NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History NEHPA History

You'll always remember your first helicopter flight

our origins

EARLY NEHPA HISTORY

By: John Anderson

My goal here is to access my memories before they are gone and document the early days of the New England Helicopter Pilots Association (NEHPA). I will only attempt to document the period from our origin to the reorganization as the New England Helicopter Council (NEHC), as I was not involved during that period and have no firsthand knowledge.

I don’t recall the exact date, but it was 1978. I was employed by Digital Equipment Corporation at the time as the Chief Helicopter Pilot. I was flying the West route into the Boston Terminal Control Area (TCA), which proceeds along the Massachusetts Turnpike, then along the Charles River and into Boston Logan airport. As I approached the Nashua Street heliport, located on the banks of the Charles River in the parking lot of the Department of Motor Vehicles, a helicopter suddenly appeared before me. It was not close, just startling. After a few words under my breath, I realized that it was not the pilot’s fault, but the failure of Boston Tower to alert me to his presence. It was then that I recognized the problem of dozens of helicopters flying in close proximity without communication between us. I didn’t even know their names. The pilot was Joe Green in the Enstrom WBZ traffic helicopter.

I asked my boss, Jeff Randall, Digital Aviation Manager for a small amount of money to fund a gathering of local helicopter pilots, to which he agreed. Bob Girouard, a helicopter pilot employed by the Massachusetts Aeronautics Commission, obtained a list of all registered helicopter pilots in New England. Using the funds from Digital and the list from Bob Girouard, I sent out invitations and we gathered at the Sheraton Tara Hotel in Framingham, MA.

It was a great affair with some pilots renewing old friendships and most of us meeting new friends. We discussed the safety aspects of all of us operating in the same airspace. Jim Dirienzo, Chief pilot at Timex, suggested that we form an organization for the purpose of communication among us and dealing with mutual helicopter safety issues.

NEHPA WAS CONCEIVED!!!

We selected a small committee to investigate and make recommendations to the group. The group consisted of Bob Girouard, Joe Brigham from Wiggins Airways, David Manning of Manning Aviation, Bob Reynolds, and myself. The group appointed me as the Chairman. After much discussion and a bit of dissent we agreed that it was to be a pilot’s social organization. A few wanted it to be a pilot’s labor union but they didn’t prevail.

NEHPA WAS BORN!!!

In 1989 we began to publish our newsletter, 123.05 News. Thanks to the diligence of our parade of officers over the years we have a complete collection of them from 1989 to 1997, included on this website.

Welcome to NEHPA History Group Home

we are different by harry reasoner

The thing is, helicopters are different from airplanes. An airplane by its nature wants to fly and, if not interfered with too strongly by unusual events or by a deliberately incompetent pilot, it will fly. A helicopter does not want to fly. It is maintained in the air by a variety of forces and controls working in opposition to each other, and if there is any disturbance in the delicate balance, the helicopter stops flying, immediately and disastrously. There is no such thing as a gliding helicopter. This is why a helicopter pilot is so different a being from an airplane pilot, and why in general, airplane pilots are open, clear-eyed, buoyant extroverts, and helicopter pilots are brooders, introspective anticipators of trouble. They know if anything bad has not happened, it is about to.

acknowledgments

.My thanks to the many people who helped me:

My wife April who got me started by showing me the basics of building a website, and then for her patience as I spent endless hours sitting at my computer.

My Brother Elliott for research help.

Katie Crugnola who gave me many leads and who took me on an incredible journey down Wiggins memory lane.

Brian Tague for his guidance on website layout.

Bruce Harting and Len Carroll for numerous pictures.

Stephen Girouard for info about his Dad

Mike Peavey and David Graham for insight.

And the many people who encouraged me to do this.

This website is dedicated to those we have lost and are memorialized on the "Lest We Forget" pages.

You'll always remember your first helicopter flight

You'll always remember your first helicopter flight

About NEHPA History

PURPOSE OF THIS SITE

NEHPA MISSION

our origins

NEHPA By-Laws

Welcome to NEHPA History Group Home

we are different by harry reasoner

acknowledgments

You'll always remember your first helicopter flight

You'll always remember your first helicopter flight

About NEHPA History

PURPOSE OF THIS SITE

NEHPA MISSION

our origins

NEHPA By-Laws

Welcome to NEHPA History Group Home

we are different by harry reasoner

acknowledgments

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