains a vetted email notification list for reminders of upcoming events as well as for urgent notices such as Temporary Flight Restrictions. We are changing the technical method we use for these notices in order to provide better service to subscribers, and a requirement of that change is that subscribers must take action to opt-in to the list.
Subscribers will receive a message this week that asks them to click "reply" or to follow an internet link to opt-in. It could hardly be easier.
For members only, ERHC is also initiating a text-messaging system.
MAY 11, 2009
A few slots still open for SWET program Friday
Free training, hard to beat that! Members can still sign up for this potentially life-saving training this Friday from the region's top professional water survival skills school.
APRIL 22, 2009
Special safety training program for ERHC members
On May 15, Survival Systems USA's instructors will come down from Groton, CT to teach 20 lucky ERHC members in the classroom and pool at the Sheraton, Mahwah, as a prelude to our General Meeting.
The Shallow Water Egress Training program will include a classroom session then move on to the pool. The General Meeting social hour begins at 1800. The cost is free. Participants who complete the program will receive a certificate of training which will meet insurance and SMS requirements. See the members pages for more details.
ERHC's Year of the Pilot continues to put you first!
APRIL 7, 2009
Big response to ERHC proactivity initiatives
Last week, ERHC hosted two events for over 120 persons, in the spirit of proactive solution finding.
Session 1: Fly Neighborly. Special Advisor Robert Grotell writes:
On April 1st, ERHC hosted its 3rd annual Long Island Fly Neighborly Kick-off meeting to obtain critical feedback from operators, the FAA, communities, and local elected officials on the various issues that affect Long Island-related helicopter operations and noise abatement procedures. Over 50 attendees participated in a lively roundtable atmosphere discussing Long Island-focused issues.
Joining ERHC's Chairman Jeff Smith, Board Members, and Special Advisor Robert Grotell, were ERHC members representing the highest volume users at the East End airports, HAI's Harold Summers, FAA airspace and noise abatement specialists, airport mangers from FOK and HTO, the Mayor of the Village of Southhampton, Trustees from the Village of Floral Park, a representative from the Town of North Hempstead, a lone resident from Port Washington. Congressional and Senatorial offices were invited to the meeting but did not attend.
During the nearly five-hour meeting, Jeff applauded ERHC members for providing significant noise relief to many Long Island communities during the 2008 season through heavy utilization of the North Shore route and excellent compliance with voluntary noise abatement procedures at HTO and FOK. Airport management from HTO and FOK echoed these sentiments as did the representatives from Floral Park, whose vocal concern over the Tracks route back in 2007 helped start this process.
Building upon these documented achievements, ERHC is now urging members to vary route usage between the North and South Shores and even over the middle of the Island at appropriate altitudes in an attempt to better balance potential affects on the communities below and demonstrate ERHC's continued commitment to fair and equitable solutions.
One of the major goals in ERHC's Long Island effort has been to serve Long Island's residents better by staving off federal legislation that promises to add increased regulation, costs and reduced flexibility for our industry to be able to respond to changing local concerns. It is hoped that the elected officials and community members who attended the Kick-off meeting walked away with the knowledge that ERHC members have bent over backwards by routinely flying longer routes and incurring increased operating costs in tough economic times all in the name of noise abatement. Varying the routes is one of the few remaining options and represents ERHC's best and final offer on voluntary noise abatement procedures.
Session 2: Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) symposium. IFR Chairman Paul Gottwig reports:
The IFR Symposium on April 2nd turned out to be a windfall for our members in both information provided and realizing gains made in maintaining lines of communication with our friends at ATC. Several members of the FAA came from all over the nation to provide real-time updates on their areas of expertise, the advancement of satellite based navigation and NEXTGEN airspace. There was a fantastic turn out with about 70 people packing into the PANYNJ conference room. As always, there were an abundant amount of excellent questions and issues brought to light for our subject matter experts, once again showing the vast amount of knowledge and experience to be had from our members and the profound complexity involved in operating IFR in our area.
Dave Peterson of the GNSS Program office did an excellent job of showing how rapidly the transition from ground based navigation aids to satellite based navigation is progressing and provided some very detailed animations of how RNP operations can aid our very congested airports. Along these lines, Mike Hilbert and Joe Bellabona of the FAA RNAV/RNP office provided the very latest on the FAA’s timelines to complete vertical flight initiatives in performance based navigation for helicopter specific IFR routes both in the near and long term. The main topic of all these issues was WAAS and the role it will play in reducing separation standards and enabling many of the objectives we as an industry would like to see today and in the future.
The NY TRACON came en masse and Steve McClain, a TRACON floor supervisor, provided a fantastic update as to the superb gains made in the NYC PinS approach program being run by an ERHC member. Many members showed great interest in these approaches and provided valuable input from an operator’s perspective into how we would like them to work inside of the limitations of our highly congested airspace.
In the afternoon several speakers brought specific avionics and training information to our members as food-for-thought as we transition into 21st century navigation and aircraft systems. Jeff Shaw of ProStar Aviation discussed the status of the Universal WAAS FMS STC for the S76 aircraft and some of the specific issues involved in installing the latest of digital avionics into some of our older analog based aircraft.
Following in line with this was Eber Wright of FlightSafety who came all the way from Florida to show our members the WAAS training program FSI is setting up to get our pilots up to speed on the intricacies of WAAS approaches and what needs to be done before and during flight to ensure successful completion of our missions utilizing this new resource. In conclusion, Scott Penn of UTFlight provided a tremendous lessons-learned presentation of their experiences flying in icing conditions and the shift in thought processes a pilot must go through once the ability to fly in icing is realized.
In all, the IFR symposium proved to be a valuable source of information for our members and possibly something you may see again in the future to ensure our operators gain as much information as possible in order to stay abreast of changes and enhancements to our industry as well as maintaining visibility with our friends in ATC.
MARCH 30, 2009
US Helicopter returns to Downtown
Heliport staff tells us, and flyush.com announces their return, effective immediately. Last week, the helicopter airline past its third anniversary in operation.
MARCH 24, 2009
Planning ahead for repeat success
With last summer's exceptional voluntary cooperation by helicopter operators as a backdrop, ERHC is once again holding a pre-travel-season workshop of operators and public officials next week to make sure we're all doing all we can to continue doing business while seeking balance with residents who object to the sounds of our machines in the sky.
"We'll be sharing information, comparing notes, and listening, all of which are part of finding balance among competing interests in a megalopolis like the NYC region", says Chairman Jeff Smith. Helicopter flying is a natural use of the national airspace, and the professionals of the NYC area's heliports and the pilots who fly the machines provide the safest transportation in the area.
Smith adds, "this year's economic situation may reduce traffic, it's hard to forecast, but we know there are plenty of professional pilots in the local area who've been laid off". In addition, residents around LaGuardia and Newark airports may see helicopters lower and on different flight paths soon, Smith explains. This is due to changes FAA has implemented to meet technical safety guidelines.
"Local pilots know as well as anyone that it's important to fly as high as weather, safety, and efficiency allow, but in and around the major airports, we have to follow paths and altitude instructions from ATC", says Smith.
ERHC to testify on LI airspace bill
Special Advisor Robert Grotell, seen on channel 12 last week, will be presenting a letter (335kb pdf) and testifying at the Suffolk County legislature's meeting tonight on a bill proposing to regulate flying activities over the county.
ERHC has in the past objected to such bills and will continue, for a variety of reasons, including the fact that the federal government has exclusive jurisdiction over the airspace, so the bill would have no real effect.
In addition, ERHC was challenged in late 2007 to show its ability to produce change in flight paths, as a measure of our trustworthiness as a partner with communities. Measurements both by ERHC and other entities showed exceptionally high compliance with voluntary noise abatement procedures and the new north shore route, thus showing dramatically that working with ERHC produces fast, flexible and effective change at no cost to governments or citizens. ERHC is a dependable partner in affecting positive change.