Northwest Aerospace News August | September 2020 | Page 11

In 1992, Sikorsky sold the aircraft
type certificate for Skycrane to Erickson
for manufacturing and the name was
changed to S-64 AIR CRANE®. Erickson
has been the global manufacturer
of the aircraft since then. According to
Chris Schuldt, VP, Marketing and Aviation
Operations Center of Excellence for
Erickson, the designation is a standard
category, as opposed to a restrictive category,
which he said provides a higher
standard for operational safety.
“You operate and maintain the aircraft
to a higher standard, allowing the
aircraft to operate in congested areas,”
Schuldt said.
The company is deeply diversified as
an original equipment manufacturer
(OEM), service provider for both public
and private entities through its broad
fleet and is also a maintenance repair
and overhaul (MRO) provider.
CHRIS SCHULDT
Erickson — Vice President of Marketing and Air Operations Center of Excellence
They support parts and maintenance for legacy aircraft like Bell Helicopter’s
214 B and ST models, and also build parts for a variety of OEMs
including, “… Sikorsky, Bell Helicopter and Airbus Helicopters, as well
as engine manufacturers such as Turbomeca and Pratt & Whitney Canada,”
according to the website http://www.eriksoninc.com.
Missions are a key focus of the service division, such as firefighting,
building transmission lines, timber harvesting, infrastructure construction,
oil and gas, and as a fleet for civil aviation. According to their website
case studies, missions have included: successfully evacuating malaria
patients out of Uganda during a violent thunderstorm via a MedEvac
helicopter; protecting Australia from bush fires in 2016; moving snow for
the Vancouver Winter Olympics and lifting gondolas in Banff; in Europe,
missions have been vast.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2020 ISSUE NO. 16 11