Mark Huber is an aviation industry veteran who has worked in the flight training, aircraft sales, aircraft component, and airport development businesses. He has flight time in more than 50 different and diverse aircraft, including helicopters, aerobatic aircraft, vintage warbirds, jet fighters, business jets and turboprops, and transport-category aircraft. He has jumped out of several of these—on purpose—with a parachute. His defense and aviation journalism has been published in a variety of national and international periodicals.

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Mark Huber

Robinson Helicopter's 2016 annual delivery numbers dropped sharply from 2015, but the company expects this year’s numbers to climb. Last year Robinson delivered 234 aircraft, down from 347 the previous year. The delivery mix included 63 R66 turbine singles, 114 R44 Raven IIs, 26 R44 Raven Is, 12 Cadets and 19 R22s. That compares with 2015 deliveries that included 117 R66s, 152 R44 Raven IIs, 44 R44 Raven Is and 34 R22s.


While delivery numbers were down, the average unit price sold increased substantially, thanks to customer-specified options such as the Garmin G500H avionics package with the Genesys Aerosystems HeliSas autopilot and now the recently announced availability of the HeliSas autopilot on the R44 when equipped with the Aspen Avionics EFD 1000H primary flight display. "Our sales may have been down,” said CEO Kurt Robinson, “but the people who are buying aircraft are buying them fairly loaded. They are putting all the bells and whistles on them."&nbsp;


Robinson said that sales of the new two-seat R44 Cadet are going well as the helicopter gains certification in more markets. "Once you get it certified here in the U.S. You still have to get it certified in all the other countries. We are still grinding through that in Canada and some other places [where] we are close but not quite there yet," he said.


"We're not worried about the Cadet at all, we think it is going to do very well given its price and the options it gives you. It's a great little aircraft." At the end of January the University of North Dakota's flight training program took delivery of its first Cadet.


"The Cadet will serve a bigger market than just training because of the cargo space in back and the available air-conditioning,” he said. “There are a lot of jobs where you only need one or two people, and it is perfect [for that]. The R44 Raven I doesn't have the margins and the power to put air-conditioning on it, but with the Cadet you do. Someone can get a Cadet with the Garmin G500H, with the autopilot, with air-conditioning and that's what we are seeing. For IFR training it is really popular. And the Raven II, while more expensive, gives you so many more options and has always been our most popular aircraft.”


Robinson Helicopter is working on a variety of improvements to, and new options for, its existing models. The company recently certified the R66 with a police package, and it is working on certifying the R66 with a news-gathering option that includes a new gyro-stabilized camera with a 40:1 lens. "We've got quite a bit of demand for that, and that is really close to certification," Robinson said.


Also on the R66, the company is developing a wire-strike protection kit with Magellan and a lithium-ion battery option with Mid-Continent&nbsp;Instrument’s True Blue Power division. "I think the battery will be incredibly popular," Robinson said. "Our standard battery weighs 36 pounds, but most people order the increased output battery that weighs 52 pounds. This lithium battery has the same output of the larger, heavier battery but weighs just 16 pounds. That's a significant weight reduction." Robinson also is working with Donaldson to develop an inlet barrier filter for the R66 in response to requests from Australian customers. "While the R66 has performed well in harsher environments, they have that red dirt there that is very harsh on the turbine," Robinson noted.


Robinson is developing its own data recorder for the R44 and the R66. "It's not just an engine monitoring unit, but it will record other parameters on the aircraft and be useful to both mechanics and in the event of an accident. It's a project we hope to have done by the end of the year," Robinson said.


The OEM continues to look at ways to simplify maintenance and increase inspection intervals. "Last year we approved new spindles for the R22 that eliminated the 500-hour inspection that was required and allowed people who installed them to switch to a collective-activated hour meter instead of an engine-activated one. That adds 12 to 14 percent to the life of the [helicopter] and obviously lowers the [operating] costs," Robinson said.


He said he doesn't see the availability of credit as an issue for most of the company's U.S customers, but there has been some tightness internationally. "In the United States it's not too big of an issue. The dealers all work with different finance companies they like to work with. We have seen it overseas. Our dealer in Brazil just told me that financing had been very slow, but they are working with a new finance program now in their country, and it is something that they hope will increase sales this year. We've stayed away from financing, as 65 to 70 percent of our production goes overseas. [Father and company founder] Frank [Robinson] always used to joke that the last thing he wanted to do was to try andto repossess a helicopter in Russia."


The Russian market, long a strong one for the company, is improving since that country temporarily lifted its import tax on light helicopters last year, Robinson said. "That has triggered more sales activity in Russia."


Robinson said he expects 2017 to be better than 2016. "We have seen orders spike up a little bit. Maybe it's the optimism about the economy. If you called me at the beginning of the year, I would have said my best guess [is] that our production would have been the same as last year, but right now we are running a little bit ahead. I've got to kick the R44 production line up a little bit. We're doing three helicopters a week now and I think by summer we are going to have to increase that to four." To put that improved number in context, Robinson said it's still half of what the company was producing a decade ago during fatter times for the entire industry. Robinson continues to employ 1,100 at its Torrance, Calif., headquarters.&nbsp;

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