As the eVTOL industry evolves, lessons learned in helicopter history take on a particularly important significance. Between 1966 and 1968, over a million passengers flew scheduled helicopter airlines annually. By 1980, the airlines were extinct. What happened? During World War II, a burst of enthusiasm around the advent of the practical helicopter for urban air mobility fueled a massive wave of venture capital in rotorcraft manufacturing. But all the pieces and players that came together built the new transportation system unsustainably. The story of helicopter airlines is a cautionary tale of ambition and optimism operating beyond the capability of the aircraft, the marketplace, and the legislative space. In HAI’s next webinar, Roger Connor, a curator with Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, explores the rise and fall of helicopter airlines in the United States and how the relationships between manufacturers, operators, and the government both made and doomed scheduled helicopter transport. Roger Connor is an experienced fixed-wing commercial pilot with over 4,000 hours of flight time, including more than 3,000 hours in dual instruction given. He’s held flight instructor certificates in the United States and the United Kingdom and served as a designated private pilot examiner for the UK CAA. He holds master’s degrees in museum studies and American history and a PhD in American history. He currently curates the National Air and Space Museum’s vertical flight collection. Watch this replay of the Jul.14 HAI@Work webinar to hear from a National Air and Space Museum curator who’ll reveal how today’s UAM industry can learn from past mistakes.