BELL 47 EXPO
PRESIDENT JOEY RHODES: joey@joeyrhodes.com
RETURN TO: Bell 47 Helicopter Association
BELL 47 FIRST EXPO HUGE SUCCESS
The Bell 47 Helicopter Expo was held June 19th, 2010 at SIUC Aviation Technical School in Carbondale, IL. The keynote speaker & host for the event that drew audience members as far away as Guatemala in addition to members from all over the United States was Bell 47 Helicopter Association President and Aviation Hall of Fame Honoree Joey “Mr. Bell 47” Rhodes.
Opening the event was SIUC Aviation Dept Chairman Mike Burgener and SIUC’s Lowell Berentsen who welcomed the audience and discussed the university’s aviation rotorcraft maintenance program. Recently honored “Arkansas Helicopter Certified Flight Instructor of the Year” Steve Foster dramatically discussed and illustrated helicopter maneuvers. Foster gave each attendee an extensive free Bell 47 ground school flight training portfolio binder. Following him was Inspector Authorized Mechanic & B47HA Sec/Treasurer/Trustee Neal Toler of Illinois Wing & Rotor who provided a detailed clinic on trailering helicopters using a Bell 47J Ranger helicopter as a visual aid. Toler explained the pitfalls and attributes of “The Mummy” - a long term improperly stored helicopter. Another special guest for the event was new owner of the type certificate of the Bell 47 recently purchased from Bell Helicopter Textron - Scotts Helicopters of Minnesota. Scotts’ Chris Meyers provided an extensive overview of the future for the SB 47. Due to poor weather Scotts were unable to arrive via their private aircraft, however Rhodes quickly arranged a teleconference wired to the Expo's public address system and audience member listen to Scotts presentation live and enjoyed interacting in the follow-up "Larry King style format" by having questions answered by Meyers. The finale of the show was the appearance of Viacom’s approved duo “The New Whirlybirds” from Los Angeles, Ca. Rhodes and his partner, VP Danny Rodriguez, presented an action packed behind the scenes look at the cult 1950’s Desi Arnez & Lucy Ball TV show “The Whirlybirds.” The presentation starred former Hollywood director Robert Altman, who got his directorial start on the Desilu set. The New Whirlybirds included scenes from their airshow, hospital, and personal appearances. The duo discussed the four new episodes storyboard plots that have been on the internet as well as some of the specialized flight maneuvers they perform at airshows with high performance Bell 47 helicopters. Both men are former police officers as well as being experienced airplane and helicopter pilots. Rhodes explains that their characters are used to relate the impact that helicopters have had on the public while introducing the Bell 47 to a younger generation who are unaware of the television show that aired 111 episodes. Rhodes surprised everyone in attendance when he honored and presented three members with honorary Gold memberships. First was SIUC’s Berentsen, Secondly was Homer Bell of Ohio who was the first to fly a homebuilt helicopter across the USA over the Rockies, and finally world famous Hollywood aerial helicopter coordinator for such films as Air America, James Bond Series, and many others - Marc Wolff of Nice, France.
Also on hand were Gold Members Craig Mueller - TX, Brian Lambert - OK, CFI & Professional Airlines Pilot Mark Hoehn -IL and Jerry Clemmens - KS of Bell 47 Parts who flew his Cessna 185 in to provide gifts and greet the crowd. Jerry provided an overview of his company passed out t-shirts and gift certificates. Toler's company Illinois Wing & Rotor also provided gifts, along with Rodriguez bringing collectibles to share with members. Homer Bell's daughter Stephanie - FL brought freebies from her company Eaton Aerospace Group. A complete lunch was served and food and drink were abundant throughout the day. Friday night Rhodes hosted a dinner at the Holiday Inn's connected Houlihans. A pre show lunch was also hosted by Rhodes for Berentsen, Toler and member Dan Benton. When it came time to clean up members insured that the facilities were back in order.
In Rhodes’ dynamic keynote he proudly proclaimed that the Bell 47 Helicopter Association serves as a consumer advocate for the 47 and has earned the respected moniker “Voice of the Bell 47 Helicopter.” As the association’s executive director since 2001 Rhodes states the singular agenda is to protect the legacy of the Bell 47 and continues to do so. The unique bubble chopper stands alone as the first commercially certificated helicopter of the 1940’s with over 6632 produced up to 1973. The Bell 47 still has 1209 ships registered in the USA with many more outside of the states being used. Operators still use many of the 18 models in the line of Bell 47s for a variety of missions because of their stout nature, high performance, and reliability. Rhodes calls the venerable 47 model, “The Harley Davidson of Helicopters.” According to Rhodes, The Bell 47 Helicopter Association (B47HA) was started and officially licensed in 2000 and has grown to 622 members including international, corporate, and individual members. The association represents Bell 47 Pilots, Mechanics, and related personnel that make up their elite roster. B47HA provides valuable online resources to members via their mega website at www.bell47helicopterassociation.org
Rhodes outlined various closed investigations that he has headed since 2001. The successful shutdown of four major bogus helicopter parts dealers led to Rhodes, as the chief agent in charge, being honored by Bell Helicopter’s Don Maguire from Canada personally presenting Rhodes with his induction into the 2004 Hall of Fame at the American Helicopter Museum in West Chester PA. According to B47HA, many of the cases involved Rhodes tirelessly working with victims in recovering vast amounts of cash refunds from dishonest vendors. One of the major cases involved the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and resulted in a lengthy jail term for the bogus dealer. Rhodes also spoke about his book, “How to Buy and Sell a Helicopter.” Rhodes shared, “Most people in the helicopter market go totally unprepared to make substantial rotorcraft purchases and many should not be in the market without proper qualified representation.” Rhodes applauded B47HA for keeping The Bell 47 a safe flying helicopter. “B47HA has won the war on the outright attempt to corrupt the 47 parts integrity – and thus there has been a steep decline in Bell 47 accidents. This was significantly accomplished by B47HA establishing important relationships with the FAA, encouraging maintenance protocols, and a comprehensive network to aid owners and operators in litigation.”
Rhodes concluded by acknowledging the nine helicopters on display for the Expo. Four of which were the legendary model. Rhodes closed his keynote with a tone of reverence by recounting an emotionally charged story of one of the 25,000 Korean War Soldiers saved by - “The angel of mercy helicopter that saved so many lives – The Bell 47.”
"Please be advised that this was not designed as an airshow or helicopter fly in."
ALL REGISTRATIONS ARE NON-REFUNDABLE, SO PLEASE DO YOU BEST TO ATTEND. NO MATERIALS WILL BE RESERVED FOR NO-SHOWS."
RETURN TO: Bell 47 Helicopter Association