Resource Hub

(Outdoor magazine) – Search-and-rescue (SAR) missions don’t all involve helicopter hoists and hanging from cliffs. During most rescues, SAR teams hike into the backcountry to help tired, cold, and underprepared people who planned to be back home by dinnertime. Helicopters are only used in extreme situations. Members of SAR teams explain how to prepare before you go trekking.

Hughes Aerospace hosted the Performance Based Operations Aviation Rulemaking Committee (PARC) Navigation Working Group this week at the company’s offices in Houston, Texas. An industry–government collaboration, the group worked on helicopter IFR criteria as well as several other projects.

The VERTICON 2026 Liftoff and VAI Annual Membership Meeting and Breakfast will be held Tuesday, Mar. 10, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. During the meeting, FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford and European Union Aviation Safety Agency Executive Director Florian Guillermet will discuss key challenges and opportunities facing vertical aviation in a fireside chat with VAI President and CEO François Lassale. All VAI members and VERTICON attendees are invited to attend.

Four seats are open in three operator member categories. Each director elected will serve a term of three years beginning Jul. 1, 2026. Electronic election ballots have been distributed to VAI membership representatives of vertical aircraft operator members.

This all-day class is designed for flight department personnel who establish and/or maintain a recordkeeping system using accepted industry practices to document and maintain regulatory compliance and initiate appropriate action within the department. The course takes place Monday, Mar. 9, at VERTICON 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information and to register, click on the headline above.

VAI Northeastern US Regional Representative Josh Rousseau will participate in a panel featuring area leaders who will discuss beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) drone operations during the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) New England Next Generation Aviation Summit 2026. The event takes place Mar. 19 in Burlington, Massachusetts.

This all-day course is designed to deliver operationally focused training for aviation and ground teams involved in search-and-rescue (SAR) operations. The class takes place Monday, Mar. 9, at VERTICON 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information and to register, click on the headline above.

The new low-impedance router option for the Anodyne Electronics Manufacturing (AEM) P139-HD digital audio system supports law enforcement and special-mission operators.

This FAA airworthiness directive (AD), which takes effect Mar. 23, requires inspecting the upper and lower pitch-rod end bearings on the pitch rods of the main rotor and taking corrective actions, if necessary. It also requires reporting the results of the inspection to the FAA, which is accepting comments through Apr. 20.

GPMS International has received an order from the Texas-based operator to equip three more Bell 407s with its Foresight MX health and usage monitoring system (HUMS).