Episodes
March 30, 2016
RWS 44 – Rosemary Arnold – First Australian Female Helicopter Pilot – Part 1
In 1965 Rosemary Arnold became the first Australian female helicopter pilot, the first female helicopter pilot in the southern hemisphere and Whirly Girl No.99 In this episode listen in as Rosemary tells the story of her 50yr+ career in aviation.
March 2, 2016
RWS 43 – Bell 525 Relentless with Larry Thimmesch
Our guest today is Larry Thimmesch, Vice President Bell 525 Relentless Sales. Larry has been involved with the 525 for the last 5 years from the program’s very earliest days. The 525 is Bell Helicopter’s largest helicopter to date and weighs in at 20,
Feb. 28, 2016
RWS 42 – Spidertracks Real-Time Tracking with Dave Blackwell
Spidertracks is a New Zealand company that produces a real time tracking solution for general aviation allowing owners and operators to know exactly where their aircraft are and to greatly increase the speed of rescue if something should go wrong.
Feb. 21, 2016
Autorotation Entry Technique: When to Use ‘Cyclic Back’ with Pete Gillies
The difference between an expensive falling brick and a helicopter is rotor RPM. Pete Gillies talks about the importance of aft cyclic in autorotation entry to conserve rotor RPM in this episode. Depending on where you did yo...
Feb. 15, 2016
RWS 40 – Cabri G2 Introduction with Joey Arena
The Guimbal Cabri G2 helicopter has a lot going for it. One of the type’s biggest fans is Joey Arena of Texas Rotorwing Academy. Joey operates two Cabris with another two on order. The Guimbal Cabri G2 is a two-seat light piston-engined helicopter desi...
Feb. 7, 2016
RWS 39 – Pete Gillies Talks About Learning to Fly Helicopters
Imagine the flying experience, tips and tricks that you would pick up in a helicopter career spanning 5 decades. Pete Gillies has just retired from full time work in the industry and in this episode he talks about his first experiences of learning to f...
Feb. 1, 2016
RWS 38 – Rotors ‘n Ribs Fly-In with Randy Sharkey
Billed as the largest Helicopter Airshow in the US (possibly the world?), Rotors ‘n Ribs is in its 5th year running at Goshen Airport, Indiana. In this episode we chat with event president Randy Sharkey about what he and his team of directors have in s...
Dec. 19, 2015
RWS 37 – Tuna Helicopter Flying with Francis ‘Moggy’ Meyrick
Look online for information about helicopter operations in the tuna industry and it won’t be long before you see mention of Moggy’s Tuna Manual. Author of the manual Francis ‘Moggy’ Meyrick is our guest in this episode of the Rotary Wing Show.
Sept. 25, 2015
RWS 36 – Survival and Rescue with John Hudson
John is the UK military’s chief instructor in Land, Sea and Extreme Environment Survival. In this episode he talks about the priorities of survival should you find yourself forced to land in a remote location.
Aug. 29, 2015
RWS 35 – Superyacht Helicopter Operations with Gareth Ross
In terms of wealth probably nothing says you’ve made it more than owning a superyacht – unless of course its owning a superyacht with helicopter landing facilities. In this episode we find out about the section of the helicopter industry that operates ...
Aug. 11, 2015
Black Hawk Down Pilot Mike Durant on Special Ops Flying and Survival
Flying long range assault missions at extremely low altitudes on NVGs with a cabin full of special forces soldiers is all in a days work for the men and women of the 160th Special Operations Regiment. Mike Durant was a Blackh...
July 27, 2015
RWS 33 – Helipaddy with Paddy Wills
As a private pilot Paddy Wills wanted to find new and interesting places to fly to and explore. This involved asking around, researching locations, trawling forums and poking around on Google Earth. He thought there must be a better way so he went and ...
June 28, 2015
RWS 32 – Helicopter Flight Paramedics with Bernie Walker
Bernie Walker is a Flight paramedic working with STARS – which is the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service – an EMS organisation that covers most of Western Canada. Bernie has been with STARS as a flight paramedic for over 16 years now and these days plays ...
June 7, 2015
RWS 31 – AOPA Hover Power Blog with Ian Twombly and Markus Lavenson
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) is the largest general aviation body in the United States. Hover Power is the association’s helicopter themed blog covering a mix of news, stories and advice.
May 25, 2015
RWS 30 – Touchdown Autorotation Competition and more with Jerry Trimble
With the ink still drying on his A&P licence Jerry landed a job at Robinson Helicopters and went flying on his first day on the job with Frank Robinson in R22 serial number 2. We cover several of the experiences from Jerry’s career in this episode.
May 14, 2015
RWS 29 – Ocean Rescues and a Tail Rotor Failure with Jerry Grayson
As a Royal Navy SAR pilot Jerry Grayson was involved in a number of high profile rescue missions along with the crews of the Wessex helicopters he piloted. He has written a book – Rescue Pilot – that captures many of the stories of this part of his car...
May 2, 2015
RWS 28 – Vietnam, Culture and Helicopter Company Management with David Earley
From the outback of northern Australia, to the jungles of Vietnam and the mountains of Papua New Guinea and Nepal – plus much of the US, time in the Philippines, Columbia and Russia, David Earley is one well travelled helicopter pilot.
April 3, 2015
RWS 26 – US Forest Service Helicopter Ops with John Harris
Helicopters are uniquely suited to the demands of the US Forest Service. John Harris is one of the Service’s inspector pilots and in this episode talks about his career and his current role. Based in Missoula, Montana,
March 18, 2015
RWS 25 – Aviation Vision Science with Warren de Haan
Dr Warren De Haan has been an Aviation vision specialist for 48 years and is considered the world’s leading expert in the field. In this episode we will be talking about vision science, tips on looking after your eyesight,
March 8, 2015
RWS 24 – CoaX Helicopters with Richard Woodward
Today’s episode is about a single seat helicopter design being developed in Australia that makes use of a coaxial rotor system. And who better to talk us through the design than Airbus A380 captain Richard Woodward. That’s right,
March 1, 2015
RWS 23 – Helicopter Helmets with Mark Jones
To take us through everything you ever wanted to know about helicopter aircrew helmets we are joined today by Mark Jones of Gentex Aircrew Systems. The modern helmet does much more than just provide head protection as you are about to find out.
Feb. 17, 2015
RWS 22 – Kiowa Warrior in Iraq with Robert Mills
Blackdeath 23 was Robert Mill’s callsign in an Air Cavalry Unit operating the Kiowa Warrior in Iraq. Robert has published his journal as a book of the same name covering his two tours in Iraq and the daily challenges of operating a scout helicopter in ...
Feb. 11, 2015
RWS 21 – V-22 Osprey with Mike McKinney
A battle truck that cruises at 240kts and can land in your supermarket car park – the V-22 Osprey is one of the more unique aircraft kicking around. Ok, technically its a tiltrotor design but we’ll adopt it as more rotary wing than fixed wing.
Feb. 1, 2015
RWS 20 – Aerial Firefighting with Gordy Cox
A great example of the utility of helicopters is their use in firefighting support. There is more to it than meets the eye though. [Warning: This is a longer episode, approx 85mins, so you might want to download the file and play locally] Using under...