Enstrom’s new 480B helicopter has taken its first flight. The turbine-powered 480B helicopter’s maiden flight marks Enstrom’s first new aircraft to take to the skies since its production line reopened eight months ago.
The helicopter OEM filed for bankruptcy in January last year after more than 60 years in business. After an initial purchase agreement with MidTex Aviation fell through, it was acquired by Surack Enterprises in May.
According to Enstrom, the aircraft was not an unfinished, “left-over” airframe, and was built using components procured, machined, fabricated and assembled onsite.
Cody Parkovich, Production Test Pilot, Enstrom, said the aircraft flew with “no issues”: “We were able to complete all our flight test steps in schedule. The team did a great job putting this helicopter together.”
The black and grey aircraft is the 1317th Enstrom helicopter and the 255th 480 series aircraft to be built and will be showcased at Heli-Expo 2023.
Adam Richardson, Chief Operating Officer, Enstrom, reflected on what the successful maiden flight means for the future of the OEM: “This was a critical milestone in our plan to not just bring back Enstrom but to start to reinvent ourselves and the way we operate. It took all functions to focus on the objective.
“New supplier relationships, new machinists and fabricators and luckily many from prior years, better print definitions, a high standard of workmanship and everyone onsite helping each other cross-functionally to bring us back online,” he said.
