ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ron Newman started his career in aviation in 1955 as an apprentice aircraft engine mechanic with Trans Australia Airlines (now QANTAS), and has been fully employed in the aviation industry ever since. Toward the end of his apprenticeship he became fascinated with TAA's Bell 47J helicopters and, when TAA sold them, he transferred to Ansett's helicopter division.

Ron travelled all over Australia with Ansett as a helicopter engineer until, in 1965, he was transferred to Queensland as the Base Engineer for their 28 passenger Sikorsky S61 operation between Proserpine and the resort on Hayman Island.

The Sikorsky technical representative, who travelled to Proserpine frequently, recruited Ron as a technical representative for Sikorsky, but at the same time Ron was asked to join a small helicopter company in Sydney to look after two Sycamore helicopters. As part of the remuneration package for the local job was a helicopter pilot's licence, he accepted this offer instead, and got his pilot's licence in 1968.

He then worked as a Pilot/Engineer, travelling all round Australia and the British Solomon Isles as well as two trips to Antarctica as a pilot/engineer, until joining the Victoria Police in 1976 in order to set up their helicopter division.

After travelling overseas to evaluate different helicopter types, he selected the Aerospatiale Dauphin and then made several more trips to France to do the engine, airframe and electrical/instrument courses for the Dauphin, as well as the pilot's course and the acceptance flights for the Police helicopter.

He spent the remainder of his time with the Police as their Chief Engineer and Chief Helicopter Pilot. During this time he trained other engineers, recruited and endorsed more pilots, and conducted all their rescue and instrument training. As well as conducting routine Police patrols, he also flew on numerous rescue missions and major fires, one of which was the horrific 'Ash Wednesday' fire in Victoria.

Whilst with the Victoria Police, Ron was awarded the 'Royal Humane Society', Bronze Medal for a night rescue where he had to operate extremely close to a cliff face to pick up two injured people who had fallen over the cliff.

In 1981, whilst still with the Police, he purchased a Hughes 269B and started a part time training school. The school grew rapidly, and in 1983 the Police Force bureaucracy got too much for him so he resigned and made Professional Helicopter Services Pty. Ltd. his full time passion.

Ron holds a Commercial Helicopter licence, with endorsements on both single and twin engine helicopters with a Night VFR rating and a Class One Instrument Rating (expired), he also holds a Commercial Fixed Wing licence, with endorsement on single and twin engine aeroplanes, with a Class One Instrument Rating (expired).

Ron is endorsed to fly 15 different helicopters, ranging from the Robinson R22 to the Sikorsky S76; he has over 17,500 helicopter hours with over 7,000 helicopter instructional hours. He is a Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) 'Approved Test Officer' (ATO) qualified to conduct tests for the issue of Private and Commercial Pilot Licences, Instructor Ratings, Night Ratings as well as Winch, Water and Formation endorsements.

He is also a Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (LAME) with licences in Engine and Airframe categories, with helicopter type endorsements ranging from the Robinson R22 to the Sikorsky S61. He also holds fixed wing engine and airframe engineering endorsements for all light single and twin engine aeroplanes plus the Rolls Royce Dart engine (Fokker Friendships) and the Allison 501 (Lockheed Electra). He also holds Electrical and Instrument ratings that cover both aeroplane and helicopter systems.

As you can see, he has a wealth of experience, and he shares a lot of it with you in his Online Aviation Theory website (www.OnlineAviationTheory.com), and his book (HELICOPTERS WILL TAKE YOU ANYWHERE).

Ron has run theory classes for both fixed wing and helicopter students, and in 1999 he became dissatisfied with both the level and the amount of information in the various courses that were available, so he set out to develop his own course. Because of his background in both aeroplanes and helicopters, he developed the course to cover both types of aircraft, and rather than do it in book form, which is hard to keep updated, he decided to do it on the internet, hence Online Aviation Theory Pty Ltd was born.