Showcases Teams Who Demonstrate Extraordinary Vertical Flight Capabilities

The Vertical Flight Society has announced the recipients of the 20205 Group Awards program, which since 1944 has recognized accomplishments of excellence that stimulate innovations and advancement in vertical flight.

Angelo Collins, Executive Director of the VFS said, “For over 80 years, VFS has honored the most impactful achievements in vertical flight. This year’s group award recipients showcase the remarkable capabilities of vertical flight aircraft and the dedicated teams who design, maintain, and operate them.”

The recipients will be honored at the Grand Awards Banquet on May 22, 2025 at the 81st Annual Forum and Technology Display in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

The 2025 group awards are:

Captain William J. Kossler, USCG Award

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, for demonstrating exceptional capability in rapid deployment, advanced rescues, and pioneering night aerial fire suppression. During the Park Fire, helicopter teams flew 29 consecutive days and dropped nearly half a million gallons of water while rescuing dozens of people.

Grover E. Bell Award

Sikorsky Rapid Wildfire Response Demonstration Team, for executing the first fully autonomous aerial firefighting mission.

Supplier Excellence Award

Alpha Q, Inc., for over 15 years of delivering critical flight safety components with zero-defect quality and on-time performance.

Robert L. Pinckney Award

Sikorsky Automated Blade Sanding Team for developing a robotic blade sanding system that improves quality, increases production throughput, eliminates ergonomic risks, delivers significant cost savings and is adaptable for future aircraft models.

Harry T. Jensen Award

Sikorsky Enhanced Maintenance Analysis Tool  Team, by using AI and natural language processing to convert unstructured maintenance data into actionable insights, helping reduce downtime, identify failure trends, and  enhance aircraft reliability across the enterprise.

Frederick L. Feinberg Award

U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Center’s Mission Adaptive Autonomy Flight Test Team, for demonstrating autonomous load delivery in complex, contested environments using sensor-based navigation and real-time route adaptation.

Leonardo International Fellowship Award

Israeli Air Force and Sikorsky Support Team, for outstanding collaboration in sustaining UH-60 and CH-53D helicopter operations to enhance aircraft availability, improved maintenance processes, and ensure mission readiness, even under conflict conditions.

Howard Hughes Award

Airbus Helicopter Racer Team, for surpassing 260 mph (420 km/h) with its Racer high-speed demonstrator shortly after its first flight. Its innovations in aerodynamics, propulsion and systems design represented a big step forward in the development of fast, fuel-efficient rotorcraft.

Vertical Flight Heritage Site Recognitions

— Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New  York, the first U.S. Coast Guard and Navy helicopter base was central to early search and rescue, anti-submarine warfare, and police aviation misstions.

— Penfield Reef near Fairfield, Connecticut, the site of the first helicopter hoist rescue in 1945, proving the helicopter’s utility in emergencies and its life-saving potential which helped establish its role in modern search and rescue operations.

FMI:  vtol.org/