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Gaining Altitude

By Vertical Mag | February 26, 2014

Estimated reading time 8 minutes, 46 seconds.

In the 14 months since Enstrom Helicopter Corp. was acquired by new Chinese owners, the northwest Michigan helicopter maker has doubled the size of its factory, increased production rates, won another military trainer contract, and launched development of a two-seat training helicopter — the TH180, which was unveiled on the first day of Heli-Expo 2014.
“It’s been a busy year,” Tracy Biegler told Vertical earlier this year, catching his breath days before he became Enstrom’s new president and CEO, replacing Jerry Mullins, who retired after nine years on Jan. 31.
“Jerry provided the management, leadership and integrity that transformed [the company] over the past nine years,” said Biegler. “Now potential customers around the world are starting to consider Enstrom as an option, and our existing customers are pleased with the stability that comes from a strong financial backer and our renewed investment in product support, manufacturing systems, product upgrades, and new helicopter designs.” 
A Wisconsin native, Biegler moved to Seattle, Wash., to work as an aircraft structures engineer, and spent 14 years working at Boeing on the B-2 bomber and in commercial aircraft engineering test flight before returning to Wisconsin in the aircraft interiors business. He joined Enstrom in 2003. 
“I got hired as an engineer and two weeks later was drafted to write a proposal to sell turbine 480Bs to the Indonesian National Police,” he recalled.
It was Biegler’s good fortune that Enstrom won the Indonesian order for the fast-track delivery of 18 480Bs, which marked the beginning of the business turnaround of the company. 
By the time the Chongqing Helicopter Investment Co., Ltd. (CQHIC) of China bought Enstrom from its Swiss owner in late December 2012, Enstrom was gaining altitude with sizable orders from the Royal Thai Army (16 480Bs) and the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force (30 480Bs) as well as other international customers.
The new Chinese owners quickly endorsed Enstrom’s growth plans, and the company closed out 2013 with a new trainer order from the Venezuelan Air Force for 16 480Bs, building on the success of the model as a trainer in Asia and a 2000 sale of four piston Enstrom 280FX trainers to the Venezuelan National Guard.
Once the sale is confirmed, the new Venezuelan trainers will be built in Enstrom’s factory at Menominee-Marinette Twin County Airport. The factory received an $8 million upgrade in 2013, which saw a 77,000-square-foot addition made to the existing 85,000-square-foot factory.
Enstrom delivered 26 helicopters in 2013, including 10 480Bs to for the Japanese military and eight 480Bs for the Chinese market for police patrols, private customers, training, and resale. This was six helicopters short of its goal of 32 aircraft for 2013, which Biegler said was largely attributable to a major post-production modification program to ensure the 480B complied with new Chinese aviation rules that require all general aviation aircraft to have radios with three-digit frequency displays. This necessitated modifications to all eight of the aircraft, a lengthy process that cut into Enstrom’s production abilities.
The company is planning to produce 40 helicopters in 2014, and recently passed the 200-employee mark after dipping to 60 employees during the financial crisis of 2008-2009. Beigler said he is committed to seizing new opportunities while managing growth “so there is not too much of an uptick that might cause employee concern.” 
A New Model
The newest engineering project underway at Enstrom is the development of the TH-180, a new, two-seat training helicopter based on the F28F that will have acquisition and direct operating costs (DOCs) “competitive with the current training helicopter options,” said Biegler. He noted that Enstrom helicopters are well known for their “rugged design, high inertia three-blade rotor and excellent safety record” — benefits that are well suited to the training market. Enstrom has been flying a 280FX for a couple of years in support of engineering development work on the trainer.
The piston F28F and 280FX family were upgraded with turbochargers in the late 1970s to boost high density altitude performance, just as Robinson entered the market. To reduce DOCs on its new trainer, Enstrom is looking at a combination of initiatives including reducing the aircraft’s weight, switching to a Lycoming engine without a turbocharger to reduce fuel consumption, and extending the time before overhaul (TBO) of certain components.
Besides the opportunity to claim its share of the training market, the new trainer is part of a broader product strategy to “brand” new pilots to stimulate future sales of its current, and future, products. 
“With the TH180, we are shrinking the 280FX from a three-place to a two-place cabin and making modifications to the pylon, tail cone and landing gear,” said Biegler. “Our goal is to reduce the weight, fuel consumption and direct operating costs of the TH180 for the training mission.”
The basic helicopter will have a conventional cockpit but Enstrom also intends to offer an Aspen glass avionics system as an option.
The price of the new helicopter will be “less than $400,000,” said Biegler, who added that the weight of the helicopter is expected to be 2,250 pounds, or about 500 pounds less than the company’s current piston models. The new helicopter is expected to have 30 to 35 percent parts commonality with the existing models, with most of the parts changes made to help drive down costs.
“We’ve selected the Lycoming IO390 for the TH180 to replace the HIO360 with a super charger that powers the F28F and 280FX,” Biegler said. “We have been evaluating the engine in a modified 280FX, but the engine still has to be certified for helicopter use by Lycoming.” The 390-cubic-inch IO390 produces 210 horsepower at 2,700 rpm and is utilized on several high performance kit aircraft and upgrades to several production aircraft, including the Mooney M20.
Enstrom says that development costs  for the TH180 will be in the $2 to $4 million range. The development of the trainer will utilize the 280FX engineering test aircraft and the prototype TH180 which is expected to fly “later this summer” with FAA certification targeted for the second quarter of 2015 followed by first deliveries. At Heli-Expo 2014, Enstrom announced the names of the first two customers for the TH180: Chuck Surack of Indiana Helicopters, and Roger Sharkey of Sharkey’s Helicopters.
Meanwhile, Biegler reported renewed interest in Enstrom helicopters from potential customers in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At the same time, he said, the U.S. market is “showing signs of recovery.”
The Chinese market is obviously a much more important focus since the change of ownership just over a year ago. A major Chinese milestone occurred on Jan. 17, 2014, when an Enstrom 480B took off from the rooftop heliport of the CQHIC headquarters building in Chongqing to fly the first scheduled police patrol by an Enstrom 480B in the world’s most populous country — 20 years after a piston 280FX entered service with the Wuhan Police in late 1993.
While there is a huge opportunity for future helicopter use, China does not have a general aviation culture, which provides Enstrom and its Chinese owners with an opportunity to become a bridge between the two worlds.

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