Heli-Expo 2013 in Las Vegas featured 1.5 million square feet in exhibit hall space, 20,000 industry professionals, more than 600 exhibitors, 60-plus helicopters on static display, and more than two dozen education courses, seminars, workshops, and forums. Below are some of the more notable quotes heard at the convention.
“This is the biggest show we’ve ever had. All the numbers exceed anything we’ve ever had previously…I think we have a show that will probably take you all three days to walk through here and meet everybody.”—Matt Zuccaro, president of Helicopter Association International
“The [Bell] 47 does not have a shelf life. If you own a Bell 47 helicopter and you maintain it, it will outlast you.”— Don Maguire, Bell 47’s Director of Customer Support and Services
“The buyer confidence reflected in this year’s survey is a much needed shot in the arm for the industry. Supporting the growth numbers is the fact that helicopter usage for corporate, oil and gas, utility, and training missions is improving, which shows that helicopters are value-add aircraft in today’s business environment.” — Brian Sill, vice president of Honeywell Aftermarket Helicopter Sales
“We want to give helicopters some ‘50-yard line’ real estate at Oshkosh. Our half-million AirVenture visitors will be able to really see and appreciate these unique aircraft. This goes beyond the homebuilt rotorcraft built by EAA members to the entire spectrum of helicopter operations and their advanced technology.”— EAA Vice President of AirVenture Features and Attractions Jim DiMatteo
”Garmin’s state of the art G1000H integrated flight deck will provide our operators all the information they need in an intuitive package. The nature of the display reduces the pilot’s scan to a smaller area, resulting in less time looking inside the cockpit. The synthetic vision and the navigation display provide excellent situational awareness and dramatically reduce the pilot’s workload. Added options, such as traffic and weather increase the utility and provide an added safety margin.”— Bill Taylor, Enstrom’s director of engineering
“I’ve heard people say there’s no mission too tough for the Bell 412.”— Bell Helicopters President and CEO John L. Garrison.
“We are excited to have these [Vertol 107-II] helicopters in our fleet. The Swedish military took very good care of these aircraft and we look forward to putting them into operational status as soon as possible.”—Stan Wilson, president of Columbia Helicopters
“The market is recovering. We see the market coming back by ’14, from the financial crisis.”—Lutz Bertling, president and CEO of Eurocopter Group
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