Alexandria, Va. (January 9, 2017) – Helicopter Association International (HAI) announced today that Carl Jones, Bell 205/Bell 412 crew chief, National Research Council (NRC) of Canada is the 2017 winner of HAI’s Salute to Excellence Rolls-Royce Excellence in Helicopter Maintenance Award. The award will be presented at HAI’s Salute to Excellence Awards dinner at HAI HELI-EXPO 2017.
Carl is described by colleagues as “a dedicated, hardworking individual who epitomizes the type of AME [aviation maintenance engineer] you want working on your helicopter.” For example, on one deployment on a critical contract with a tight schedule, the combining gearbox on a PT6 Twin-Pac failed. Changing this unit is not a small job, but Carl was able to source and arrange for delivery of a replacement, remove the old unit, and install the new one, leaving time to complete the contract. To make this happen, he worked evenings and weekends until the job was done.
NRC fly-by-wire helicopters have unique research equipment attached to the flight controls, as well as auxiliary systems such as a nonstandard 3000-psi hydraulic system. Carl was able to maintain and repair these systems and keep the helicopters operating. In one instance involving problems with the pedal axis of the force-feel system on a Bell 205 fly-by-wire research system, Carl devised a modification to fix the problem.
“Rather than sitting back happy with the status quo, Carl takes pride in his aircraft and is always looking for ways to make incremental improvements to them,” a colleague said. “He is a regular attendee at trade shows like those held by HAI, where he is always on the lookout for new technology to increase our capabilities. Examples of this include a new step and door roller system for our Bell 412 or a cycle counter system for our Bell 205. The savings alone from the cycle counter system has already paid for the system through reduced maintenance costs.”
The award will be presented at the annual Salute to Excellence Awards dinner during HAI HELI-EXPO 2017. HAI HELI-EXPO®, the world’s largest helicopter trade show and exhibition, will be held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, March 6–9, with the exhibit hall open March 7–9. For more information on HAI HELI-EXPO 2017, visit heliexpo.rotor.org.
HAI is the professional trade association for the civil helicopter industry. HAI’s 1,500+ organizational members and 1,800 individual members safely operate more than 4,500 helicopters approximately 2.3 million hours each year in more than 73 nations. HAI is dedicated to the promotion of the helicopter as a safe, effective method of commerce and to the advancement of the international helicopter community.
