Appareo Systems and Bristow Group Awarded Aviation Week & Space Technology's 2007 Product Breakthrough of the Year

Staying Safe - New Approach Brings a Step Change in Aviation Safety to Light Aircraft

FARGO, North Dakota and HOUSTON, Texas, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Appareo Systems, LLC, and Bristow Group Inc. (NYSE: BRS) have been awarded the Aviation Week & Space Technology 2007 Product Breakthrough of the Year for ALERTS, a flight data monitoring solution for light aircraft jointly developed by the two companies. Reviewed by an independent committee, ALERTS was judged against industry-wide innovations released over the past year in the magazine's Start-up/Development Category.

ALERTS -- short for Aircraft Logging and Event Recording for Training and Safety -- is the first low-cost, lightweight, fully integrated system specifically designed for small and legacy aircraft. It was designed and engineered by Fargo-based Appareo Systems, which specializes in inertial measurement and playback systems for aviation. Appareo partnered with Air Logistics, a subsidiary of Houston-based Bristow Group, a leading provider of helicopter services and production management services to the offshore energy industry, to develop a customized flight data monitoring solution specifically for light helicopters. Bristow is the first customer for ALERTS and is currently installing the system on its Bell 206 and 407 aircraft. The two companies expect to make the ALERTS system available to other operators in January of 2008.

In awarding the Product Breakthrough of the Year honor, Aviation Week & Space Technology commented on ALERTS "innovative and affordable way to perform flight data monitoring," going on to highlight the "smooth functioning" of the flight recorder.

The award-winning ALERTS system is a proactive approach to accident prevention that utilizes Appareo-designed Helicopter Operations Monitoring Program (HOMP) software, a 3-D flight playback application and a new approach to recorder technology. ALERTS HOMP software analyzes all flights against standard operating procedures. Graphical trend reporting quickly conveys the risk levels in the fleet, identifies the best opportunities for pilot training and then measures the effectiveness or results of the training. The powerful 3-D playback software incorporates worldwide terrain and satellite imagery for vivid replay and analysis. With a revolutionary design for simple field installation, the unique recorder has its own self-contained inertial system with GPS that is capable of sensing and storing more than 120 hours of high- resolution flight data on a quick-access secure digital (SD) card.

"ALERTS is an extraordinary accomplishment by two great companies that worked together to create the world's first truly affordable flight operations management system for light and legacy aircraft. We strongly believe that this solution, designed for industry by industry, will profoundly impact worldwide helicopter safety," said Barry Batcheller, President and CEO of Appareo Systems.

"ALERTS is the first of several strategic initiatives we are pursuing with Appareo to help improve not only the safety but also the operating efficiency of our aircraft," said Mike Suldo, President of Air Logistics. "By combining Appareo's innovative thinking and engineering skills with Bristow's experience and practical understanding of how new technologies can be deployed in our helicopters, we believe this kind of collaboration can produce important advances that will help our company and our industry work smarter and safer."

About Appareo Systems

Appareo Systems is a privately held company in Fargo, ND, specializing in the custom design of innovative software and hardware solutions for the aerospace and defense industries. Appareo's products are built around the company's core competencies in low-cost, lightweight inertial sensing, sophisticated analytical software and 3-D visualization. For more information, visit http://www.appareo.com/alerts.

About Bristow Group

Bristow Group Inc. is a major provider of helicopter services to the oil and gas industry worldwide. Through its subsidiaries, affiliates and joint ventures, the Company provides transportation services in most oil and gas producing regions including the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, the North Sea, Africa, Mexico, South America, Australia, Russia, Egypt and the Far East. Additionally, the Company is a leading provider of production management services for oil and gas production facilities in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. For more information, visit Bristow's website at http://www.bristowgroup.com.

     Contacts:
     Michael Jablon                     Linda McNeill
     Appareo Systems LLC                Bristow Group Inc.
     701-361-0301                       713-267-7622
     mjablon@appareo.com                linda.mcneill@bristowgroup.com

SOURCE Appareo Systems LLC; Bristow Group Inc.

Released October 15, 2007