Warwick’s Tony Cosimano earns international helicopter award

Helicopter Association International (HAI) honored Anthony “Tony” Cosimano of Warwick as its 2024 Salute to Excellence Lifetime Achievement Award recipient on Feb. 26 in Anaheim, Calif. The award, sponsored by Bell, salutes excellence in management and leadership and is granted to an individual for long and significant service to the international vertical aviation community.

Cosimano has enjoyed a long and storied career filled with not only captivating adventures but also key actions that have influenced the future of the helicopter industry.

“Tony has traversed over 60 years of industry change, technology and advancement,” AW139 Capt. Stacy Sheard said in her nomination of Cosimano for the award. “He was often the first, or one of the first, to fly commercial helicopters in many places around the world. Tony’s history has propelled the helicopter industry into what we know today. All the while, he offered mentorship and participated in various associations, committees and endeavors supporting the industry and especially its people.”

Cosimano originally planned to be a musician. He attended the University of Michigan and, later, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he played trumpet in the U.S. Military Academy Band.

While at West Point, Cosimano learned to fly airplanes, but it was helicopters that captivated him most.

He deployed to Vietnam in 1964 to support South Vietnamese fighters from the air, flying armed Bell UH-1B helicopters with the Cobra Platoon of the 114th Aviation Company.

After leaving the army in 1966, Cosimano returned to New York and took a job with Chesapeake & Potomac Airways where he flew AT&T underground right-of-way cables in a Bell 47.

In 1968, Cosimano cofounded Decair Helicopters with two partners. The company quickly grew, offering utility, flight training, and charter services.

One of Cosimano’s more memorable experiences was providing aerial support for the Woodstock Music and Art Fair in 1969, transporting organizers, performers, and medical teams. That job helped boost the company’s profile, leading to a police contract, new utility contracts outside the state, movie shoots, a large oil exploration contract in Peru and support missions for multiple rescue operators.

During that time, Cosimano also formed the Helicopter Emergency Lift Program to assist local agencies with helicopter support at no cost to the community.

After selling his shares in Decair in 1978, Cosimano accepted a management position to form the Envirogas helicopter department in Buffalo. He also formed Metromedia’s helicopter operations unit and later the helicopter program at insurance giant AIG. He also became involved in the early stages of developing the AW139 by chairing a worldwide customer advisory board.

“It’s definitely a passion, and that passion keeps me completely enmeshed in the helicopter industry,” Cosimano says of what’s driven him during his 60-plus-year career. “Every day is exciting, and I’m still flying, still very much involved and working.”

After retiring from AIG in 2007, Cosimano took a position helping bring AW139 and A109 series helicopters from factory acceptance to the completion, sales, and delivery stages. Additionally, he founded International Aircraft Purchase & Lease, to provide consulting and pilot services.

In Warwick, Cosimano serves as first vice commander of Nicholas P. Lesando Jr., American Legion Post 214 and is a member of the Warwick Valley Rotary Club. He was grand marshal of Warwick’s 2021 Memorial Day Parade. Cosimano and his late wife, Peggy, were active in numerous local civic activities and organizations for decades.