Receives FAA Approval For MD 500E “Slimline” Glass Cockpit

MD Helicopters has received FAA certification to install a new “slimline” advanced glass cockpit that modernizes the MD500E platform for increased visibility and field of view. The slimline cockpit is now standard in all new MD500E aircraft and includes four inches of additional visibility on both sides of the instrument panel when compared to the traditional configuration. The modernized design features the G500H TXiTM dual touch-screen integrated display system with screens serving as Primary Flight Display (PFD) and Multi-Function Display (MFD).

Of Wisks and Rewards…

Wisk Aero—the California-based, advanced air mobility joint-venture undertaken by Boeing and Kitty Hawk Corporation—is hosting public displays of its fifth-generation electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the United Kingdom and Australia. Dubbed Cora, Wisk’s display aircraft embodies the culmination of a developmental process that began in 2010 and has seen the company progress from simple, hover-only prototypes to the fielding of the world’s first autonomous, all-electric air-taxi. In addition to showcasing Wisk’s conceptual and technical facility, Cora manifests the company’s professed belief that less time getting there means more time being there for the momen

IFR Capable Helicopter Well Suited to Pacific Northwest Mountain Mission

Bell Textron has announced that Life Flight Network—the Aurora, Oregon-based non-profit that provides air and ground critical care transport service throughout the American Pacific Northwest—will take delivery of four Bell 407GXi helicopters. The addition of the four new aircraft will see Life Flight Network—which currently operates a fleet of 53 aircraft—become the largest air medical operator of the Bell 407GXi in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West—the geographic and geological region located between the front ranges of the Rocky Mountains [east] and the Cascade and Sierra Nevada ranges [west].

AD 2022-14-03 Prompted By Reports Of Cracked Tailboom Attachment Bolts And Barrel Nuts

The FAA is adopting a new airworthiness directive (AD) for all Leonardo S.p.a. Model AB412 and AB412 EP helicopters. This AD was prompted by reports of cracked tailboom attachment bolts and barrel nuts. This AD requires replacing the upper left hand (LH) tailboom attachment bolt, visually inspecting the other three tailboom attachment bolts and all barrel nuts, repetitive torque checks of the tailboom attachment bolts, and corrective action if necessary, as specified in a European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) AD, which is incorporated by reference. The FAA is issuing this AD to address the unsafe condition on these products. This AD becomes effective July