operator profile HELINET AVIATION

operator profile Helinet aviation
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80 verticalmag.com
A
Wide Net
Helinet AviAtion is A well-known
nAme in tHe Helicopter industry,
but few people AppreciAte
How diverse And innovAtive its
operAtions reAlly Are.
Story by elan Head | photos by Skip robinson
Both the Sikorsky S-76B and
Eurocopter AS355 F2 are part of
Helinet’s varied helicopter fleet.
October/November 2012 81
operator profile Helinet aviation
M
Most people in the helicopter industry have heard of
Helinet aviation Services, but for different reasons. Some
people know this Southern California company as the
aerial film operator behind dozens of Hollywood blockbusters, from Transformers to Die Hard. others know it as a
longstanding electronic news gathering (eNG) provider
that, at one point, was one of the largest eNG operators
in the world. Still others know it as the parent company of
Helinet technologies, a provider of microwave downlinking
and other technology solutions that is quietly revolutionizing the airborne-law-enforcement industry.
Helinet aviation is all of these things and more — including a Vip charter operator, a niche emergency-medicalservices provider and a critical link in Southern California’s
organ transplant system. “We’re really diverse,” said company president alan purwin, commenting on the company’s
spectrum of operations. Not only is Helinet diverse, it’s
also nimble and not afraid to re-invent itself to pursue new
opportunities in the marketplace.
However, as much as Helinet has evolved over the years,
one aspect of its identity has remained the same: it’s
made up of people who care. “We care a lot about what
The pride of Helinet’s fleet is a fully equipped VIP
version of the Sikorsky S-76B.
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Pilot Jay Stowells and cameraman Rob Gluckman pose
in front of “Air 7 HD,” an AS350 B2.
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Pilot Al Sousa sets up a landing at
UCLA Medical Center during an organ
transplant flight in an AS355 F2.
we do,” remarked purwin. “it’s not all about the revenue. .
. . We really want to be as perfect as we can at what we
do. We want to make the world a better place however
we can.”
From Crops to Cameras
alan purwin was born into a family love of aviation: his
father was a pilot, and he grew up hanging around the Van
Nuys airport in Van Nuys, Calif., where Helinet is based
today. purwin got his fixed-wing pilot certificate while still
in high school, then moved into flying helicopters. after
cutting his teeth as a crop duster in a Hiller helicopter, he
landed a job flying “airwolf”: the Bell 222 in the television
series of the same name. the job was his entry into production work and also into the Screen actors Guild — an
essential membership in the closed and highly competitive
world of Hollywood film work.
in 1984, purwin was hired to fly a camera ship for aBC
Sports during the Summer olympics in los angeles, Calif.
“that was my introduction to flying a camera, which i
really liked,” he recalled.
from there, he continued to build his experience as a
film and camera pilot and in 1987 founded West Coast
Helicopters with a Bell 206l. the company took on a
variety of work, including managing a eurocopter aS355
twinStar for the chief executive officer of a fortune 500
company. “We just kind of did whatever we could do to
keep blades turning,” purwin recalled.
one of West Coast’s first — and, ultimately, most
important — customers was Cedars-Sinai Medical Center,
which tapped the company to provide transportation for
its organ transplant teams. although organ transplants
were becoming more common, the logistics were still
daunting: donors and recipients were frequently separated
by hundreds or thousands of miles, and surgical teams
might have only hours to harvest an organ and return it to
the hospital where the transplant would be performed. it
became obvious that helicopters and chartered jets would
be essential in keeping transportation time to a minimum.
“it was an industry that was just getting started,”
remembered purwin. “We did one of their [Cedars-Sinai’s]
very first heart transplants.” Soon thereafter, purwin’s
company began doing similar work for UCla Medical
Center; today, Helinet flies organ transplant teams for hospitals throughout Southern California. thanks to the extensive network of contacts it has built up over the years, it
also takes the lead in arranging their jet and ground transportation. according to purwin, in over 20 years of flying
such calls, the company has never negatively impacted the
outcome of a lifesaving mission.
and now tHe news
in 1991, West Coast Helicopters secured its first eNG
contract, with local tV station Ktla. it would prove to be
the beginning of a long relationship with the station —
and the first step toward an eventual eNG empire. the
October/November 2012 83
operator profile Helinet aviation
Pilot Brad Kygar poses in front of the S-76B
operated for Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
“I really dIdn’t know much about chIldren’s hospItal. but, It was such a
compellIng sItuatIon that I basIcally saId, on the spot, ‘what do you need?’”
eNG industry itself started to take off around the time that
purwin acquired Southern California helicopter operator
Helinet aviation in 1998 (he then merged Helinet with
West Coast Helicopters, and began to operate exclusively
under the Helinet name). purwin saw an opportunity to
further market the successful turnkey solution that Helinet
was already providing in los angeles: rather than just a
helicopter, Helinet began offering news stations across
the country broadcasting equipment and technical support,
as well. “We changed the model with that,” said purwin.
“We were the first company to package everything
together.”
Helinet’s executive vice-president, alex Giuffrida, first
joined the company in 2003, when the eNG boom was well
under way. “in ’03, news was going through an explosion,”
he recalled. “We had contracts all over the U.S.” that
same year, Helinet acquired Cineflex, a startup company
that had developed a new, gyroscopically stabilized, highdefinition (HD) camera system for use in aerial filming.
Helinet grew the company, bringing it from zero revenues
in 2003 to multi-million dollar revenues in 2007. it also
leveraged the Cineflex camera’s outstanding image quality
and capabilities to distinguish itself in the broadcasting
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market: becoming the first operator to downlink HD video
live, for example.
at one point, Helinet had close to 30 eNG contracts
throughout the United States. By 2007, however, purwin
had come to believe that the sector’s best days were
behind it. Costs for maintaining satellite bases were rising,
and profit margins were shrinking. Moreover, the internet
was beginning to challenge the dominance of traditional
media outlets, including tV news stations. in 2007, Helinet
sold Cineflex to axsys technologies (which was acquired
by General Dynamics in 2009). Shortly thereafter, it sold
the vast majority of its eNG helicopters and contracts,
most of them to St. louis, Mo., based Helicopters inc.
Helinet did retain its los angeles-based eNG contracts,
however, and today operates helicopters for three local tV
stations out of its hangar at Van Nuys airport (see sidebar,
p.86). Helinet had several compelling reasons for retaining
these contracts. first, it had strong, longstanding relationships with those stations that it wanted to preserve.
Next, because these operations utilize Helinet’s main
facilities — including its in-house, U.S. federal aviation
regulations part 145 maintenance facility — their fixed
costs are relatively low. finally, it doesn’t hurt that the
Helinet president Alan Purwin, left, and current VP of technical
operations J.T. Alpaugh were filming within two hours of Hurricane
Katrina’s passage through New Orleans.
eNG market in los angeles is the busiest in the U.S., with
each Helinet ship flying between 150 and 200 flight hours
a month, even in a sluggish economy. remarked Giuffrida,
“if all markets were like l.a., we’d probably still be in the
eNG business.”
Purwin believes that the images he and Alpaugh captured in the
aftermath of Katrina helped speed up the response to the disaster.
selves. Yet, many of these agencies found the process
discouraging, as they were unable to get their downlinking
systems to work well or reliably. alpaugh, who is now Vp
of technical operations for Helinet technologies — and
Building on experienCe
When Helinet made the strategic decision to
withdraw from the eNG sector, it was left with
a wealth of experience and know-how in broadcasting and downlinking. that expertise didn’t
stay idle for long: it became the core of Helinet
technologies, a subdivision company created in
2009 to provide aerial surveillance solutions for
military and law enforcement customers.
Helinet had begun to realize the public-service
potential of its broadcasting expertise in 2005,
when purwin and camera operator J.t. alpaugh
took an HD-equipped helicopter and crew to
the New orleans area 24 hours in advance of
Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in louisiana. the
helicopter was filming over New orleans within
two hours of the storm’s passage, capturing the
first aerial images of the devastated city. Helinet
then immediately began distributing the footage to
major news organizations at no charge — an act
that purwin believes helped speed up the response
to the disaster.
“that was probably one of the most important
things i’ve ever done in my life,” purwin said of
his coverage of Katrina’s aftermath. “We feel as
though our images caused politicians to flood the
region with resources.” in the days that followed,
Helinet also provided real-time video imagery to
the federal emergency Management agency and
its parent organization, the U.S. Department of
Homeland Security; to the U.S. Coast Guard; and
to local and federal law enforcement agencies,
in addition to being the pool photographer for the
major news networks.
Katrina highlighted the value of microwave
downlinking capabilities in incident response, and
it encouraged a number of law enforcement agencies to begin investing in the technology themOctober/November 2012 85
operator profile Helinet aviation
Flying the news
by Skip robinson
who has also been a reserve tactical flight officer with a Southern California law enforcement
agency since 1995 — described the situation.
“i was hearing from these guys on a continuous
basis. . . . they were getting extremely frustrated.
they asked me why they couldn’t have pictures
and equipment like the eNG operators. i immediately knew the answer: they [the law enforcement personnel] didn’t have the experience or the
know-how.”
once again, Helinet saw an opportunity to provide a turnkey solution. “alan [purwin] said, ‘Why
don’t we take that [eNG] technology and bring
it to law enforcement?’ ” recalled ron Magocsi,
who joined Helinet in 2004 and is now Helinet
technologies’ chief operating officer. through its
new subsidiary company, Helinet began offering
law enforcement agencies a comprehensive solution for aerial surveillance and downlinking, much
as it had once offered tV stations a complete
technical support package. the response was just
as enthusiastic, and Helinet technologies now
provides consulting, integration assistance, train-
although Helinet aviation sold most of its electronic news gathering (eNG) contracts in 2007, it continues to be a major player in Southern California’s eNG market. Currently, Helinet has contracts with three
los angeles-based television news stations: aBC Channel 7, foX Channel 11 and KMeX Channel 34.
Helinet operates eurocopter aS350 B2 helicopters (and dedicated back-up aircraft) for Channels 7 and
11, and a Bell 206B Jetranger for the Spanish-language Channel 34. all of the stations benefit from
Helinet’s turnkey service, which has been a hallmark of its eNG operations since the company secured its
first news contract in 1991. Said Helinet vice president of technical operations J.t. alpaugh, “We realized
early on that Helinet needed to give the customers what they wanted, including trained and experienced
pilots. We have and do provide cameramen who understand and operate the equipment.”
Helinet’s industry-leading expertise in filming and downlinking technologies — which has been further
developed through its subsidiary company, Helinet technologies — is another advantage for its eNG clients. Said alpaugh, “all of our eNG aircraft are equipped with the Cineflex V-14HD camera system — at
the moment, the latest camera technology on the market. that said, also being a technology company,
we are always looking at the newest and latest equipment throughout our industry and the overall
broadcast industry. i can’t get into it now, but we see some new equipment coming online that will further increase the flexibility we offer our customers.”
Covering news stories in Southern California’s complex and congested airspace isn’t easy. although
Helinet’s pilots come from many different sectors of the industry, most of them have extensive experience flying in the los angeles area, and all of them have a keen appreciation for
what it takes to operate safely. as one Helinet pilot told Vertical, “our number
one goal — even [above] getting a story — is flight safety. for example, if it’s a
Air 7 HD shuts down before refueling.
story involving law enforcement, there might be one or even two police helicopters working a scene, and maybe a fixed-wing plane from a radio station and up
to five to seven eNG helicopters. We maintain a close working relationship with
crews from both eNG and law enforcement aircraft and are continuously talking
to them. Since we operate together almost every day, we give each other position reports and announce when and where we are moving to. When there is an
end to a long car chase this becomes critical. inevitably, we are working in close
quarters and everyone needs to know what the other is doing. When we are
always talking to each other, it works well and keeps everyone safe.”
this focus on technology and safety is complemented by Helinet’s emphasis
on customer service. Said alpaugh, “We maintain a close relationship with the
tV stations; i try to speak to them daily and see where we can make thing work
seamlessly. We want the tV news viewers and the stations to get the best
camera angles and the most reliable pictures. the tV stations are relying on us
to represent them in a professional manner, and that’s Helinet’s ultimate goal.”
FOX 11’s rear working area is
essentially a mobile TV station.
With its capable camera system, the Fox 11 AS350 B2 can
maintain a reasonable altitude while working a story.
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operator profile Helinet aviation
Helinet is well-known in the movie industry, with a long list of blockbusters to its credit. It filmed this Transformers scene near downtown Los Angeles. Helinet Photo
ing and 24-hour technical support for a growing number
of law enforcement agencies in Southern California and
across the United States (see p.30, Vertical 911, ALEA
2012).
“it’s literally changing the face of airborne law enforcement,” said Magocsi, explaining that reliable downlinking
capabilities have given commanders on the ground unprecedented abilities to assess and direct the response to
major incidents. “they’re able to make the calls they need
to in real-time.”
Now, law enforcement is no longer behind the broadcasting curve. Said alpaugh, “in a lot of ways, some of
what we’re doing in law enforcement and public safety is
surpassing the broadcast stuff. it’s exciting to see that. in
some areas they’re using new technology that even the
broadcasters don’t have.”
giving BaCk
Helinet is a profitable company, but as its coverage of
Hurricane Katrina demonstrated, it won’t hesitate to sacrifice profits when there’s a compelling public need. its
work for Children’s Hospital los angeles is one of the most
striking examples of that charitable focus.
Helinet’s association with one of the largest pediatric
centers in the U.S. began when its operations manager
of emergency services, Judy Sherif, approached purwin
with a dilemma. the hospital had a tremendous need for a
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dedicated, reliable helicopter emergency medical service,
yet the families of many of its patients lacked the insurance required to cover the cost of helicopter transport.
Consequently, the hospital couldn’t afford to start an air
ambulance service on its own — it needed a helicopter
provider willing and able to share in the financial burden.
“i really didn’t know much about Children’s Hospital,”
said purwin. “But, it was such a compelling situation that i
basically said, on the spot, ‘What do you need?’”
in 1998, Helinet began an air ambulance service for
Children’s Hospital using an agusta a109C. the model
proved to be less than ideal, in large part because of its
limited cabin space and payload capacity once it was
equipped for the medical mission. a pivotal experience
ended up changing the face of the program. as purwin
remembered, “i was doing a flight once, and i didn’t have
the ability to take a parent along.” the parent was wavering on whether to allow the flight, and while this was
happening, the child died. purwin resolved not to be put in
that situation again: “i said, ‘i’m going to go out and buy
an aircraft that’s perfect for this team.’ ”
the perfect aircraft turned out to be a Sikorsky S-76a
that purwin equipped for medical transport and donated to
the hospital. it has since been replaced by a newer S-76B,
but the a model is still in service as a backup.
overall, Helinet collects insurance payments for transports when it’s able to, which helps the program break
operator profile Helinet aviation
Helinet pilot Jay
Stowells flies the late
shift in Air 7 HD.
even. However, making money isn’t the program’s chief
priority — even according to Helinet’s chief financial
officer, Stephanie Snyder. “i love that we give back to the
community, that we save people’s lives,” she said. “We do
so many good things.”
looking Forward
Building on its experience with the model, Helinet
recently added a third S-76, a B model, to its fleet, this
one equipped for Vip transport. according to executive
Vp Giuffrida, however, the charter market it still comparatively limited in l.a., primarily because of a general
shortage of landing zones: “even though traffic is kind
of a nightmare, you don’t have a lot of landing spots,
either.” even so, he said Helinet still does a fair amount
of business shuttling celebrities, chief executives and
athletes, in part because “We have many different landing sites throughout l.a. that not a lot of people have
access to.”
the remainder of Helinet’s 18-helicopter fleet consists
of eurocopter aS350 aStars, aS355 twinStars and a
Bell Jetranger that are selectively utilized throughout its
various operational sectors.
to fly those 18 ships, the company currently employs 22
full-time pilots, all of whom joined the company with at
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least 2,000 hours of flight experience. according to chief
pilot Brad Jensen, new hires typically start out at Helinet
by flying eNG in the company’s aStars. from there, they
can move on to movie and charter work, and eventually
into the Children’s Hospital program. “it’s kind of a progression,” he said, adding that the diversity of Helinet’s
operations “is good for our pilots — it’s stimulating and
it keeps them sharp.”
Helinet’s high minimum experience requirements
and progressive career paths are key elements of its
approach to safety. another aspect is training, with pilots
receiving extensive training either in-house, or, for the
S-76 pilots, at flightSafety international. “We take training and safety extremely seriously,” said Jensen. Helinet
also staffs a 24-hour dispatch center that tracks every
flight using satellite flight following (dispatchers are also
the ones who co-ordinate organ transplant flights at all
hours of the day and night).
like most operators, Helinet saw a drop off in helicopter operations during the recession. remarked purwin,
“if you can maintain what you have, that’s the new ‘up’
in this environment.” thanks to its diversified business
model, however, the company as a whole has managed
to thrive during the downturn.
Helinet’s ENG crews work all over Southern California. Here, Air 7 HD films over a burning mansion in a wealthy part of L.A.
“We’re fortunate,” said Cfo Snyder. “in challenging
times, we’ve been able to be very successful. that’s
allowed us to grow and invest at a time when other helicopter operators were cutting back.”
one reason why Helinet may be so good at seeing and
seizing new opportunities is because purwin has fostered
an environment in which employees have room to thrive.
Said Snyder, “We have a really talented group of people
here, and alan gives us the freedom to do what we’re
good at.”
purwin concurred, “it’s not an authoritative culture
around here. . . . We just have a great team and great
people.”
Because Helinet’s talented, highly motivated team isn’t
afraid of change, there may be more changes in store for
the company in the future. and, for an operator that is
on technology’s leading edge, that’s not an intimidating
prospect — it’s an exciting one. in fact, as the industry
continues to evolve, it seems likely that Helinet will be
right there with it, bringing the same level of passion and
commitment it has brought to its operations for the past
25 years.
Elan Head is an FAA Gold Seal flight instructor with helicopter
and instrument helicopter ratings. She holds
commercial helicopter licenses in the U.S.,
Canada and Australia, and is also an awardwinning journalist who has written for a
diverse array of magazines and newspapers
since the late-1990s.
Both the AS355 F2 and the S-76B are
used in the executive transport role.
October/November 2012 91