Articles for tag Robinson Helicopter
|
Mar
08
2026
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
If there was a Mount Rushmore for the giants of helicopter history, the late Frank Robinson would be carved in granite. The rotorcraft pioneer’s driving vision was to put a sophisticatedly simple, affordable light helicopter in the sky. So, he left his position as a chief engineer at Hughes Aircraft to start Robinson Helicopter Company at the draft table in his Palos Verdes, California, living room where he began to will his vision into reality by founding Robinson Helicopter Company 53 years ago.
[Read More...]
Tags:
David Smith CEO President Robinson
Robinson Helicopter
Categories:
Company Profiles
Human Interest
|
May
20
2024
|
|
Posted by Admin
|
|
When Bell wanted to compete directly with the Robinson Helicopter Company, leadership assigned David Smith to be chief engineer for the development of the Bell 505. The first thing Smith did was lease a Robinson R66 for his team to analyze.
"I told them, 'You need to know the enemy,'" Smith recalled. Bell's old guard had mocked the Robinson helicopter as a "toy for the rich guys," but Smith's team quickly realized it was much, much more.
"When we took it apart and studied it, it was quite the opposite," Smith related. "It was ruthlessly efficient. As an engineer, I could appreciate the thousands and thousands of decisions they made that got the product to this highly evolved state."
The 505 Jet Ranger X project was completed early and $10 million under budget under Smith's leadership. Now a decade later, Smith is Robinson's new leader after serving as its VP of operations for the past year.
[Read More...]
Tags:
David Smith
Frank Robinson
Kurt Robinson
Robinson Helicopter
Categories:
Company Profiles