For Immediate Release
April 13, 2006
L. Kim Smith
AHS ANNOUNCES 2006 AWARD RECIPIENTS
Alexandria, VA —AHS International – The Vertical Flight Society Chairman Dr. William H. ‘Bud” Forster today announced the recipients of the Society’s 2006 awards program. This prestigious awards program was initiated in 1944 and over the years has paid tribute to the outstanding leaders of the vertical flight industry. Each year the awards grow steadily in prestige and importance.
The Society's awards program recognizes extraordinary achievements and serves as a catalyst for stimulating technological advances in the vertical flight industry. The winners include:
The AHS Honorary Fellow Awards are given to Society members who have made an outstanding contribution to the interests of the Society. Only two Honorary Fellows are bestowed per year and recipients receive lifetime membership in the Society. This year’s winners are Barry J. Baskett, former Associate Director, Aviation Technology, U.S. Army and Thomas E. Laux, Program Executive Officer, Air ASW, Assault and Special Mission Programs, U.S. Navy.
The AHS Technical Fellow Award recipients, who receive this honor because of their career-based accomplishments towards the goals and objectives of the vertical flight industry which constitute an outstanding technical achievement, are Donald S. Anttila, Technical Fellow – Research and Engineering, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.; Yoshiyuki Niwa, Advisor (Ret.) to Mitsubishi Heavy Industry, Ltd.; Dr. Wayne Johnson, Research Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center; and Dr. Chee Tung, U.S. Army Aeroflightdynamics Directorate.
The Grover E. Bell Award is given to the individual or organization that has fostered and encouraged research and experimentation in helicopter development. This year's honored recipient is Dr. Valentin Kloeppel, Aeromechanics Program Manager at Eurocopter Deutchland GmbH. Dr. Kloeppel’s work in Active Rotor Control of helicopter blades, first on Higher Harmonic Control then on Individual Blade Control, led on September 8, 2005 to the world’s first flight of a full-scale helicopter with electrically driven flaps. This work will result in reduced vibration, exterior noise, dynamic loads, blade instabilities, shocks and stall.
This year's honoree for the Howard Hughes Award is the Sikorsky Rotor Ice Protection System (RIPS) Development Team. This team developed technology, system logic, and test techniques to provide all-weather capabilities for the S-92A, yielding significant improvements in passenger acceptance for helicopters, while improving helicopter productivity and safety. The Howard Hughes Award is given in recognition of an outstanding improvement in fundamental helicopter technology brought to fruition in the previous year.
Jean Jacques Philippe, who pioneered helicopter research activities at the French government research agency, ONERA, is this year's honored recipient of the Dr. Alexander Klemin Award. This prestigious award is presented for recognition of notable achievement in the advancement of rotary wing aeronautics. Until his retirement in 2005, Mr. Phillippe led all helicopter research activities at ONERA and supervised U.S. French research cooperation initiatives between the U.S. Army, NASA and ONERA.
The Harry T. Jensen Award is given in recognition of an outstanding contribution to the improvement of helicopter reliability, maintainability, safety or logistics support through improved design or technical achievement brought to fruition during the preceding year. This year the award is presented to the Joint Advanced Health and Usage Monitoring System Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration Team, a joint Navy/Army project that added far reaching capabilities to military Health and Usage Monitoring Systems. The team developed the first HUMS In-Flight Reporting System on operational military HUMS-equipped aircraft.
The Frederick L. Feinberg Award is presented to the helicopter pilot or pilots that have made the most outstanding achievement in the previous year. This year’s award is given to U.S. Navy Blackhawks Squadron, HM-15, which in 2005 performed disaster relief missions in Indonesia following the southeast Asia Tsunami, in New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast following Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita, as well as earthquake relief operations in Pakistan following the October 8, 2005 earthquake which devastated that country.
The Gruppo Agusta International Helicopter Fellowship Award recognizes the most significant contributions to international vertical flight cooperation by an individual or group. Established in 1989, the award honors the memory of Paolo Bellavita whose career at Gruppo Agusta was marked by his dedication to furthering international cooperation in the world of vertical flight. This year’s winner is The Boeing/CIRA (Italian Aerospace Research Center) Team for their significant achievements in advancing the process and procedures for icing prediction using state-of-the-art CFD codes.
The Captain William J. Kossler, USCG Award, which is given to the individual or organization that demonstrates the greatest achievement in practical application of the helicopter, is given to the Army National Guard Aviation which from August 28 through October 2, 2005 conducted disaster relief response in the Gulf Coast and New Orleans area in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, saving 15,984 residents, evacuating 13,114 medical patients, transporting 59,886 displaced civilians to safe collection points, and delivering 6,246 tons of Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs) and bottled water to those in distress.
The Alexander A. Nikolsky Lectureship is awarded to the individual who reflects the highest ideals, goals and achievements in the field of helicopter and V/STOL aircraft engineering and development. This year's recipient is Franklin Harris, former Vice President Engineering at Bell Helicopter Textron (Ret.). His lecture “No Accidents – That’s the Objective” will be presented Tuesday, May 10, 2006, from 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. at the AHS 62nd Annual Forum and Technology Display, Phoenix Civic Center, Phoenix, AZ.
The Society's François-Xavier Bagnoud Award is given to Dr. Anubhav Datta, Assistant Research Scientist, University of Maryland. This award, which was established in 1992, recognizes outstanding contributions to vertical flight technology by a Society member under the age of thirty. The award honors the memory of a young helicopter engineer, Swiss citizen, author and rescue pilot who founded the AHS student chapter at the University of Michigan.
The AHS Supplier Excellence Award, created in 1995, is given to a supplier, which, through the quality, innovativeness and cost-effectiveness of its products, has made notable contributions within the vertical flight industry. This year the distinction goes to The Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems Business Unit for developing the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) to improve pilot’s situational awareness and helicopter safety.
The Igor I. Sikorsky International Trophy is given to the company (or consortium) which is the designer and builder of a pure helicopter establishing an official world record during the preceding calendar year in the official class E-1 categories prescribed by the rules of the Federation Aeronautique for maximum speed, altitude, distance or payload, or speed over a closed circuit distance. The 2005 winner of the Trophy is the Franco-German airframe manufacturer Eurocopter, whose production AS350B3 – piloted by test pilot Didier Delsalle – established a new altitude record on May 14, 2005 by landing on the summit of Mt. Everest.
The John J. Schneider Historical Achievement Award was established in 2003, in memory of vertical flight historian John J. Schneider. The award is given in recognition of distinguished achievement in encouraging appreciation of, and enhancing access to the history and legacy of vertical flight aircraft. The second recipient of this award is the Sikorsky Historical Archives, a team of dedicated volunteers who have preserved valuable rotorcraft history and created the Sikorsky Heritage Center where many of the historic archives may be viewed by the public.
The Society’s Robert L. Lichten Award is given to J. S. Wilson for his paper “Turbulence Measurements on a 2D NACA 0036 with Synthetic Jet Flow Control.” The Robert L. Lichten Award is given to an AHS member who has not previously presented the results of their work at any national meeting.
The AHS Individual Member Sponsor Contest Winner is Professor J. Gordon Leishman from the University of Maryland. The AHS Southwest Chapter is the winner of this year’s AHS Chapter Member Increase Contest. The AHS Atlanta Chapter is the winner of the AHS Chapter Member Percent Increase Contest. The AHS Every Member Get a Member Contest winner is the AHS Philadelphia Chapter. We congratulate all of these vibrant, hard working members.
The 2006 Vertical Flight Foundation Scholarship winners include the following gifted individuals: in the B. S. Category, Caleb Michael Bury, and Yuan Liu. The M.S. category winners include Michael Abraham, Robert William Gregg. The Ph.D. category includes Jimmy C. Ho, Jaye Falls, Nicholas Rosenfeld, Simon Vincent Atyeo, Richard John Cross, Christopher C. Hennes, Jose L. Palacios, and Jongki Moon. The VFF winners will be recognized after the Opening General Session and before the Nikolsky Honorary Lectureship.
All other recipients are honored at the AHS International Annual Forum Grand Awards Banquet on Wednesday, May 10, from 7:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ.
AHS International – The Vertical Flight Society, which has more than 6,000 members, is the world's leading technical, professional society dedicated to the advancement of vertical flight technology and its applications.
For further information on the Society and its programs as well as past award recipients please log onto the Society’s home page at http://www.vtol.org
AHS International, 217 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314-2538; (703) 684-6777; Fax (703) 739-9279; e-mail: Staff@vtol.org; Web Site: www.vtol.org