Northwest Aerospace News August | September 2020 | Page 16

“Firefighting is a prolific issue around the world. Last year we had six S-64s over Australia. The severity in Europe has also been historic,” said Schuldt. Deployment is common for Erickson employees involved with piloting, maintenance, and even sales. Schuldt said he spent time in Afghanistan in a sales capacity at one point. With 20 percent of the employees being veterans, Schuldt said that can help with, “a culture of service and support that flows throughout the company.” He said that for every service function, “From firefighting, to military operations, to manufacturing, and infrastructure and logging projects – these are all support and device roles.” He said that they have a mix of people who deploy, both civilian and military. He said that veterans bring in transferable experience. They’ve made a big push in recent years to ramp up MRO, especially on the defense side. “Our CEO has opened up opportunity in the defense market with the Department of Defense (DOD),” said Schuldt. He added that they have been working to expand their defense contracts for the past several years through development of MRO and manufacturing. Regarding MRO, Schuldt said, “The United States Marine Corps loves the quality we are providing.” They are also focused on selling aircraft and civilian aircraft missions. In conclusion, while working for Erickson looks like a high adventure commercial for a branch of the military, at the end of the day, their work spans a host of regional partnerships and protects land and people — providing for a preservation-minded approach for our future. ERICKSON CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS 5550 S. Macadam Avenue, Suite 200 Portland, Oregon 97239 USA 503.505.5800 | https://ericksoninc.com 16 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS