They were mulling over the timeworn aluminum blades of the Erickson helicopters used for aerial firefighting , timber harvesting , search and rescue and other applications — and came to the conclusion that there was a better way to make the blades lighter and more resilient .
Jered Wagner , VP of Aerospace Sales for Toray Advanced Composites said , “ They had a piece of extrusion equipment from WWII and had a metallic blade that was difficult to manufacture . They had to come up with an alternative technology to make the blades .”
Toray ’ s Account Manager on the Erickson account , Kendall Oblak said , “ The aluminum blades were hand shaped , hand crafted , hand twisted – extremely expensive to make ,” and he added , “ Aluminum doesn ’ t have particularly good fatigue properties .” Therefore , the problem had been identified and the two groups decided to partner to find a solution for Erickson ’ s S-64 rotorcraft blades and CH-54 SKYCRANE Fleets .
Toray Advanced Composites ’ CTO , Scott Unger has a deep background in advanced composites — a perennially flourishing industry — and had founded Bryte Technologies in Morgan Hill in the early 1990s , which became TenCate and later became Toray Advanced Composites as a part of the composite and carbon fiber division . He ironically had worked with Toray ’ s Oblak years prior . “ We go way back ,” Unger said . Oblak added that he was also a founder of Bryte Technologies .
12 NORTHWEST AEROSPACE NEWS