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    HAI Announces the Salute to Excellence "Leonardo Humanitarian Service Award" Recipient

    Jan. 11, 2017
    Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard is the 2017 winner of HAI’s Salute to Excellence Leonardo Humanitarian Service Award. The award will be presented at HAI’s Salute to Excellence Awards dinner at HAI HELI-EXPO 2017 in Dallas.
    Related To: Helicopter Association International (HAI)
    Trinidad Tobago Air Guard 587646c3b9e42

    Alexandria, Va. (January 11, 2017) – Helicopter Association International (HAI) announced today that the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard is the 2017 winner of HAI’s Salute to Excellence Leonardo Humanitarian Service Award. The award will be presented at HAI’s Salute to Excellence Awards dinner at HAI HELI-EXPO 2017 in Dallas.

    The Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard has provided an invaluable service far past its shores for the benefit of those in other Caribbean nations. Operating both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard has accomplished tremendous achievements since its founding in 2005. The Air Guard is looked upon by Caribbean Community nations with admiration and support for the humanitarian services it provides in response to natural disasters, medical emergencies and security threats.

    The Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard operates two Metro Merlin C-26B fixed-wing and four AW139 helicopters, and has expanded its capabilities and its achievements in the decade since it was formed out of the Coast Guard Air Wing. The unit has rescued lost hikers, airlifted victims of shark attacks and injured sailors, fought and extinguished threatening bush fires, helped vessels in distress, evacuated stranded individuals from otherwise inaccessible land and conducted medical evacuations from vessels at sea. It regularly is deployed to perform complex missions both at home and in the wider Caribbean region. It has provided support to St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Domenica during floods and natural disasters and on a regular basis transports critically ill and injured patients from the island of Tobago to the hospital in Trinidad. The Air Guard’s mission scope exceeds that of larger countries and those with much greater resources.

    The awards will be presented at the annual Salute to Excellence Awards dinner during HAI HELI-EXPO 2017. HAI HELI-EXPO®, the world’s largest helicopter trade show and exhibition, will be held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, March 6–9, with the exhibit hall open March 7–9. For more information on HAI HELI-EXPO 2017, visit heliexpo.rotor.org.

    HAI is the professional trade association for the civil helicopter industry. HAI’s 1,500+ organizational members and 1,800 individual members safely operate more than 4,500 helicopters approximately 2.3 million hours each year in more than 73 nations. HAI is dedicated to the promotion of the helicopter as a safe, effective method of commerce and to the advancement of the international helicopter community.