Third Candidate Enters District 5 School Board Race
February 11, 2008
A third candidate has qualified for the Escambia County School Board District 5 seat. Bill Slayton of Cantonment qualified for the seat late last week.
Incumbent Pete Gindhl and Tom Harrell are the other two candidate qualified for the nonpartisan office.
Part One: Helicopter Technologies, Van Nevel And Inside A Federal Raid
February 11, 2008
Federal officials conducted a raid at Helicopter Technologies in Century back on January 9. Combat gear, a sniper in the woods, windows busted for an entry team…all part of the raid according to the company’s owner, Georges Van Nevel. This is the first of a three part series about Helicopter Technologies and Van Nevel. Tuesday, we’ll take you to that January morning when the federal raid happened through Van Nevel’s eyes. And we’ll learn what he has to say about why the whole thing happened. Finally, on Wednesday morning, we’ll look at the present and the future of Helicopter Technologies, Van Nevel and how all this relates to the Town of Century and the entire North Escambia area.
It was about 6:30 on the warm late afternoon of September 17, 2007, near Hosston, Louisiana. A lady sees a helicopter that “was not moving fast” over her home, just over the treetops. It’s so low that she waves at the person in the passenger seat and thinks the chopper is going to land in her front yard.
Moments later, 911 dispatchers in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, begin to receive several calls from people that saw a low flying aircraft and then reported seeing smoke. Deputies from the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Department were not immediately able to find a crash, but a local medical helicopter found the smoldering wreckage. The bodies of Jeffery Daniel Legro, 24, and Joseph Benjamin Grammer, 36, were recovered at the crash site (pictured above).
The National Transportation Safety Board’s preliminary report on the crash says the FH-1100 helicopter was registered to and operated by Van Nevel Helicopters, Inc. of Century.
The owner of Van Nevel Helicopters , Georges Van Nevel (pictured left), says he had just sold the helicopter to Grammer. Federal Aviation Administration records examined by NorthEscambia.com support Van Nevel’s claim, showing that the helicopter with identification N313BG was sold to Leading Edge Helicopters, Inc. of Boulder City, Colorado. Grammer was reported to be the owner of Leading Edge. Click here to see that FAA document.
In an exclusive interview with NorthEscambia.com, Van Nevel suggested that the crash was caused by the weather, noting that a hurricane was approaching the area at the time of the crash, or by a phenomena called “mast bumping” where an improper maneuver by the pilot causes the rotor mast to break off the aircraft.
“They had decided that they wanted to challenge nature by flying in that storm,” Van Nevel said. “I had personally flown that aircraft for 25 hours. That aircraft was safe.”
“I did not know about the storm when they left here,” he said, referring to the time when the helicopter left Century. “I had been working a lot and did not know about the storm until I got home and turned on the TV. I was worried. I knew they should not fly through that weather. I got my girlfriend to call the pilot’s cellphone and tell him not to fly through that. She tried several times, but did not get him.”
“She left a message about the weather on his cellphone,” he said, his voice cracking from emotion. “I don’t know if they ever got that message. I was so worried about them.”
According to the National Weather Service, Tropical Storm Humberto was about 35 miles offshore south of Galveston, Texas, at the time of the crash. The weather service reported that at 7:00 on September 17, 2007, Humberto had top winds of 50 mph, and ran bands were coming onshore along the Texas Coast. The center of the storm, which would later become Hurricane Humberto, was about 250 miles from the crash site near Hosston, Louisiana. Tropical storm force winds extended out up to 60 miles from the storm’s center. Click here to see the advisory on Humberto from the National Weather Service.
Radar archives from the National Weather Service indicate that the rain bands from Humberto had not approached the Hosston area at the time of the crash. The radar image to the right shows the rain from Humberto about 30 minutes before the crash. The “X” in the white box was added to the National Weather Service archive image to indicate the approximate location of the FH1100 crash.
The official preliminary crash report from the NTSB as obtained by NorthEscambia.com reported the wind speed in nearby Shreveport, Louisiana, about 23 minutes after the crash to be four knots (about five miles per hour). Visibility was reported to be 10 miles under overcast skies, with the level of the overcast clouds to be 8,500 feet. There is no mention of rain in the report, nor does it mention whether or not there might have been wind gusts at the time from the approaching storm.
You can read the NTSB preliminary crash report obtained by NorthEscambia.com by clicking here.
The final report on what caused the crash has not been released by the NTSB, and is not expected for several more months. But Van Nevel said he does not believe any equipment fault will be found.
“I’ve been in aviation for 42 years,” he said. “I’ve never had an aircraft accident caused by faulty parts or faulty maintenance.” He said any accident he has been involved with has involved situations where the helicopter struck power lines, ran out of fuel or some other reason not related to parts or maintenance. “Aviation accidents are not usually caused by one thing,” he said. “They are caused by a combination of a number of things.”
“But the FAA wants to make me responsible for that crash (in Hosston),” he said.
Van Nevel bought the rights to the FH1100 from Hiller Aviation in 1999. That’s when his problems with the FAA began.
“I had parts that were stock at the time,” he said. “They met all of the FAA requirements and had been inspected by the FAA in 2002 and there was nothing wrong with them.”
The part numbers of existing parts were updated with a “V” in front of the existing numbers to indicate they were Van Nevel parts.
“All of the sudden, these same parts with the ‘V’ have no traceability and they were no good to the FAA,” he said. “They (the FAA) come in here with preconceived idea that you have to be in violation somewhere.”
“With the ‘V’ in front of the part number, the FAA says that is a different part,” Van Nevel said. “How ridiculous is that?”
He said he has been trying for 10 years to resolve issues with the FAA. He said he has gone through countless numbers of inspections, with the FAA finding nothing wrong with his parts, his records or his practices.
In 2004, Van Nevel said he recognized one of the FAA inspectors as a man that he had formerly defeated in a court case. Van Nevel said “He told me with a smile on his face that he was with the FAA now and he said ‘I will find a way to harass you’ to my face.” That inspector was later removed from the case, according to Van Nevel.
But Van Nevel says the FAA harassment continued.
He said many of the improvements to the FH1100 by his company were not required by the FAA, such as upgrading the seatbelts. One such improvement that he undertook has caused great problems for his company, including allegations of falsification of records.
Over the 40 plus year life of each FH1100, records and log books have been kept in multiple books in multiple formats. Van Nevel undertook a project to compile the information from those multiple sources into one single log book.
“I didn’t have to do those things,” he said. “And the more I tried to improve the system, the more problems I had.”
(article continues below photograph)
He showed NorthEscambia.com a pile of old log books dating back to the 1960’s on one helicopter. Those log books are pictured in the right of the photograph above. The new, condensed log book is in the binder to the left of the photograph, with the information categorized and organized with color coded tabs.
“We tried to catch up 30 something years into one location,” he said. “The more I did this, the more I was accused of falsification of records. I just tried to condense the records into one place for better understanding.”
“I did not know what do to please them (the FAA). I was accused of crimes,” Van Nevel said. “But they couldn’t find anything wrong other than a few typos, a few oversights…all honest mistakes.”
More investigators came. “They thought they were coming to some shady operation,” he said. ” They didn’t expect to see what they saw. I comply with regulations. I have no interest in trying to not do the right thing.”
Van Nevel said there 258 FH1100 helicopters manufactured, with about 80 of them still in service around the world.
“I am concerned with the safety of these helicopters,” he said. “I don’t want an accident putting a blemish on the brand.”
Part of his plan includes the improvement of some parts.
“I had a brand new part for safety,” he said. “In October, the inspectors came and took a single part…not a sample of parts, but a single part…and the drawings of that part and spent a day and half making sure it met the design and flight standards.”
After that October visit, the FAA contacted a customer and examined the records of one helicopter that his company was ready to deliver. “They told him that the aircraft would never be certified and he had just bought a pile of scrap metal,” Van Nevel said.
After a while, Van Nevel said he became concerned “maybe I’m missing something here” and hired a consultant to help make sure he was meeting all of the FAA’s regulations. That consultant, he said, was a former “hard-nosed” FAA inspector.
“I wanted an in-depth analysis to make sure there was no error in our paperwork,” he said.
That consultant was in the office examining paperwork on January 8, Van Nevel said. Little did Van Nevel know that the following morning, his problems with the FAA would escalate to a much higher level. On that morning, a federal raid was about to happen with combat gear, a sniper in the woods and windows busted for an entry team. His building would be searched and records seized.
Join NorthEscambia.com Tuesday for the second installment of this three part series. We’ll take you to that January morning when the federal raid happened through Van Nevel’s eyes. And we’ll learn what he has to say about why the whole thing happened.
Finally, on Wednesday morning, NorthEscambia.com will look at the present and the future of Helicopter Technologies, Van Nevel and how all this relates to the Town of Century and the entire North Escambia area.
Assistant County Administrator Willie Taylor Resigns Monday
February 11, 2008
Assistant County Administrator Willie Taylor resigned Monday. He was one of six finalist for the county’s top job, but that job was awarded to Bob McLaughlin, another assistant county administrator, last Thursday.
Taylor was heading the consolidation of the county’s volunteer fire departments and paid career firefighters. It is not known how his resignation might affect that process, but his resignation is not effective for 90 days.
He did not give a reason for stepping down in his letter. He earned $106,000 per year in the position that he had held since 2006.
Busy Afternoon Monday For North Escambia Fire Departments
February 11, 2008
North Escambia fire departments were busy Monday afternoon, with many responding to three back to back calls.
A single wide mobile home near Bratt sustained minor damage about 3:00 Monday afternoon. Preliminary reports from the scene indicated that a trash fire outside the mobile home caused the fire inside the structure. The exact cause was still under investigation.
Fire departments from Walnut Hill, Atmore, Century, McDavid and Molino responded to the home, which was located on Rigby Road just south of Mill Pond Road. There were no injuries reported.
Just before 2:00, firefighters from Walnut Hill, Century, Flomaton and the Division of Forestry were dispatched to a brush fire near Highway 168 and Raines Road.
Local fire departments also battled a brush fire between Upton Road and Salters Lake Road Monday afternoon. The fire was reported to be contained about 1:45 Monday afternoon. Firefighters from Century, McDavid, Flomaton and the Florida Division of Forestry battled the blaze.
Pictured above: Firefighters enter a single wide mobile home on Rigby Road Monday afternooon.
FHP Plans Checkpoints On Highway 97 And Other Escambia Locations
February 11, 2008
The Florida Highway Patrol has vehicle checkpoints planned this week at several locations, including along Highway 97 in North Escambia.
“Troopers will concentrate their efforts on vehicles being operated with defects such as bad brakes, worn tires and defective lighting equipment,” according to a FHP news release. “In addition, attention will be directed to drivers who would violate the driver license laws of Florida.”
Other vehicle checkpoints are planned this week around Escambia County, including:
- Johnson Avenue east of Davis Highway
- Massachusetts Avenue west of Hollywood Blvd.
- Tonawanda Drive east of 61st Avenue
- Border Street at SR10A overpass
- Avery Street west of “W” Street
- Hancock Road east of Old Palafox Highway
- Pipeline Road south of Rambler Drive
- Jernigan Road south of 9 Mile Road
- Patricia Drive north of Fairfield Drive
- Guidy Lane north of Nine Mile Road
NorthEscambia.com Events
February 10, 2008
What’s Love Got To Do With It? 3
High school and middle school students, are you ready for a night of food, games, music, door prizes and free stuff? Come and hang out at NorthEnd Community Church, Friday, February 15 from 6:30 until 8:00. For more information, call 587-3868 or see excitingnorthend.com. The church is located at 5630 Hwy. 196 (Barrineau Park Road). Turn west off Hwy. 29 go 5 miles church is on the right.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? 1
High school and middle school students, are you ready for a night of food, games, music, door prizes and free stuff? Come and hang out at NorthEnd Community Church, Friday, February 15 from 6:30 until 8:00. For more information, call 587-3868 or see excitingnorthend.com. The church is located at 5630 Hwy. 196 (Barrineau Park Road). Turn west off Hwy. 29 go 5 miles church is on the right.
What’s Love Got To Do With It? 2
High school and middle school students, are you ready for a night of food, games, music, door prizes and free stuff? Come and hang out at NorthEnd Community Church, Friday, February 15 from 6:30 until 8:00. For more information, call 587-3868 or see excitingnorthend.com. The church is located at 5630 Hwy. 196 (Barrineau Park Road). Turn west off Hwy. 29 go 5 miles church is on the right.
Ernest Ward Middle Holds Annual Valentine’s Dance
February 10, 2008
The annual Ernest Ward Middle School Valentine’s Dance was held Saturday night in the school gym. NorthEscambia.com was there, and we have a complete photo gallery.
Portion Of Schaag Road Closed
February 10, 2008
The portion of Schaag Road at Jack’s Branch Creek in Molino is scheduled to be closed until Friday.
The road is closed for DKE Marine Services of Pensacola to perform bride repairs. For details, call 455-4200.
International Paper Gave Away 13,500 Trees Saturday
February 10, 2008
The International Paper (IP) Pensacola Mill Forest Resources Division gave away 13,500 hardwood and pine seedlings at its sixteenth annual Arbor Day Tree Seedling Giveaway.
The event was held Saturday at the University Mall center court Saturday, with hundreds of people lining up waiting for the doors to open.
Species that were available this year included:
- Cherry Laurel
- Crape Myrtle
- Flowering Dogwood
- Leyland Cypress
- Redbud
- Red Maple
- Sawtooth Oak
- Wax Myrtle
- Loblolly Pine
International Paper foresters and representatives from the Florida Division of Forestry were available to answer questions regarding the planting and care of the trees.
In addition, special activities for children were hosted throughout the day by Smokey Bear, the Pensacola Pelicans’ Scoop, and the Pensacola Ice Pilots’ Ice Man. Information on the Abundant Forests Alliance and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative was also available.
Benefit Trail Ride Was Held Saturday
February 10, 2008
“The Charlotte Salzer Memorial Benefit Ride” was held Saturday to raise money for Panhandle Equine Rescue . Charlotte passed away December 30 after a six month battle with cancer. She was nurse, retired from Atmore Community Hospital. Before and after retiring, she was active in rides for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, Atmore’s Relay for Life, Panhandle Equine Rescue, and the Five Flags Arabian Horse Association.
The benefit ride took place Saturday at the Coldwater Recreation Area in the Blackwater River State Forest. The approximately 12 mile ride was followed by an awards ceremony and a meal. F
Panhandle Equine Rescue’s mission is to rescue, rehabilitate and provide adoption services for abused, neglected and abandoned equines. It is authorized by the Escambia County court system to investigate equine reports in the county.