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On the Record with
HENK SCHAEKEN, CEO, MD HELICOPTERS
| So
smooth is the MD Explorer that paramedics can for the first time insert
an intravenous drip while in flight.
That's the boast of MD Helicopters Asia-Pacific
sales manager John Hannay, who has just dispatched an Explorer light
twin to Japan in search of victory in that country's competition
for 30 or so "Doctor/Hospital" EMS (emergency medical
service) helicopters.
The Explorer, outfitted for the EMS role
by Air Methods, will be operated by Aero Asahi, which already operates
five Explorers for electronic new gathering.
Meanwhile MD Helicopters
continues to deliver MD 500E helicopters for maritime training,
and is currently certifying the MD 600N there.
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The RDM Group of the Netherlands took MD Helicopters off Boeing's hands -- and has been surprised at the enthusiasm with which the rescue has been greeted worldwide. Its major problem now is that is can't build helicopters fast enough.
But that doesn't stop Henk Schaeken, CEO of MD Helicopters, from trying to sell them. He is here at Asian Aerospace for the first time trying to capitalize in Asia on the successes MD has scored in Japan, where it just delivered a sixth Explorer light twin and a single-engined NOTAR (no tail rotor) 600D for corporate use.
Catching his breath between selling helicopters and negotiating a permanent HQ for the company in its present location at Mesa, Arizona, he told Show News the message is that MD Helicopters is here to stay. The ownership of the company may have changed, but it has a long heritage reaching back to the Vietnam-era OH-6A, and still supports several thousand of its earlier helicopters around the world, including 300-plus in South Korea and hundreds in Japan, where they were built under license by Kawasaki.
"MD Helicopters has a bright future," he stressed.
The company delivered 37 aircraft last year (19 Explorers and a mix of MD 500Es, 520Ns, 530Fs, and 600Ns), and took orders for 50 more. Plans call for production of 60 to 65 helicopters this year, including 18 Explorers (and maybe a couple more if Turkish Aerospace Industries can speed up the supply of fuselages, manufacture of which it took over last year from Hawker Pacific).
Schaeken noted the Cat A IFR certified Explorer is attracting a lot of interest, especially from law enforcement, since it was "repositioned" at $2,995,000 from its Boeing-set $3.5 million. Price for 2000 is $3.1 million with extra features that were previously options. "We're almost sold out for this year," he said.
A surprise last year was the number of unsolicited requests from police departments for the light-single 500E. Schaeken had decided not to emphasize that model while the company concentrated on the Explorer, but law enforcement agencies tied his hands.
"Apparently they realized it hadn't gone away after all, and a number of them with earlier models like them so much they wanted to reorder," he said.
By John Morris
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