Category: Safety Check
Safety Check: The Magic Number for Senior Insurance
It’s always hard for me to see a long-time Enstrom dealer close their business. I recently discovered the reason behind one such closure, and I couldn’t help but wonder, could this have ended differently? The owner had run a successful helicopter operation for many years, maintained a solid relationship with the FAA, and appeared to… Read more »
Safety Check – Surviving an IIMC Event
I recently observed one of my friends, a fellow CFII, helping a pilot perform multiple instrument approaches. For the purposes of this article, I’ll call the pilot “George” and the instructor “Sam.” Sam informed me George had faced a very scary experience the previous week after encountering inadvertent entry into instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC). George… Read more »
Safety Check: Ignoring Safety Puts You on Santa’s Naughty List
Santa fly-ins have become increasingly popular these days. Enstrom just flew Santa to a children’s breakfast in Menominee and our friends at Sweet Helicopters down in Fort Wayne chartered Santa from Indy Metro Airport to the Indiana State Museum. If you’re ever assigned to flying Santa Claus, be sure to double check your helicopter’s weight… Read more »
Safety Check: The lines you don’t cross
Here’s a question for you: what does the red and white crosshatched line (solid blue on older models) mean on your Enstrom’s airspeed indicator? I swear it’s not a trick question, but it often seems to trip up aspiring pilots during a check ride’s oral questioning. “Oh, that’s an easy one,” one student said. “It’s… Read more »
Safety Check – Using Superior Judgment
Like many pilots, my email inbox seems to fill up almost daily with aviation newsletters. Sometimes, these newsletters include accident reports, which I will comb through as a helpful learning opportunity. However, I’ve noticed that the NTSB’s official, listed reason for a reported crash doesn’t always tell the full story. For example, a pilot might… Read more »
Safety Check: Stayin’ Alive with Precautionary Landings
84 years ago, in September of 1939, Igor Sikorsky lifted off in a VS-300, the world’s first practical helicopter, for an entire ten seconds in Stratford, Connecticut. Since then, helicopter manufacturers, like Enstrom Helicopter Corporation, have invested in new technology to make rotorcraft safer. However, no helicopter is 100% crash-proof. Former HAI president, the late… Read more »
Cell phones and soybeans, a guide for using cameras in the air
A few years ago, the minds at WIRED Magazine calculated the terminal velocity of an iPhone to be about 65 feet per second. Theoretically, they concluded, an iPhone falling hundreds of feet onto a soft surface would only see about half the amount of G force as an iPhone falling just three feet onto hard… Read more »
Safety Check: Summer Flying Tips
As I type this month’s Safety Check, I can hear a group of local pilots discussing their plans to fly to AirVenture in Oshkosh, WI. Organizers expect more than 10,000 aircraft to be there. We’re expecting good flying weather, but the hot summer air can still pose a few challenges. Here are a few tips… Read more »
Safety Check: Vuichard Recovery becoming more popular
In this month’s edition of “Safety Check,” let’s review the recovery procedures for vortex ring state (VRS), formerly known as Settling with Power. Unfortunately, vortex ring state leads to a number of crashes each year, as it occurs close to the ground where there is little altitude remaining for recovery. Vortex ring state occurs when… Read more »
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04/01/2025 — Sun., 04/06/2025Location: Lakeland, Florida
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06/09/2025 — Fri., 06/13/2025Cost: $1,400 Per Person
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