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VAI Western US Regional Representative Chuck Street met with VAI members Chris Horton of HeliStream and Jim Slavik following a May 16 flight in Jim’s Bell 407GXi helicopter.

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(Flying) – Several states and at least one new OEM on May 26 confirmed their participation in the FAA’s three-year, 26-state electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft test program.

(AIN) – The agency’s busy modernization agenda includes an effort to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to better manage airspace flow and reduce scheduling problems at busy airports, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said at a Royal Aeronautical Society event last week in Washington, D.C.

(Vertical Plus) – Responses are due Friday, May 29, for the annual survey, which is open to anyone in the global civil helicopter industry who has operated, flown, or maintained helicopters in the past two years.

(RNZ) – Vivid Sydney temporarily canceled a series of drone shows after a technical malfunction resulted in 89 drones falling into a harbor May 25 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has determined the probable cause of the accident to be the pilot’s failure to maintain proper main-rotor rpm during a low-level turn, which resulted in the main-rotor rpm dropping and a loss of control at an altitude too low for recovery.

A US Coast Guard (USCG) MH-65 Dolphin crew hoisted an injured hiker from a cliff on God’s Thumb May 24 in Lincoln City.

(PR Newswire) – The company has conducted a demonstration of an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) formation flight using one V5000 Matrix and two V2000-series aircraft.

(Vertical magazine) – The Canadian government has selected VIH Helicopters and Coldstream Helicopters as leasing partners for the country’s first national fleet of firefighting aircraft.