Untitled - HFI Historical Archive - Helicopter Association International

Ask the Administrator
(ColI/illlled /rom page 8)
Much of the present difficult situation
between FAA and the industry must be
blamed on the lawyers. They have
placed an undue burden on the local
FAA inspectors by requiring s.melions
for all known violations. and shifted the
decision making level \0 FAA Headquarters.
Al one meeting where most of the
general aviation associations were
present, there had been a discussion of
this deterioration of FAA/industry
cOllllnunication and the increasingly
heavyhunded enforcement practices of
FAA. Every onc al lhal meeting agreed
that Ihis is a serious and growing problem.
Fonner FAA Adminislmlor Alan Me­
Anorhad been symp:l1hclic to this problem
and hed mel wilh the lOp executives
of the general aviation [rmle associations.
As a resull orlhe meeling u "self­
:lUdil " program had been conceived
(not yet implemcntcd) and considcration
had been given to establishment of
un FAA "ombudsman" at the top
echelon \0 provide standardiz.ed interpretation
of the FARs and to disseminate
this infonnation for use throughout
the system. This is felt to be a good and
practical idea.
DUSEY: I-Jas the recent FAA shirt to
a "straight-line" org:lI1izution been or
any help in dealing with this situation?
HAl: Yes. In fact, there huve been
several recent insllLnces where
operators have received very responsive
action on priority requests ror FAA IISsistance,
thanks to the straight-line
structure,
To continue on this positive note,there
are many good things about FAA's organization
and practices, and many excellent
individuals among FAA's personnel.
Notable among these are
Messrs. Donahue, Melugin and POliS,
and or course there are many others too
numerous to memion.
FAA has done an excellent job or communicating
with the industry in the ongoing
update of the Rotorcraft Muster
Plan. And FAA's Airpons people have
been doing an exellent job of assisting
in gelling heliports buill.
BUSEY: I agree that the airports clement
of FAA is doing quite well. Working
with them, I hope to put public-use
heliports in the correct places to satisfy
the needs of both the operators and the
public.
HAl: Do you support the tilt-rotor as
strongly as your predecessor. Alan Mc­
Artor?
36 ROTOR
BUSEY: Yes. indeed. I have nown the
XV-IS, and I was part or the Navy's
procurement team for the v-no I feel
that the tilt-rotor has much to orfer both
military and civil aviation. How do you
feel about it, as a civil :IiTemft?
HAl: We share your high regard for
the tilt-rotor's potential: but our immcdiate
concern in the USA is meeting the
needs or the 7.000 or so active civil
helicopters in this country. It will be
many years, even under the most optimistic
scenario, before there will be
any sizeable numbers of civil t ilt-rolors
in operution.
We arc pleased 10 sce the IUllount of
interest in the tilt-rotor, but we wllnt to
make cerltlin that fac ilities imd infmstructures
built to serve the tilt-rotor
are fully accessible by. and avuilable to,
the large and growing neet of convenlional
hclicopters. We must diligemly
avoid a "Masspon" syndrome which
would deny the use orvertiports to conventional
hcliwpters operating both
VFR ,lIld [FR.
UUSEY: I would like to thank you for
your candor in discussing these problem
areas Wilh me. ObvioLlsly it would not
be appropriate for me to make any
judgements right now concerning the
infomlation you have shared with me.
1·lowever, I will look into these mailers.
Before departing. I would like tocover
a few more points which h:lve not been
discussed yet:
• I support Secrelary Skinner's position
of leaving the FAA within the
Department of Transportation.
• Concerning access to the money in
the aviation trust fund ... 1 nlll confident
that by next year, we will be able to
discern clear trends in that direction.
• I do 110t believe lhat we have been
successrul in identifying aviation safety
issues.
• Concerning cominued funding of
development or the tiit-rotor ... 1 believe
that some of the R&D money cut from
the SOl program will be used for tiltrotor.
HAl: There was strong exprcssion or
appreciation to the Administrator for
attending this meeting, and for listening
to the vicws expressed on behalf of the
operational elements or the civil
helicopter industry. i'ilf_
(Ed' ,f IIOfe: FAA·.f SY.ffe/ll Safety &
Efficiellcy Rel.jew begal/ /lSCI'.f mee/ings
ill AI/gllst 011 the FAA Compliallt;(!
& EII!ol'cell/clI/ Progl'tJlII.
Sec ROTON Calmdar.)
Market Trends
(C(III/illlll'll fmm p(l,C 34}
Interesting is 1he faetthat we can now
see enough of fl pnllem to verify lenders
and lessors that today·. market and
prices are not the aberration: this is
where prices should have been had there
not been such tough times for the past
few years. So now that we know the
"good times" arc here, let's look at some
of the impressive gains made by reselling
helicopters.
And we'll see you in future issues of
ROTOR magazine. as we discuss why
v:llue, like beauty, is often in the eye or
the beholder ... or the seller.
What's Hapop ening in the
Helicopter M arkef
"What's really happening in the
helicopter market?" ROTOR magazine
asked The OFricial HclicO I )ter Bluc
Book. Shilron Desfor, editor and publisher,
answered,
"About what you'd expect, if you've
becn watching or panicipating yourself."
The table on p"ge 34 Cl1n give you
some insights into the increases as
shown in the HIlle Book for averageequipped,
"low" to "mid" time helicopters.
In the last fifteen months, res"le pricing
trenus have been strongly upwards.
in some cases. increasing more than
35%, Light single-turbine ships are
leading the pack in upward mobility,
medium twins follow closely, in the
25% to 35% increment range. Heavier
twins,as well asa few helicopters which
were not expected to appreciate, actually
increased slightly in the 3-1 5% range.
Market Extremely Strong
Although the market is still extremely
strong, and although the price of used
helicopters continues to increase, the
feeding frenz.y h!L calmed. Look for
some stabiliz:ltion, but don't believe
that prices ure "through the roof."
Today 's market is still recovering from
the severe depression earlier this
decade.
Remember these words of ten years
ago. when inllation was the subject:
"TIle rate of increase of the rate of increase
is slowing." Today the subject is
helicopter resale prices. 11lese price increases
are startling: but they clearly
demonstrate tll:1I those abnonnal1y-Iow
helicoptcr prices of past years urc finally
gone, while strong prices of today will
continue into the near future. Q
Fall 1989