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Sikorsky appoints Canadian-based commercial sales manager

By Ken Swartz | February 24, 2015

Estimated reading time 6 minutes, 19 seconds.

Sikorsky Aircraft has appointed Don Maguire as its Canadian-based sales representative for the twin-engine S-76D and S-92 helicopters and twin-turboprop Sikorsky PZL Mielec M28 commuter-category STOL (short take-off and landing) utility aircraft. 
Maguire is well known in the Canadian helicopter industry with more than 35-years experience working for commercial maintenance and charter operators, Bell Helicopter Textron Canada, CAE and Scott’s-Bell 47, Inc.
“I’m delighted to be joining the Sikorsky team,” said Maguire. “Sikorsky helicopters have played a very important role in the development of the Canadian aviation industry for almost 70 years and there is a bright future.”
Maguire will be responsible for full-time promotion of Sikorsky helicopters to potential customers in the offshore, executive and medical transport market in Canada. 
Maguire trained to be an aircraft maintenance engineer at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Vancouver and flew as a pilot/engineer in British Columbia in the late 1970s and early 1980s, jointly-owned a Bell Service Center (Western Heli-Craft), before moving east to join Bell’s startup helicopter manufacturing venture at Mirabel, north of Montreal.
At Bell Helicopter he worked very closely with helicopter operators around the world supporting existing fleets and future sales.
In 2006, he joined CAE, the Montreal-based flight simulator and pilot training provider and as director, customer services, working closely with the world’s largest airlines and aircraft manufacturers on training solutions for both fixed wing and helicopters.
Maguire returned full time to the helicopter industry in 2011 as a consultant and served as director of customer support for Scott’s-Bell 47 on the re-launch of a fully modernized Modern 47 helicopter with lower operating costs and the latest technology.
Carey Bond, the retiring president, Sikorsky Commercial Systems & Services and his successor Shane Eddy, senior vice president, operations are also Canadians who worked for Bell Helicopter in Mirabel, Que., before joining Sikorsky (Bond retires at the end of August). Bond and Eddy, like Maguire started their helicopter careers working in northern Canada as aircraft maintenance engineers (AME). 
Today, there are 63 twin-engine Sikorsky helicopters registered in Canada – 47 Sikorsky S-76s (27 S-76A and S-76A++, two S-76B and 18 S-76Cs) and 14 S-92As. 
Major Sikorsky customers in Canada include CHC, Cougar Helicopters and Helijet International with recent fleet growth in both the offshore and executive sectors.
The number of Sikorsky helicopters registered in Canada today, however, doesn’t tell the full story. 
AIC Global Holdings of Ontario flies a newly refurbished executive S-92 and S-76C++ (plus a JetRanger and AW139) and Summit Helicopters of Kamloops, B.C. just bought four Sikorsky S-76A++ from CHC. 
Vancouver-based CHC flies more than 90 Sikorsky helicopters in more than 20 countries, but only 10 of its 50-odd S-76s and three of about its 42 S-92As are registered in Canada. (The fleet also includes 11 S-76s owned by Ornge and Eagle Copters offered for sale).
In the past year, major oil companies have also awarded or renewed contracts for S-92s with three Canadian offshore helicopter operators off Atlantic Coast. 
In May 2014, Staoil awarded CHC Helicopters Canada Inc. an 18-month contract to support offshore exploration by the West Hercules rig off St. John’s.
In September 2014, ExxonMobil, Suncor and Husky Energy, renewed a six-year contract for seven existing and two new helicopters with Cougar Helicopters commencing in March 2016 with options to extend up to four years, as well as an unpriced option for five additional years. 
Then in January 2015, Shell Canada awarded HNZ Group subsidiary Canadian Helicopters a $20 million contract to support of its Shelburne Basin exploration drilling project off Nova Scotia commencing this summer with three S-92As leased from PHI, Inc. including one S-92A dedicated for SAR missions. Drilling is expected to last for 260 days, but the contract allows for a 130-day extension. 
Sikorsky sold its first aircraft in Canada in 1932 when it delivered a twin-engine S-38 amphibian to Canadian Airways for the Vancouver-Victoria seaplane route. 
In 1947, Sikorsky made one of its first postwar helicopter sales when the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) ordered seven S-51s for search and rescue use – Canada’s first military helicopter.
Between 1946 and the mid-1970s, Pratt & Whitney Canada was responsible for Sikorsky military, government (i.e. Coast Guard) and commercial sales in Canada. The largest commercial customer was Okanagan Helicopters of Vancouver (now CHC), which was one of the export customers for the S-55, S-58, S-62, S-61N and S-58T.
In the mid-1970s, Sikorsky took Canadian sales from P&WC, which was focusing on growing its turbine engine business. 
Sikorsky had just launched the S-76 and hired P&WC’s longtime Sikorsky salesman and tech rep J.F. “Jock” Graham to lead international marketing efforts for the all new twin-engine helicopter. Graham was based in West Vancouver, B.C. and traveled the world selling S-76s until his retirement in the mid-1980s. 

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