(VAI/Don Kelsen Photo) Robinson’s New Era Under new leadership, the OEM eyes expansion in an evolving market. By Jen Boyer From the sale of the first Robinson R22 in October 1979, Robinson Helicopter Co. was defined by the vision and leadership of founder Frank Robinson. No new design, manufacturing process, customer service center, or sales procedure was executed without his review and approval. In many ways, his all-encompassing management style helped to make the company a success, with more than 13,000 Robinson aircraft delivered since the company’s founding in 1973. After Frank’s 2010 retirement, his son, Kurt Robinson, took over as company president and CEO. In 2023, David Smith joined Robinson as VP of operations, bringing his engineering and leadership experience from Bell. Smith was named president and CEO in February 2024, the first non-Robinson family member to lead the company. Kurt Robinson transitioned to an advisory role and remains on the company’s board of directors. The transition to Smith as the company’s top executive had been planned for some time after the OEM obtained outside investment funds. Smith was handpicked by the investment firm, Kurt Robinson, and the Robinson board of directors based on his vision for Robinson’s expansion and ability to compete in an increasingly evolving market. His appointment continued Frank Robinson’s vision of ensuring growth by choosing a leader with a strong engineering background. The Robinson Helicopter Co. is based in the greater Los Angeles area, with its headquarters and manufacturing plant located at Torrance Municipal Airport – Zamperini Field (KTOA), where an R22 prototype took its first flight in August 1975. (VAI/Don Kelsen Photo) A Focus on People and Service Longtime Robinson customers and partners will have noticed immediate changes under Smith, who reorganized the company with the addition of new leadership positions and strategic hires to fill them. Early on in Smith’s transition, Robyn Eagles was hired as VP of global marketing and communications to help tell Robinson’s story. Randall Schaffer joined as VP of customer success to improve customer service and support, and Will Fulton was brought in as VP of business development to focus on direct sales to government entities and large-fleet opportunities. Eagles’s storytelling campaigns have led to a boost in Robinson’s connections with customers, who have shared the videos on social media. The outreach effort is expanding awareness of both the capabilities of Robinson’s aircraft and their potential in new markets, Smith explains. Eagles, who previously worked for Skyryse and Honda, also oversees dealer management and support. Schaffer, a former aftermarket business development manager for Parker Aerospace and MD Helicopters, is taking over the customer-focused functions Kurt Robinson historically managed, including customer service, service centers, and flight training, in addition to developing new programs to improve the overall customer experience. David Smith, the first non-Robinson family member to lead the company, brings decades of aviation engineering and leadership experience to the role. (VAI/Don Kelsen Photo) “We haven’t really had anyone in that position since Kurt stepped into the president position, so hiring Randy allows us to better support our by-the-hour agreements and management of more complex service arrangements,” Smith says. “We have a great product, but we need to get better at warranty turns for things that fail in the early years of the product. We need to get to the core processes to ensure they are treated quickly and cash gets back to the customer.” Smith has also charged Schaffer with growth opportunities, including a new option for timed-out aircraft. Robinson is developing a program that would allow customers to trade in timed-out aircraft for credit toward a new aircraft. Instead of simply overhauling the helicopter for resale, Robinson would use its FAA Part 145 capabilities to upgrade the ship to newer standards as a factory-certified preowned aircraft. These updated aircraft would be less expensive than new helicopters, potentially opening new markets with the lower price point. “What I don’t love about our overhaul process is it can be very long because of all the questions and back and forth on components,” Smith says. “It can add weeks to an overhaul. This faster process allows us to buy assets, or take them on trade, then put them back into the fleet as upgraded aircraft down the road. “It’s a great option for people wanting to buy an R66, for example,” he says. “They trade in their R44, no questions asked, and the value goes toward a new R66. We then overhaul and upgrade the R44 with new bird-strike windows, cockpit cameras, autopilot, and send it out to our dealer network for sale at prices lower than a new aircraft.” The program calls for more manufacturing capacity, and Smith is already in the process of hiring and expanding output. Schaffer is also working to increase Robinson’s training program. The manufacturer recently added a CFI standardization course and is looking to add more offerings, such as advanced R66 transition and advanced maintenance courses with an emphasis on new technologies. The company is also planning to standardize Robinson courses taught around the world with a more Robinson-directed and -resourced approach than has been taken in the past. “We’re going to become a lot more active on the training side, running it directly, not necessarily through as many intermediaries,” Smith says. “For instance, you’ll book your course through Robinson’s website, regardless of where in the world you take the course.” Robinson is working to enable automotive fuel use in the R44 Raven aircraft, which is currently approved to use only 100LL. (VAI/Don Kelsen Photo) Fulton, formerly of Skyryse and Airbus Helicopters, is Robinson’s most recent hire, joining the team in September 2024. He’s working with governments on aircraft acquisition. (Most government clients are required to work directly with an OEM rather than with a dealer.) Fulton will focus on providing timely responses to inquiries; bidding; executing small- and large-fleet sales, such as military training aircraft; and expanding Robinson’s markets in government and military arenas. Smith sees Fulton as being instrumental in making government sales and passing along maintenance agreements to the local service centers. Smith has also overseen a culture change within Robinson. Whereas the leadership style under Frank Robinson leaned toward the autocratic, Smith is working to cultivate a more inclusive, trusting culture. “Kurt did a really good job of building a more collaborative, caring culture, but there were still elements of the old heritage, as he didn’t have time to initiate all the change he envisioned,” Smith notes. “We hired collaboration-focused leaders, and we trust our managers. If someone isn’t doing their job, that’s a performance issue and we work to help them improve. We’ve had a huge hiring wave, and we put all of our leaders through training. “I encourage people to approach me and other leaders with ideas and concerns, and we listen,” Smith continues. “I’ve also asked people to find those good employees who left Robinson because of that former culture. I want them back. We need their experience and can offer a much more caring environment than they experienced in the past.” New Product Development While he doesn’t offer any insight into a big project he hints about, Smith says Robinson is focused on four types of product improvements. “We certainly see opportunity in several categories above the R66 where there’s a need for a robust, field-supportable aircraft that has Robinson maintenance methodology built in—long periods of low maintenance requirements and deep maintenance at a predictable interval,” Smith says. “We think that same methodology is going to make good sense for folks in bigger and bigger markets.” The second product improvement aims to make certain high-performance aircraft more affordable. “We hear from customers that the current options in two different major segments—operations requiring the capabilities of a Bell medium and current single-engine aircraft utility operations—are unaffordable, and they can’t pass the cost on to their customers any longer,” Smith says. “So we’re going to go right after that. Our prime directive is to solve cost while offering the same performance or better. I think what we have so far is compelling on that front.” Other developments underway include alternative powerplants and fuel. Robinson recently partnered with biotechnology company United Therapeutics to develop a fleet of hydrogen-powered R44s, with plans for the R66 to eventually join the program. The company is also developing hybrid powerplants projects that would increase the R66’s payload, range, and performance. As far as near-term alternative power options are concerned, Smith says Robinson is working to enable automotive fuel use in the R44 Raven, the last holdout of the Robinson piston fleet that’s currently approved to use only 100LL. Robinson is also working to improve styling and customer touches in terms of aircraft finishes, Smith says. “We’ve been investing in capabilities that will make an owner–operator or an air tourism operator a lot happier with the design coming off the factory line,” Smith says. “Without being too specific, there will be some high-quality options.” David Smith enhanced Robinson’s leadership team with hires like Robyn Eagles, who oversees brand strategy, marketing, public relations, global dealer relations, and sales for the company. (VAI/Don Kelsen Photo) Some Things Stay the Same Three key items that have been highlighted by competitors as Robinson limitations aren’t going anywhere, at least for now: the cyclic design, aircraft time before overhaul (TBO), and Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) 73. The Robinson T-bar cyclic isn’t now under redesign. However, Smith admits that as the company looks at designing wider aircraft, the current cyclic design becomes less effective and alternative control designs will most likely be required, based on physics. The 2,200-hour overhaul requirement for the R22 and R44 and 2,000-hour requirement for the R66 also remain, though the company recently announced that a dozen R66 components have received FAA approval to double their life to 4,000 hours. “I think if we tell the right story, the true financial story, Robinson wins on the economics of the overhaul,” Smith says. “When you add all the costs of other aircraft that need constant maintenance, including their much more expensive parts, repairs, and labor, we come out as far more superior with our set TBO, so there’s no reason to change that. We need to do a better job of telling that story. And like what we did earlier this year with extending component life on some more expensive parts, we have opportunities to further decrease that overhaul cost.” In the past, Robinson aircraft’s tendency to roll in low G, and pilots’ instinctive cyclic correction, led to mast bumping and mast separation. The FAA in 1995 responded to the problem with SFAR 73, which required additional training of and placed certain limitations on R22 and R44 pilots to help avoid mast-bumping accidents. The FAA recently approved a new empennage design intended to correct that problem. Featuring an upgraded horizontal stabilizer that resists roll in low-G situations in all Robinson aircraft, the design makes the potential for mast-bumping accidents arguably the same as for any other helicopter with a two-bladed teetering rotor system. The question then becomes, is the SFAR still relevant, and if not, can it be removed? “The SFAR was something that separated Robinson from other two-blade helicopter manufacturers, and I think in time with the new empennage we’ll prove the risk of mast bumping is similar between our aircraft and other two-bladed helicopters,” Smith says. “It’s our objective over time to make sure the SFAR is reevaluated for the R44, because it was just added onto the original SFAR for the R22. That said, I think the SFAR has been valuable for the R22. It gets people right when they’re coming in and gives them a special focus on safety.” The Future Spotlights Diversity Smith turned industry heads in April 2024 when Robinson announced it had acquired Ascent AeroSystems, maker of compact coaxial helicopter unmanned aircraft systems (UASs, or drones) designed for industrial, public safety, and defense applications. (Ascent’s Spirit UAS, right, provides operators with a rugged, modular platform manufactured to aviation standards. Ascent AeroSystems Photo.) Smith saw the partnership as an opportunity to both expand Robinson’s aircraft offerings and use its manufacturing facilities to produce aviation-grade, quality drones to support law enforcement, public safety, firefighting, utility, and defense operations. “In the future, our aircraft offerings will be more than just helicopters,” Smith says. “We’ll have a thriving, growing business of different size ranges of the Ascent architecture, which can be the Swiss Army knife of the future. So, if you can imagine, a police department has the drones right next to their armory. The modular Ascent drones allow for different payloads to be quickly attached and the drone deployed to survey, film, provide a mobile speaker to make announcements, drop tear gas—whatever [the police] need. They can also be launched directly from the helicopter as a force multiplier.” Robinson has built its first lot of the drones and is well into the second, with deliveries to customers scheduled to have started in the fourth quarter of 2024. Smith says they are all built in the Robinson factory, promoting the UASs as aviation quality based on the Robinson manufacturing facility’s FAA oversight. Engineering and sales will remain at Ascent’s Boston, Massachusetts, location, with all Ascent aircraft being built at Robinson’s headquarters in Torrance, California, Smith adds. Smith also led Robinson’s partnership with Rotor Technologies (see “Rotor Technologies: Tackling the Dull, Dirty & Dangerous,” POWER UP magazine, September 2024). Founded by Smith’s fellow MIT alum Hector Xu, Rotor enables Robinson aircraft to be flown remotely for agricultural missions, with the goal of eventually making them fully autonomous. Robinson consistently scores well in customer satisfaction surveys but aims to improve in areas such as streamlining warranty service and providing higher-end finishes for aircraft. (VAI/Don Kelsen Photo) “We have a collaboration agreement with Rotor that I think is unique in that space,” Smith says. “They’re the only ones we’ve signed an agreement with around development of advanced automation. We are very interested in helping them explore how to market and sell their aircraft.” Jen Boyer is a journalist and marketing communicator specializing in aviation. She holds commercial, instrument, flight instructor, and instrument instructor ratings in helicopters and a private rating in airplanes.
