Enstrom Helicopter Celebrating 60 Years During Heli Expo 2020

Are we on? All right. Hey, Kenny. With helicopter land ground school, only video we're doing this year from the Expo is here at the Instrum booth. Kind of a favor to Instrom because I've been flying them a long time. People that watch videos know I favor the Instrum and we teach in the Instrum and the one I use is coming back in February, so I'm excited to get it back, start flying again. So Dennis has a lot to tell you about the nstrom. We're gonna talk about the 480 a little bit. I am a qualified Instructor in the 480, but I haven't flown one in a few years. And we thought we wanted to mention that at 60 years, instruments been around. And so I'm gonna hand the mic over and just let him tell us about the 480 and what people like we just talked about. So many people go, oh, they've got a turbine or well, yeah, I heard about it, but people just don't really know a lot about the 480, so go for it.

Thanks, Kenny. Appreciate it. And you know, yes, we do have a turbine. You know, a lot of people we built, you know, built over a thousand piston helicopters, but we've actually built 250480 series aircraft. The turbines and really the best way to describe it is it's like 150% scale. 280, okay. So all the things you liked about the 280, you, you know, the big three bladed, fully articulated rotor system, fantastic auto rotation characteristics, super stable, you know, trimmable controls, all that stuff that you liked, we got on the 480. The big heavy duty landing gear, the oleo struts, the, you know, the drag struts. You can, you can run these on, you know, forwards and sideways and make kind of bad landings with them and it'll take all that abuse. So, you know, you've got that, you know, the same super powerful tail rotor, so you don't have to worry about any LTE issues, wind issues. So you've got all that stuff. But we add a Rolls Royce 250 engine.

So time tested, proven.

Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, they built over 31,000 of them. We actually got the 31,000th engine, which is kind of neat, got a little plaque with it. So. But same engine that's in the Jet Ranger MD500. So it's real familiar. People are used to that engine and we bolt that on to a much bigger cabin. So you got a lot more room, a lot more comfort. The way we got this one set up right now. It's a three place dual control. But in only about five minutes you can take this helicopter and you can switch the seats around. You can make it a five seat aircraft. So it's all in the flight. Manual pilot can do it.

Makes it nice to different configurations for people depending on what you're doing and how you're going to set it up. You have options. And I just want to throw in real quick is the thing that's always struck me in the 480 is the visibility. I think it's probably has the best visibility when you're sitting in the cockpit. As the pilot of anything I've ever flown. I mean the visibility to me is just amazing.

Yeah, absolutely. You know, you've got, you've got eyebrow windows, chin windows, you know, lots of glass in it. And you know, for me I'm a tall guy and it's tall guy friendly, it's big guy friendly, but the seats move forward and back, pedals move forward and back so I can get out and a little, you know, a little person get in and you know the helicopter is going to fit them. So you know, the helicopter fits the pilot, pilot doesn't fit the helicopter. Very, very comfortable to fly. I think nothing of flying these 1,000 miles a day, single pilot.

Sure.

So in fact I did it last summer so, you know, you can do it in the instrument, not kill yourself.

So I have ferried him from north all the way down to Florida several times by myself. And yeah, you just hop in and throw your bag in. Fly three hours if you want to. Yeah, very comfortable and roomy. So you just can just sit in there and enjoy the flight.

Absolutely, you know. And what's neat with this, you know. Okay, you want to take your kid flying, give them the stick a little bit. Okay, no problem. You got dual controls, you can do that now, you know, you want to go to grandma's birthday party and give some rides. You can pop those duals out, make it a four seat, a five seat helicopter, give rides, you know. Okay, I want to lease it back, do a little commercial, work with it. No problem. You can do all that stuff and change it around. So it's a real flexible aircraft, real easy to own, low cost operation. Again, all the things you liked about the 280, you know, hardly any time, limited parts, you know, low insurance rates. All those things you liked about 280 are here on the 480 and they're kind of just sort of super sized. So if you've flown a 280, this is, this is just gonna be, you know, cake for you. The hardest part about it is starting the engine. And once you figure that out, you know, everything else is it just flies itself.

Yep.

So notice on the door there, we got a little sign celebrating 60 years.

60 years. That's the thing I say when I. When. This morning before coming to expo, I saw instrument post that they had just sold three 480s and I'm like, good for instrument, man. That made me feel good that they just sold one. And they were, you know, showing off at the show and showing that they'd sold theirs. And I didn't realize it was 60 years, but I saw it from their, from the desk over here and I was like, man, I knew I've flown them a long time and I know they've been around, but in my mind they're like, yeah, they've been around 45 years or something. When I saw them, like, I did not realize that it's 60 years. So I was impressed this morning at the hotel when I just checked in Facebook and went, nice. They sold three of them. 60 years, are you kidding me? So that's awesome though. I mean it is the time tested heavy duty truck of the smaller, you know, personal aircraft in my book. Talking another day how you just feel good in the enstrom.

You just.

There's nothing I would fly that I really would be as confident in. And of course I have more time in instrument than anything else, but I have lots of time in other things. And this is one that you just, once you get to know an instrument and you get used to flying them, you just feel safe and you just feel good and they're just freaking comfortable. And until you experience it, you don't know what it's about. And thing that encourage people all the time. They say the same thing to me all the time. Well, I've heard about instrument, but I've just never been in one. And I always say, go get an hour, just go try it. Because until you fly the thing, it's just us telling you that it's comfortable. It's us telling you about how good the auto rotation is. But until you get in fly one, you just, it's just people talking. So if you're thinking about getting an hour in an instrument, go fly one. Any of them?

Any of them.

Yeah, you know, so tell us more about the 60 years. Just a little more of the background. Yeah, it's Rudy Enstrom, right?

Yeah. So you know, when you, when you start thinking about it, you know, names like Piper and Cessna and Bell, you know, these are the old established, you know, names in aerospace. Well, Enstrom's kind of up there with it. Right. You know, how many companies have been around for 60 years? We've never moved. Menominee, Michigan, for 60 years. Well, the company was started by basically a mining engineer named Rudy Enstrom. And he'd never even seen a helicopter. He was gonna build one, you know, so he.

That's amazing.

Yeah, you know, he was the story. He was a tinkerer. You know, he built some prototypes in his garage and he'd fly them around in a quarry and whatnot. And in the late 50s, some investors up in Michigan, you know, they decided, well, you know, we're going to get into aerospace. This is going to be cool. And they incorporated, bought the rights to Rudy's design, and that's how the company was started. And, you know, really neat. It was all community funded. So they would go to local fairs and they would take helicopter prototypes, like local fairs, and sell stock and they would bring like the Green Bay packers up to sell stock and stuff like that. And that's how the company was founded. And 1965, we certified our first helicopter. The F28. Started production 1965. 1965. Wow.

How old I am now.

Yeah, there you go.

I was born in 65. That's a great year.

Yeah. 0 the Mustang came out, so. And you know, 68. 68 is kind of when things really got started. So 65, you know, we built a few aircraft between there, but 68 is when production really started with the F28. A model. And I'm sure you have some A model time. I learned to fly in an A model.

Blowing them all.

Yeah, still, still. It's like the Piper Cub of helicopters. It really is. And then, you know, through the 70s, F. Lee Bailey bought the company 1971, a famous trial lawyer, and he was the one who developed the. The 280 series, the shark. So, you know, he took the the F series and had a Boston design firm restyle the cabin and make the Shark. And through the years, the 80s, the company was owned by Dean Kamen. He's the guy, he's kind of famous. He invented the Segway. That was his claim to fame, but really he invented the insulin pump. And he owned the company starting in 1985, and he was the one who developed 480 series. So he funded the development of 480 series. In fact, Dean still owns a couple Enstrom helicopters and you know, through the years, 2001, we did the B model and still going strong. Now, 60 years out of our same, same location, much bigger. In fact, we got a brand new factory. 2014, we built a brand new factory, but same spot has not moved.

I have to get up there because I have not actually been to your factory since.

Oh, it's way cool.

It's been probably 10 years since I've been up there.

You would not recognize.

And that's what Jackie's like. You have to come up here and see the factory. So, yeah, I'm gonna get my butt up there and see the new factory. So, man, that's just an amazing story. And like I said, I was impressed. 60 years. So congratulations on selling three of them. I just always like trying to help instrument man. Just because hate to say that, but call them the underdog. I kind of call instrument the underdog, but I say that with love, right? Because kind of root for the underdog, and that's how I feel about it, so.

Well, we're not the biggest, but, you know, we kind of like, say we're the best, and it's a great product. And, you know, we appreciate everything you do for the community, you know, you do for students out there. You know, I learned to fly. Everybody learned to fly. And having that. That resource available is just fantastic. And of course, we. We appreciate the fact that you do it in an Enstrom and the support that you give to Enstrom.

Well, it was fun yesterday because this year we didn't do a bunch of videos running around. Last year, we kind of gave everybody the opportunity. You know, we went to Robinson and Schweitzer and Cadbury and, you know, I talked to everybody, right? And this year I'm like, you know what? I just want to go and I want to talk to people and see our members and, you know, and it was like, we'll go to Enstrom. First thing you know, when we get there, we're going to Enstrom. And it was fun because we got here yesterday or Tuesday, and we walk up to talk to Jackie and immediately, here comes the helicopter. Online ground school shirts, hoodies. Our members just start come walking up because they knew that's where we're gonna go.

He's not kidding. It was just like this mass of people just. Yeah, swarm.

And it. It actually brought tears to my eyes because these guys were talking to me and I'm like, man, this is overwhelming, right? It's just. Just that I'm just, you know, average Joe from the cornfields of Northern Indiana. And then to come to a big event like this and then have your members, customers come walking up wearing your stuff and. And I know instrument enjoyed it in the background. It was fun because I see everybody going, God, look at this little party going on out here in front of the instrument booth.

So, yeah, but that's, you know, that's really the best part of the job. You know, we'll go to air shows or something like that, and you get someone come up and they go, you know, I want to shake your hand. You know, I learned to fly back in 1979 in an Nstream 280C or something. And, you know, the foundation that gave me, you know, led to my career or one day when I had an engine failure, you know, the stuff I learned saved my butt. And to be part of that for us, you know, what does 60 years mean to us? It's that, you know, it's all those customers and all those people that we've been able to help and who in turn have helped us and supported us. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for guys like you.

Same for me too, with all of my members, and that's why I'm here. And we're all here because of our customers and the people that believe in us and come back and, you know, either buy our products or just follow us and are interested in what we do. It's just freaking amazing. All right, well, anything else you want, can you think of before we sign out of here?

No, man, it's just, you know, you're. You're part of the instrument family.

You know what it's like, make tears come to my eyes.

Yeah. And. And, you know, and now we've got a Hogs family, you know.

Yeah.

It's awesome, you know, so, you know, we're just, just, just putting the families together. It's great.

Yep. It has been awesome. And that's why I said we just this year, we just wanted to shake hands, talk to people. And I told Jackie, I said, you know, NSTROM is the only one getting love from us this year just because they helped us with getting out here.

So.

And we appreciate that. So make a comment down below about the Enstrom, you know, and if you haven't flown one and you're even remotely interested, go freaking fly 1. Find one somewhere.

It's a pilot's aircraft.

Who cares if it takes.

Gotta get in the seat Half a.

Day to go for a drive to go, to get to one. Go. Go fly one, man. Jump in and do it. So comment below. Make sure you subscribe to our channel. Click the little bell so you'll be notified of our weekly videos, and we will make sure that we keep you informed because it was fun with. One of our members here was disappointed with I don't do coffee with Kenny anymore. And he was like, man, I was drinking coffee every day listening to you, and now you don't do it. And I'm like, I only stopped because we really needed to take care of the ground school members, and we had a lot of stuff we needed to do, and it was just kind of overwhelming. And he goes, well, at least start doing a video a week. Would you just let us know what the hell you're doing? And I'm like, okay, I'll at least start doing something once a week, right? And maybe more. But it was fun to hear that from people. Well, you know, I pretty much missed the coffee with Kenny thing. I'm like, yeah, I do, too. But it's for the good of the business moving forward and taking care of our members, so. All right, I went on long enough. Like, subscribe, make a comment down below, and we'll see you next video. Thanks a lot. I appreciate it very much. Or go ahead. Yeah, go ahead and just pan around there a little bit. You're still recording? Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead and just give them. You know what? Why don't you go over the 480 and just kind of. Let's just tack around.

Because with the cord, I think it was just.

Yeah, let's just start tripping. So we'll just tack it on the end here and let them actually see what it looks like. Like I said, I still think the. The visibility in the room. Flying one of these is what makes it so cool.

Yeah. Oh, it's so comfortable.

And someday, if it's in my budget, maybe. Maybe that's why I work from the factory. I'd like to have one. I would. I'd love to have one of these sitting in my hangar. And if you're still hanging around, I can teach you any one of these. So if you want to buy one, I'm looking for somebody to help you out. I can teach you in it. All right, let's cut it off. Peace out.