Following a 50-plus-year career in the helicopter industry and 15 years at the helm of the Helicopter Association International (HAI), Matt Zuccaro has bid farewell, calling the rotorcraft market an industry of survivors and touting a bright future with opportunities and a transition ahead in vertical flight. Zuccaro last summer announced his plans to retire this year, and the new HAI president and CEO, former FAA safety official James Viola, stepped into his role in the weeks leading up to Heli-Expo.
“I've loved every minute of the last 15 years that I was president and CEO,” Zuccaro told AIN. In his farewell message, he said, "Leading this association offered me the opportunity to pay back the industry that has provided me with a rewarding and fulfilling career.”
Zuccaro, who plans to keep his hand in the industry as a consultant and will be at this year’s Heli-Expo, said one of the most satisfying areas of progress over the last 15 years has been the industry's growing commitment to safety. “One of the greatest successes we’ve had is to increase dramatically the focus on safety as the first priority,” he said. “This period right now is the most intense and the most committed in terms of resources and people that have been placed in achieving our goal of zero tolerance, zero accidents.”
Safety efforts stepped up with the formation of the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST), which has had Zuccaro as the industry chair and Viola as the government chair. With international industry-wide collaboration, that team formed in 2005 and since has taken a data-driven approach with measurable safety goals.
This includes looking at risk assessments and human factors. “It’s no secret the majority of the accidents that are caused today are human-factors-related," Zuccaro said. "It's not mechanical, it's not system deficiencies. It's people. The key to eliminating accidents is changing the culture so that safety truly is the first priority.”
Along those lines, Zuccaro was pleased with successes already coming from the Land & Live initiative, which was born out of the simple concept of “land the damn helicopter.” That initiative started several years ago, he said. “I was reading accident reports, and I became more and more frustrated about the fact that we had the simplest tool available to us to prevent accidents, and we weren't using it.”
When situations deteriorated, pilots remained determined to keep flying to the planned destination. “I found that amazing because we go around the world telling everybody about this wonderful ability we have in vertical lift—that we can land anywhere we want," Zuccaro said. "And we weren't exercising that.” He wrote an article stressing to the industry that “all you have to do is do what you do every day for a living—land the helicopter.” Statistics show that as many as 30 percent of accidents could be reduced “by just exercising this one simple task.”
The Land & Live initiative, which involves a pledge that both pilots and organizations can make, is now adopted globally, Zuccaro said. “We get constant feedback from the industry about [incidents where] they made the landing, they lived, and they stopped the accident chain. That’s one of the most gratifying things. I am so happy that it’s been adopted internationally by both the industry and the regulatory agencies that support it.”
Despite improvements, Zuccaro acknowledged that “one of the issues for the new president coming in is going to be to continue those initiatives and push safety at the highest level with the highest commitment. I'm confident that that's going to happen.”
Also confronting the industry is the workforce shortage. Zuccaro pointed to the study HAI conducted with the University of North Dakota and in partnership with Helicopter Foundation International in 2018 that found the helicopter field would experience a shortage of 7,600 pilots and as many as 40,600 mechanics over the next 18 years.
“It confirmed what we thought—that there's going to be a significant shortage of pilots and mechanics,” he said. “That doesn't bode well because right now we're growing. We're actually gaining in value and business activities and more and more people are looking towards helicopters to answer their issues and problems.”
With the shortages, he added, “I'm not so sure that I see light at the end of the tunnel” because entries into schools are down. “It’s a matter of motivating the next generation when they're at that decision-making age and give them the opportunity to get information on what the helicopter industry and aviation, in general, can offer as a career.”
Promotion of the industry is critical not only with potential students but the communities themselves, Zuccaro added, noting that despite the array of public benefits, it still wages public perception battles. As a result, the industry is constantly facing potential restrictive laws. While the industry is doing “a pretty good job” of working with local communities, “you've always got to really laser focus on how we improve our relationships with the community and how we enhance our 'fly neighborly' programs to address those issues.”
This is particularly important as the industry is in a major transition, Zuccaro said, adding that this transition “on the one hand is, in fact, an excellent business opportunity for helicopters; and on the other hand is a challenging transition with the addition of unmanned vehicles into the airspace system.”
The opportunities have to be nurtured and matured, Zuccaro said. On the positive side, numerous members have jumped into the drone business and other future vertical-lift businesses. “I’m glad to see the helicopter industry stepping up to it,” Zuccaro said. “The challenging part of that is to make sure we never take our eye off the target, that drones are integrated into the operating environment and the airspace with the highest safety [level] possible.”
As part of his farewell, Zuccaro praised the staff at HAI, who work to “keep the rotors turning” and bring strong expertise to their advocacy roles.
Citing the enthusiasm of the next generation, expanded capabilities of technology, and increases in value to society, he also expressed optimism for the industry's future. “The diversity of the aircraft and the people bodes well for our ability to sustain a high level of safety, operational efficiency, and economic viability.”
While an aircraft’s basic mission is to get from one point to another transporting people and cargo, the helicopter may have 50 different missions, Zuccaro said. While noting some areas of struggle for the industry in recent years, he added, “The versatility of the helicopter makes us survivors.”
Following a 50-plus-year career in the helicopter industry and 15 years at the helm of the Helicopter Association International (HAI), Matt Zuccaro has bid farewell, calling the rotorcraft market an industry of survivors and touting a bright future with opportunities and a transition ahead in vertical flight. Zuccaro last summer announced his plans to retire this year, and the new HAI president and CEO, former FAA safety official James Viola, stepped into his role in the weeks leading up to Heli-Expo.
“I've loved every minute of the last 15 years that I was president and CEO,” Zuccaro told AIN. In his farewell message, he said, "Leading this association offered me the opportunity to pay back the industry that has provided me with a rewarding and fulfilling career.”
Zuccaro, who plans to keep his hand in the industry as a consultant and will be at this year’s Heli-Expo, said one of the most satisfying areas of progress over the last 15 years has been the industry's growing commitment to safety. “One of the greatest successes we’ve had is to increase dramatically the focus on safety as the first priority,” he said. “This period right now is the most intense and the most committed in terms of resources and people that have been placed in achieving our goal of zero tolerance, zero accidents.”
Safety efforts stepped up with the formation of the International Helicopter Safety Team (IHST), which has had Zuccaro as the industry chair and Viola as the government chair. With international industry-wide collaboration, that team formed in 2005 and since has taken a data-driven approach with measurable safety goals.
This includes looking at risk assessments and human factors. “It’s no secret the majority of the accidents that are caused today are human-factors-related," Zuccaro said. "It's not mechanical, it's not system deficiencies. It's people. The key to eliminating accidents is changing the culture so that safety truly is the first priority.”
Along those lines, Zuccaro was pleased with successes already coming from the Land & Live initiative, which was born out of the simple concept of “land the damn helicopter.” That initiative started several years ago, he said. “I was reading accident reports, and I became more and more frustrated about the fact that we had the simplest tool available to us to prevent accidents, and we weren't using it.”
When situations deteriorated, pilots remained determined to keep flying to the planned destination. “I found that amazing because we go around the world telling everybody about this wonderful ability we have in vertical lift—that we can land anywhere we want," Zuccaro said. "And we weren't exercising that.” He wrote an article stressing to the industry that “all you have to do is do what you do every day for a living—land the helicopter.” Statistics show that as many as 30 percent of accidents could be reduced “by just exercising this one simple task.”
The Land & Live initiative, which involves a pledge that both pilots and organizations can make, is now adopted globally, Zuccaro said. “We get constant feedback from the industry about [incidents where] they made the landing, they lived, and they stopped the accident chain. That’s one of the most gratifying things. I am so happy that it’s been adopted internationally by both the industry and the regulatory agencies that support it.”
Despite improvements, Zuccaro acknowledged that “one of the issues for the new president coming in is going to be to continue those initiatives and push safety at the highest level with the highest commitment. I'm confident that that's going to happen.”
Also confronting the industry is the workforce shortage. Zuccaro pointed to the study HAI conducted with the University of North Dakota and in partnership with Helicopter Foundation International in 2018 that found the helicopter field would experience a shortage of 7,600 pilots and as many as 40,600 mechanics over the next 18 years.
“It confirmed what we thought—that there's going to be a significant shortage of pilots and mechanics,” he said. “That doesn't bode well because right now we're growing. We're actually gaining in value and business activities and more and more people are looking towards helicopters to answer their issues and problems.”
With the shortages, he added, “I'm not so sure that I see light at the end of the tunnel” because entries into schools are down. “It’s a matter of motivating the next generation when they're at that decision-making age and give them the opportunity to get information on what the helicopter industry and aviation, in general, can offer as a career.”
Promotion of the industry is critical not only with potential students but the communities themselves, Zuccaro added, noting that despite the array of public benefits, it still wages public perception battles. As a result, the industry is constantly facing potential restrictive laws. While the industry is doing “a pretty good job” of working with local communities, “you've always got to really laser focus on how we improve our relationships with the community and how we enhance our 'fly neighborly' programs to address those issues.”
This is particularly important as the industry is in a major transition, Zuccaro said, adding that this transition “on the one hand is, in fact, an excellent business opportunity for helicopters; and on the other hand is a challenging transition with the addition of unmanned vehicles into the airspace system.”
The opportunities have to be nurtured and matured, Zuccaro said. On the positive side, numerous members have jumped into the drone business and other future vertical-lift businesses. “I’m glad to see the helicopter industry stepping up to it,” Zuccaro said. “The challenging part of that is to make sure we never take our eye off the target, that drones are integrated into the operating environment and the airspace with the highest safety [level] possible.”
As part of his farewell, Zuccaro praised the staff at HAI, who work to “keep the rotors turning” and bring strong expertise to their advocacy roles.
Citing the enthusiasm of the next generation, expanded capabilities of technology, and increases in value to society, he also expressed optimism for the industry's future. “The diversity of the aircraft and the people bodes well for our ability to sustain a high level of safety, operational efficiency, and economic viability.”
While an aircraft’s basic mission is to get from one point to another transporting people and cargo, the helicopter may have 50 different missions, Zuccaro said. While noting some areas of struggle for the industry in recent years, he added, “The versatility of the helicopter makes us survivors.”