Quote:Frank Robinson founded his company at his kitchen table in 1973 with the goal of realizing his college dream of producing simple, low-cost helicopters for the civilian market. Today, Robinson Helicopter is closing in on the delivery of its 14,000th aircraft.

Robinson’s interest in helicopters dates back to his childhood. “I was nine years old when I saw a newspaper picture of a Sikorsky VS-300 prototype hovering. I was intrigued that someone could make a machine that could stand motionless in the air,” Robinson said in 2007.

He aimed his education and career path exclusively at helicopters, receiving his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington and later attending Wichita State’s graduate aeronautical engineering school. Robinson went on to work at various helicopter programs at Cessna, Umbaugh, McCulloch, Kaman, and Hughes, all the while unsuccessfully trying to foster his employers’ interest in his idea for a low-cost “everyman” helicopter while concurrently working on the concept in his spare time from his home workshop.

“I started working on it before I graduated from college and kept at it while I worked for other companies,” Robinson said. “I bought machine tools and riveting equipment and set it up in my basement or garage, where I did a lot of experimenting. I was married at the time and it always created a bit of a conflict—whether to spend money on an engine lathe or new drapes for the house. I continued to pitch the idea of a small, two-seat personal helicopter at just about every company I worked for, but could never convince them. They were making a lot of money building large, expensive, and overpriced helicopters for the military. I was working on the [AH-64] Apache program at Hughes in 1973 when I decided to leave.”

Robinson spent seven and a half years designing and testing his two-seat R22 light piston helicopter himself before achieving FAA certification in 1979. Much of the work was done in a small hangar in Torrance, California. Today, Robinson remains in Torrance but employs more than 1,000 at its sprawling plant there, manufacturing the R22, larger R44 piston, and R66 turbine single, sending 70 percent of its production to the export market.

Unlike many of its competitors, Robinson’s factory is vertically integrated, making most of the production components it needs in-house to control quality and scheduling. The company remains family-owned and Kurt Robinson still flies the company’s helicopters regularly.