As Vertical Aviation International (VAI) returns to the newly minted Verticon convention and exhibition from March 10 to 13, the see and avoid safety topic comes back into focus. VAI president and CEO James Viola pointed to the recent tragic midair collision of a U.S. Army Black Hawk and the PSA CRJ-700 airliner that claimed the lives of all 67 aboard both aircraft at Washington DC's Reagan National Airport (DCA).

While it will be some time before the NTSB delivers its probable cause, Viola believes that an accident such as this highlights an ongoing effort to focus on see-and-avoid skills and that the issue likely will be addressed during the expo. He noted that focus is important not only as a lesson learned from accidents that have occurred but also as advanced air mobility vehicles begin to enter the market, potentially sharing airspace and airports. 

“We really have to use the technology available to deconflict,” he said. “The eyeball's been a terrible deconfliction technique for many years. We continue to have midairs.” Technology is developing to help in these areas, he said. 

Part of the difficulties with advancing technology stems from the varied helicopter types and missions. “I like to think about a helicopter as a tool for work, and we've got 44 different missions that helicopters do,” he said, citing activities from tour operators to power lines and firefighting. “You can’t put the same equipment on all the helicopters like you do with aircraft or airlines. You have to look at the mission set that you're trying to enhance the safety on." For example, he noted that some equipment adds weight, which can cut the safety margins.

 “The equipment that can go on those aircraft [such as offshore operations] to make them safer are not the same ones that need to go on ones that are doing power line patrol or moving Christmas trees up in in the Northeast for the holidays,” Viola added. 

Lessons From Fixed Wing Aircraft and Drones

Part 135 operators could more closely align with fixed-wing commercial requirements, he added. Viola further pointed to technologies developed for remote-piloted beyond-the-line-of-sight operations that provide deconfliction capabilities. “That same technology could be on manned aircraft as well.”

Moving toward such efforts is imperative, he said. “It's not just even about risk; it's about risk to your whole livelihood.”

Efforts to embrace the technology and the proper tools for the mission are paying dividends, he said, adding helicopter operators largely are on board. Referencing fly-by-wire helicopter developer Skyryse, he cited the company's exhibit at the most recent Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. “I was very impressed,” he said. Several helicopter operators put down money on a technology still in development.

“I was happy to see that industry is leaning forward with the technology with the promise that it will make flying safer because it eliminates some of the human error.”

Along with see and avoid, numerous other topics are at the forefront for the upcoming Verticon show, Viola added, such as the implementation of the powered-lift rule that was released in October as well as the much-anticipated, but overdue release of the Part 108 beyond-visual-line-of-sight notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).

However, with the changes at the White House, the timing of some of the initiatives is less clear. “We still all have to wait on the FAA,” Viola said. “We’re trying to coordinate, but it looks like it may be difficult now. Every day something changes with the collaboration with the FAA and the government agencies.”

The hope was that the Part 108 NPRM would have been released by Verticon. “I don't think that's going to be possible now.”

But he said Verticon will still have an array of strong educational sessions and panels on these topics, such as on how to share the airspace safely and on the progress in the infrastructure front.

In the weeks after the presidential inauguration, the FAA was awaiting travel guidance, and Viola was hopeful that officials would be able to participate. But he added that local government employees would attend and “represent some of the good work that they're doing.”

Plenty To Learn at Verticon

Viola touted the full plate of educational and other sessions, a hallmark of the expo, along with events ranging from a safety symposium with NTSB officials and a safety management system workshop to a career fair, tour operators advisory council meeting, and small business initiatives advisory panel.

As traditional, Verticon hosted an awards ceremony to highlight luminaries in the industry, but new is an expanded list of four Lifetime Achievement Award winners.

Leading up to the expo, organizers were encouraged by the way it was shaping up; six weeks ahead of time 614 exhibitors had committed and more than 283,000 sq ft of floor space accounted for, Viola said. “All the numbers are looking really good.” As far as registration, Viola noted that people often wait until the last minute, but so far it’s been on target. “They're right on par with the last year, the year before, and back to 2022, so everything's looking good.” He also was pleased with the location in Dallas, including the vertiport availability, convention space, and local support.

Viola is preparing to leave VAI to transition into his new role as president and CEO of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association right after Verticon. In a sad and unfortunate coincidence, Viola is departing VAI as another high-profile accident confronts the rotorcraft industry—just as it did when he came aboard to what was then Helicopter Association International (HAI) in 2020.

Joining the association in early 2020, Viola immediately faced his first crisis with the high-profile crash of a Sikorsky S-76B in Calabasas, California, that killed nine people, including iconic basketball star Kobe Bryant

“I'm actually sad because there's time, there’s the lessons to be learned, and there are things where there’s no quick fix like with Kobe Bryant's accident—having an operator trying to fly in bad weather visually with their eyes again instead of just being on the machine. And it was a fully capable machine,” he said. “Helicopters can fly low. We don't have to be up as high as airplanes, but we do have the capability to fly in the clouds. We have the technology to do that.

“The loss of life that day was certainly not the outcome that anybody wanted,” Viola continued. “Now we just had the accident in the river, and we go back to the eyeball again. Both times you'll see where the human failed in the eye. It was all based on visual.”

He stressed the need for the industry to get to the point where it has the technology installed and “actually use the technology for separation, by space, by altitude.”

He still likes VFR flying. “At some point, I can turn the autopilot off and I could fly and have a little more fun, almost like an aerobatic airplane,” he said.

But when commercial activities or other factors such as nighttime flying come in, then technology is key.

Viola, who joined the association with a strong safety background formerly as FAA director of general aviation safety assurance, had an ambitious agenda when joining HAI. This included expanding its reach, including into new frontiers such as advanced air mobility. This all led to a new identity for the association and its hallmark annual convention.

But also important to the then HAI board was expanding the reach internationally, he explained. This led to multiple partnerships such as with the European Helicopter Association and then assisting and ultimately becoming the show organizer of European Rotors.

Viola called this a big step “because our members are their members and their members are our members.” He noted European manufacturers in particular wanted to have a show closer to home. “We were able to offer that to them.” And now with Verticon’s 15,000-plus attendees and European Rotors growth to about 6,000, the association is reaching a broader audience.

Stepping Up Work Around the World

But this goes beyond the helicopter community into the international safety stage, where VAI was able to formalize its activities with the International Civil Aviation Organization. VAI formerly did this through an umbrella organization, the International Federation of Helicopter Associations. But that organization wasn’t as recognizable.

“As other organizations all use their same names, we this year also have transitioned to VAI at ICAO so that everybody understands that we're the global organization collaborating around the globe," Viola explained. "We’ve been doing that since 1986, but nobody really realized it because we used kind of an alias. We hope that transitioning to VAI will help with that.”

This is important, he explained, as accidents such as the one outside of DCA airport reverberate around the globe and countries with less developed helicopter communities start to look at helicopters as dangerous and move to prevent their operations locally. “There's going to be a lot of negative ramifications just because of the involvement of the helicopter,” he acknowledged. 

He pointed to the “great work” done by helicopters such as the firefighting in California but said access to those assets isn’t as available in some locations because there aren’t global regulations for them.

“When we move an aircraft to another country—to Australia, to Greece, to Turkey—all the pilots need additional check rides even though it's the same type of aircraft. We still have a lot of room to grow internationally,” Viola said.

He also highlighted the myriad of safety programs that VAI has developed or formed partnerships on such as safety management systems—“anything we can do on the partnerships to help reduce the cost for the members as well as lessons learned and shared.”

Important to Viola, as VAI expanded its reach, it also has worked to dispel the notion that eVTOL aircraft would replace helicopters. “We got rid of the ‘helicopters are going away,’ and the way we did that was trying to show people they have 44 missions out there,” he said. 

But at the same time, helicopters are evolving with options of hydrogen and electric propulsion on the horizon. “An electric [Robinson] R44 has flown,” he noted. “I know quite a few folks are working on hybrids. So the thing that inspires me for the future is the sustainability of the helicopters that are currently in production as we welcome the new into the future,” he said.

As he prepares to leave the association, Viola is enthusiastic about it remaining in good hands, praising the staff. “The pace at which VAI operates for 35 folks is amazing,” he said. “What I've learned from VAI is the importance of hiring good folks and then also providing the opportunity to continue to grow inside of the organization. When members call, they don't just pass on the information. They actually take on the problem, try to solve it, and then make sure others learn from it.”

As far as Viola's transition to his new role at GAMA, he noted it is somewhat of a return for him. “When I was at the FAA, I was in charge of general aviation dealing with both airplanes and helicopters,” he pointed out.

Coming over to VAI enabled him to focus on helicopters. “It was nice. All I had to worry about was helicopters,” he said, continuing, “but my passion truly is aviation safety and still seeing the work that's out there that needs to be done in both areas.”

He noted how he’s worked with the GAMA staff and leadership for well more than a decade, going back to his days at the FAA.  “They are very committed to safety. It's a bigger, broader field. I will spread my wings a little going back to all of general aviation.”

He also pointed to the membership overlap with the helicopter manufacturers but particularly noted his relationship with current GAMA president and CEO Pete Bunce, who is retiring in April after a transition period with Viola.

“I think that is really key, and I hope to have that same relationship with whoever the board decides will take VAI after me,” he concluded.