updated 01-Dec-2023
About rotorspot.nl
owner
I graduated as aeronautical engineer from Delft University in Sep-1982. From Feb-1985
until my retirement in Jul-2021 I was employed at the
Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR) in Amsterdam, working on rotorcraft
related topics. Activities ranged from flight performance to flying qualities,
from pre-design to flight testing, from operational support to flight simulations,
from flight safety to teaching drone operators, etc.
My hobby started as being an aircraft spotter. Once the decision was made to
concentrate on helicopters, it was a small step to start building a civil
rotorcraft registrations database. At first just for The Netherlands, then also
for Belgium and Luxembourg, and the rest of Europe. Soon this evolved into the
worldwide Rotorspot database.
rotorcraft
'Rotorcraft' to this respect means "a heavier-than-air aircraft that depends
principally for its support in flight on the lift generated by one or more
rotors" (EASA aircraft classification). Therefore, the Rotorspot database and
website exclude all aircraft types with lifting propellers. Furthermore, unmanned
rotorcraft below 150 kg are excluded (EASA's initial regulatory framework used this
mass value as a lower limit for unmanned aircraft being subject to EU regulation).
database
The Rotorspot database contains worldwide registration data for civil and military
rotorcraft. The database includes information on registration (civil) or serial
(military), rotorcraft type (the manufacturer of which is listed as the company that
initially designed it), construction number, registration history (oldest to latest),
and final fate. There is no owner/operator information in the database. The database
is continuously updated with information from various sources.
The database contains more than 180 000 civil rotorcraft registrations for more than
100 680 individual
civil rotorcraft. The database also contains a growing number of military
rotorcraft serials (currently more than 97 500 are included).
website
The Rotorspot website publishes data extracted from the database. On this website
one can find current (active) and historical (complete) civil rotorcraft registers
for every country in the world, complete production lists for a growing range of
rotorcraft types, and a searchable rotorcraft database (civil and military). The
main purpose of this website is to provide quick access to rotorcraft type, identity,
registration and history. E.g. when one has a registration and is looking for the
correct type or identity, the website will provide it. Based on that first step, one
then can make further research using other, more elaborate sources.
The first release of the Rotorspot website was in 1999, and the switch to www.rotorspot.nl
was made in 2009. From the best of my knowledge, this website's contents do not
duplicate anything publicly available in book form or on other websites. National
aircraft registers or rotorcraft production lists that are published in books and
on websites, are in different formats.
The Rotorspot website uses JavaScript and has been tested for proper displaying in
various browsers. All CSS, HTML and PHP coding on the website has been validated
for standards compliance using appropriate tools. Although this guarantees a website
without coding format errors, it does not guarantee an error-free appearance in
different browsers. If you do encounter problems of any kind, feel free to inform me
and the issue will be corrected as soon as possible.
disclaimer
The Rotorspot database and website are private initiatives that have no link with
commercial organisations. Rotorspot.nl reserves the right not to accept any liability,
nor to be responsible for the content of external links. All Rotorspot registration data
can be used freely (with due credit to www.rotorspot.nl),
but strictly for non-commercial applications.
colophon
Database and website maintenance : Jos Stevens
Initial release of Rotorspot website : 01-Sep-1999
Official release of www.rotorspot.nl : 01-Jul-2009
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