Last week the rotary-wing set descended on Louisville, Ky., for the annual HAI Heli-Expo show, to share information, discuss safety issues, learn about and buy and sell products and, in general, celebrate their love of all things helicopter.
As I did last year, I called up my friend Mark Robinson (no relation to the eponymous and prolific helicopter manufacturer) to schedule an hour of flying in a Robinson R22 at his Revolution Aviation flight school in Santa Ana, Calif. I like to charge up my helicopter batteries before Heli-Expo every year, and there’s no better way than an hour at the controls of a helicopter.
Matt Thurber, editor-in-chief at AIN Media Group, has been flying since 1975 and writing about aviation since 1978 and now has the best job in the world, running editorial operations for Aviation International News, Business Jet Traveler, and FutureFlight.aero. In addition to working as an A&P mechanic on everything from Piper Cubs to turboprops, Matt taught flying at his father’s flight school in Plymouth, Mass., in the early 1980s, flew for an aircraft owner/pilot, and for two summer seasons hunted swordfish near the George’s Banks off the East Coast from a Piper Super Cub. An ATP certificated fixed-wing pilot and CFII and commercial helicopter pilot, Matt is type-rated in the Citation 500 and Gulfstream V/550. Based in the Pacific Northwest, Matt and his team cover the entire aviation scene including business aircraft, helicopters, avionics, safety, manufacturing, charter, fractionals, technology, air transport, advanced air mobility, defense, and other subjects of interest to AIN, BJT, and FutureFlight readers.
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