Choppers Overhead

Helicopters will rain down on Dallas skyline with convention in town

Downtown Dallas will get an impromptu air show this weekend.

Photo courtesy of Frontiers of Flight Museum

Dallas will be swarmed by approximately 60 helicopters when a helicopter convention swoops in on Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center the first week of March.

The convention is the Heli-Expo, hosted by Helicopter Association International, and it will take place from March 6-9, but the helicopters will arrive en masse on March 3-4. Many helicopters will be swirling around downtown Dallas.

The event is open to the public, but paid registration is required. One of the largest commercial helicopters in North America is expected to participate, as well as a variety of new and vintage models.

Approximately 20,000 industry professionals, students, and helicopter enthusiasts will attend this event. Texas-based companies Bell Helicopter and Airbus produce many of the helicopters appearing at the show.

Texas is home to a large number of other helicopter and aviation-related businesses and schools. Many of these businesses and their employees are expected to attend the show.

There'll be a big media event on Friday, March 3, at the aircraft landing area, on the south side of the convention center. Helicopters will begin arriving at 10:30 am, through 5:15 pm.

At 2 pm, Matt Zuccaro, president and CEO of Helicopter Association International, will speak about the helicopter industry as a whole, and do a play-by-play on the helicopters that are arriving.

Peak times for downtown Dallas skywatching are at 4:30 pm, with the arrival of a Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter gunship, and 5 pm, the landing time for a Boeing CH-47D Chinook helicopter. That'll be the last aircraft in for the day.

The Hind gunship is an impressive-looking helicopter made in the former Soviet Union. It joins the show as a display model in the Heritage Aircraft section.

The CH-47D Chinook helicopter is one of the largest commercially available helicopters in North America. This model is owned and operated by Columbia Helicopters of Portland, Oregon.

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E-Cigarette News

Dallas City Council places restrictions on vaping in public

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Man vaping

Vaping will now be banned exactly like smoking, thanks to a new ordinance from the Dallas City Council.

At their December 11 meeting, the council passed an ordinance to ban vaping in all the same areas where smoking is not allowed. It'll go into effect on December 11, 2025 — giving everyone a year to get into compliance.

Proposed by City of Dallas Environmental Commission (EVC) and the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability (OEQS), the ordinance amends the definition of “smoking” in the Dallas City Code to include the use of vaping devices.

The ordinance does not ban vaping — it only bans where you can vape: no vaping in all indoor and enclosed spaces; within 15 feet of building entrances; and on park property. The ordinance also bans marijuana smoking in those same places.

In addition, the amendment requires restaurants, hotels, fitness centers and other businesses to update their signage to clearly state that both smoking and electronic smoking devices are prohibited.

The ordinance already earned widespread support from health organizations such as the Dallas County Health and Human Services, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association. These organizations, along with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the U.S. Surgeon General, have all raised concerns about the health risks of direct and second-hand exposure to vaping aerosols, particularly for vulnerable populations such as children and older adults.

Dallas is not the first city to impose such a ban: San Antonio enacted a similar ban in October. Theirs goes into effect on January 1, 2025.

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