MD Helicopters CEO Lynn Tilton described the company’s situation as a “good news, bad news story,” during an event at Heli-Expo on March 7.
“The good news is we are oh so busy, the bad news is we are oh so busy,” she told the crowd gathered at the company’s booth here at Heli-Expo. She noted that of the more than 50 helicopters the company will build this year, all will have block changes, such as glass cockpits. “We may have been a bit late to the game but we have finally taken every aircraft over into glass and digital, and I think we’ve done it with some gusto,” she said.
Tilton credited the company’s military contracts for the transition. The company was able to embrace new technology research and development that comes with certifying military aircraft and reinvest into new programs. That enabled the company to develop programs such as the 6XX single-engine helicopter, the mockup of which is on display at the MD booth (9349) with a newly-certified EMS interior from Air Ambulance Technologies. While she admitted that testing for the upgraded Rolls-Royce C47 E3 is taking longer than expected, Tilton told AIN the 5,500-pound, clean-sheet design is expected to fly by the end of the year, and the company could achieve certification by the end of 2018.
Specifications call for a maximum speed of 160 knots, with a range of 500 nm and a 20,000-foot ceiling. It will feature a Genesys Aerosystems flight deck, Macro-Blue tactical displays, mission management system from TekFusion Global, all-new S411 main rotor blades from HTC, a four-blade tail rotor, boosted flight controls and digital three-axis autopilot. The 6XX will share a cockpit with the company’s latest generation 530G, which is currently under construction for a Malaysian launch customer.
Tilton said the company had focused on its single-engine line, as that was where its best market lay, but it has also decided to now turn its attention to the flagship 902 twin-engine platform and again compete in the higher end of the civil market. “It is an amazing aircraft that we did not keep up in terms of necessary innovation and the eradication of obsolescence,” she explained. There has been an extensive investment in the platform, she added, which will lead to the MD969 that will carry the Genesys Aerosystems glass cockpit that is expected to be certified this June, a four-axis autopilot (to be certified by the end of the year), more power for the Notar anti-torque system and upgraded Pratt & Whitney Canada powerplants. The MD969 is also expected to have a military capability. According to Tilton, MD Helicopters switched cockpit suppliers from Universal Avionics to Genesys, due to timing of certification and the potential upgrade capabilities offered by the Genesys system.
In what is described as a cost-cutting measure, MD Helicopters has taken strides to bring more production in-house, includingthe single-engine fuselages, construction of which was formerly split between Monterey, Mexico, and Mesa, Arizona. All fuselage production has now been returned to Mesa. She claimed that each part manufactured in-house results in savings of 35 percent, which could be reflected in the helicopters' bottom lines.
The company will also soon be bringing training in house, offering specialized programs for police, rescue, military tactical, weapons, night vision goggles and specialized mechanic training both on premises in Arizona and deliverable on site.
For the past five years the company’s aircraft in operation in the harsh environment of Afghanistan have recorded a 98 percent operational readiness rate, the highest of all aircraft in theater, according to Tilton, who wants to bring that level of performance to MD's civil fleet. MD doubled its number of field reps over the past year, and Tilton encourages direct communication between the company and the customers using the recently enhanced MyMD.aero portal.