Vertical Magazine

Published on: August 28, 2026 Estimated reading time 12 minutes, 2 seconds. Helicopter flying can be extremely unforgiving. Things can unravel in seconds, sometimes in ways no simulator or checklist can fully prepare us for. On Aug. 28, 2023, an Airbus EC135 air medical helicopter operated by the Broward County Sheriff’s Office lifted off from Pompano Beach Airpark on what should have been a routine flight to help someone in need.

Air Methods Photo The AirLife Georgia emergency air medical program in Blairsville commemorated 10 years of dedicated service to the people of Union County and beyond with a celebration held at Union County Farmers Market on Wednesday, Aug. 26. The event brought together current and former crew members, first responders from throughout Northern Georgia, and other partners.

The iMEDCAP consortium proudly announces the successful completion of the live pilot demonstration of its autonomous tactical medical evacuation system at NATO’s Vigorous Warrior 2026 exercise in Estonia, on June 12, 2026. The demonstration showcased a fully integrated chain of autonomous search, rescue, ground transport, in-transit treatment, and aerial evacuation for combat casualties, considering also contaminated soldiers.

Zuri has unveiled the Zuri uncrewed cargo VTOL, a hybrid-electric tiltrotor for civil and defense operators. It carries a hundred-plus kilograms over 679 km by design, or 569 km with a full 30-minute reserve, cruises at 220 km/h, and lands on a pad, a deck, or open ground. The useful load is 165 kg (payload plus fuel).

Published on: August 27, 2026 Estimated reading time 11 minutes, 21 seconds. Vertical Plus: You originally planned to pursue a career in medicine before joining the U.S. Air Force. How did you end up in helicopter maintenance, and what kept you in the industry? Keith Moreland: I graduated and started with the University of Alabama and realized after one semester that that’s not affordable for me. So I went into the U.S. Air Force as a medic, but that got shifted over when I graduated boot camp.

The nomination period for VAI’s 2027 Salute to Excellence Awards is still open — but not for much longer. The annual program honors outstanding individuals and teams across the full spectrum of vertical flight. Nominees and nominators do not need to be VAI members to participate. Nominations are being accepted at verticalavi.org/salute-to-excellence through Monday, Aug. 31, 2026.

European Helicopter Association (EHA) Chairman Fredrik Kämpfe visited the headquarters of Vertical Aviation International (VAI), where he met with VAI President and CEO François Lassale and the VAI management team for wide-ranging discussions on the future of the two associations’ collaboration and the strategic priorities facing the vertical aviation sector.

Enterprise aviation software provider Ramco Systems Canada Inc., a subsidiary of Ramco Systems Limited, announced that its long-time customer, Ornge, has successfully gone live with Ramco’s Digital Task Card with eSign-off and Mechanic Anywhere Mobile Application across all of its maintenance bases.

A fatal helicopter crash in northern Canada has prompted a renewed call for training and technology to help pilots navigate inadvertent entry into instrument meteorological conditions (IIMC). The crash on Feb. 12, 2024, involving a Bell 206L helicopter operated by Hanley Helicopter Service Inc., was conducting aerial survey work near Lake Athabasca, Alberta, according to a Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) investigation.

Published on: August 26, 2026 Estimated reading time 22 minutes, 44 seconds. On a small airfield in southwestern Pennsylvania, far from the scale and noise of the industry’s largest completion centers, PAC International has spent five decades proving that capability does not always announce itself through size. The facility looks exactly like what it is: a working shop that has grown in stages, each addition reflecting another chapter in the company’s evolution.